Seattle Gay News
Issue 38, Volume 45, September 22, 2017
Two old Gay guys hit the road to Santa Fe by Rod Parke SGN A&E Writer Photos by Rod Parke It has been many years since my husband Dale and I attempted an extended car trip. So I wondered how well my advanced age would handle our 4,260 mile journey. Turns out, the comfort of our Prius and daily stretching and exercise made it all quite easy. To get a better start on our first trek to Boise, we wrangled a free night with our friend Mark in Seattle. Slapping ourselves awake the next morning, we hit the interstates at 6am to beat the rush-hour traffic. Ten hours later we found the Best Western at the airport in Boise, where we spent an unsettling night. All of this huge, two-story building had the jitters! I know this because I had a nice young man show me another room on the other side of the building, and it was just as vibratory, thanks to a monster a/c system. So, settling in to be shaken all night, we retired, only to find that the external entry door next to our room banged loudly until after midnight whenever anyone used it until after midnight. To our amazement, because I filled out a survey with some of those details, our full fee was refunded a few days later, with a nice note from the manager! Before the motel horrors, we met our lovely friend Connie for a fabulous dinner at a great Boise restaurant called Fork (http://boisefork. com/). It was truly a great meal in every way, after which we strolled around Boise near the impressive Capitol building. Temp 80F, evening sun. Didn’t know the place was so nice. We made a note to eat at Fork on the return trip. We discovered we both much prefer US highways (like US Route 2 in eastern Washington versus I-90 from Spokane to Seattle) to the 80 mph interstates. (Apologies to President Eisenhower, who gave us the interstate system!) A short distance from Boise, we left I-84 and took US-93 down the eastern edge of Nevada…what a relief, escaping the huge trucks (many 3 trailers long!) and speedsters zipping past us at 85+mph. US-93 felt relaxing and friendly, with almost no traffic on 70 mph roads, slowing only now and then for a tiny town. As we entered southern Utah, we plunked ourselves onto a secondary road that is closed in winter, Route 14, which took us out of Cedar City up a spectacular winding road through an awesome canyon of gorgeous rock walls. It ended at US-89, not far north of our destination, Kanab, UT. Why Kanab? Because it’s located so that the drive to the Grand Canyon (north rim), or Bryce Canyon, or Zion NP are all easy day trips. Our log cabin for 4-nights’ stay in Kanab could not have been nicer. Super-quiet a/c and refrigerator, nice gas stove, very comfy bed, and an absolutely quiet neighborhood, smackdab up against a red-
Arches National Park. Wish you could see the panorama video I took of this spot!
rock mountain. All the hills around Kanab are bright colors of fascinating rock structures with many fissures and caves. A gorgeous area. It’s also, we learned, the home of the largest and probably best animal rescue facility in the US. (More about this later.) We highly recommend VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner), www. vrbo.com, for finding gems like our cabin. That website gives you photos plus direct communication with the owner, adding up to a pretty good sense of what you’re going to get. Our first full day out of Kanab was to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We had dreaded big crowds, but the North Rim sees 1/10th the volume of visitors that see the South Rim. And it’s 1,000 feet higher. Perhaps the South Rim provides more adventures for exploring the Canyon via hiking, pony rides down to the Colorado River, etc., but we weren’t planning such excursions. The cool air and un-crowded viewpoints were just what we wanted. Needless to say, the Grand Canyon did not disappoint. Bryce Canyon was our next day trip from Kanab. Photos can only hint at the colorful grandeur of this place. Again, temps in the mid-70’s and easy parking at every viewpoint, with light crowds. Much of the talk we overheard was from foreign visitors. Here we did indeed hike down 1,000 feet in elevation into the astounding valleys between the “hoodoos” (towers of bright red sandstone, some nearly 1,000 feet tall themselves!). Mind you, we started at 8,800 feet elevation, and every foot you descend must be ascended on the way back. I thought the thin
North rim of the Grand Canyon, showing one of many “windows” in rock formations.
air, the lower right lobe of my lung that went missing last year after lung cancer was removed, and my 79+ years would make that climb back up a challenge. Well, my surgeon would have been proud! The very steep round trip was not without its challenges, what with finding secure footing on the narrow switchback, but it was not difficult, even for me. To say it was worth the effort doesn’t begin to describe the amazing vertical views of these super-colorful
towers. From the top, the people near the bottom appeared as tiny specks! I would recommend wearing something more supportive than the flip-flops we saw, and walking sticks would be helpful. The Grand Canyon was impressive, but Bryce was somehow more special and truly a highlight of our trip. Our third day in Kanab found us a bit tuckered out and inclined to follow Connie’s suggestion to take the see SANTA FE page 4