Highway 12 Cattle Drive, - Green River State Park

We left Escalante about mid morning looking forward to a pretty relaxing driving schedule today. We continued on highway 12 and experienced one of the most jaw dropping gorgeous stretches of road ever! The 25 mile drive between Escalante and Grover has views that easily compete with Zion and Bryce. The fact that we didn’t expect it made it even more impressive. We saw deep red hoodoo canyons, amazing vista views, alpine meadows, and up near the top of the pass miles and miles of Aspen Groves. We were also amazed that the terrain changed from canyon wild west to Texas mesquite prairie to Sierra Mountain-like tall pine trees all within the 25 mile stretch. We also went from mid-70’s to low 50’s and saw patches of snow on the pass. What was the most amazing surprise was when we were coming off the mountain and went around a bend, a cowboy on horseback was in the middle of the road signaling us to slow down. Within moments we shut off our car and were in the midst of a cattle drive. Mom, dad, and little kids were all on horseback driving the mooing cattle past us. See today’s pic of one of the cowboys just a few feet from our car. It was pretty amazing to see cars stopped on both sides of the road as an entire herd of cattle are driven down highway 12. About lunch time we pulled into Capitol Reef State Park. It’s similar to Bryce, but instead of rounded eroded hoodoos and canyons this red sandstone looks much more brittle and broken. We had a picnic lunch at the historic Gifford Homestead in the park. It was founded in 1879 by some crazy ass Mormons who were bound and determined to plant an orchard, raise cattle and make a go of it in this piece of hard scrapple land. They lasted for about 50 years then pulled up stakes. However, their sweet little orchards are still producing fruit and the park has preserved the homestead. It was freezing in the park and the forecast for that evening and the next day called for rain and maybe snow! Egads, the weather was a changing and I was anxious to get a move-on. We continued driving for about another hour until we reached Green River State Park right off Interstate 70. From my planning research we were a little worried that this park was going to be a little too upscale for us. It bragged about lush green lawns and was surrounded by a golf course. Well, here’s proof not to believe everything you read on the internet. Yes, it has green lawns and is in fact surrounded by a golf course. What it doesn’t say is that it is located in a very hard hit town. As we drove thru “town” we passed several abandoned motels, empty gas stations, boarded up buildings and broken down trailer homes. It seems the only business in town are competing RV parks – all pretty pathetic. We asked the campground host if there was a grocery store in town, but he kindly reminded us that it was Sunday so of course it would be closed. Mmm – why is the only bar in town open on a Sunday, but the grocery store is closed? Just askin’… Since we are down to canned chili or peanut butter, we decided to eat out. Well, the restaurants in town are pretty slim pickens. We settled on a “Fine Dining” restaurant, which was pretty much like a Denny’s. The cool thing is that it was located right on the Green River and the waitress was fun to talk to. (Apparently this is watermelon country). We are currently experiencing strong winds in the 40- 50 mph range. It’s warm (77 deg) and not raining so I’m not complaining! Tonight’s entertainment is watching our fellow campers attempt to set up tents in 50 mph gusts. Pretty amusing. Sick aren’t we?! Tomorrow we explore The Arches and venture into the Rockies!

Hoodoo you love? - Escalante Petrified Wood State Park, Utah 5/22

Ned and I took an early morning bike ride thru Zion Park along the Pa’rus Trail. The morning sun was just hitting the tops of cliffs and the light made for some great pics. We biked along the Virgin River, which was rushing in full force and a cool temp of 46 deg! Yikes. Two years ago when we last visited Zion during the month of June, we were swimming in the river and it moved along placidly. What a difference a month makes. After spending a pleasant morning biking and enjoying the drive thru Zion, we headed toward Bryce National Park. While the skies stayed a clear bright blue, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped dramatically. We had planned on doing a horseback ride along the rim of Bryce Canyon, but it was 58 degrees, blowing quite a bit and the wind chill was a killer. We decided to hop the park shuttle and spend the time exploring the sites. When we reached Bryce Point, which has a spectacularly amazing panoramic view of the hoodoos, we asked a very sweet older gentleman if he would take our picture. (See above). After carefully snapping the shot, he proudly beamed, “60 years ago I was a staff photographer in the army.” He was so touched that we had asked him to take our picture. That’s our “hoodoo” you love of the day! It’s really hard to appreciate just how spectacular this park is. Nothing quite captures the depth and breadth of the scenery. We also sampled our first ice cream of the trip, which was made by Farr’s Ice Cream of Ogden, Utah. It was beyond delicious! (Ned gave me too much information on how much butter fat he thinks it contained, which I have intentionally omitted from my brain). One of our goals on this trip is to do some ice cream tasting and comparison across the USA. I can honestly say that we are off to a great start and Farr Ice Cream has definitely set a very high standard. We continued our drive thru the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, climbing over mountain passes and dipping into valleys. We finally arrived at Escalante State Park, famous for it’s abundance of petrified wood. We were fortunate in that we got the last campsite in the park. Apparently, there is a traveling caravan of Casita Trailers who have taken over! Being the last campsite, you can pretty well imagine that it’s not the most ideal. We are parked on a slope, but Ned did a great job getting us leveled out with his handmade chocks. We are camped at a bottom of a cliff and decided to take the trail to the top of the mesa and view the petrified forest. It was a hike, but well worth the effort. We walked thru a pygmy forest, saw lava boulders, brilliant red wildflowers and were rewarded with great scenic views, and of course, deposits of petrified wood scattered about. After our hike, Ned hung up our brightly colored hot pink hammock under our adjoining picnic table “veranda”. I’m sure we were quite a sight as we sipped mojitos and munched popcorn

Dam Fine View - Zion National Park, 5/21

We woke up early this morning and watched the sun rise over Vegas. It was one of those magical moments where the sky went from indigo blue to a soft orange and then suddenly the entire mountaintop was washed in sunlight. It was great because we experienced the entire show snug in bed. Talk about having a primo camping spot! We were rewarded on our early morning ride off Mt. Charleston with more great views. The only detour was stopping at another campground to take showers since our campground’s showers mysteriously were locked down overnight. (Did this have anything to do with the campground host rather sheepishly rolling in from a late night in Vegas at 6 am?). Ned and I decided to cruise the strip at 8 am, which seemed pretty surreal after our quiet and peaceful night on the mountain. We braved the casinos and had a big breakfast at the Luxor. The blinking lights and ringing bells seemed a bit jarring after the quiet we’ve experienced the last couple of days. After battling traffic to get out of town we headed toward Hoover Dam. We were both expecting a relatively quiet tour of the dam (especially after our low key tour of Shasta Dam last year) and were shocked by the traffic congestion and thousands of people milling about. We tried parking in several parking lots and after being sent to overflow lot 13 on the Arizona side I have to admit we had enough. After spending the last several days in laid back places I felt like those cranky old codgers holed up in the desert muttering to themselves, “People are no damn good. grrrrr.” Despite the congestion, Hoover Dam is quite an experience. The sheer magnitude and scope of the project is mind boggling. (See today’s pic). Wanting to stay off the main freeway we decided to take the Lake Mead National Recreation Area highway towards Zion. I was expecting more of a scenic drive hugging Lake Mead. The lake is extremely low and the road is surrounded by parched desert without a view of the lake for most of the drive. The road was also being repaired so we had several 10 – 20 minute stops along the way. Ned, being the smart guy he is and knowing how antsy I can get, wisely suggested we listen to some of the “This American Life” podcasts I had queued up. Fun! We had a great time listening to the stories and telling our own stories as well. We finally pulled into Zion National Park in the late afternoon to discover that all the campsites were filled. So here we are staying a mile from the park in an RV resort. The good news is that it has electricity, showers and wi-fi!! We were also able to access the bike trail really easily from here and did a quick spin thru town before dinner. In the early evening we took the shuttle bus to Zion Lodge and poked around. When we returned to the Visitor’s Center around 9ish, we spotted a bobcat hanging out on one of the rocks in the parking lot. Very cool! Rather than take the shuttle bus back to the campsite, we decided to take advantage of the sensuous warm breeze and walk back in the moonlight. Nice ending to the day.

Yea though I drive thru the Valley of Death…, Hilltop Campground, Sloan, NV 5/20

We were pouring over the maps while eating breakfast this morning and decided that since we were so close to Death Valley, and neither of us had seen it since we were little tykes, that it was worth checking it out. It wasn’t in our original plan, but what the heck. Besides, after the long wet winter in Nevada City I was in search of sun and heat. Heading towards Death Valley from Lone Pine we spotted a beat up camper van with a large “Cherries” banner. The seller was a toothless old codger from east of Stockton(?!) who considered himself a stand-up comedian. Although his jokes were awful, his cherries were excellent. We stuffed ourselves sick on cherries and dotted the countryside with our version of Johnny Appleseed. Once reaching Death Valley, we were completely surprised by the landscape and terrain of this National Park. We had assumed that it would be flat and well – just desert. Boy, were we wrong! We climbed over the Panamint Range and drove thru lave mountains. It was absolutely gorgeous to see the contrast of the yellow salty desert against the snow capped mountains, purple ranges and even a few wildflowers growing in the parched earth. We made several stops along the way, checking out the Devil’s Cornfield, Stovepipe Wells Village and the Borax Works. By the time we reached the Furnace Creek Visitor’s Center it was in the triple digits and I was pretty toasty warm and quite happy, thank you! We decided to have a picnic lunch outside at the Visitor’s Center and really take it all in. At this point we were at 190 feet BELOW sea level. My favorite group of the day was the 20 or so Brazilians who had rented out Harley’s and were riding thru the Valley proudly displaying the Brazilian flag on their cycles with bright orange Route 66 t-shirts. We caught up with them at another rest stop and they were quite a happy bunch. The best viewing spot of the day was at Zabriskie Point, which is the exact middle of Death Valley. From this 710 ft. overlook you can view a medley of badlands, lava flows and distant peaks. It was as if the entire landscape of Death Valley was all condensed in this one spot. On our walk up to the point we passed multiple groups of people and never once heard English. Isn’t it great that so many different cultures are enjoying the hottest place on earth! (Record temperature was 134). Our eventual destination for the night was Mt. Charleston, Nevada, which is located about an hour outside of Las Vegas. We had quite a climb to get here, too! We went from below sea level to an elevation of a little over 8,000 feet. It’s quite a lot cooler than earlier today I might add! The campground is very aptly named Hilltop. On one side we have the Nevada Nuclear Test Site and on the other side are views of downtown Las Vegas. I honestly don’t know which one is more of a detriment to my well being! Looks like another round of games tonight over mojitos and cerveza. Ned’s promised me breakfast in Vegas tomorrow before we head out to Hoover Damn and Zion. Salud!

Soaking it All In, Keough’s Hot Springs, Bishop, CA 5/19

Hard to believe it’s finally the first day of our vacation! I didn’t think it would EVER get here. Actually, it was more like poor Ned who was suffering the effects of me wishing it would get here. Between the organizing and event planning it’s a wonder I didn’t drive the poor guy nuts. (Well maybe I did just a bit). When we left at about 9:30 this morning it was still a bit overcast and chilly. It was gorgeous driving over the Sierras, glimpsing the last bit of snow for the season, seeing the South Yuba in full force and driving along the shores of Lake Tahoe. A little outside of Gardnerville we stopped for a picnic on the side of the road. It‘s been a couple of years since we’ve driven 395 and seen the Eastern Sierras. I forgot how spectacular and majestic they are from this side of the mountain. We were going to explore Bodie, but felt uncomfortable with the sketchy guys following us down the dirt road, so we flipped a u-turn and continued down the road to Mono Lake. We had a really interesting walk on the boardwalk path and were able to get up close to the tufas, read about the history of the disappearing lake and see the water boundary of the lake over the years. We also made another stop at Lee Vining to check out the Mobil Gas Station. Several years ago, Ned’s sister Nancy told us about this gas station that was well known for it’s upscale restaurant. It’s now somewhat of a cultural icon known simply as “The Mobil”. We poked around the place for a while and took several pics of the Sierras and Mono Lake. For the most part, the weather had been in the mid 70’s and overcast. Once we reached the town of Tom’s Place, the sky turned blue and the temperature rose by 15 degrees. Yeah!! Our final destination for the night was Keough’s Hot Springs Resort – and I use the term “resort” loosely. It’s located about 9 miles south of Bishop up against the stark eastern wall of the Sierra foothills. The main attraction is a somewhat dilapidated sea foam green, paint peeling building, built perhaps in the 1930’s, which houses the spring fed pool. Actually there are two open air pools within this structure. The larger pool is kept at about a 90 deg temp and the smaller soaking pool is about 104. We set-up camp, which consisted of parking on a lawn next to the pool house and quickly took advantage of the medicinal properties of the healing baths. The resort provided foam “noodles” and kick boards for the enjoyment of the patrons – which seemed to be predominantly locals. It was great because the water didn’t smell of either chlorine or rotten eggs. As our meal was cooking on the grill we took a walk around the grounds and enjoyed the rock garden trail, historic bath house and sunset views of the mountains. Today’s pic is Ned seated in front of the 1920’s stone bath house We ended the evening by sharing half a bottle of wine and playing a rousing game of Skip-bo. Perfect first day of vacation.

trip Stats: Home Sweet Home - 10/21/09

Woke up to 25 degrees this morning and decided perhaps it was a good time to head back home. Today's pic is waking up on the last day of the trip. We compiled our trip stats and "best ofs" for the trip. See below. Looking forward to seeing our friends, getting together with the folks and not worrying about how cold it's gonna be when I have to pee in the middle of the night!

The Great Escape: Mountain Shadow RV Park, Wells Nevada 10/20/09

When we woke up this morning it was to snow flurries and surrounded by fog. It was a good thing we had seen the Tetons the night before as they were invisible this morning! Knowing we had two mountain passes to get over with the uncertain weather condition, I was a little concerned and anxious to get started. When we reached Jackson Hole, it was rainy and I had visions of us being stranded at the top of the pass in the snow, so when I spotted a public restroom we stopped. I made a mad dash for what I thought would be a quick “visit”, but the latch in the bathroom stall was stuck and I couldn’t get out! I made a few feeble attempts at shouting and trying to get help, but considering it is the off season and no one was around, I wasn’t get any response. I was totally cracking up, not believing that I was stuck in a public bathroom in downtown Jackson, Wyoming!! Meanwhile, since I hadn’t returned quickly Ned decided he might as well make a pit stop too. Ned was already walking out of the building when he heard someone yelling ,“hello, I’m stuck”. At first he thought it was the cleaning lady, but then recognized it was his wife and came into the women’s restroom to rescue me. For the record, it took him a few minutes using his key to get the lock unstuck. Ned, my hero! After that little drama we drove into the rain and fog over the Teton Pass, elevation over 9,000 ft. with a 10% grade much of the way. Fortunately, it was rain and not snow and the fog wasn’t too bad. As we climbed the second pass, at a little over 6000 ft., the weather began to clear up and we had some beautiful light and cloud effects shining on the mountains. We were so surprised when we reached Swan Valley, Idaho on the other side of the mountain range. The skies were blue with big puffy clouds and before us lay a huge alpine meadow. We drove for miles by gorgeous log homes situated on bluffs overlooking the Snake river and fields of yellow harvested wheat. Stunning. Many of the towns we drove thru were uneventful, but we were looking forward to Pocatello. For the last several weeks we had promised ourselves we would partake of a pancake breakfast, but had not yet indulged. (Hard to believe since we’ve eaten just about everything else in every state!). Having read about this great pancake house, Elmer’s, it was well worth the mid afternoon time when we finally arrived. The blueberry pancakes for me, and the cinnamon bun french toast for Ned did not disappoint. We were going to stay at Massacre State Park at American Falls for the night, but after one quick drive around the desolate tundra campground located next to the freeway, we decided to venture on. Along the way, we drove over the Snake River on this amazing bridge in Twin Falls. (See today’s pic). Knowing we had a 10-12 hour drive the next day we decided to just keep pushing on. Thus, here we are in Wells, Nevada camped by the side of a freeway. The good news is that we are having too much fun laughing and entertaining ourselves with all our pictures we have taken (about 1500 so far!) that we hardly mind we are in Nevada. Hard to believe that this is our last night on the road. As usual, I’m a little sad because I don’t want the trip to end – it’s been so much fun and the gypsy spirit in me could do this for a little while longer. After six weeks on the road I think Mr. Ned, the Homebody, doesn’t have quite the same sentiment. Tomorrow homeward bound.