Beth woke up at the crack of dawn, which meant we all woke up at the crack of dawn. I took her to the bathroom (a fancy portapotty… well a pit toilet). I advised her not to look down. Then we brushed our teeth using the water spigot. Lindsay made pancakes (fancy campers) while I packed up most of the tent. We didn’t have syrup so we used melted Hershey’s chocolate bars for chocolate drizzle. Quite good I must say. We got everything packed up and got ready to head out. Lindsay hadn’t slept well and I could tell she was exhausted so I decided I would drive while she slept in the backseat. We hadn’t found our campground host and there wasn’t a drop box, so we ended up not having to pay for this campsite. On the road again. Beth sat up front with me and watched a movie.
We were on two lane roads through the Northern Arizona Desert where they were all sorts of rock formations and plateaus. I was enjoying the scenery and cruising along… apparently cruising a little too fast because before I knew it, a state trooper was coming straight at me, with his lights on. I still stand by the fact that I had a spotless driving record until this trip… haven’t been pulled over in 6 years of driving and this would be twice in 3 weeks. * I told her at some point the lead foot catches up with you and the luck runs out. The luck ran out today but it was somewhat of a blessing because if it was me she’d be driving the entire way back seeing as my luck ran out a few times now leaving me with measly 5 points left on my lisence. Oopsy poopsy. Do you get points back after 2 years?* The officer approached us on Beth’s side and asked for my license and registration after informing me that my speed was the reason he was pulling me over. I handed over my license but told him we didn’t have any registration or insurance information. Lindsay rolled down the backseat window to explain to him that in Wisconsin you don’t need proof of insurance or registration so she doesn’t have any. He seemed skeptical about this, but he took down the VIN number. * I have never been asked for my registration or proof of insurance, NEVER. And believe me I have had my share of run ins with police officers. When I got in an accident, pulled over for my lisence plate holder, speeding, speeding and more speeding. And none of those times have I ever been asked for that. So I have a hard time believing that all those time it was just coincidence. Furthermore now I probably sound like a horrible driver when in fact I am a pretty darn good and capable driver. That’s what B gets when she makes fun of my grandma driving lol jk.*He instructed me not to put the car in drive while he was doing this. Luckily for him, I am still afraid of authority and wouldn’t have dreamed of it. We got our information and went back to process my ticket. He came back with it, and was a little more friendly this time. Maybe he noticed my spotless driving record. There was no chance of him just giving me a warning because he was a state trooper and it was the end of the month. It was stupid of me to be speeding when we had literally seen 20 cop cars on the side of the freeway the day before….definitely end of the month quota time. Beth wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to get arrested and I told her ofcourse not, and she was calm the whole time and even told the officer to have a nice day when he left. It looks like I’ll be taking online driver’s school at the price of $225. Since I don’t think I’ll be returning to Moccasin County anytime soon. Didn’t really budget for tickets when planning this trip. But I was speeding so I guess I deserve the ticket.
After that, we were on the road again. We crossed the state line and got out to take a picture with the Utah sign. Lindsay told me I should’ve outran him to the border. *well he couldn’t have done anything once you cross the state line that was like 4 miles down the road. That must be my Bucholz thinking kicking in eh hem dad, uncle leonard :P*
Our first Utah stop was Zion National Park. We ended up taking the side entrance so we drove for a bit until we found a spot to pull off and explore. Zion has all sort of layered rocks that are easy to climb up on. We did just that, and hiked for a bit. Lindsay and Beth chased after lizards. * I so caught one and any day that includes a successfully caught lizard is a good day in my book. Yeah Beth is so much like both of us it’s weird. She totally spits like me which I did not teach her she did that all on her own and laughs when she toots like me yet she is evry bit as girly as B. Kind of cool to see.* Sometimes Beth is so much like Lindsay and sometimes so much like me. Lindsay hiked up one of the rocks, but I told Beth she had to remain by me. We explored for a bit, enjoying the view. We continued to follow Tom’s instructions but then figured he was wrong. Lindsay had apparently know that I should’ve stayed on the main road but didn’t say thing. Lindsay fell asleep so it was just me and Beth driving. We stopped to get gas in Springdale and head through Zion National Park. It was a beautiful park with these astonishing rock walls. I think my favorite part was driving through the tunnel which was 1.1 miles long and just carved into the mountain..dating back to 1930. It was awesome. Me and Beth got out of the car a few times to get a better view of the park and for Beth to scribble “Beth Was Here” in the sand. After we left Zion, Beth fell asleep too, so I kept driving until we got to Bryce National Park. I woke both the girls up and we took a picture by the sign. Lindsay had to go to the bathroom so we pulled into the lodge. Beth was getting really hungry so we tried to get a meal at the lodge but the dining room was closed until 5. We decided to go out and explore Bryce a little bit and then come back and get dinner. We went to Bryce Point and finally got a view of Bryce’s famous Hoodoos. It began to rain, which Beth was so excited about. People from the desert love the rain I suppose. The drops were big and cold but we decided to keep exploring. We found the path and walked down the side of the canyon…getting a better view of the orange and pink rocks. We walked underneath this natural archway and followed the path around. Lindsay decided she wanted to climb up to one of the caves so me and Beth sat by a rock while she did. When she got to the top and couldn’t climb into the cave, she shouted down…why don’t you tell me this is a bad idea? Just as three guys walked by and probably had a good chuckle. She slid down and we explored more until a big cloud appeared threatening a downpour. The hike up was much more difficult than the hike down and all 3 of us were huffing and puffing. When we finally got to the car, we each drank a whole bottle of water. * I hate getting so close yet being so far from my goal I just wanted to sit in the cave and B to take my picture. Grrr *
We made it back to the lodge and entered the dining room. I made sure we didn’t have to be hotel guests to eat, and we didn’t so we found a place and looked at the menu. Ofcourse this was a hotel restaurant so everything was a little pricey and fancy. I had really just wanted a cheeseburger. We devoured the bread and I went to the bathroom. When I got back, Lindsay had gotten a kids menu. The kids menu seemed so much more appealing with pasta and cheeseburgers and chicken fingers. We asked the waiter if we had to be kids to get food off the kids menu and he said no so we ordered pasta, chicken fingers and a cheeseburger. We must have looked famished because our bus girl kept bringing us new bread. She was super sweet and told us we could have as much as we wanted. I felt like a poor person at a fancy restaurant….loading up on the free bread and eating off the kids menu. But its not like the $26 entrees were really in the budget. Especially since I had quite the expensive morning. We gave our waiter a nice tip since our bill was pretty low. Both Lindsay and I have worked at a restaurant so we were on the same page on that.
Fed and happy, we hit the road again. * the food was so good mmmm delicious. Plus I figured we owed beth a better meal that gas station street meat for dinner even though it was that bad.* Beth kept us entertained in the car… Lindsay talked about the good look men we saw at the Grand Canyon the day before and Beth insisted that she should’ve given them her number and said “Call me toots”. I’m guess she learned that from Stewart… We had originally planned to go to the Four Corners but given there’s not really a clear cut path there and it would be like an 8 hour detour to just stand on a piece of desert, we decided to head towards Arches National Park and bypass the New Mexico slice. And we were rather impressed with Utah’s landscape…especially as the sun went down and cast its shadows on the colorful rocks of the mountains. We drove for a while until we hit the town of Richfield where I found a Wal-Mart. There was also a KOA campground there so we decided to hit Wal-mart and then camp. We got Beth a pillow since she had forgotten hers and I didn’t enjoy sleeping on the rolled up blanket when I gave her my pillow the night before. We also got some lunch meat and fruit and more pancake mix. We stopped at McD’s so me and Beth could get ice cream cones then we headed to the campground. We found a spot and set up the tent…this time with the air mattress. Lindsay offered to sleep outside so we wouldn’t be smushed on the air mattress.. how nice of her. We got in the tent and after a little of blogging, I got tired and fell asleep. * I was totally fine with sleeping outside but soon moved to the car because I was sweating profusely in my sleeping bag and was not so keen on being out of my sleeping bag outside. So I soon moved to the car. Not a better choice. I could not get comfortable.*
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