First road trip since Pandemic: (nearly) border to border

The Saguaro was in full bloom

Red was the dominant rock color

Katie atop Wassen Peak, high point of Tucson Range in Saguaro National Park

Prickly Pear blooms brightened the desert

Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River in Glen Canyon near Page, AZ

Cholla blooming in the desert

Red Rocks in precarious perching

Hopi cliff dwellings in Walnut Canyon east of Flagstaff

 We hadn't had a real road trip since October 2019, pre-pandemic, when we got in a terrible car wreck in Minneapolis.

Yes, there have been numerous hiking and backpack excursions, totally distanced and locked down, since then as Covid-19 did its number.

Because we were fully vaccinated and fully stir crazy we thought a trip to visit grandchild in Salt Lake City and Katie's  (vaccinated ) parents vacationing in Tucson, would be in order.

We spent nine-days and drove 2,800 miles that took us border to border (Canada to Mexico) and through some startlingly spectacular desert that displayed her spring flowers.

In Tucson we explored the East and West units of the Saguaro National Park, climbing the Tucson Range high point --- Mount Wassen, and driving the Mount Lemmon scenic drive in the Catalina Mountains to witness the ecological zones beginning at the bottom in the Sonoran Desert and ending on top in a Doug Fir forest and past a ski resort in cool shade above a scorching ground level.

The saguaro and numerous other cacti were in spring bloom in all spots.

We stayed in a deserted winter vacation enclave.  Temperatures were a perfect mid-80s during the day while it snowed in Great Falls.  Our timing couldn't have been better.

Between southern Utah and Arizona there is just too much to see ---- national parks and monuments, Indian reservations and scenic byways through mountain ranges and desert.

We stopped at Walnut Canyon east of Flagstaff for  look at the ancient cave dwellings, and spent some time in the Page, AZ area to hike to the Horseshoe Bend Overlook on the Colorado River.

I was shocked to see the deep poverty of the Navajo people, living in this harsh, isolated land.

Our timing was perfect ---- there were spring blooms and very few tourists.

Witnessing the brilliant red bluffs and slot canyons of the Staircase Escalante Monument we were aghast that former President Trump could have taken away a third of the Monument protected status to promote coal development.

We drove between the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryse National Parks and numerous and amazing other public lands.

The stark nature of the desert, and the striking red cliffs were exciting to see.