A Cave without Ceiling, Giant Staircases, and a Wrinkle in the Earth Crust

At the break of dawn we were on the road again hoping to make it just in time for sun rise at Bryce Canyon. This national park is highly frequented by busloads of tourists hence an early visit is recommended.

We entered the park before the toll booth opened and had the rim road almost for ourselves, a little later than anticipated but got some spectacular vistas nevertheless.

There are countless view points and we took the time to stop at each to take pictures.

The natural sandstone columns look indeed like stalagmites in a cave, only that someone removed the ceiling.

Just in time with the crowds arriving we moved on and took scenic highway 12 through Escalante, the Grand Staircase National Monument. Besides this area being a geologist's wet dream featuring canyons, cliffs and plateaus and breathtaking vistas in all colours of the Earth, it was obviously a bit off the beaten track, and also sparsely populated, so we had it all to ourselves.

The rim road, the road only as wide as the rim is...

Here we discovered the best coffee of the trip at Kiva's Koffeehouse... 

and what a vista!

We stopped for a picnic break at the Petrified Forest state park and had to clean up the mess first ;-)

 A petrified tree trunk

Two tiny scooters hiding in the shadow of a trailer, reminding me of mother hen and little chicken.

The next attraction was the scenic route through Capitol Reef National Park, a 100 miles long 'warp in the Earth crust' defined by a geological form called waterpocket fold. More rock porn for the inclined amateur geologist.

We arrived late in Moab, and asked for a good Italian restaurant. We should have known better than to follow the recommendation that the guy at the reception provided us with. He looked more than a gourmand than a gourmet, hence the pizza was everything but Italian, rather a huge cheese pie. We gave up and boxed the rest, which was another two meals worth, and fell instantly into a food coma.