The day started with packing as usual, (for V) and planning a quick breakfast (for me). Why do I bother cooking and waste time 1st thing in the morning on making a breakfast, you ask? Well, coz V is a strange man! He gets angry when he is hungry. He never says he is, though (I doubt if he realizes himself), but he sure does get angry. SO ... I prefer to have him well-fed before we hit the road :D. (Also coz I need my morning coffee, without which I refuse to board the bike :D)
The "map & guide" paper (which I preferred to call the newspaper, much to V's amuzement) that we had received at the time of the entry said that there was a tunnel connecting Zion to Bryce and in my limited knowlodge of the geography of the land, this was the only way to reach Bryce. I read it over and over again, and there was one line that I kept getting stuck at - "vehicles requiring traffic control through the tunnel will need to pay a $15 fee in addition to the park entry fee". Now this was funny!
"We will have to pay $15 to cross the tunnel" I told V
"Why?"
"Coz it says so! Listen..." and I read it out to V aloud
"This can't be true" he just wouldn't believe me
"But it's written here. I swear. You don't believe me?? .. have a look" and I handed it over to him
He glanced through the paper, and then looked up, "Come on now... really... this is simple English"
"Yeah, so?"
"What school did you go to?" now he was acting smart!
"What the hell, I just read to you what was in the paper!"
"Well, you forgot to read just one paragraph, right on top of what you have been reading"
And boy, he was right! What I had missed reading was fairly important. Vehicles OVER 25 feet would require traffic control through the tunnel, as the tunnel was built long ago (1920, I think, but i could be wrong) and they hadn't planned for such big vehicles then!
"Very funny" I never like to make a fool of myself (which I do more than often, though)
"No. Serious. What school did you go to?" with V you always a hard time telling when he is joking and when he is not.
"f%$k off"
"Ok, cool. Let's get in the tent"
"F%^K OFF"
That was an eventful start to the morning, and we did manage to cross the tunnel without paying anything extra.
"Oh, we forgot to pay them"
'Yeah, right smartarse. I was wrong. Happy now"
I was sure I could see him grinning though the helmet.
The tunnel was longer than I had expected and due credit to them, they did a fabulous job in 1920. I wonder what equipments they had at the time, but cutting through a solid rock mountain and carve out a tunnel that long must have been hell of a job.
The tunnel was dark (poor lighting) and I did try to click a few pictures but they turned out to be a waste.
As soon as we crossed the tunnel, the landscape seemed to have changed drastically! WOW! The mountains had a different shape all together, and the roks were flaky. I wonder HOW they eneded up like that!
The ride was beautiful! I was dying to tell V that he should stop for a picture, but I wasn't talking to him :-S ... What the hell, this landscape was too beautiful to be wasted. So, I poked him on his shoulder and asked him to stop.
He immediately took to clicking pictures. This is one thing I love about him. He will never hold a fight against me (very unlike me) and immediately forgets that we ever had a fight (poor memory but always works to my advantage *evil grin*).
"You think these mountains can fall off?"
"SHUT UP"
One milestone achieved on the way - our trip meter touched 2000 miles <Happy grin> BUT, we realized that it resets to zero at 2000 <Sad face>
A very pleasnt looking gentleman walked up to us, "Nice bike"
"Thanks" nothing pleases V more than someone appreciating his bike
"Hot day, huh?"
<Straight face> I didn't think I was in a postion to react to THAT comment!
"Where you headed to?" friendly-man asked.
"Bryce"
"Oh Boy! I was there 3 days ago, and it was 5 below zero..... Celcius. You understand Celcius?"
<We sure do!AND it's time to take a U-turn and run for our lives!>
We thanked the good man for the news, and since V refused to turn back, we continued to Bryce. THIS is how the other side of the road looked. I was surprised I hadn't noticed it earlier!
Reached Bryce. Phew. And yes, it was cold. Though not below zero. It was a sunny day <Thank You God>.
This is what the camp-site looked like. AND they didn't have hot water in the restrooms .. brrrr....
Finding a site was easy, there were many people around anyways. The stove (replaced at Walmart earlier), did not work again, and so no dinner. Snuggled into bed cold and hungry, hoping that the morning would be better.
The bright shining sun was a beautiful start to the next day, but the stove didn't think so. No morning coffee as well, and a grumpy me. Out of sheer desperation, I walked up to a woman crossing by, and asked her if she knew how to operate a camper's stove. She said that she didn't but he husband did, and told me to come over to her site with the stove. <Thank you>
So V and I walked up to their site with the stupid stove in our hand, feeling foolish, but needy.
Marc (the husband) was an experience camper, and must have had a magic touch, coz he managed to get the stove working the 1st time he tried it! I could have sworn to God that we were doing everything EXACTLY as he did it, but ... We thanked him and carried the stove back to our site, still lighted. I couldn't risk extingushing the flame. I did get my coffee and V got a good breakfast.
The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent riding around the park, going to various elevation points and clicking pictures.
The 'Hoodoos', as they call them, are something that I believe everyone should see. It reinforces your belief in the super power who has architected the world. This looked like an old city that has been excavated from the ruins. I did learn from the reading materials, that the Hoodoos get their shape from erosion by ice, but it is difficult to bvelieve that someone didn't hadcarve them. And they get their name from the word "Woodoo" as they seem to cast a spell on everyone who visits them. TRUE!
I had thought that Zion was the best, and now I stood corrected. This was something else.
We would have loved to go for a trail down these rock, but this wasn't the time. Most of the trailheads looked like this and it was best avoided at the moment.
Lunch was at Bryce Lodge, a very elegant looking little restaurant, with a very fine old gentleman waiting our table. BUT, the menu did not have ANYTHING vegetarian. <Sad face>
Ended up going for the buffet as it would at least give me access to the salad bar. mmm... the food was lovely, and so was the ambiance. I just LOVED the place and the people.
I noticed that most of the employees here were 50+. I love the way the senior citizens are involved in the workforce and still active and live their lives to the fullest (something that we don't get to see in India).
OK, enough of the romantic lunch! Time for some reality check chores. LAUNDRY! Yeah, so we did end up spending rest of the afternoon at the general store of the park - taking paid showers and doing the laundry. Not to mention picking up beer for the evening :)and the most important thing - firewood - to cook dinner.
The evening was spent cooking on fire, something that I loved doing, especially as I got to be close to the fire in that cold, and could sip on chilled beer :D
We loved the place and wanted to extend the stay to another day, BUT a casual chat with Marc relevaled that the weather forecast said SNOW for the next night, and we thought it was best to get out of here before it got cold(er). Marc also mentioned the "Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park", and we immediately decided that this was our next stop. We hadn't even heard of this state park or planned for it, but then this entire trip was about doing what we wanted to do WITHOUT having to think or plan too much .
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