Day 3 of Bryce Canyon Trip ...

Weather: Sunny to overcast
Fuel: 9 gallons at Page, AZ
Quote of the Day: "Hate to get back to Phoenix weather," by moi.

I woke up early again. I guess the morning chill does not allow me to sleep late. Or maybe, I just went to sleep too early. Anyway, I packed up everything and readied myself for the jorney back home. After putting things in the small trunk of my car, I decided to drive back to Red Canyon, which is about 20 miles west of Bryce. I remember Red Canyon being very scenic and I wanted to take good photos with flattering lighting.

The drive to was nice since there were no traffic whatsoever. I guess it is too early for most. I did not see anything that I recognized as Red Canyon. If it was not for the signs, I would not have noticed Red Canyon. I did not find any scenic vistas I remember wanting to take photos of when we drove through two days ago. How weird!

I decided to drive back to Bryce and take some more pictures. I was racing against time, since I could see the sun was about to rise. I wanted to be in Bryce just before the sunrise. Well, my time was just a little late. C'est la vie! I took some pictures anyway. I hung around the vista for awhile before heading over to the inn, because I knew they were still sleeping.

I knocked on the door when it was about eight local time. It took them about an hour to get ready so they could check out. We were going to hike Mossy Cave Trail before heading back back home. It was an easy hike. I was excited to see running water, because I could practice taking photos using slow shutter time. I took some okay pictures, but nothing spectacular like Arizona Highways or anything. There was too much light for that. The Mossy Cave was not a great destination, but at least there was a mossy cave at the end of the trail unlike most trails that do not have any ending landmarks. When we got back to the parking lot, Dhumal and I waited for Danielle and others to start driving ahead of us like usual. Well, it took sometime and we wondered what happened. The Xterra did not start. I was starting to think, "we might be delayed for sometime." Danielle did not sound very concerned. She told us and other helpful bystanders, "it usually starts if I just jiggle the contact." Voila, it worked. Thank God!!

Our drive back was uneventful. We stopped at Kanab and decided to have lunch at Page. Since we stopped, we were taking our bathroom break. We all took turn taking care of our business while arguing which was a better snack cake, Snow Balls or Ho Hos. Although I argued ardently for Snow Balls, Ho Hos seemed to be favored by most. Snow Balls have cream filling, chocolate cake, and marshmallow cover with coconut shavings. If that does not describe a perfect snack cake, then I don't know what does.

None of us were ready for what happened next. Danielle came out with the ladies room. She told us that she dropped her keys while changing her clothes. Yuck! She had to put her hand in the toilet. Luckily, her keys stayed in the toilet, and toilet water was not polluted.

We discussed where we would eat in Page. As I read names of restaurants from my coupon book, we settled on Sonic. Sinziana suggested that Dhumal and I drive top down. It sounded fine at the time since I used sun screen. Weather became too hot for a convertible ride for me. Once we got in Page, we started looking for a Sonic. It was funny, but Page did not seemed to have a Sonic. We ate at a local burger joint. I had a green chile burger. It was a little too bland for my taste, but good for a quick lunch. I finished eating a little early so I could fuel up. I put the top back on my car for the rest of the trip back.

On the way back to Flagstaff, I took a lead for a change. I was getting tired of following. I kept my eyes on the Xterra anyway. Just outside of Flagstaff, I saw a coyote walking in front of Xterra in a very nonchalant manner.

Once we got in Flastaff, we stopped at a McDonalds for a break. Dhumal left to rejoin the group for the rest of the trip. I drove back home rest of the way alone since the rest were parked at Sinziana's. We took Carefree Highway and bypassed the bottleneck on I-17. That worked out great. I was at home at last. I just wished I said good bye to the group in Flagstaff more formally.

If you missed other journal entries, they are at Day 2 and Day 1.