Lake Mac and Fremont Lakes, NE

We assumed Nebraska would be boring as hell, however, a lightening storm at Lake McConaughy was both scary and quite impressive! Other than that though, it smelled like cow poop a lot and sadly, the gas stations are called Kum 'n' Go's. We also stopped for swimming at Fremont Lakes (LOTS of people, not as cool as MN) and saw some serious flooding in Sioux City, Iowa, where we stayed for the final night before reaching my mom's house in Excelsior MN.

Wyoming - Surprising cool

We honestly weren't sure what to expect of Wyoming. But Flaming Gorge was a spot we had been looking for probably this whole trip. Drove the bus right up to the water, tunes on, swimming, and no one else in sight. You can't beat that. Also tried Seminoe State Park, which was equally impressive. No one else in sight for most of our stay there and was set in the mountains seeming like we were in Austria or somewhere other than Wyoming. However, we were chased out of the park by the biggest death swarm of gnats you have ever seen and ended up staying in Rawlins instead. Funny sense of humor there. Local bar: The Office. Local nail salon: Get Nailed. Good stuff.

Scenic Byway 12

This was the rest of Utah for us. We decided not to do Capitol Reef and Arches and some other friendly suggestions as the bus was just not taking the elevation well anymore. We headed for Wyoming instead of Colorado, but drove this byway, which changes landscape like a dozen times. A-mazing. Seriously amazing. It goes through Grand Staircase, if you ever get a chance, it's totally worth it, and the road comes out to this point where you seriously feel like you're on top of the world, both sides of the road are cliffs, so you're just riding the rail, basically.

Bryce Canyon

The geology here was astounding. They are known for the hoodoos, where the top layer of rock is hardest, and lower layers weather away, leaving the column-like structures. The natural bridge and windows were also very cool. And we got the Little Runaway up to the highest point in the park, over 9,000 feet.

                                              

Chocolate Bacon

We had a great time at Blake and Stefani's house. If you know Blake, you won't be surprised that he made bacon covered in chocolate for our breakfast one day. Very tasty... would go great with the local brew, as seen below (that is not a joke). They took us to some great spots near their house: hiked in the lava cave at Snow Canyon Park, saw some amazing waterfalls near Gunlock and tons of Petroglyphs (not sure exactly where we were). Also, the bus got a well-deserved washing! Thanks guys for the hospitality!

Drive through Zion

We decided to skip the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and head to see Mike's friend Blake and wife Stefani near St.George Utah. On the way there, we drove through Zion National Park, thinking we might come back there, but we didn't make it back, so the pictures below are the extent of it. Was still awesome to see what we saw. The mile-long tunnel on the main road was super cool, you get glimpses of the scenery to come through these windows cut into the rock and then when you come out the other side, the landscape is completely different than what you saw before going in the tunnel.

Water good, sand bad

With the heat of the desert, we are constantly on the lookout for bodies of water. We saw that Lake Powell wasn't far from our route to the North Rim and spent a night at Lone Rock beach. Not exactly private beach camping, but still worth it for the scenery, warm evening and sunset. And by worth it I mean, getting stuck in the sand and having a jeep pull us out onto the packed sand. We buried it good... whoops! (On a side-note, that was the third mishap we had recently and hoping they come in 3s and we are done with those. We ran out of gas on our way from Red Rock to Sedona. Got some assistance, thank god. And recked a portion of the rear bumper near Oak Creek. Sad, but was bound to happen at some point I think). We left Lone Rock pretty quick in the morning (as you get woken up around 6am by the OHVs being driven by 6 year olds), and hopped over to the day use beach, where we 2 of 6 people. Awesome swimming.


Glen Canyon Dam - Lake Powell is in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

 

Through the Painted Desert

The mother canyon

It really is awesome, shockingly amazing, and beautifully grand. We were hoping to avoid mega-crowds. And we did! We camped outside the park at Ten-X campground ($10/night), showered inside the park at camper services, hiked the Rim Trail early in the morning from Powell Point to Monument Creek Vista (passed but a couple folks on the whole 3 mile hike), shuttled bussed to the last 2 points on Hermit's Road to the old cabin (now gift shop), and then drove to the Watchtower on the other end of the rim (that part was crowded, but not overly so). The Grand Canyon, for me, was totally amazing. I sort of can't believe you can walk so close to the edge everywhere, but really makes you aware of the magnitude of the natural wonder you're standing in. Not sure if these pictures do it justice. This is the more popular South Rim. We intended to also do the North Rim, but got side-tracked by Lake Powell.



Ooommm...



Pretending I know yoga

See the Colorado River below



Tried to get a couple people in the shot to show the magnitude