A little rain in Southern Utah

We were up early and rode 100 miles before we stopped for breakfast at a French bakery in Cedar  City, UT. This is a college town, so there were civilized amenities such as our breakfast place, a Shakespeare festival, and a Starbucks. After breakfast we rode east on UT 14 past the turnoff for Cedar Breaks and over an 8000 foot pass. During the ride we encountered  a brief rain squall, which was enough to get us wet and cool us down. By the time we reached the Long Valley junction at  Highway 89 we were dry and warm again.

We rode  north on 89 and turned east on UT 12, which goes to Bryce Canyon National Park, where we did a quick drive-by and stopped at a couple of viewpoints.

Short tunnel on Highway 12 before  the Bryce turnoff.

Bryce Canyon

Carol points out the hoodoos

Looking down into the bowl

Of course these small pictures don't convey the weirdness of the hoodoos or the immensity of  the canyon.

Leaving Bryce we continued east on UT  12 through  red rock canyons and over passes. Just outside of Escalante we passed by the Shooting Star Drive-In, which is motel and drive-in. The motel rooms are silver Airstream trailers, and you can watch a drive-in movie from vintage cars from the 60s. In Escalante we searched for a place to eat and finally found the Escalante  Outfitters, which had a small restaurant that served excellent food, including small strawberry-rhubarb pies.

The road soon became very curvy as we climbed up the "Grand Staircase". On one section of UT 12 we rode along a narrow crest with steep drop-offs into canyons on both sides.

Rain in the distance on Highway 12

Carols view of the curve ahead, and the back of my head.

After the town of Boulder we climbed up to a 9600 foot pass on Boulder Mt. The temperature dropped to 60 and it began raining in earnest, so we stopped to put on rain gear before we got soaked.

A little rain on Boulder Mountain

 The rain let up as we descended and by the time we got to Torrey and turned east on UT 24 we had mostly dried off, and the temperature began to climb.  The road winds through more red rock canyons and we were very lucky with traffic - there was none - so we had the road to ourselves. We are staying at the Whispering Sands in Hanksville where the temperature is currently 90. Tomorrow we'll ride south on UT 95 through Canyonlands, visit Natural Bridges, and then into Colorado.