Road Trip - North from Arizona

And so it begins…

Day one of our 'epic adventure' road trip. We celebrated our 5 year anniversary last night in Phoenix and then finished up the things on the very extensive packing / to-do list. We got everything done this morning and were on the road by 9:30, with a seven hour drive ahead of us. We had done almost all of today's drive before; up I-17 to Flagstaff a handful of times, past 'Flag' a few times, and into Utah once, on our previously thought to be epic road trip in October to Zion and Bryce National Parks. Despite having been through these parts before, the scenery still amazes us. It is beautiful and changes so quickly. The Saguaro cactus in Arizona quickly change over to pine trees when we gain elevation on the way north. Then we go up and down mountains and notice the trees changing often from pine to I don't know what, and back to pine again. The landscape is amazing mountains; driving for hours gives you time to notice the varying shades of red, pink and brown in the rocks and the changing landscape formations. We were excited to drive many of these roads again and from tomorrow onward, we'll be in all new territory.

On trips, I often develop strong affinities or fascinations for certain things - in Australia, it was the car snorkel, and being prepared with wine and snacks in case you got stuck places; today it was a strong affinity for the passing lane. Passing trucks and RVs on a 2 lane road still frightens me, and the rumble strip and windy, hilly roads doesn't make it better. But passing lanes every few miles to let you go around the super slow RV were so nice. And then we turned onto 89a, a more scenic route, past the Vermillion Cliffs and the passing lanes were quickly gone. I got braver and passed the boats and slow trucks, and I imagine there will be a lot more of that over the next 4 weeks.

Our first stop was for gas, and then food and since they didn't have a restroom, we just had to visit the nearby Mother Road Brewery. Some beer to go in exchange for a clean restroom seems to be a good deal, and probably a trade-off we'll make as often as necessary on this trip.

It was a long day for our first day, but a good day. We saw several dust storms ( a thing in Arizona called a Haboob). These have been much anticipated during our time in AZ, and only the 2nd time seeing one. And this one was extra crazy, seeming to gather speed and strength as it moved across the open land. Videos taken of course. We also saw some amazing and huge California Condors at a quick stop at the Navajo Bridge in Arizona. Michele took one for the team, and supported the local economy, buying yet another pair of silver earrings from a roadside stand in Navajo Nation. And we made it successfully to a lovely motel in Cedar City, Utah, where we picked up (vegan) pizza, had a beer from our Flagstaff to-go pickup and then checked out a local Cedar City brewery, called Policy Kings. Tomorrow…the adventure continues, so early-ish to bed!

Antelope Island, Utah

On this road trip, and in our life too really, some things are well planned out, fully researched and other things are a bit of luck. Our trip to Antelope Island was a bit of both. Antelope Island came onto  my radar thanks to my over-usage of the stars on the Google maps to save places I want to remember. The first time I was looking up Antelope Canyon in Arizona, not having heard of it before, I instead found Antelope Island near Salt Lake City. It looked amazing on the map, so I starred it and went back to looking at the right Antelope Canyon that was being recommended. Fast forward 2 years or so and I'm looking at the map for what is around Salt Lake City and I find this starred Antelope Island. I look into it a bit more, and find a bike tour of the island, option for sunset. Perfect, done, something we can do after work and similar to one of our favorite activities on our last visit to Utah, a bike ride through Zion National Park. And a quick consultation with our traveling companions, and it's a done deal.

One the way into the park, I read to everyone the animal safety tips and we all realize there's a good chance of seeing bison, hopefully, with 500-700 bison on the 40+ sq mile park. The rules are to not walk closer to a bison if you see it, and if the animal stops what it is doing to look at you, you're too close. Seems reasonable, and plus it says there have only been 5 reported incidents with tourists and bison over 10 years. So not too worried.

We get to the island and see bison in the distance - I direct Chris to go drive so we can get pictures, just in case we don't see any more. The first bison we've ever seen. We also see our first real 'tour-ons' of the trip - getting out of their car, walking close to a huge bison. I leverage the sunroof and zoom lens to get my photo from a safe distance. We start our bike tour, on lovely e-bikes with power assist and a nice guide named Aidan. We explore the beautiful island, clocking 20-30 mph on the e-bikes, having fun up and down the hills. We pass a few more bison in the distance and also see our first antelope. We see the Great Salt Lake from every angle and learn about its receding water levels. We can also smell it at times. We had already decided it wasn't the best idea to go in - water temps around 50 and air temps around 65. Not the day for a swim.

Our last stop on the bike tour was Buffalo point, for the sunset view. We hiked up (parts of) the hill and were rewarded with views of the island, the salt lake and the sunset. We followed instructions from our guide Ethan to be back with enough time to make the rest of the ride back with some sunlight to spare. We head out on our way, and I'm quietly hoping to see another bison. We see antelope running (galloping?) in the fields, amazing. And then I get my wish and we see another bison ahead, close to the road. But not really moving too much. Aidan tells us to get off our bikes, and we wait for the bison to move along. Great stop for photos, and I play super-tourist with the real camera and (small) zoom lens and 25+ photos. We're really close, the bison keeps walking our direction - he's eating grass right on the side of the road, and we're on the opposite side, pretending our bikes are a good protective shield between him and us. He is slow, but moves along past us and we get on our bikes and keep going. Not too long later, we encounter another bison. Aidan is telling us that this is very rare, he's only had to stop on the bikes ever a few times before. I lose some faith in his qualifications to protect us in this situation. The bison stops eating and looks right at us. We're directly across the road, again off our bikes and feeling a bit too close. Aidan asks if we want to ride the long way around or just walk slowly past. He thinks we'll be fine. The bison tosses his head towards the direction we're going a few times, Aidan thinks it means the bison wants us to pass. We're not so sure…Jenn and I are last in our line of 5, and figure we're likely the ones the bison will come after. But we go pass slowly and jump back on our bikes…and survive. We complete the bike ride and head on home to our Airbnb.

Yellowstone Animal Jams

Thanks to COVID, it has been a long time since we've been in a traffic jam. So yesterday we didn't ever think that our 30 minute journey out of the park would result in stopped, bumper to bumper traffic. At first we thought it was bison, since we had had a quick bison slow down a few minutes before. But then we just didn't move much at all. About a half hour in to moving very slowly, we saw a sign that we were 14 miles from West Yellowstone. A little math told me that at 7 mph, dinner would be a long, long way away. Luckily, about an hour, or so in, we finally did pass bison, a lot of bison - maybe 15 on each side of the road. Mommas with babies eating, bison swimming across the lake, bison crossing the road. The long 'animal jam' had been a massive case of rubber necking and photo taking. We can almost say it was worth it, an awesome experience to see, but still a long delay, well past the time we had hoped to be checked into our cabins.

So yes, cabins. Sounds nice and rustic, like we're roughing it. We're not. They're new, and nice, with wifi, a tv, fridge and microwave and nice (private) bathroom. We're about 25 minutes outside of the small town of West Yellowstone, Montana. Beautiful drive along a lake, quiet and great views of the mountains and the lake. I'm writing this now from our little deck off the back of the 'cabin'. Tomorrow morning, we head on through the park and towards Sheridan, Wyoming.