Green River State Park, Utah
Heading once more into the high Rockies for Telluride. Gorgeous day for taking in the views.
First thing we did in Telluride was hop on the Gondola and head up to the Mountain Village. I think we had as much fun riding the Gondola as our great-nephews, the Duni boys. We've heard a lot about it from them so we wanted to experience it for ourselves. Thanks boys, good tip - great fun!
Love the waterfall at the end of the canyon overlooking Telluride. We were last here 7 years ago and gosh how things have changed. The town seems to have grown and is even more upscale than we remembered.
We spent the late morning and early afternoon hanging around town, browsing in the shops and having lunch.
Bye Telluride. Hope it's not another 7 years before we see you again.
The transition from the Rockies to the sandstone red cliffs was pretty dramatic. Here's some pics along the way.
Next destination, Canyonland National Park. After much discussion of whether we hit the southern Needles area or the northern Island in the Sky, we finally opted for the latter. Good thing. Our A/C went out just as we were coming into Moab. After talking to a couple of auto repair shops we found someone who will hook us up with a freon charge at 5 pm. (Back of the napkin math...45 min. to Canyonland, 30 min. to look around, 45 min. back. We got this).
Mmm...didn't factor in that things could heat up. Windows down, hair blowing, the chase is on.
NASCAR Eurovan driver Mr. Ned with wheels smoking breaks google driving estimate by 4 minutes.
Canyonland, Island in the Sky, or as we like to call it "Deadlline in the Sky".
We drove to a couple of the overlook viewpoints and dang...just jaw dropping stunning!
No...I'm not getting any closer to the edge. You'll have to take my picture here.
(For the record this is our 37th National Park out of the 59. Wonder if we'll ever make it to American Samoa or the Virgin Islands National Parks?!).
The Green River Overlook.
Winnie was all charged up and ready to go. By the time we pulled out of town at 6ish, the temperature outside read 116 degrees! We were going to drive back to Canyonland and camp in one of the primitive campgrounds. We thought it would be fun to get up super early and take some sunrise shots of these incredible views, but I called "uncle." I'm just too dang hot to go without a shower. After a quick perusal of nearby state parks, we found Green River about an hour away. We stayed here about 7 years ago and know it well. Nothing much more than an overnight wayside stop, but it does have showers! It's also the watermelon capitol of the world - who could turn that down? Shower and Ned set up his homemade mosquito netting under the awning. We're golden for tonight.
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