Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We were hoping to head east through Canada to visit some friends before turning south and crossing the border into Idaho or Montana. But it snowed overnight when we were in Penticton and a pass along Highway 3 was closed. We had to cancel our visits to friends and head directly south into Washington State to try and avoid the snow. It was bitterly cold in Winnie!
It took a long time to cross the border into the US, (a long story so we'll spare you the details!), and basically drove for miles all the way to Salt Lake City in Utah. We stayed with a friend we haven't seen for a number of years who restores musical instruments. The next day he helped Helen to swap her violin for a flute which will hopefully be able to cope with the temperature differences we go through a lot better.
As it was a lot warmer, 22° C, we drove south and stopped at a free place along the Nebo Loop. The road goes over 9,450 ft and we actually drove over snow at the top! We had forgotten that it goes so high up. Good job our brakes worked for the way down!
We got out our solar panel and worked on the computer for 2 days and then headed south again.
We stopped in Kanab where the ladies at the library left on their wifi overnight for us so we could watch the US elections. It was supposed to be a close race but Obama was re-elected by quite a large margin. We didn't get to bed until 2-30am!
We drove to Houserock Valley Road where we did a 5 mile hike through Buckskin Gulch and uphill to see some wonderful box formations called "Edmaiers Secrets".
Edmaiers Secrets.
Edmaiers Secrets - 360° Panorama
(move mouse over panorama and click on the arrows)
We stayed in Page for 2 nights but heard that the temperature was going to drop over the weekend dropping as low as minus 4 degrees C! We also found out the there will be free entrance into the Grand Canyon because of Veterans Day!
Seeing as we were going to get cold anyway, we decided to take advantage of the free entrance and go to the south rim of the Grand Canyon again. It had been 9 years since the first and only time we had been there!
So we quickly packed up and drove off. We got to Grand Canyon just in time for sunset at Desert View Tower. Last time we were here it was so foggy it was like driving through pea soup and we couldn't see a thing! At least this time Kirsten got to take some photos of the great view!
We got a tip from a German traveller that for this weekend we would be able to stay on the car park for the night. But a few hours later a ranger knocked on our door and told us otherwise! So we drove outside of the park boundary (along with our new German friend) and found a free spot in the dark.
It was already below freezing and it went down to minus 11° C!! Oh boy it was cold! We got up at 6am the next morning so Kirsten could take sunrise photos. But Winnie overheated!! Our thermostat had frozen! Helen pulled over and Kirsten raced off on foot to get to the viewpoint for sunrise, whilst Helen waited in the dark for Winnie to cool down enough. 20 minutes later Winnie could carry on again without overheating and Helen had to make do with seeing the sunrise photos as she got there too late!
We had to keep wiping down the windows inside Winnie because it was still below freezing inside the motor home at 10am and we had ice inside the windows! We continued along the rim road stopping at various viewpoints and then got a shuttle bus out to Hermits Rest road where we walked along the rim and saw elk, blue jays and a hawk.
Grand Canyon.
It was a very short and extremely cold visit but the Grand Canyon is unique and one of the worlds natural wonders. Always worth coming here even for just a day.
