Monday, October 22, 2012

Sunday 21st October- Quite a day really

The view from outside our Hotel



We had our pre-purchased breakfast in the room and then left the Hotel in Cannonville around 0930 and headed North towards the Grand Staircase- Escalante National Monument and had only gone a few minutes when we noticed a warning light on the car had come on and with a message saying low tyre pressure. Damn.
We did not have any means of checking the tyres, and as its Sunday in a Mormon State and nobody but nobody was around. We stopped at the fire station as the truck was out to see if they had a pump but nobody there. We then discovered that the only place to get it checked was 6 miles in the opposite direction and we took it slowly back. I had wondered why the car felt a bit wobbly and when I checked all the tyres they were all way out instead of the 35 psi. One was very low and some of the others were at 45 psi. So now they are all Ok we hope and pray we don’t have a slow puncture or something.
We turned round and went back on our original route and passed areas called the ‘Blues’ and then the ‘Upper Valley’ and with every turn we were faced with absolutely stunning views which took your breath away. One view superseded the last and we felt almost out of breath. We stopped at a ’Turn out’ where actually you ‘turn in’ to stop and look at the views and bumped in to a couple from Bournemouth doing a three week trip. We chatted about places etc and then continued on to Escalante Town which is written in large letters on the map but is very small place indeed but we did find a place for lunch as it was now 12.45. We fancied eating lunchtime and have a snack later rather than drive 3 miles to a questionable quality restaurant. The Burgers we had were local beef and really quite good.
Not a bad place really
The views continued to improve with different coloured mountains and with sun causing shades and reflections we hope the photos do it justice, We eventually  arrived at a place called Boulder and another small town and turned right on the Burr Trail Scenic Backway where we were driving down the side of the mountain and then along the bottom of the canyon, absolutely amazing. En-route there was one section of road about 2.5 carriages wide with no fence and a drop of several thousand feet both sides-Uhh, Jennifer said I am not driving through there as it was her turn to drive back from the Canyon. We stopped for a coffee at the Kiva Coffee House which has amazing views where you can also rent a room with a fantastic view for $ 170.00 plus tax but it does include breakfast and also did I mention the amazing view. For more info see http://www.kivakoffeehouse.com/   We got back to the Hotel around 1845 and had a nice cup of tea and then do some blogging and check out and upload the photos.
Feet up and relax Mr Groves
We are due to leave first thing in the morning to drive to Salt Lake City where we have booked a Hotel using a website called HOTWIRE where you get very good pricing but you don’t know the Hotel name until you booked. It could be risky if you take a two star place but we have booked the Radisson in downtown salt Lake City for $ 61.00 plus tax against the cheapest you can fine of about
On the web is USD 100.00 plus tax. So worth knowing about..