Friday, April 22, 2011
Dock work
Home
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Lace curtains & Casino
Last night we stayed at An Idaho state park which state now also extorts outrageous extra car fees. I'll bet they would make a lot more money charging people for dogs. Luckily they still have the senior discount and the winery/ restaurant next door.
The town of Glenns Ferry has a cute little library with lace curtains in the window and a card catalog. Not much money for books I'll guess. Found a nice craftsman house for $180,000. But the quilt shop was closed on Monday and so was the bakery
Today we drove and drove out of Idaho and through much or eastern Oregon , gaining an hour as we return to Pacific time. We have stopped for the night at the Wildhorse casino. This is our first casino stay. The price is good but we won't take advantage of the free shuttle to the casino. Lots of Washingtonians here__migrating home like us?
The town of Glenns Ferry has a cute little library with lace curtains in the window and a card catalog. Not much money for books I'll guess. Found a nice craftsman house for $180,000. But the quilt shop was closed on Monday and so was the bakery
Today we drove and drove out of Idaho and through much or eastern Oregon , gaining an hour as we return to Pacific time. We have stopped for the night at the Wildhorse casino. This is our first casino stay. The price is good but we won't take advantage of the free shuttle to the casino. Lots of Washingtonians here__migrating home like us?
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Monday, April 18, 2011
Weathered out
There are so many places we could have gone if not for the weather. We are quite near City of Rocks NAtional preserve but it is high enough that the rain we have here might be snow. April is not a good travel month. So we continue on to Three island crossing which is a favorite state park. The pull of home is strong. 3 months is a Long time
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Sunday, April 17, 2011
Golden Spike
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Provo
We finally tore ourselves away from Zion and headed north. Nice driving on I15. Nice weather but looks like it will change tomorrow. We drove 5 hours (long day for me) and came to Provo where we are at a campground NEXT to the State park. Here's a photo Kit took of the lake.
We will most likely not dawdle in Utah as weather seems unstable.
zion rocks
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Biking
What a perfect place to bike-- up the canyon to the end. Smooth road little traffic The shuttle busses will not pass bikes so you have to stop and let them pass. Mostly we waited at the stops and followed a bus. Perfect spring day. What more could I ask. Will post photos when next we have Wifi
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Still in Zion
We ventured out today to check out St George as a possible destination. It has no redeeming qualities. We did find a cool BLM place called Red Cliffs but full to overflowing. So we will stay 2 more days here and then head north. We got a new GPS today and he says we can make it home in 18 hours. Don't think so
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Top of the World
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Paradise
Saturday, April 09, 2011
Tough journey
Snow
Friday, April 08, 2011
Bryce
Kodachrome
Weather
A few flakes of snow this morning but we got on the road as quickly as we could. Ladies at Visitor Center said no problem with the road to Cannonville. No problem = a 7600 foot pass with curvy road all the way down and snow blowing at us but luckily not sticking. Checked into Cannonville KOA (electric and wireless but no cell) Spent the afternoon at Kodachrome Basin SP. Would be nice to camp there if the weather was better. We got warmed up with 3 hikes. (photos later). Out of the park at 3:30 and Kit had the idea of going up to Bryce in case the National Parks shut down tomorrow. The weather was reasonably fine (although COLD at 8100 feet) Went to two viewpoints and took lots of photos. Visited the Visitor Center and came home to KOA. Forecast tomorrow--more snow.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Wonderful Hike
This morning we set off north back to Calf Creek. I wouldn't camp there but the hike to the falls was amazing. It was a 6 mile hike in and back. We left at 10 before the hordes and got back at 2 before the wind stormed. This was one of the most beautiful hikes we have ever taken. The falls at the end was simply the frosting.
Now it is starting to rain and the forecast is snow by morning. We would be content to just stay here if not for the A. Ranger. (Run in with hotshot Deputy who wanted another $20 for our campsite spoils my good impression of Utah state parks) Had a nice pizza in town tonight.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Petrified Forest
Having skipped Capitol Reef and driven over scenic passes we looked for a place to camp. I thought to choose Calf Creek--a BLM park --but it was just too scary (narrow roads, creek crossings with no bridge) so we kept going to Escalante where we found a state park--actually called Petrified Forest even though it's on a resevoir. Luckily there were lots of available sites. Even more luckily we found a spot with hook-ups, AND there is WiFi here. AND there is a wonderful trail up the mesa through the petrified wood, as well as the dwarf forest of juniper and pinyon. Here are some photos.
Goblins photos
Goblins
9600. Feet
Monday, April 04, 2011
Green River
Solitaire
We are held up in Moab getting new tires for the car. Hope to get to Green River this afternoon
I have started reading Edward Abbeys Desert Solitaire. I read it long ago but is more meaningful when we are here. The parking lot (huge and full) where we did the hike yesterday was once a campground. He thought Arches was overrun in 1967 when the book was written. I am sure he couldn't imagine it now. But if you go more than half a mile from any parking lot you get away from other humans quickly.
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I have started reading Edward Abbeys Desert Solitaire. I read it long ago but is more meaningful when we are here. The parking lot (huge and full) where we did the hike yesterday was once a campground. He thought Arches was overrun in 1967 when the book was written. I am sure he couldn't imagine it now. But if you go more than half a mile from any parking lot you get away from other humans quickly.
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, April 03, 2011
No Snow
The wind blew all night and the rain fell all morning but there is no snow here. The weather is unsettled to say the least. The sun came out late afternoon and we are still expecting 28 tomorrow morning.
So we did laundry and cleaned house and for our entertainment went out to the Arches Visitor Center to see the movie and visit the exhibits. This is an excellent visitor center by the way. Later this afternoon we went back to do a short hike or two in the Windows region of the park. The sky was a bright blue but the wind blew cold.
Saturday, April 02, 2011
The bad thing about Arches
The bad thing about Arches N.P is that they now reserve camp sites in their campground. The camp is now booked through Labor Day. No room for people passing through like us. We arrived in Moab today looking for a private campground with water and sewer (and WiFi) After several tries we determined that Riverview Oasis was the best spot--even though there are lots of RVers and lots of tenters in a relatively small space. There are a lot of people in Moab and a lot of people in Arches. We can't get used to how many small children are in Utah. (Arizona is all old people) We went for several short afternoon hikes. Arches is still an amazingly beautiful place. Temperature in the 80's and the wind has been blowing madly since mid afternoon. Tomorrow it is supposed to drop to 28 and snow.
Canyonlands
We arrived in the Canyonlands Needles district Campground just before noon and got the last spot! We were lucky. The site was very crooked but we were at the end of the road away from other people--and close to the bathrooms. There was a trailhead next to our spot but not an ordinary trail. The trails in Canyonlands are all climbing on rocks--like over and down scary ridges. We had 2 lovely nights in the rocks with no hookups and no cell phone. The stars were awesome so we got to play with the new iPhone app.
