THE LESSER ROAD TO LAS VEGAS

We stayed the night in Kanab, Utah, because it had more services than nearby Freedonia, Arizona, which was the direction we were headed. However, this morning we got up too late for the complimentary "hot breakfast" at the motel and could find no restaurant open in town. Coffee-less, we headed south for Freedonia but had to do a U-Turn to take a closer look at this:

Yes, that dot on the photo is me and my camera getting caught by the rain bird. That's what happens when one is so focused on the perfect photo. (Jim was laughing his head off).

This was the only thing we found in Freedonia:


We headed on out of town toward Pipe Springs National Monument and in spite of being under caffeinated we still had great scenery to enjoy.



We thought about stopping at Pipe Springs but without coffee it seemed too daunting so we kept going to the next town, Colorado City. As we got into the outskirts of town we were surprised to see a sign that said, "established 1985." It seemed to be a sizable community so we were hopeful and turned off toward town. We saw lots of really large houses, many with unfinished exteriors. There was no visible means of industry, no motels, no restaurants and one "Cooperative Mercantile Corporation," which I thought was an odd name. Right about then Jim spotted some women with their kids at school. All the women were wearing the same plain dress and had their hair done in the same way. We had stumbled into an orthodox (if that is the correct word) Mormon community. As we exited the other end of town, low and behold, a DRIVE THROUGH ESPRESSO. The place was extremely popular with cars three deep on both sides. The young women making the drinks were also dressed in the "uniform" and had their hair done up the same way. This was one of the espresso choices:

We were too afraid to try it, though I did have the Midnight Oil.

I was happy to be driving away from this town. (Later I looked it up on the Internet. It's far worse than I thought. You can check it out here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_City,_Arizona)

There is really not much more on this road except this

and this:

So today we cross from Utah into Arizona then back into Utah then Arizona then Nevada. I never could figure out what time it was. After navigating Las Vegas Boulevard, aka "The Strip," we managed to find a non-strip hotel near the airport were we are crashing and re-packing for our flight tomorrow. It's been a grand trip but I am tired of being in the car and eating inferior food. It will be good to be home. And isn't that why we travel anyway?

Audrey

MONUMENT VALLEY

We awoke today to bright sunshine and near freezing temperatures. We were looking forward to breakfast because we had read about the great homemade food and espresso at the cafe across the street. We were in for even more of a treat than we expected.

Remember, we were in Bluff, Utah, population 320. The last thing we expected was GOOD food, GOOD espresso, fabulous local art work, comfy sofas and a reading library. The latte was a true work of art made from free trade beans.

We had a most amazing bowl of oatmeal with nuts and berries in it. Outside this whimsical sculpture welcomes people to the cafe.

Mind you, this is only ONE of at least three out of the ordinary, good places to eat in this town. The Twin Rocks Cafe, where we had dinner last night (featuring home made soups and Navajo Ash Bread) is located below the Twin Rocks at the north end of town.

This cafe is family owned and run and also sells local art work, jewelry and rugs. If you want to check their website, click here: www.twinrocks.com

Jim spotted a really breathtaking piece of art made from a 3' by 5' slab of local red sandstone superimposed with native figures cut from steel with a torch. Truly, if we could have gotten it home, we would love to have purchased it. Later we learned that our waiter was the artist. A very talented young man, and apparently only one of many in this village of artists and cooks.

Our goal for the day is Monument Valley and Vermilion Cliffs - starting our journey back westward. On our way out of town we stopped many times for roadside photos.



This was our first distance view of the Monument Valley area:

and here, closer:

Photos really don't do justice to the vast landscape of muted and varied tones.




Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park. It has a 17 mile scenic drive on rough dirt roads (showing in the first photo below) and other, lesser roads, which can only be accessed with a guided tour. The scenes from the Visitor's Center are really good and we were getting a little worried about time, so saved the scenic drive for our next trip.


Our route today took us south on Highway 163 to Kayenta, Arizona, then southwest on Highway 160 for only a few miles, then northwest on Highway 98 to Page, Arizona, at the entryway to Lake Powell, then southwest on Highway 89 and 89A through the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. There are no real roads into this National Monument - it is one vast remote wildlands preserved for generations to come. As its name sounds, there are cliffs and they are vermilion. And they are HUGE. When traveling next to them there is no way to photograph them and have it look like anything at all. We kept going and soon came to this lovely site of Navajo Mountain, a sacred peak of 10,463 feet which straddles the Arizona/Utah border.

From near Navajo Mountain one can hike a rugged 14 mile trail to Rainbow Bridge, the largest natural arch in the world. This one wouldn't do that hike in this season - too cold!


All of a sudden we came to the mighty Colorado River. I was so surprised to see people river rafting, but they were far below us where it was probably much warmer.


As we kept driving on this lonely highway, we climbed from the valley floor up the side opposite Vermilion Cliffs and finally got the right perspective to see these massive red rocks.

Our day has ended in Kanab, UT, apparently home of many Western movies. If we had more time we might check out the mock up western town they have here. However, we have reached the point in the trip where we are concerned about how many more miles there are to go before our flight leaves from Las Vegas day after tomorrow. Today seemed like an extremely long day in the car, but when I added it up it was only 247 miles. Tomorrow has no natural wonder objective so we will be pleasantly surprised by whatever comes our way.

Audrey

ON THE TRAIL OF THE ANCIENTS

Today started out in Moab, Utah, with a small amount of snow on the car. After a decent breakfast at the Pancake Haus, followed by a good latte at our new favorite drive through, "Wicked Brew," which was out of the baseball hats with the waving Pope logo, we headed south on Highway 191 toward Blandings and the Dinosaur Museum. We were relieved to see sun this morning after the driving snows of yesterday.

Here was our arch of the day, shortly outside of Moab.

Before we got into Blandings the snow started again and by the time we got to the Cedar Breaks State Park, at the site of ancient ruins, we were in another sideways blowing snow blizzard. We thought the Dinosaur Park and Cedar Breaks were co-located but we learned that the Dinosaur Museum is a private entity which is closed during the winter because they can't afford to heat their building. Oh well. We decided to tour the Cedar Breaks ruins since the building was nice and warm.

The displays were quite good. For example, this is a real unfinished sandal from the Basketweaver III period, AD 500-700.


These were woven from Yucca fibers, pictured here, which look a lot like human hair to me.

I was amazed at the intricate weaving pattern used in these sandals.

This museum has a very detailed chronology of this area's petroglyphs and pictographs. I was quite taken with this one which seems so modern and Miro-ish somehow.

We had intended to hike around the ruins at this site but by the time we were ready, the snow was blowing in the door, so we were content with what we could see from inside. We left this museum heading next for Hovenweep National Monument, but almost got lost getting out of town because of the near white out conditions. As we drove the less than 60 miles from Blanding to the Hovenweep National Monument we went through driving snow and periods of sunshine with no precipitation. Naturally when we arrived in the parking lot at Hovenweep National Monument, a mere few miles from the Colorado State line, the snow was again blowing sideways.

We found the Visitor's Center warm and welcoming, as they always seem to be. The ranger explained that this site is the site of two villages of the Paleo-Indian hunters, who we now call the Pueblo people. There is a nice walk from the center to an overlook where you can see about 1/2 of the site. By the time we walked out on the path, only 20 minutes since our arrival, it was sunny and all signs of snow were gone.

This is called the Twin Towers.

and this one Eroded Boulder House.

Hovenweep area is located in the middle of a 500 square mile raised block of land called Cajon Mesa and the buildings at this site were constructed about the same time as those at nearby Mesa Verde, AD 1230-1275.

There is a nice trail around this site that we did not take today but will do another time. It allows one to see the whole site which consists of rare square towers and a site called "Hovenweep Castle."

This one is called Round Tower.

We also learned from the Park Ranger that nearby (actually in Colorado) there are some Petroglyphs able to be seen from a 4 mile hike from the campground. This will be for the next trip.

On our road out from Hovenweep we drove through more sun and more blowing snow and were treated to an amazing view of the nearby Blue Mountains.

Our plan for the evening is to stay in Bluff, Utah. The AAA Tour Book talks about an amazing natural food restaurant so we decided to go for it. Driving in we couldn't believe this was the place. Bluff is what I would call a one horse town. However, we found a really nice motel, the Desert Rose Inn and Cabins, where Jim found a comfy porch to have a pipe (in mid 30 degree weather)


and where this is the level of detail for our room number

and where this is the site we beheld as we opened the door,

and this is the view from our porch.


We have heard that there are at least 3 really good places to eat, so we are going to check them out.

Audrey

SNOW IN CANYONLANDS

This morning we woke up to overcast weather and high winds. After a short drive we were in Canyonlands, a National Park since only 1971. Canyonlands is where the Green and the Colorado Rivers meet deep down in chiseled gorges. By the time we got to the Visitor's Center there was snow blowing sideways.

We decided this would not be a hiking day, so we did a driving tour. Unfortunately visibility wasn't great, but even with the fog and clouds it was apparent that this is a beautiful area.


The park has a totally wild area, called "The Maze" where apparently Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch hid out between bank jobs. Today it is still not reachable by car and is billed as being "for the extreme outdoor experience." We were driving in the most accessible and highest area, called "Island Sky." Many of the views were not visible without a short hike. It was just too cold and windy so we were happy with what we could see from the car.

After being skunked in Canyonlands we decided to hightail it into Moab, a short distance away, to get some decent coffee. Coffee at breakfast was totally inadequate and we were feeling very needy. Jim spotted a drive-through espresso place and we were on our way again. Thus fortified, we drove the few miles back out of town to Arches National Park.

The snow had subsided a bit but the wind was still howling so we did mostly a car tour of Arches. What we saw was totally awesome and we know without a doubt we will come back and spend weeks at this park.

Lots of the formations have names. This one is called "Three Gossips."



These are called "The Windows,"

this is "Balanced Rock,"



and these are the "Parade of Elephants."


The snow did give us some great views of the surrounding mountains.



We were able to see all these fabulous arches from the comfort of the car...




but had to hike a windy and cold 100 yards in order to see the famous Delicate Arch:

Obviously the rock formations are what people come to this park to see. What I wasn't expecting was the incredible palette of colors to be found in this part of the desert. It was truly impossible to capture in photos the array of color tones that roll through the plains between the formations.


The really neat thing about this park is that it is possible to walk to nearly all the arches and formations. Next time I am here I will be walking all over this park!



As we headed back out of the park the snow picked up again


and turned in to a near blizzard.

Considering the weather we were dealt today we felt very fortunate to have seen all that we saw and I was amazed at the amount of people who were camping and hiking in both parks we went to today. I was also amazed to learn that I took over 300 photos today!

Tomorrow: Dinosaurs and ancient ruins.

Audrey