Days 1-2 (August 7-8, 2023): Utah Bound!

It’s our summer of exploring turf beginning with the letter U: first, Uzbekistan;  now, Utah.  Utah has five national parks in the southern part of the state, all laid out in a progression from the southwest to the mid-east. Some of the gems of the American national park system are found in these parks, so it has long been an interest of ours to experience them.

I have one more week of vacation leave before starting my retirement on September 15, so we decided this would be the perfect time to explore Utah.

The fastest way to get to Utah’s national parks from the east coast is to fly to Las Vegas and rent a car from there to drive north. Alternatively, one can fly to Salt Lake City in northern Utah and rent a car to drive south from there, but it’s actually a longer drive than from Las Vegas, and flight options are fewer.

We set out for the Halifax Airport at 3:30 PM, caught the 6PM nonstop to Calgary, stayed overnight at a hotel attached to the Calgary Airport, and flew down to Las Vegas at 10:30 AM this morning, arriving at noon. It was 40°C in Las Vegas when we arrived, somewhat of a shock to the system. We took an Uber to the rental car location and before long were heading out of the city on Interstate 15 north.

The bone dry and sizzling desert began to take on interesting forms as we neared Northern Nevada. We didn’t realize it, but our route took us through a slice of northern Arizona, before taking us into southwestern Utah. It was neat to touch, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, all within a 30 minute time frame.

We arrived at our hotel in Springdale, Utah, which is the jumping-off village for exploring Zion National Park, around 6PM.  The village is simply stunning, sitting beneath towering red mountains at the southern entrance to Zion.

We got a quick bite at a pizza and pasta café in Springdale and called it a day. We are excited to see what tomorrow’s explorations of Zion will bring.

Westjet Boeing 737-Max8. Every one of the 174 seats was filled. One of the flight attendants told me the Halifax-Calgary route has been very full all summer. 

It’s a huge country, Canada. Halifax to Calgary is the same distance as flying from the East Coast to the UK. We were glad in a way that Westjet cancelled our early morning flight out of Halifax, forcing us to overnight in Calgary. It was nice to break up the distance with a hotel stay. 

The recently renovated Delta attached to the Calgary Airport made for such a comfortable stay! It was great to be able to walk directly from our arrival gate to our hotel room. The Delta upgraded us to a huge suite, to boot!  The breakfast was excellent, too. 



The view of downtown Calgary on our ascent out of Calgary Airport. 


The Rockies, just south of the Alberta-Montana border. 



Utah’s Great Salt Lake in the northern part of the state.

As the WestJet flight map showed, we flew right over Great Salt Lake.

Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere. A railway line cuts the lake in half east-west. As a result, the northern part, which is to the right in the picture above, is far more salty than the southern part, which is on the left above.

Just north of Las Vegas, these crop circles show the power of circular irrigation systems in the desert. You can also see some solar panel farms in the middle of the photo.

Some of the key buildings on Las Vegas’ famous Strip. 

So interesting to see place names, such as Reno, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles on interstate highway signage.

As we drove along in the very northern part of Nevada, the Mercury hit 109°F, which is 42.7°C. The only higher temperature in the southwest United States today was in Death Valley, California, at 112°F.

Little did we know, interstate 15 cuts through a slice of northern Arizona before continuing into Utah. The mountainous topography of that slice of Arizona was breathtaking. And filled with views, like the one above, where we didn’t know where the road was going. Just when you think you have to be heading into a tunnel, the road miraculously goes around the corner of a mountain.

And there it is, the Utah state line. Fun fact: since 2020, polygamy is basically legal on the other side of that sign! OK, just to be clear, it is not legal, but its punishment has been lessened to that of an infraction. In other words, a speeding ticket and polygamy both net you the same fine. 

as soon as you enter Utah, you hit the second largest city in the state: St. George. And just outside the urban sprawl of St. George and its bedroom community, Hurricane, Utah’s mountains begin to really impress!

And impress more. 

And more!

Finally, we rolled into Springdale, Utah, the village that marks the southern entry point to Zion National Park. And let me tell you, it is one beautiful town. The name really means something to me, as I was born in a town called Springdale (Newfoundland).

Springdale sits in a valley, with a wall of mountains on both sides. As the sun was going down, we got a good taste of what our Park adventure tomorrow will look like.

We didn’t actually go into the park tonight, we just went to the boundary sign. We are leaving the real excitement for tomorrow.