Utah – our 47th state to visit!

We left Las Vegas on Wednesday May 25 at 9:15 with Acey’s mileage at 84,775.7, Thor’s 102,968, and 2004.3 miles on our bicycles. We drove thru the northwest corner of Arizona.

We had another beautiful clear day for a scenic drive today with lots of curves and ups and downs!

before long, we crossed into Utah

We arrived at Circleville RV Park at 3:30 Mountain time – and Linda worked on finishing the Nevada blog, and we added Utah to our map – just 2 more states to visit in Acey!

Thursday morning, we drove out to see Bryce Canyon National Park. We had been there in 2002, but it is such an amazing and unusual place, we had to go back! Before we had even entered the park, we saw some cool rock formations.

… and a tunnel thru the rock!

We went to the visitors’ center and learned how the canyon got its name – from a nineteenth century settler named Ebenezer Bryce. Weathering and erosion have formed the spectacular hoodoos, spires and towers in the rock. We started driving through the park and stopped at various viewpoints.

Swamp Canyon – elevation 7,998 feet

Piracy Point

V

in the distance, we could see a volcanic cone! (below the “V” above)

We went down a path to Farview Point (elevation 8.819 ft)

Next stop – Natural Bridge – elevation 8627 – the structure is technically an arch

Agua Canyon viewpoint – elevation 8800

Two ravens flew in to pose for photos

Ponderosa Point – elevation 8904

Rainbow point – elevation 9115

from the Bristlecone Trail

Yovimpa Point

Jim zoomed in on the volcanic cone again

Some flowers we saw along the way

We had a picnic lunch and headed back down the road. A large white rock formation caught our attention as we drove along!

We missed the stop for Black Birch Canyon (elevation 8750) on the drive out, so we stopped to look.

Other than the ravens, we didn’t see much wildlife, except for this critter! Chippy!

The large canyon awaited us as we headed to Bryce Point (8296 ft) Photos hardly capture the absolutely stunning beauty of this place!

Looking closely among the trees at the bottom of the canyon, we saw folks on horses – what a way to explore the rocky canyon and have a whole different view!

and more folks going down a trail!

As we got back to Circleville, we stopped to see Butch Cassidy’s “boyhood home” – he lived here from about age 14-18. You just never know what you may find as you come to a small town! There was a small cabin and a barn – and the parking lot also serves as a trailhead.

Friday morning, we left Circleville at 9am – Acey’s mileage 85,023.1 and Thor’s 103,113. Another scenic drive!

We saw snow on the mountains as we got closer to our destination.

We stopped at 12:30 for some diesel in Draper – just 32 gallons – and arrived at Circle L MH & RV Community in Layton, UT at 1:30 – got set up and had lunch.

TODAY – May 27 marks our second anniversary of “hitting the road” – we left Nashville after staying at Grand Ole RV Resort for five and a half weeks at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. Since then, we have put 23,317 miles on Acey, 36,877 miles on Thor and 2,004 on our bicycles!

Saturday – we finally had some rain, but not much… We went to go see the nearby Hill Aerospace Museum adjacent to the Hill Air Force Base. There were so many interesting aircraft on display, many were outside, The Museum’s Boeing B-52G Stratofortress #92584, nicknamed Midnight Express, was built in 1960 and was one of only 193 G-models manufactured. It was stationed at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam during the Vietnam War and flew in the first wave of Operation Linebacker II in December 1972. (A strike that was instrumental in bringing the Vietnamese government back into negotiations, resulting in the release of 591 U.S. prisoners of war in 1973.) The aircraft was in service with the Strategic Air Command until it was placed on long-term loan with the Museum in 1991; it had accumulated 15,305 flight hours before its retirement. B-52 #92584 remained at the Restoration Center and Reserve Collection at Paine Field in Everett, Washington until 2017 when its restoration began. It is absolutely HUGE!! Notice the landing gear under the wings.

Another behemoth, but not quite as large, was this C-130. Our nephew Sean flew an aircraft similar to this one when he served in the Air Force.

More aircraft inside the museum. This P-38 fighter was recovered in 1993 after it crash-landed on February 2, 1945, on Buldir Island, Alaska. This aircraft was manufactured in 1943 and assigned to the 54th Fighter Squadron of the 343rd Fighter Group, 11th Air Force, on the island of Attu in the Aleutians. It was acquired by Hill Aerospace Museum for display in 1996 after the aircraft’s full restoration.

2 MiGs were on display outside – but viewable thru a glass walkway. Here’s a MiG-21 ~ it was capable of flight over Mach 2

and a MiG-17F from the Soviet Union

The F-117 Nighthawk has an interesting design – kind of reminds one of a child’s drawing of a car with its boxy appearance but it was stealth and undetectable by enemy radar. This aircraft is being restored in place and there are several videos of the restoration you can watch here.

It was interesting to see how the Air Force insignia has changed over the years

You can learn more about the museum and its collections on their website here!

Saturday evening, Linda remembered that the Golden Spike site was nearby, so we decided to go Sunday. It stormed all night – and much needed rain fell. As we were getting ready to get on the interstate, the tire pressure monitor went off showing 22 pounds of pressure on the back passenger tire. We turned around and went back to Acey. Jim found a screw in the tire!

He was able to plug the hole and we took off again, an hour later. The temperature had dropped, and rain continued but let up some as we got to the Golden Spike  National Historical Park.

This is the site where the Transcontinental Railway was completed on May 10, 1869. There were actually FOUR spikes and a special tie at the ceremony celebrating the completion of the railroad. (Read about it here!)

The story starts with President Lincoln signing the Railroad Act in 1862.

At the site where Central Pacific met Union Pacific, there were 2 fully functioning replica steam engines on the track. These locomotives were built in 1979 and very closely resemble the steam locomotives that were here for the ceremony in 1869. (The original No. 119 was scrapped in 1903, and the Jupiter in 1906.)

We got to see both engines make a run down the track!

Check out the website here if you want to learn more!

Saturday evening, Perrine came over to visit and we had dinner. It was great to get together with an old school chum from Michigan! Jim grew up in Franklin not far from Perrine’s home and probably walked thru her backyard on his way to elementary school. Linda met her during Junior High – how fun that both of our lives had crossed with her, and we got to catch up!

Monday, we head to Wilson, Wyoming and hope the rain goes away so we can explore the Grand Tetons!

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6 thoughts on “Utah – our 47th state to visit!”

  1. Your pictures are great. Thank you for posting. I liked the detail about the transcontinental RR finishing 6 years ahead of schedule and the final spikes being wired to the telegraph.

    1. Pretty amazing a government funded job could be done so quickly – even with the Civil War happening during the same time the railroad was under construction. It was quite an undertaking! Wish it hadn’t been so darn cold and rainy – there was a lot more of the park to drive out to see – and then the nearby SPIRAL JETTY would have been really cool to see. We will just have to come back again sometime!

  2. Very interesting !!!!! ALL of it. your pictures are great and the canyon is just beautiful. Truly amazing !!! Enjoy your travels !!
    Be Safe

    1. We had a brief stop at Bryce Canyon back in 2002 and it was really great to spend more time seeing so many more viewpoints. What amazing rock formations – gorgeous!

    1. You are quite welcome Marion! Thanks for following our adventures; glad to have you along virtually! 🙂

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