6 Days to go

So, we're under a week left to go and while I'll be busy working tonight at the paper, and tomorrow at the NASCAR Sylvania 300 race in Loudon for AP, my thoughts are with my partner in crime, or at least travel, Winger, who lost a mentor and friend in George Parks, the UMass band director, this past Thursday night. My thoughts are with everyone in the UMass community, and wish the band all the best today as they perform at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

Moving right to the rest of our tentative itinerary:

Day 8 (Fri Oct 1): We will head to Bryce Canyon National Park from Dead Horse Point. Not sure where we'll end up for sunrise, maybe right at Dead Horse. Along the way to Bryce, the plan is to stop at Goblin Valley State Park with some crazy rock formations. The drive to Bryce takes us through Capitol Reef National Park. While we won't have a lot of time to spend there, there are plenty of scenic stops along the way that we'll check out. After getting through Capitol Reef, the drive takes us down Scenic Route 12, one of the most beautiful drives in the country, to Bryce Canyon. The plan will be, depending on the time we arrive, to find a place to camp (the campgrounds in the park don't take reservations after October 1 for some reason), and do some exploring of the park. Strangely, its recommended that Sunrise point is better to view/photograph Sunset, so we'll probably check that out, and then see if we can get some good night/stars photos as Bryce has one of the best night skies.

Day 9 (Sat Oct 2): Sunrise at Sunset Point, some small hikes, maybe Queens Garden Trail. We'll leave by late morning and head down to Zion National Park for the last stop of our journey. No idea what we'll be able to see, and where we'll check out sunset but we have reservations at the Watchman Campground inside the park.

Day 10 (Sun Oct 3): This day will consist of our most ambitious hike, Angel's Landing, in Zion National Park, in the morning. We'll head up as early as we can get going, and see how it goes. The view is so rewarding, and I hope we can pull it off! After either completing this hike, or turning around before the final ascent to the landing, we'll find a few more places to explore before heading back to Las Vegas for the night. Reservations are at the Excallibur in Las Vegas, and I'm hoping to be able to do some wandering and night time photography on the strip this night. Wings has to fly out at 6:30 AM to San Antonio, a recent adjustment to our plans, so I'm not sure how late she'll want to be up, but It'd be a shame not to do some wandering around this night..

Day 11 (Mon Oct 4): The last day of my journey. After saying goodbye to Wings wicked early (5AM I reckon?) I might head out to Red Rocks Canyon for some early light exploring/photography, though I'm not sure how early its open (I believe its gated). I'll have to, at some point, return the camping gear to Western Wanderer in Boulder City. I'd like to find a good place to photograph the sunset in/Near Las Vegas (possibly on Lake Mead?). I have to return the rental car by 11:00PM and my flight out is at 1AM (Day 12, Tues Oct 5). The flight gets into Logan around noon and I'll catch a bus back to Nashua where I anticipate sleeping for the remainder of the day!

There you have it.. our very tentative, ambitious itinerary for this excellent adventure. I hope that a) everything goes smoothly, b) the destinations live up to the expectations and c) we don't strangle each other along the way and/or throw each other into a canyon along the way (though I suspect if anyone gets tossed into a canyon, it'll be me!)

Not sure how much else I'll have to say before the journey begins, but I hope that you enjoy following along, and please leave some comments for us to read along the way!

Enjoy
-Gib