Friday dawned cloudy, with rain and possible flash floods in the forecast. After breakfast at the motel (waffles! yes!) we took off at 7:00 AM MDT.
Arrived at Zion National Park at 7:45, parked and caught the shuttle for the other end of the park. They don't allow private vehicles in the canyon, so we were entertained and informed by a bus driver on our way to the Temple of Sinawava trailhead.

Sinawava view

Cliffs at Sinawava

Where we saw the skunk

Sinawava showing erosion detail

After seeing a skunk, we cut short some exploration and headed back on the bus to the next good viewpoint. This was near the Lodge, but we hiked a trail to the Emerald Pools and waterfall. Here are some views:

The Virgin River at Zion	The Virgin River through trees	See the waterfall?	Sandra taking a picture of the waterfall
View of the rocks	Another rock view	Down the valley

After a mile or so hike and some picture taking, we hopped on the bus and headed down valley. Sandra went down to the museum while I stopped at the Thrones of the Patriarchs (boy, they had some fancy names for formations!) for a few more pictures.

1st Partiarch

2nd Patriarch

3rd Patriarch

Long view

After a visit to the museum and the visitor center, we departed toward the tunnel on UT-9 on the way out. We stopped and took a few pictures going up the hill and after going through the tunnel:

Heading toward the exit	Pointy hills and neat sky	Formations on way out	Another shot from the road
Note the angle of the rock bedding	Cliffs viewed on way out	Cross bedding caused by ancient dunes	Part flat, part red - color change

We left the park at about 11:10 AM and headed toward Bryce Canyon. Stopped for lunch at a small restaurant at Mt. Carmel Junction; overpriced but decent hamburgers. From Mt. Carmel Junction, took US-89 north to UT-12, then east to Bryce Canyon, arriving at 1:45 with rain.
At Bryce, we found our time limited, but we could drive to the interesting sites since the main tourist season was over. There are a number of scenic points, but I'll just display the pictures with minimal description - they speak for themselves!

On the road into the park	View with fog	View	View
Red!	Clouds and spires	Two colors	Ampitheater
Aspire to be a spire	The low clouds make interesting effects	More spires under the fog	See the narrow gap
Proof that we both made the trip!

We left Bryce about 3:30 heading for Escalante. Had planned to go to Kodachrome Basin State PArk, but missed the turn. By the time we got to Escalante, where a number of state parks in the Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument is, it was too late to stop at several state parks in the area. We spent the night at Torrey arriving at the Wonderland Motel (which is on low mesa with a view of the Waterpocket Fold cliffs) about 6:38 PM. Dinner was a lah-di-dah place with a pianist, no less. Food was good, but who'd have expected that in the middle of nowhere Utah? Here's a few pictures we took on the road and in front of the restaurant.

View from Torrey - disregard the motor home

A second shot from Torrey

Canyon going through the mountains

There's a ranch down there

Total miles for day: 232. Time from Hurricane to Torrey: 11:38.