After being away from friends and family for almost 22 months we are cycling hand in hand towards my mom and dad, who are welcoming us in South Fork. Hugs, kisses, a few tears and a good feeling. The next week we will park our loyal Santos bicycles in a shed at Ute Bluff Lodge and Campground with the most friendly owners and we will hit the road by car!
Mom and dad buy us dinner at the local Firehouse Restaurant and we chat the evening away. Back in the cabin we grab the map and plan a route; we have only six days, but we manage to squeeze in Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon, Zion and Bryce NP, Capitol Reef and Arches National Park.
The first day is a long ride to Page, where we find accomodation in the somewhat strangely named Page Boy Motel. We book two trips; Elmar and mom are going to visit the Upper Antelope Canyon (is more for sissies, haha!) and dad and I will visit the Lower Antelope Canyon; where there are supposedly less people; the canyon is narrower and you have to climb stairs. Sounds like fun! But first we pay a sunset visit to Horseshoe Bend.
Horseshoe Bend
It’s peak season… and thus we walk like ants through the Lower Antelope Canyon… it’s so crowded! At that moment I realize this trip is a scouting adventure. Elmar and I will have to come back one day to those places that are worth a second visit; we’ll make that one a photography tour; for now it’s snapshot time. And it’s more about being with mom and dad anyway.
The road trip is fun! We listen to 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and Dutch music and the four of us sing along with everything we have! The landscape in between the parks is pretty empty, but every now and then there is a restaurant or a small town. Especially Durango is a pretty city and we grab ourselves a Starbucks coffee here.
In the parks we visit mainstream viewpoints, walk short hikes with my dad while mom chats with other people and enjoy landscapes nowhere to be found in Europe. And of course we ‘take my mom in the maling’ (Dutch saying; something like ‘playing tricks’), because that’s just too funny! 🙂
Enjoy some of the pictures we took:
Bryce Canyon
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