Zion National Park, Springdale, UT, USA - 19th August 2013
By: Spac the Bear
We left the Four Corners at 9 p.m. yesterday with the mission to get to Zion National Park by the morning. After driving through the night, we got there at about 2 a.m., so we took this photo, parked the car, and fell asleep.
We got a few good hours of sleep in the car and woke up at sunrise ready for another day in another National Park!
One of the unique things about Zion is that you can only go so far with the car - after that you have to take a shuttle bus. This alleviates traffic getting to and from its various trails.
The first trail we did was the easy Riverside Walk, at the far north end of Zion Canyon.
It was a beautiful trail and (thankfully, says Spac) nice and flat for a change.
Look at that. No wonder Spac kept singing the Jerry Garcia Band song "Palm Sunday" - "The mountain's so red..."
Here we are at trail's end. Some people elect to continue beyond the trail to where the canyon gets very narrow, but we decided to turn around here. We didn't feel like walking through the water and getting our feet all wet!
The next trail we hiked was the Grotto trail
This one involved some elevation...
...but it was worth it for a view like this of Zion Canyon's river.
The Grotto trail includes some little natural pools up in the mountain, like this one...
...and some more beauiful mountain views, both OF the mountains...
...and FROM the mountain.
There were even some narrow points that felt like we were going THROUGH the mountain!
Look at that lovely pool. So pristine.
While on the trail we met these two super nice gentlemen who asked about us and our Toy Voyagers adventures. We were so happy they agreed to take a photo with us and we told them to look for it on our travel log. Here it is, guys! (Sorry for the month-long wait!)
And this lady thought it would be funny if Heather sat on her head!
Finally, we went back down to the bottom of the mountain, to the canyon river.
When we got there, we noticed a horse stable. They were offering horseback rides along the canyon, so we said, why not?
We had such fun on the horse, but we weren't able to take photos.
As the afternoon progressed, though, we knew it was time once again to get on the move, but not before one more hike - to the Canyon Overlook.
For some reason, we didn't think to take pictures on the way up (about a mile and 163 feet) but when we made it to the top, we loved that spectacular view from 5300 feet above sea level!
What a way to end our time at Zion
We started heading north so we could get to Salt Lake City and spend a day there before going back to New Jersey, but we couldn't resist a "drive by" to one more National Park - Bryce Canyon!
We didn't even get past the entrance, though, because it was getting late.
But we did stop to take a few photos at Fairyland Canyon.
We deduced that they call it that because the tops of those rock peaks look like castle spires.
After that quick detour, it was back on the road to drive through the night to get to Salt Lake City. Tonight we finally get to sleep in a hotel again!
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Posted Sep 27, 2013, 12:13 am Last edited Sep 27, 2013, 12:15 am by Spac the Bear
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Salt Lake City, Utah, USA - 20th August 2013
By: Spac the Bear
Hiya, Bart!
Boy, did we sleep well last night - finally in a bed!
If you look closely at this pic, you can see the sign for South Salt Lake (sort of above Zoe's head). We're going to spend the day in SLC!
Instead of taking the highway (I-15), we decided to take State Street all the way north from Sandy to SLC. Taking this road to the end will bring us right to the capitol building. Can you see it way in the distance?
Here we are! The capital of Utah! This picture was taken from the visitor center across the street
There was a neat bison sculpture outside the visitor center, with stickers for a lot of the fun places in Utah to visit. We've now been to a bunch of them! See the stickers for Arches and Zion?
But before doing our SLC visit, we wanted to take a quick detour to a place called Antelope Island. We heard about it from some folks we met on the horse trail at Zion. So we continued driving north around to the southeastern side of the Great Salt Lake where we got on the causeway that took us onto this large island that sits in the lake!
Here we are on the island!
What lovely views of the beaches.
Let's go down to the beach and take a dip in the Great Salt Lake!
We didn't like the lake very much. There were lots of bugs on the beach and the water was kind of thick and dirty-feeling.
Some parts of the island are very stark, but there are trails that go to (and through) those hills in the distance.
And roving through its fields were lots and lots of bison. (Yes, that's what is dotting the lanscape in these pics).
We took the one main road all the way to its end, where it becomes a dirt road that leads to a ranch and more trails.
We didn't have a lot of time to spend, because we still needed to see Salt Lake City, so we left the island after an hour or so.
Time for some of the sights of downtown Salt Lake City
The main thing on our list was to see Temple Square.
This is the Nauvoo Bell...
Here we are at the Tabernacle, where the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs during services.
These statues depict significant people and events in Mormon history.
This is the Assembly Hall, constructed in the late 1880s.
And here we are at the front of the Temple, which was completed in 1893 after 40 years of construction!
We then went into the visitor's center to learn more about Mormon history.
That's Brigham Young, one of the early founders of the religion.
Here's some history of the temple...
...and the means of transport the Mormons used back in the 1800s.
We're not allowed inside the big temple, but they have a model in the visitor's center that shows what it looks like on the inside. They said, "It's isn't secret, it's sacred."
This is a scaled-down model of the angel Moroni and the dedication plaque that are on the top of the temple.
Finally, we went to the top of the center's walkway where a statue of Jesus Christ stands in a mostly empty room, with a painted sky background and audio of Jesus' "voice", speaking some of his wisdom.
Having learned all we could about the Mormons, it was time to see some more of Salt Lake City before it got too dark.
Spac said this light rail system that goes through the city reminds him of the one that goes through Jersey City back east.
Let's see what's around. Here's the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art.
And the Salt Palace Convention Center...
...which served at the media hub with SLC was host to the Olympics in 2002.
There was a farmer's market at one of the nearby parks.
And that's the Energy Solutions Arena where the Utah Jazz basketball team plays.
This is the Salt Lake Tribune building. That's the region's main newspaper.
Here's the big outdoor shopping mall called The Gateway. It takes up several city blocks.
It may be hard to see in these photos, but if you look closely, you can see water shooting from the ground. It did this at various times from the different lit-up spots on the ground. The children had a lot of fun with this!
Sadly, it was getting dark, and we had to get back to the hotel. We have a morning flight to catch back to New Jersey.
Well, Bart, we sure had a fun trip and we hope you enjoyed the photos. That bear knows how to pack a lot of adventure into a just a few days!
We'll be coming home soon!
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Posted Oct 8, 2013, 12:20 am
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Sterling Forest, Tuxedo, New York, USA - 22nd September 2013
By: Spac the Bear
We figured that after our grand adventure through Utah that Spac would send us home, but he couldn't resist taking us on his annual trip to the New York Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, New York.
Here we are at Ye Olde Front Gate
A wizard!
These barmaids that worked at one of the pubs inside he faire gave us so much loving, you can barely see Zoe - she's being smothered!
This is the main drag with all the merchants selling their wares.
Time to stop at another pub - the Blue Boar Inn.
That is NOT a statue. That's a person acting like a statue and moving every so often (especially when given some money) to the amazement of onlookers.
And look at those fair maidens behind the statue!
With so many women dressing like wenches, it's nice to see these ladies in formal gowns. Let's get a better shot.
These glassblowers actually make their items on site and it is fascinating to watch.
Spac loves to get incense here at the Faire.
After a few hours we realized we hadn't seen any performances yet, so it was off to see Spac's favorite gravedigger/songsmith, Philip Hole. He sings about death, women, death, drinking, and death.
We thought this lovely bridge on the far end of the Faire would make for a nice photo.
And then it was time to see the Ded Bob Show. Ded Bob is that skeleton puppet controlled by the faceless man on the right. He's bawdy and he's a bit rude, but boy is he funny!!
How about another beer at one of the taverns?
And now some more music. This lady played lovely tunes on the Celtic harp. She even played a short piece by Genesis, composed by Steve Hackett a couple hundred years after the Renaissance, but we didn't mind the anachronism. Spac was really excited about it (he loves Genesis).
For our last show of the day, we saw the Dextre Tripp Thrill show. This guy does all kinds of crazy and dangerous things. In this photo, you can see him juggling an apple, a bowling ball and a chainsaw! As he says sarcastically, "Nothing says Renaissance like a chainsaw!"
He pulled a child from the audience and had her ride on his shoulders while he rode a unicycle.
And then he rode a really tall unicycle!
Alas, it was soon time to go, but we had a fun time at the Faire on a beautiful September afternoon in New York.
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Posted Oct 30, 2013, 11:40 pm Last edited Oct 30, 2013, 11:41 pm by Spac the Bear
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Worcester, Massachusetts, USA - 25th October 2013
By: Spac the Bear
We thought it was about time for us to go back home, but Spac had already purchased tickets to the Phish shows in Massachusetts and Connecticut for this weekend, so he thought it would be nice for us to end our adventures with him the same way we began them, way back in December. (We went to a Phish show on our first day here!)
Not only that, but we hadn't yet been to Massachusetts so it was yet another state we could cross off our list, making a total of 10!
Here we are crossing the border to Massachusetts
And here is the sign welcoming us!
Finally, more than four hours after leaving New Jersey, we made it to Worcester, MA, and the DCU Center.
Our seats were behind the stage, which was actually pretty awesome because we were really close and the sound was excellent!
We didn't take a lot of photos at the show because Spac figured you probably have seen more pictures of us at Phish shows that you ever would have wanted. But it sure was a fun concert and we were happy to end our adventures with Spac coming full circle with a Phish show.
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Posted Nov 14, 2013, 12:53 am
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Cape Coral, Florida, USA - 8th November 2013
By: Spac the Bear
We were getting ready to come back home to Arizona when Spac received the sad news that one of his beloved relatives, who lived in Cape Coral, Fla., passed away.
Even though we knew there wouldn't be a lot of time to see the sights and take photos, Spac insisted that we come with him so we could see another state!
Our journey began at the Montclair University train station, before sunrise, so we could catch an 8 a.m. flight from Newark Liberty International Airport.
The train was very empty at that hour!
Once we got to the Newark Broad Street station, we took the light rail to Newark Penn Station.
And then, after taking yet another train to the airport, we got on the Air Train monorail to get to our terminal.
Can you see New York City in the background of this shot?
Getting close to the terminal. Time to hop on to one of those planes!
The flight left right on time and landed early at Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) in Fort Myers.
Nice airport, but look at the size of those bugs!
Spac then met up with his family members and they got down to business with the memorial service, getting affairs in order and clearing out the house. That crazy bear even ran a marathon on Sunday. Everything was happening so fast that we couldn't get any good photos.
However, Spac ensured that we did get these two shots on the dock at the canal behind the house where Spac deceased relative lived in Cape Coral.
We watched the sunrise from there each morning.
Well, that was all for our surprise visit to Florida (11 states now!). Seriously, we're coming home soon!!
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Posted Nov 19, 2013, 11:27 pm Last edited Nov 19, 2013, 11:29 pm by Spac the Bear
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Little Falls, New Jersey, USA - 13th December 2013
By: Spac the Bear
Once we got back from Florida, we returned our focus to our plan to go home to Arizona.
At the end of November, we took this photo with the last lingering autumn colors on the trees here in New Jersey, before the cold turned the leaves brown and the wind blew all the leaves to the ground.
We remember what it was like when we got here last winter - with the trees bare and snow on the ground. Remember this photo from our second day here?
Since then, we've got to witness the drastic and beautiful changes of season here in the Northeast.
Before going home, though, we had to say goodbye to our friend (and one of Spac's bestest buds), Baby Beau Bear. So we had a sleepover at his house with Knut and Graham there, too. It was the Block Island gang back together again!
So long Knut. We'll miss you and your big polar bear cuddles.
Bye bye, Beau. We had a lot of fun together on Block Island and in New Hope.
We love you so much, we need to give you kisses!
Then it was time to go back to Spac's house for some very difficult goodbyes to our East Coast family.
Take care Nibbly. It was great hanging out with you at Spac's place, especially because you're small like us.
Farewell, Terence, our fellow Arizonian. (Nice to see you've grown your moustache back, by the way). We will be sure to say hi to all your Digi brothers and cousins back home.
Puppy Graham. Oh, Puppy Graham. What can we say? We are so happy to have been able to spend time with you here since your return from Chicago. We will miss you so much.
And of course, our host bear, Spac. What fun we had this year. You sure are an adventurous bear and we enjoyed coming along on your trips. Eleven states in 12 months is pretty darn good for a couple of Toy Voyagers. We have such great memories...and a box full of souvenirs that we can't wait to show Bart and the gang!
Big, big hugs to you, brother bear. Farewell.
Time to hop in our new travel box. We needed a bigger box to accommodate all this stuff we accumulated!
Time to get back to the warmth of Arizona and be with our family again for the holidays! Love you all!!!
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Posted Dec 13, 2013, 9:40 pm Last edited Dec 13, 2013, 9:44 pm by Spac the Bear
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