Bryce Canyon
Saturday, May 14th, 2011
It was becoming clear that we were in some beautiful parts of the country. But as gorgeous as Zion National Park and the drive after had been, they still paled in comparison to the amazing scenery to be found at Bryce Canyon. Whereas almost everything that Bob and I had explored on our previous United States road trips had to do with American History and man-made ‘things’, this time we were enjoying the majesty of many God-made things with histories that dated back billions of years before America was even a twinkle in His eye. Even the Egyptian pyramids couldn’t have rivaled some of these sights. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes I stay at home on Saturdays, maybe do a few chores, watch a little TV. Sometimes things are more exciting and I travel up to Findlay or visit with family. Then there are Saturdays like the one on April 30, 2011, where I choose to spend Saturday in the New York City area, giving new meaning the phrase “New York Minute” – which is about how long I felt like I was there. You probably won’t be surprised that the event that precipitated this bizarre act of travel was the Spring Chiller Theatre Show. After attending not one, but two Hollywood Shows already in 2011, I hadn’t really been planning on attending Chiller already. However, it wasn’t long before the incredible line-up, which pretty much blew away both of the 2011 Hollywood Shows put together, convinced me otherwise. 
Bob and I left Las Vegas in the dust and headed toward Zion National Park on the late morning of Saturday, March 26, 2011. When we hit Utah, we hit the Mountain Time Zone – so my very first visit ever to the state of Utah occurred at exactly 12:28pm. I was ecstatic. From there, it was about another hour and 15 mintues to get to the gates of Zion National Park. The first thing I noticed upon entering Utah was that cell phone reception became sketchy. I would eventually lose it entirely. This might be because it seemed that almost no one lived in this state! We would travel miles and miles with no sign of civilization, only mountains and mountains – which was actually quite beautiful. 
After spending a good portion of the early day checking out many of the Fantasyland rides that I typically bypass, Jimmy, David, and I continued with our visit to Disneyland on Friday, March 25, 2011, with more traditional fare. After we had disembarked the Disneyland Railroad at the front of the park, we hit the first attraction we came to on Main Street U.S.A.: Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln. Always a classic (and pre-cursor to the Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents), this attraction welcomed us to the 3:00pm showing and front row seats. This enabled me to get at least one good photo of Mr. Lincoln in the room where cameras were frowned upon. 
The original plans were to go back to Bob’s house in San Bernardino after Disneyland and then head out early Saturday morning toward our Utah destinations, stopping in Las Vegas for breakfast that morning. Then we had even talked about skipping Disney and just spending the whole day Friday in Vegas. What we ended up was an amalgam of both. After we had finished eating dinner at the Blue Bayou, Bob and I headed out from Disneyland directly toward Las Vegas on Friday, March 25, 2011.