The Side Trip.

What style of traveller are you?  Do you stick to the plan or do you not have a plan at all.  Go down every dark ally you come across, or follow the well worn tourist paths.

Well, on the USA trip we took we had this choice to make.  The plan was to drive from Las Vegas to Brice National Park.   The drive was great, the scenery was breathtaking and very different from what we were used to seeing.  As you do on a driving holiday we stopped for a comfort break and chatted to the locals.  One of them told us about a Nation park we would be driving past later in the day and suggested that we may like to detour and check it out.  We were on a time table, but we stopped in at the ranger station and after getting over the fact that we would have to pay $30 to get into the Nation Park, we said why not. 

It was a short drive of about 5 miles up to a look out and then back down again.   Now this side trip was not part of the schedule for the day, but we said we have ½ hour let’s check it out. We can fit that into our day.

Well we started to drive up the road and as we was winter the road was a bit slippery and being from North QLD was not the norm for Bruce.  But the view!  We were in ZION Nation Park which has rich red soil and there was snow all over the hills.  The higher we got the better the view got.  I think we stopped 5 times on the way up so I could take a photo or two.   I would say “This is the last stop for photos” but around the next corner would be a view I had to stop and take another photo of.

Then we got to the top.  Looking one way was the hill with its dark red soils and white snow with evergreen trees.  It looked like a postcard.  Then the other way was a view into the valley below. Just breath taking.

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After a quick look Bruce and Dad sat in the car out of the cold and waited while I took my photos.  I promised on the drive back down we would not stop but you guessed it, we stopped 4 more times.  We ended up taking 2 and a bit hours seeing what ZION had to offer.  But we all agreed that it was well worth the time and ended up being one of the high lights of the trip.

 Sometimes we are given opportunities or side trips  that are not in our plan, but if we are brave enough to say let’s just check this out we may all be surprised and find the best bit of the trip or your life on a side  path you were not expecting to take.