I want to start this post with a bit of an overview of the three national parks we visited on our America’s Canyonland tour. Each of these parks are part of the “Grand Staircase,” an area beginning at the Grand Canyon, going on to Zion and ending at Bryce. Our itinerary was a bit out of order as we ended our trip in Zion. The Grand Staircase is a sequence of sedimentary rocks that ascend from the Grand Canyon to…
We traveled next to Bryce Canyon National Park, another highlight of our trip. On our way, we made a quick photo stop to see Balanced Rock. It is near Lee’s Ferry in Marble Canyon. The National Park Service explains how it came to be: Thousands of years ago a huge rock boulder broke from the cliff above and tumbled to a stop here. The hard conglomerate boulder compressed the softer dirt directly beneath, making it resistant to erosion. The boulder…
After leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove to the Glen Canyon and Lake Powell area, where we had a half hour flightseeing experience. We were on a small plane holding about 12 passengers, each of us with a window seat. The afternoon before, we had visited the Carl Hayden Visitor Center adjacent to the Glen Canyon Dam. The Visitors’ Center was named for Senator Carl Hayden who at the time was the longest serving member of Congress – in fact,…
We left Scottsdale and began driving to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. On the way, we made a lunch stop in Sedona, Arizona. Sedona is famous for its red rocks. I found this explanation of how these beautiful formations came to be. Before the red rock was turned into rock, it was all soft mud and sand. Over a 320 million year period changes in nature helped transform the sand and mud into something more beautiful than we…
We took Tauck’s America’s Canyonlands tour in October of 2022. On this tour we would visit the Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon, Lake Powell, and both Bryce and Zion National Parks. We arrived a day early for our tour and booked an independent, half-day tour that introduced us to the Scottsdale/Tempe/Phoenix area. We first visited Papago Park and the Sonoran Desert where we saw the iconic Saguaro Cactus. The Saguaro is a tree-like cactus that can grow up to 40 feet…
After leaving Vienna, we sailed to Bratislava, Slovakia. Originally known as Pressburg, it was annexed by Hungary in the 11th Century and served as the capital of Hungary for nearly 250 years. In 1919, the city was annexed to the Czechoslovak Republic and at that time its name was changed to Bratislava. The Nazis and then the Soviets controlled Bratislava until 1989. With the split of Czechoslovakia into two nations in 1993, Slovakia became an independent state with Bratislava as…
On our second day in Vienna, we toured the Schönbrunn Palace. Together with the Hofburg, the Schönbrunn Palace is the other major palace in Vienna. The Schönbrunn Palace and its associated buildings, gardens, fountains and statues are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Schönbrunn’s history extends back to Middle Ages. In 1569, Maximilian II acquired it for the Habsburg Dynasty. Emperor Matthias used it for hunting and, while hunting, discovered a “fair spring” which in German is translated “schoner brunnnen”…
Our next port of call was Vienna, where we would spend two days. Vienna is the capital and largest city in Austria. It has been inhabited since 500BC when the Celts first settled here. The historic City Centre was placed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2001. Vienna, situated on the Danube River in the eastern part of Austria, developed from early Celtic and Roman settlements into a medieval and Baroque city, eventually becoming the capital of…
After touring the Cesky Krumlov Palace, we made our way back to Linz and then departed for Dürnstein in the Wachau Valley early the next morning. Brunch was served on the riverboat so we could make our way to the sun deck in the early afternoon to enjoy the beautiful sites. The Wachau Valley is considered one of the most beautiful parts of the Danube and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, both for its architectural and agricultural history. It…
Our next port of call was Linz, Austria. From there we took a bus to Cesky Krumlov, a small town by the Vltava River in the Czech Republic. It was a feudal town founded in the Middle Ages. It attracts tourists because of the Cesky Krumlov Castle complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first castle was established before 1250 by the Lords of Krumlov. This family line died off in 1302. Other families that followed included the Rosenbergs, who…