Virgin River Canyon

Utah had paid the US Government to open three of their national parks including Bryce Canyon and Zion while the government shutdown was still going on so.....Utah here we come. 

As we headed north out of Las Vegas on I-15, we passed by Las Vegas Motor Speedway...

...and then on through the Nevada desert.  Pretty desolate, don't you agree?

We began to see some mountains way off ahead of us -- the Virgin Mountains.

 

And then we were back in Arizona again. 

As we got closer and closer to the mountains, we began to wonder where the road went.  It just seemed to disappear into the mountains.

Do you see that big crack in the mountains?

That big crack is the pass to take us through the Virgin Mountains.

Why don't you ride along with us through the Virgin River Gorge?

 

We were so surprised by the beauty of this gorge.  We could see the Virgin River below.

 

 

And as we headed out of the canyon, it got even more beautiful!

 

Hop on and ride a little further with us!

It just got prettier and prettier. 

We drove by canyons cut out by the river...

and the Virgin River got bigger the further north and east we drove.

We also saw some red rock "statues".

Very surprisingly beautiful!

Interstate 15 travels through less than 30 miles of Arizona but that 30 miles is one of the most beautiful stretches of interstate we have traveled on.

We crossed the state line into Utah...

and the speed limit increased to the highest we have seen in the US. 

Of course, we keep trucking along at our cruising speed of 62 mph. 

The scenery in Utah is pretty amazing too.  We can't wait to see Bryce Canyon and Zion!