We must really love Arizona as we keep coming back. We came this time to get some sun and warmth, sun we can always get in Utah but lately it has been freezing cold. It takes about 12 hours (depending on how you drive, Kathy can get to Phoenix in 10 hours but she drives supersonic LOL) to get here so we decided to break up the journey by leaving a day early and stopping for the night ‘somewhere’.
That ‘somewhere’ was 3 or so hours down the road in Beaver, had we been able to leave earlier we might have got further but it was a good time to stop and still get something to eat. It was cold and I made Tim empty the car as I was afraid stuff would freeze, he didn’t really believe me but as you all know I can be such a nag!
Sure enough the next morning, Tim had left his bottle of water in the car and it was frozen solid. He was amazed but when you factor in the 8F temperature we had woken up to (24F degrees below freezing or -13C) it’s hardly surprising.
The hardest part was repacking the car in such freezing conditions, at least it wasn’t snowing.
I spent most of the trip laying in the back seat which is REALLY boring I can tell you. I did some of the driving but no longer than a hour tops at a time with a total of about 4 hours out of the 12. If I sit for longer than that I get bad cramps in my hips, my back can sieze up and I get really bad nerve pain in my legs that night; back surgery is so much fun NOT!
Tim, and this is very unusual for him, suddenly pulled off the road into a view area at Lake Powell just before you get to the Glen Canyon Dam. I’m usually the one who wants to stop at every view and read every sign so it was a pleasant surprise. Here’s some of the pictures we took:
Lake Powell Area: you can just see the road we were driving on to the left of the picture. As with the rest of Utah it’s "mostly empty"!
I love this photo, it so captures the spirit of the west, you almost expect to see indians on horseback whooping across the scenery!
A close up of the Lake Powell marina. The white line you can see at the waters edge is about 100 feet or more tall and shows how far the water receded during the drought conditions at the turn of the century (2000 that is!)
This picture shows the Glen Dam Hydro Electric plant in the background, usually you wouldn’t even notice it is there as it really does blend in but is was really cold (30F) so the steam condensed in the air and it is now hard to miss! Again you can see the white line where the water has dropped due to the drought. The lake is 26 miles long and the drop is 100 feet, that’s a lot of water gone and it will take a loooong time to fill back to where it was.
Marriott’s Canyon Villas Resort at Desert Springs
This is where we managed to get 2 weeks vacation using our time share and I have to say it is a lovely place. Shame about the weather, it could be a bit warmer but then the whole western side of the America is experiencing a very cold snap right now. When I called Jeanette today (Monday 7th Dec) to see how things were going back home she said they have had a load of snow so I really can’t complain about the rain! At least we don’t have to shovel it.
Outside our condo: Canyon Villas at Desert Ridge (before it began raining)
Dining and kitchen area
Sonja saying leave me alone I want to eat
Master bedroom with HUGE bath and second sink area beyond
Nice detail between one of the bathrooms and the bedroom
Tim’s sink, thought we had better get a picture before he messes it all up ;o)
So while we are here Tim is working mornings on his laptop, nothing new there, I am relaxing, writing my blog and feeding my Sudoku addiction! Now that’s what I call a vacation.