All Hat and No Cattle – Ponil Campground, Cimarron, NM 5/26

Woke up to warm sunshine spilling down on us – yes! It felt great to hang around the campsite for awhile and just really enjoy a hot summer morning. It’s seems like this has been the longest winter ever in Nevada City and I am so appreciating summertime. We had about an hour drive into Taos and were expecting a long drive through desert plains. Again, we were pleasantly surprised. We drove through green forested land that was populated with lush meadows, streams and lots of yellow wildflowers. We reached Taos in the late morning and decided the best way to take in this relatively small town was by bike. We had a great time riding around town and checking out the historic plaza, shops, Kit Carson museum and generally just the vibe of the place. I did manage to pick up a cute cowgirl hat and now consider myself blended in with the western scene. (See today’s pic). A couple of friends suggested we eat at Taos Out Back Pizza. It’s a cute little restaurant tucked behind a store, hence the name Out Back. It’s very relaxed with picnic tables scattered under cotton wood trees. We ordered the Taos Pizza – mushrooms, black olives, black beans, and green chilies. It was delish!! Thanks for the tip ladies! Our next stop was Cimarron about an hour from Taos. We thought that would be a good resting spot for the night. Unfortunately there are no State Parks in the area and any that are close by don’t have showers or electricity. Thus, here we are camped in possibly the worst ever (I am not kidding) mom and pop RV spot. Ned and I aren’t big fans of private RV parks anyway, but this one really does take the cake. (A big sign hangs in front of their home/office that says, “It Don’t Get No Gooder Than This.”) Some examples of this fine establishment: 1) the owner was still in her nightgown at 4:30 pm 2) She had blood running down her leg from a bite from her puppy whom we apparently startled when we drove up (She claims not many people ever drive in here – this should have been a clue for us, but we we’re not always the sharpest tools in the shed when on the road for awhile 3) there are signs posted everywhere for what you can’t do or will be charged – i.e. “you are allowed 10 KWH per day or you will be charged at the current rate of 14.5 cents, 4) there is a Wheels for Meals menu posted in the campground 5) the ladies bathroom has a sign that reads “Do not flush sanitary napkins down the toilet or an alarm will go off”. I was laughing so hard sitting there I didn’t think I could get up. The good news is, as promised on the internet(!), we have laundry, electric hook-up and free wifi!! Although we are only 6ft. from the Airstream trailer parked next to us, the door is padlocked and the owner appears to be nowhere in sight. Did I mention we are planning on a very early departure tomorrow morning? Destination – Beaver Dunes, Oklahoma panhandle. Oh yeah, baby.

Look Ma No Guardrail – Lake Heron State Park, New Mexico 5/25

Woke up to gorgeous blue skies at 39 degrees. Thank goodness it warmed up to a balmy mid-70’s with very little breeze. We were excited about driving the San Juan Skyway and climbing the various peaks. It definitely did not disappoint. The first leg of the journey was through the town of Ridgway, which is famous for some Hollywood Westerns being filmed here. Think True Grit and How The West Was Won. The next stop was Ouray, which is situated in a tiny bowl surrounded by the San Juan Mts. This town was billed as “Little Switzerland of the Rockies”, but in my opinion – not so much. It’s lined with Victorian houses and seemed like a pretty typical mining town much like Nevada City. The best thing about the town is that it has a spring fed swimming pool located in the heart of downtown. From Ouray to Silverton things got pretty exciting. This stretch of the road is also known as “The Million Dollar Highway.” This road follows old stagecoach routes and former pack trails. It’s a very curvy two-lane road around scary slopes – without any guardrails! Seriously. Check out today’s pic – Yikes! We climbed over Red Mountain Pass at 11,008 ft. and passed several old mining operations. This stretch of the road is also known for its avalanches and we definitely saw some flattened buildings as a result. We finally pulled into Silverton, at a mere 9,318 ft. It’s a cute little mining town and we enjoyed walking around, but it’s a little too remote for me. Silverton receives over 200 inches of snow a year. I was speaking with one of the locals (the town has a population of 500) and she told me that we were lucky because it had snowed a couple of inches the day before. We continued along the San Juan Skyway, over another pass (10,910 ft) and finally dropped into Durango. I really liked this town. It’s a college town and definitely has the vibe and feel of San Luis Obispo. It was such a nice day, and after the freezing winds in Utah, we decided to take a break and have a picnic lunch in the park. It was very entertaining watching the rafters in the nearby river. Our next destination was New Mexico and we were expecting the drive to be desert and bare. (This is based on our last trip thru New Mexico, especially near the town of Farmington). Well, what a pleasant surprise. This stretch of the road for the next couple of hours– at about 7,000 ft. – is beautiful alpine meadows and valleys. Spring was definitely in the air and we enjoyed the deep green pastures. We also entertained ourselves by singing some great Cowboy songs in preparation for Vic’s big 60th party. We finally arrived at our destination, Lake Heron State Park, and are camping in mesa conditions with pinion trees and scrub bushes. Still we have a great campsite, tucked away among the trees and very secluded. We checked out a map of the campground and decided to take a “short” bike ride to a nearby bike path that has a suspension bridge. Well, after 5 miles of mostly uphill (I was dying!) we finally reached the path. It consisted of a two story staircase down to a hiking path – ha! So, we turned around and headed back. The good news is the ride was much more fun on the way back! (Josh I maxed out at 38 mph on my bike, not in your league, but I thought it was respectable). Yes, I’m now back at the campsite enjoying a mojito and Ned’s putting steaks and corn on the grill. Life’s good.

Rocky Mountain High - Ridgway State Park, Utah 5/24

When I woke up this morning Ned surprised me with the perfect anniversary gift. I love to watch the comings and goings of all the campers, but I’m not quite tall enough to see through the windows at the top of the Eurovan. I usually have to stand on my very tippy toes to peer out. Well, he made me a periscope! It works like a charm and is so fun to use. I had a blast “spying” on our fellow campers. With a campground full of Germans it was great sport. Too funny. The wind was really kicking up this morning and it was slightly overcast. When we pulled out of camp it was about 50 degrees – brrrr. Our first destination was The Arches National Park. When we arrived it was a bit on the stormy side and just starting to drizzle. We spent about an hour in the Visitor’s Center and when we emerged the sky was bright blue with white puffy clouds. Nice – except that it was still windy and really cold. We had a great time driving through the park and even ventured out on a very cold hike. Today’s pic is “The Delicate Arch within an Arch” compliments of Mr. Ned. Our next destination was the Rockies and we really enjoyed the drive there. We chased the view of the snow capped mountains the rest of the day. It’s springtime in the Rockies and we got mother nature’s full show of wildflowers, deep green meadows and budding Aspens. At the last minute we decided to take a side trip to Telluride and have a celebratory Anniversary dinner. Driving into town we passed a prairie dog town. These little critters were not shy and were acting like they were trying to flag down traffic. When we arrived in town, at about 4 pm, the winds had completely died down and the temp was about 70. It felt great to stretch our legs, stroll through town and sit outside at a café and watch the world go by. Telluride feels very much like Truckee or Nevada City – and has a fun artist vibe to it. We visited a couple of shops and finally settled on a wonderful dinner at The Bistro. We had about an hour’s drive to our final destination for the night, Ridway State Park. We almost have the campground to ourselves – nice way to cap off our anniversary! Tomorrow we drive the “Million Dollar Highway” and head into New Mexico.

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!