September 10, 2019

  This is the first page for the blog for our Cosmos bus tour - Circle the American West, travelling through the mountains in the American states of Colorado, southern Utah and northern Arizona. 
   We start and end in Denver, Colorado. The furthest south destination is the full day at the Grand Canyon. 

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September 16, 2019

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  We were up just before sunrise and walked almost a kilometer to Love Muffins on Main Street North for breakfast – an egg shaka, an omelet and 2 decaf Americanos.  We took a route along a residential street at the back and logged 4,302 steps before the 8 a.m. departure for Canyonlands National Park, about 40 minutes away. The bus is equipped with its own Wi-Fi which we are told is slow and may not be available as we visit remote areas. Each bus seat has an electrical outlet to charge electronics.   We spent the morning at 3 different locations within the “The Island in the Sky” part of the park.  The park is divided into three distinct regions which are divided by either the Green River or the Colorado River.  The most accessible region is “The Island in the Sky”, next is the somewhat accessible “The Needles” which has a lot of needle like rock formations and the last is “The Maze” which is the wildest only featuring unpaved four wh...
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September 18, 2019

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   The temperature was a brisk 5°C for our short walk to the main Ruby’s Inn restaurant.  The sun was just rising. Today’s departure time was 8 a.m. and everyone was on time.    We drove back to highway 12 through the Dixie National Forest into Red Canyon before turning onto highway 89 that very gradually descended toward Zion National Park along the Virgin River. To pass part of the drive, Matt showed a video about Zion National Park. At Mount Carmel we turned onto highway 9 to enter through the east gate. The first stop was a short photo opportunity to see the petrified sand dunes, like those which we had seen in the Arches National Park, called the Checkerboard Mesa which is 2,030 meters above sea level. The sides are naturally lined resembling a checkerboard to the early settlers. Jose slowed the bus almost to a crawl, for people to take pictures, when a Big Horn Sheep was spotted grazing by the roadside. We passed through a 1.7-kilometer...
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September 14, 2019

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  We had a light breakfast at the nearby DazBog café. We started the Circle the American West bus tour this morning, leaving the hotel by 8:25 a.m.  People could sit wherever they wished this morning and that would be today’s seat. Tomorrow the assigned rotating seating will start.  Today’s journey was about 426 kilometers (265 miles).     We drove through the edge of Denver’s city center and then west on Interstate 70.  Our guide, Matt, relayed lots of information about the rules for the trip – especially, don’t keep the bus waiting.  Three people during the day didn’t appear to have heard that one.  Matt explained that Colorado has three distinct geographical areas. On the east side are the Eastern Plains, which includes Denver; in the center are the Rocky Mountains which has 54 of the highest peaks in Colorado. Then the Western Slope and Plateau which is on the west side, extending into eastern U...
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