Part 12 of our holiday - Visiting Bryce and Zion Canyons

Michael and Mary collected us from the Grand Canyon Lodge at 10 am on 3 July 2016 and we said thanks and farewell to Gaelyn, who was busily back into work mode. It is a 4.5 hour drive to Bryce from the Grand Canyon, so we arrived in the early afternoon. Bryce Canyon is a national park in southwestern Utah and is famous for its unique geology, consisting of a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheatres, carved from the eastern edge of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. There was plenty of time to have a look around the various named features, and to see the sunset across the canyon. Erosion by  weather has shaped the colourful limestone rock strata into bizarre shapes, including slot canyons, windows, fins, and spires called "hoodoos." Bryce Canyon has the largest collection of them in the world!

Just before arriving at Bryce, we drove through this natural red arch.

Arriving at the Canyon National Park entrance.

Our first sighting of hoodoos! Their colour seems to change with the light conditions.

Yet another natural arch with hoodoos over the top.

As you can see, elevation 8,627 feet  (2,630 metres). It's not quite oxygen territory but impressive enough!

A panarama shot across the canyon just before sunset.

Sunset across the amphitheatre at Sunset Point.

On the opposite side of the Lodge complex, we went on the following morning to Sunrise Point. More hoodoos in a very dramatic landscape!

An unending variety of hoodoos.

We left Bryce  after viewing the sunrise and having a good breakfast at Ruby's Inn, just outside the park, and then we headed off to drive through Zion National Park.  We were heading home to Mesquite, but a drive through Zion in South West Utah on the way was a "must see". A  completely different landscape from Bryce, it has steep red cliffs, but as you can see above, there are also some natural caves and arches..

The scenic drive passes right through the primary area of the park and, being the 4th July holiday weekend and a lovely day, there was heavy traffic congestion!  This photo above is of the short tunnel on the scenic drive,  but there is also a long tunnel, completed in 1930, which is  1.8 km (1.1 miles) long and the longest of this type in the U.S.A!

Views taken of Zion landscape from the car..

The view as below without us in the way! How did those rectangular patterns in the rock get there? Odd but spectacular!

A quick stop, so we could take a photo proving that we had actually been there!

Another view of Zion Canyon before heading back to Mesquite....

and another amazing sunset back in the desert landscape there.

There is one more part of this holiday which is our last afternoon in Las Vegas before flying home, but this will now have to be postponed, as it is now less than a week before we leave for Southern Africa.  I will be back in March (I hope) with the final USA blog, followed by some very different African subjects. Not forgetting, of course, our visits, in December to Le Mans (more to it than just a motor racing centre!) and Rouen (with its amazing medieval old town)  still waiting for a write up!  One day I might just catch up!!!

Also see my daily diary HERE

and My Life Before Charente (updated  25 September 2016) I will get back to this eventually!  

Part 8 of our USA holiday based in Mesquite , Nevada

On the next leg of our USA tour, we were most fortunate to be able to stay with friends who live in Mesquite, and the hospitality they showed us while we were there was absolutely overwhelming. Their carefully considered schedule  covered every possible place in that area we could dream of seeing, in the time we had available. They  escorted us from place to place in their car, clocking up countless miles, making the most efficient use of time, acting as tour guides  and generally providing a 7 star experience which we will never forget! I have already posted about The Valley of Fire  and The Hoover Dam, to which they took us, not to mention the other exciting places which are still to follow.   I thought that, although I did not take a lot of photos of Mesquite itself, that you would like to see the few I did take and also meet our friends and their  family.

Mesquite is 80 miles north-east of Las Vegas, next to the Arizona state line, and was first settled by  Mormon pioneers in 1880. Today it is home to about 18,000 people, several casinos and nine(!) golf courses!

Just to give you a little of the friendship history, Michael and I used to go horse riding together when we were in our teens in Rhodesia.  To say we have known each other for ever is almost true.

On our arrival in Mesquite, we were taken up on the mesa (what I would describe as flat-topped hill, but forgive my poor knowledge of desert landscapes) to see an example of the amazing sunsets which often occur there.  This first night was, so we were told, not up to normal standard, but to us it was still a delight!

The day after we took the trip recounted in my blog 'Part 7', we had a day at home and met up with Michael and Mary's two daughters.  What a delight, two young ladies who obviously adore their parents and enjoy life to the full.  I have not laughed so much for a long time.

Michelle, myself and Marie

Michael, Mary, Diane and Nigel

and one of those laughter moments LOL.

Myself and Michael, reliving so many memories!

A typical view of a  residential area in Mesquite. Palm trees and the hills beyond, with sizzling temperatures day and night when we were there!

Of course no town could do without a Wells Fargo bank, a brand much in the news recently, after a scandal, where more than a few staff opened fake bank accounts to take advantage of productivity bonuses,  led to the resignation of the CEO!

The view of the desert - north, south, east and west all look pretty much the same! The huge scale of the landscape and scenery is hard to comprehend!

Yucca brevifolia, better known as the Joshua tree,  is native to arid southwestern North America, in the states of California, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, where it is confined mostly to the Mojave Desert.

Now if you should be a keen golfer, you will love this oasis in the middle of the desert.  To me, as a non-golfer, this looks like one of the most difficult courses I have ever seen; water, water everywhere!!!  

Wolf Creek is quite spectacular, beautifully maintained and with the most amazing views. We didn't have time to see the other 8 courses!

A small green, some bunkers, and a waterfall. Don't stray out of bounds....!

and endless pools of water.

Michael and Mary were also kind enough to host old friends of ours from South Africa, who now live in Las Vegas, Kim and Syd on the right.  Lots more reminiscing.

To finish off this post on Mesquite, another most memorable sunset. 

Also see my daily diary HERE

and My Life Before Charente (updated  25 September 2016)  

Mesquite, Valley of Fire and Hoover Dam (Part 7 of our holiday)

We flew from Dallas, across New Mexico and Arizona, to Las Vegas, where we were met by friends who live up the I-15 highway in  Mesquite, where the states of Nevada, Utah and Arizona meet.  After a day of relaxation, they took us out of their nice cool house into the heat (!), on a car trip to see the Valley of Fire State Park and the Hoover Dam.

The Valley of Fire State Park (spectacular desert scenery a mere 1 hour's drive from the concrete expanse of "the Strip" in Las Vegas!) is Nevada's oldest,  and derives its name from the red sandstone scenery, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs 150 million years ago.   Because of the high temperatures while we were there,  47C (116F), we took the Park rangers' advice and did not attempt any of the scenic hikes into the park; much too hot, so we therefore unfortunately missed the Fire Wave, which is about an hour's hike.  Worth looking up in the internet (here) though, if you are interested.

Entering the Valley of Fire!

Proof  from the car of just how blisteringly hot it was -  wobbly but all too true!! In the winter, temperatures range from zero to a balmy 22C (74F) and of rain, there is but 4" (10 cm) per year!

A natural rock arch, and an explanation below.......

A lizard, which I think could be a Chuckwalla, keeping to a small but welcome  piece of shade!

Amazing rock formations.

Atlatl Rock - An atlatl is a throwing device, usually consisting of a stick, fitted with a thong or socket, to hold the butt of a spear  and so project it further than by manual throwing. The Australian Aborigines had the woomera, but ancient American Indians also used these weapons.They are depicted in the petroglyphs (rock carvings) made by the local peoples located at Atlatl Rock.

Fine examples of petroglyphs. Ancient tribes occupied the Valley of Fire approximately between 300 BC and 1150 AD. These included the Anasazi, who were farmers from the nearby fertile Moapa Valley.The centre photo on the right above is of our friend Mary trying to work out some of the stories being told in these pictures. She's standing at the top of the metal staircase that you can see in the last picture.

Just a hop down the road by American standards, is the Hoover dam. After very lengthy discussions and agreements as to how the Colorado River water was to be managed and shared among the peoples living in its enormous basin, construction of the dam was begun in 1931. A fine infrastructure project for the country, and another triumph of its engineering, as the economy began  to recover from the Great Depression.

The wall, for which the last concrete (to total 3.25 million cu.yds or 2.6 million cu. metres) was poured in 1935. It was the greatest dam of its day and despite the remoteness and arduous working conditions, the contractor, Six Companies Inc  completed the project two years ahead of schedule and below budget! A lesson for these days!

A distant view of the "new" bridge spanning the gorge above the generating plants on each river bank. Today, as a result of the drought which the Colorado River basin has experienced for the past 15 years, Lake Mead has dropped to its lowest level since it was first filled in the 1930s!

The Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is 1,905 feet long and carries road traffic over the gorge, nearly 900 feet above the Colorado River.  It is the longest single-span concrete arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere as well as being the second-highest bridge of any type in America. The gantry on the right is, I believe, the last surviving crane used for the construction of the dam wall 85 years ago.

Looking down at one set of 8 generating plants, which were completed in 1935-36. A 17th generator was added in 1961 to the 16 already in operation.

Inside the spotless generator hall. The absolutely huge numbers of people taking guided tours were most efficiently handled by teams of genial staff, skilfully shepherding them where required, seemingly without effort!

Diagrammatic layout of pipes and shafts.

The "Winged Figures of the Republic" are iconic sculptures on the Nevada side of the Hoover Dam. Sculptor Oskar Hansen made the figures in 1935 from more than four tons of bronze. They sit on bases of black diorite, either side of a 142 ft. high flagpole.

The figures have weathered to a green patina, but the toes are burnished to a soft gold by the touch of countless tourist hands. Rubbing the toes is supposed to bring good luck!

In an interesting astronomical touch, the monument is set on a  terrazzo celestial chart which shows the exact position of major stars on the day the Hoover Dam was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt. The star map would supposedly assist a future civilization of giant flying humans or other aliens to pinpoint the date as 30 September 1935!!

This larger-than life sculpture of a man scaling a rock wall represents a "high scaler." In the early 1930s, fearless, eager-to-please-in-a-depressed-economy dam workers would dangle hundreds of feet in the air, armed with jackhammers to drill holes in the canyon walls for dynamite to blast away unwanted rock. The bronze figure was created in the 1990s by sculptor Steven Liguori. Onward and upward!

Also see my daily diary HERE

and My Life Before Charente (updated  25 September 2016)