One of the more significant issues that came about with the pandemic in 2020 was how the economy was affected. Early on, there was resistance at all levels to shut down business at any level because even the threat of an economic collapse wasn’t good for anyone.
For me in a government job in which I tend to be one of only a handful of people trained to do specific elements of my daily work, I felt relatively safe for the short term. However, in the first few months of the pandemic, my promotional company that tends to be my money source for vacations lost two events in 2020. And I noticed other events and daily businesses that relied on crowds were having to shut down at least temporarily to help slow the spread of the CoronaVirus.
As I left Idaho and began my southward journey into Utah, I noticed an amusement park in or near Ogdon that was open for business. As I later learned, Lagoon Amusement Park is one of the only family-owned amusement parks in the country and has over 60 thrilling rides, 40 challenges games and the largest “kiddie land” of any amusement park in the U.S.
And it was also amidst a controversy given it’s up-and-down policy changes and how it reacted to the spread of the virus. The park initially opened to limited crowds and then made adjustments to attempt to limit access to certain rides while also doing what it could to keep the money coming in. One of those “policies” was to not discourage those with pre-purchased tickets from coming anyway, even when they were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Fortunately for me, amusement parks weren’t on my radar for this trip. Instead, I saw Utah as a wonder of nature with three national parks that were on my list of places I had always wanted to see. I was so excited to check out Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park that I barely paid attention to the Great Salt Lake to the west of my drive into Salt Lake City. I paid little attention to the long stretches of mountains on both sides of my drive south into Utah’s capital city and my first overnight stay in a state I had only previously viewed from an airplane.
Getting up early and getting packed up, I was out of Salt Lake City just hours after arriving. I drove a mountainous trip eastward to Arches National Park and saw some incredible views that were made most impressive by arched rock formations throughout the park. Other formations included rocks upon rocks and what appeared to be cave openings that were definitely beyond where I was willing to hike.
The disappointment with Arches was mostly in how many people showed up on what was a bit of a chilly day, but I journeyed on to my next destination after a few hours. After stopping for lunch in Green River (nope, not that Green River), I took myself on a southwestern drive across the state to get to Bryce Canyon. I had originally planned on camping out there but the cold front that had rolled through a couple of days before led to me booking a room at a lodge outside the park. It turned out to be a great decision as this turned out to be my favorite overnight stay of the trip and I had a few hours to just relax and get rested up for the home stretch of the vacation.
Well rested, I woke up early the next day and headed to the park as the sun was just starting to peek its head over the horizon. Knowing that Bryce Canyon had spots known for producing great sunrise photos, I managed to beat the crowds and get some great shots of the mountainous terrain with the sun glaring in the background. I didn’t spend much time here but I did enjoy the views and was ready to head to the final leg in Utah - Zion National Park.
After getting a great natural arch tunnel shot at Red Rock State Park just outside of Bryce Canyon, I navigated through some annoying construction detours to make my way to Zion. The highway delays had me running slightly behind so I rushed through Zion quicker than intended, but I was able to get through the entire park or at least the parts that were open. And yes, COVID-19 was contributing to certain areas prone to crowds being shut down.
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