Residents tour Utah’s “Mighty Five”

When villa resident Mary Ellen Murphy organized a 12-day western tour primarily for fellow church members, eight others who are residents of Western Home Communities jumped at the chance to visit Utah’s five national parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion.  

“It was a very good experience and we were tired every night!  The scenery was lots of mountains and rocks,” explains first-time Utah visitor Doris Hewlitt of Windridge. She and her husband, Bob, especially appreciated Bryce Canyon, with its famous red rock hoodoos – tall, thin spires of rock formed by erosion.  

“We stood at the top and looked down,” Bob recalls. “It was fantastic!  We didn’t know Utah has so many rock formations and canyons.” 

Bryce Canyon is also considered one of the best places to stargaze in the United States, and the group enjoyed an astronomy program on a very cold night.  They spent three nights at Red Cliffs Lodge in Moab, with surrounding scenery made popular in commercials and movies such as “Thelma and Louise” and “Geronimo.” 

“It was really very nice, with the Colorado River right behind us and rock formations all around us,” Bob reflected. 

The group also toured Monument Valley inside Navajo Nation before heading into southern Colorado, stopping at the world’s highest suspension bridge. Royal Gorge towers 1,053 feet above the Arkansas River. Fog rolled in and obscured the view but the travelers still enjoyed a vintage train ride along the river.  

The next day, the group boarded the Pikes Peak Cog Railway for a nine-mile excursion to the 14,110 foot summit, a breathtaking end to their tour; in fact, the panoramic views inspired Katharine Lee Bates in 1893 to pen a poem that became the lyrics to “America the Beautiful.” 

From left, residents Mary Ellen Murphy, Sally Davis, Doris and Bob Hewlitt, Kathy and Jay Agness, Marge Polacek, and Dan and Jan Krause pose with their bus driver, Jake.