Update of our Travels to Arizona

How is everyone doing during this hot, stormy, wildfires Summer of wildfires??? Along with covid-19/Delta not going away, life is a very big challenge for us all. Jodi and I are doing our best to stay safe during all the above.We left Federation Forest the 31^st of July and started heading south towards Arizona for our Winter stay. We plan on taking 6 months off from hosting/volunteering.On our trip down to Arizona, we had to visit some states and made sure to see some bucket list places along our way down South. We went through the rest of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and into Arizona. We added two more states to our travel map and have seen 29 states so far.

Oregon and Utah..

When we got to Utah, we felt like our vacation had started. Our first adventurous stop was in Promontory, Utah. The Golden Spike National Park, Promontory Point was the site of the dramatic completion, on 10 May 1869, of the first Transcontinental Railroad, which linked the Union Pacific on the East and the Central Pacific on the West. The show Hell on Wheels is what got us hooked on the Transcontinental railroad development of the early 1800s. Great TV show to watch..

Names of the two trains from the West and from the East.

Jupiter train number #60 facing East the Central Pacific train that came from Sacramento, California and the United Pacific’s Number #119 facing West the Union pacific train from Omaha, Nebraska.

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This was the Golden Spike that was the last spike driven when both the Jupiter train #60 the Central Pacific and Union Pacific’s train #119 the Union Pacific met on May 9th, 1869. Finishing the Transcontinental Railroad from the West, Sacramento, CA and from the East, Omaha, Nebraska. 6 years in the making. Period of 1863 to 1869.

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We then stopped in Ogden, UT for the Ogden Union Train Station Museum. This was a continuation of the Transcontinental Railroad. Ogden was supposed to be the junction point, but it ended in Promontory.  Promontory wasn’t equipped enough to be the main train station, so Ogden was made the main transfer train station for the Transcontinental Railroad.

Just inside the Union Station, there were some beautiful murals at each end of the station inside, they show all the hard work and laborers working the railroads.

We visited the Museum of Ancient Life. Located in Thanksgiving Point, Lehi, UT. The Museum of Ancient Life is one of the world’s largest dinosaur museums. We have never been to a dinosaur museum…

As we were driving to our RV park to get to Zion and Bryce, we happen to pass Butch Cassidy’s childhood home right off of Highway 89. Didn’t know he lived here right near Bryce Canyon National Park, Circleville, UT.

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Jodi and I had a chance to visit Zion National Park, and Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. Both are very beautiful in different ways. We both took lots a great pictures…

Zion National Park

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Bryce Canyon National Park

We wanted to see the Utah Arches but was too far out of our way. We will hit that another time.

Once we finished Utah, we headed to The GREAT GRAND CANYON OF ARIZONA….  We stayed at the Trailer Village Campground at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s a very nice campground with lots of elk walking in and around the camp sites bugling to each other. We even saw a very old large elk, and he was using his big antlers to bring branches down so he could eat the leaves.

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Both of us took many stunning pictures of the Grand Canyon. At the visitor center you can take a shuttle bus to most of all the viewpoints along the canyon. We did that our second day, and took plenty of pictures, the third day Jodi and I hiked the Grand Canyon Rim trail. We hiked about 5 miles. Such an amazing view and sites to see on the Rim trail.  BREATH-TAKING VIEWS

I got up one morning early, 5Am to get a great shot of the Sunrise over the Grand Canyon. It wasn’t as good as I was expecting, but it come out pretty nice. A lot of folks were out to catch it coming up over the Grand Canyon.

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The evening came and Jodi and I went to the far eastern side of the Grand Canyon, Lipan Point to catch the sunset. Also not as good as I was expecting. It was a bad hazy, smoky evening. This is what we got….

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We have a few more weeks to go before we get to Benson, AZ our Winter destination to rest up for 6 months. We have seen what we wanted during our trip south. The rest of the stops we will be taking will be just a few days each to get us to Butterfield RV Resort. Just 3 more stops. Our six months starts the 1^st of October, so we must stop at a few more RV parks before getting to Benson, AZ. We plan on checking out Kartchner Caverns state Park, Tombstone the O.K. Corral, Bisbee mines, and a few other places around Benson, AZ during our stay.

Glad we had a chance to give you all an update with lots of pictures of our travels through 4 states heading to Arizona. Till we post again, take care and please be safe.

The Bobblehead Travelers,    Jodi and Mark