Part 1 - Goblin Valley and Grand Staircase National Monument

We headed out of Green River and turned south down 24. Our first stop on the trip was Goblin Valley State Park. We had a lot of fun just walking around the basin a seeing all the rocks. It would be a fun place for older kids to just run around and have some fun. If any of you have seen the movie Galaxy Quest, this is where they filmed the part where they go down to the planet and they get attacked by the little aliens and the Gorignak. :)

Part 2 - Bryce Canyon

After our stop at Goblin Valley, we continued on down 24 and caught up with UT-12 which is a Scenic Byway. UT-12 continues on down through Capitol Reef and into the Grand Staircase National Monument. This drive was a bit farther than we thought it was going to be, so we had to hustle down to where we were staying that night as it was getting late. Therefore, we didn't get to stop too much on the way to get pictures. I have a few, but I actually haven't posted those pictures yet. We ended up staying in the town of Cannonville in the Grand Staircase Inn. It was a cheap nights stay and was pretty nice actually. I'd recommend staying there if you are going out there. It is very close to Bryce as well.

The next morning, we headed out to Bryce Canyon. It was quite windy and cold in the morning, so we were a little worried that we weren't going to get to do much, but it warmed up after having lunch at the Bryce Canyon Lodge. We took lots of pictures in the morning at all the pullouts along the main road. After lunch we went to Sunset Point to go on a walk down into the canyon. The weather was much nicer and it was very pretty going down the canyon.

We stayed the night again in the same place and headed to Zion the next morning, so check out part 3 for the Zion pictures!

Part 3 - Zion National Park

After Bryce Canyon, we headed South West to Zion National Park. It is only about 2 hours or so from Bryce, so that was a nice break from our previous day's drive. As you come from Bryce Canyon, you head south on US-89 and then catch up with UT-9 which leads you into the East entrance of Zion.

From this side, you get to see the Checkerboard Mesa which is one of the most photographed mesa in the park I guess. From there you continue on through the park and come to Mt. Carmel which once stood in the way of traffic getting through. Then in the 1920's, they decided to dig their way through the mountain. So, this tunnel is quite old and I guess that if you have a big car or an RV, you might not make it though. The tunnel itself is quite intresting actually. It doesn't have any lights inside, so it is pretty dark at first, but a little ways in you see some light and as you drive up to it and you look out, you see the majestic mountains on the other side of the canyon. They actually built windows in this tunnel! One of them was quite large. They say you aren't supposed to stop, but we took a peek anyway (sorry, no picture though). After that, you continue on down the canyon with really great views. Eventually, you make it down to the visitor center where the other entrance to the park it.

We didn't quite know where we were going to stay yet, so we went to town and found a place. Then we headed back into the park to see the rest of the sights. You can't actually drive up the canyon any more, so you have to park at the visitors center and take the shuttle up the canyon. It makes many stops on the way up where you can get off and go for walks. The last stop is where you can walk into the Narrows and you have to walk though knee/sometimes waist deep water and get to see some cool stuff. We didn't make it all the way to the water, but we want to next time.

We headed home the next day and had a safe (but long) trip back home. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures!