Bryce Canyon National Park

It’s only about 70 miles from Zion to Bryce Canyon, so we were able to see both national parks on the same day. At Sunset Point, elevation 8,000 feet, we sat in on a park ranger’s geology talk. He reviewed decades of recent precipitation/temperature data recorded in Bryce Canyon and millions of years of weather and geologic forces that have created the strange-looking pillars of rock called hoodoos that make the park so distinctive.

Kev and I walked along the canyon rim but didn’t venture down into the hoodoos, fins, mazes, pinnacles and spires. The trails are steep but for someone with limited walking ability, a lot can be seen from up top. The colors are breathtaking. Rock formations in Bryce Canyon started developing in the Cretaceous Period, which began 144 million years ago and lasted until about 65 million years ago.

Fig the Casket Maker

On the outskirts of Zion National Park there’s a fellow named Fig who makes caskets in a Quonset hut. I noticed his sign and his workshop last year while driving through the little town of Orderville, Utah on a road trip with my daughter. This year, the same intriguing sign caught our eye and my uncle and I turned down a gravel road off Highway 89 to meet the man who builds boxes for burials.

Merlin “Fig” Figgins and his wife Stacy have been making wooden caskets by hand for 23 years. They started out by constructing a casket for Stacy’s dad when he he died. “The best thing about caskets,” Fig joked, “is nobody every complains.” The custom woodworkers also make cabinets, cedar chests and cremation urns.

Fig told us business has picked up enough that they’re getting out of cabinets to focus full-time on caskets. They offer three models – constructed of knotty pine, red cherry, or red cedar. Prices range from $1,800 to $2,000 and more. Woodburned artistic scenes created by Stacy’s twin sister can be ordered to decorate a casket.

Our chat in the Quonset hut set up a deeper philosophical conversation in the car as we continued our drive to Bryce Canyon. Fig impressed us with his deep sense of pride in the craftsmanship and quality products of the Orderville Casket Company. Yes, it was out of the ordinary and even ironic to meet up with a casket man while on this bucket list trip. But aren’t we all potential customers, sooner or later?

Zion National Park

The canyon walls, cliffs and colorful geologic formations of Zion National Park are simply majestic and glorious. We drove through the park at a leisurely pace, with frequent stops to admire the towering prehistoric stone peaks. The Zion Mt. Carmel Tunnel and Highway stretches 5,613 feet through the sandstone cliffs above Pine Creek Canyon. The longest vehicular tunnel in the national park system, it was built along with the highway between 1927 and 193o.

The best value in America has to be the National Park Service Senior Pass. U.S citizens or permanent residents aged 62 and over can get admission to all national parks for a one-time fee of only $10. It’s good for life and admits up to three adults traveling in the same vehicle as the pass holder. You can’t beat that deal. Zion National Park is of more than 2,000 national recreation sites including monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails.

There’s also a free lifetime Access Pass available to U.S. citizens or permanent residents that have been medically determined to have a permanent disability.

If you’re too young for a senior pass, the park service sells an annual pass for $70 that’s good at all the national parks. Again, it’s a bargain, to be able to see such a magnificent natural wonder as Zion.

Purple Fez, Blue Tortilla, Red Rock

More to come on the transportation situation. Leaving Las Vegas, early afternoon traffic slowed on Interstate-15 until a few miles outside downtown. Billboards along the highway advertised a stream of discount dinners, room rates and casino specials. One of our guidebooks featured a bistro in Mesquite, Nevada called the Purple Fez. As intriguing as that sounds, we decided to push on to the Utah state line. After 170 miles and three hours of driving, we arrived in Springdale, UT. It’s just outside the gates of Zion, with frequent shuttle service to and from the national park.

A young woman working the registration desk of our motel suggested Oscar’s Cafe for dinner, and her recommendation was solid. We shared a pitcher of Wasatch Evolution Amber Ale with a bowl of blue corn tortilla chips and feasted on one of the many garlic burgers on their menu and a healthy plate of tilapia tacos. Oscar’s has a shaded patio with excellent views of the nearby red cliffs. Springdale is a bit like Sedona without as much commercialization. Small town, backs right up against some stunning geologic formations.

Cafe Oscar, Springdale UT

Sunrise at Springdale UT

View from the parking lot

Hampton Inn, Springdale

Morning view, Springdale

A More Sensible Set of Wheels

Well, Uncle Kevin wasn’t thrilled about my suggestion of a VW Bus. He preferred something more sensible for our drive through the desert to the Grand Canyon. And speedier. No burros, no hippie vans. I had to concede. This is his bucket list trip, after all. Upon landing in Vegas, the rental car company didn’t have a mid-sized SUV available. They did, however, have this sweet little Ferrari convertible…

My Ultimate Roadtrip Vehicle

I’ve had the good fortune to take two amazing cross-country road trips – with my son Dan in 2012 and with my daughter Cashel in 2013.

In between, there have been a bunch of other driving adventures – from New England down to the Carolinas, a jaunt along the Outer Banks, and a pair of spins from Arizona to the Southern California coast. In a different vehicle each time.

For this trip with my uncle, I’d really like to get behind the wheel of a classic. For a couple of native San Franciscans, I can think of no better ride than a Volkwagen bus, late ’60s or early ’70s.

A Swim and a Swig

Like many a brave explorer of Irish heritage, we raised a glass of whiskey the day before setting out into the vast Western wilderness. A shot of Jameson’s, dollop of whipped cream and splash of hot coffee erased the chill after my short swim in San Francisco Bay on Sunday. My brother Mike bought us lunch at the Buena Vista. The fog lifted long enough for a good visit with our Uncle Brendan in The City and a clear view of Alcatraz.

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The Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How

At a family reunion last year I asked my uncle Kevin if he had a bucket list. Well, I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, he replied. At age 82 and with a medical condition called macular degeneration threatening his vision, it was clear that 2014 was the right time for us to schedule a trip. We booked air travel, rental car and hotel accommodations. Today our journey begins.

Kevin Gaffey is a Roman Catholic priest, ordained in 1957 in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He’s been retired for 11 years but is still busy and beloved, baptizing babies, blessing the sick, burying the dead, offering spiritual guidance, celebrating marriages and saying Mass every day. Yesterday he preached at an 8:00 Mass at Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park, CA and then celebrated a 9:30 Mass for the nuns at Sacred Heart School in nearby Atherton.

My brothers and sister and I have always had a handful names for our uncle the priest. To us, he’s Fr. Kevin, Fr. Kev, Uncle Kev or Uncle Father Kevin. One of his grand-nephews added another name, Uncle Priest. To his parishioners he’s known as Father Gaffey and to some of his young parishioners he was respectfully called Papa G. For the purposes of this blog, I’ll refer to my travel companion and co-pilot as Fr. Kevin, Uncle Kevin, Fr. Kev, Kevin, Kev, or the Padre. With all of those passengers onboard, maybe we should hire a bus.

I’m Patrick. Also known as Pat, Patricio, Patricious, and King of the Road Trip. I get to handle all the driving and blogging. The first leg of our trek is a flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas. We won’t what kind of rental vehicle we’re getting until we land in Vegas.

The plan is to visit three national parks and three states. First up will be Zion National Park and then Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. After that, we’ll see the Grand Canyon in Arizona, before heading back across the Colorado River to Nevada. By the way, we won’t be taking any burro rides to the bottom of the canyon. As far as we know.