Our Day Trip to Salt Lake

This time of year, it's easier for us to drive the 4+ hours to
Salt Lake City then it is to drive the same length of time to
Denver since we don't have to go over the mountains. It's a
long day trip, but not overly taxing as it' broken up in two halves.
It's a beautiful drive, with 2/3 of the trip through desert, very similar
to that around our house. The roads are good and not crowded
and the last third of the trip has beautiful views of the snow
covered (this time of year) Wasatch Mountains that are really
close to the city. Of course we made our obligatory stop for
lunch at the In-N-Out Burger in American Fork. I don't
think I'll need to go back for a while since I probably ate
enough food to last a couple of weeks!


Since we're still trying to find a few last things to spruce up our
house this spring, going to Salt Lake City works out well since
it's also the location of the nearest IKEA (actually in Draper) to
our house. We visited an IKEA store a couple of years ago in
Tempe and we decided then that when we wanted to get some
items for our house, we'd make the trip to IKEA. IKEA is known
for its inexpensive furniture and we found exactly what we were
looking for. As fun as it is to shop there, three hours later, I was
pretty tired of shopping at IKEA.


On our way out of town, we stopped by a new grocery store that
we like. It's called Sunflower Farmer's Market. There are locations
in Colorado, but not in Grand Junction. Half the store is filled with
fresh produce and they have a huge bulk food section. We stocked
up on some healthy food to take home and the next four hours
were spent enjoying the pretty drive home.

Driving to Las Vegas

Last year, when we visited Las Vegas, we were borrowing Lynn's
sister's truck and drove in from Arizona. We then flew home from
Vegas to Grand Junction. So this time we were going to be driving
from Grand Junction to Vegas and back. I was looking forward to
seeing scenery I hadn't visited before. Our favorite part of the
trip was driving through the San Rafael Swell. A huge rock out-
cropping that runs for miles and miles through the center of
Utah. If you look closely at the above photo, you can see how
large it is by comparing it to the dark car on the highway.
When we pulled off the road at a rest stop, I learned that Marie
Curie had visited the area around the turn of the last century
because there is so much uranium in the area. Our seven
hour drive through the desert brought us to Las Vegas at
about 6:30, but we forgot about the time change, Vegas being
on Pacific time, so we ended up making great time!

Green Rocks

Yesterday, as we were driving home, north of Moab, I snapped
a photo of something I've always found fascinating. Green Rocks.
In a land of multi-hued sandstone in colors ranging from light
tan to very dark red, these green fields of stone really stick out.
It looks like those places where the highway department sprays
the grass seed on the dirt in order to stop erosion and plant
the seed. However, after a little bit of research, I found out that
it is really Copper Ore that has turned green due to its exposure
to the elements. it's still fun to look at though in an otherwise
uneventful stretch of highway.

Newspaper Rock

On our way home, just south of Moab, Utah we made the turn off
of Highway 191 toward Newspaper Rock. It's on the way to the
Needles District of Canyonlands National Park so it's actually a
fairly busy road for being in the middle of nowhere. However,
the 15 mile or so drive is definitely worth it as you are rewarded
with a spectacular panel of petroglyphs, left during a 2000 year
period. Archaic, Basketmaker, Fremont, Pueblo, Ute, Navajo and
Anglo cultures have all left their marks here. We enjoyed our brief
stay here, but we found the "wall" of toilet paper in the restrooms
to be curious!

Exploring Hovenweep

We had a great night of sleep and we are actually getting really
good at breaking down camp. Who knows...by the end of the summer
we might actually be able to wrap it all up in a half hour! We made
our way over to the Visitor's Center where the main trail surrounding
the ruins at Hovenweep begins. Hovenweep was a small community
of farmers and hunters located around a small canyon. From the
trail, one can see most of the dwellings and they are all pretty
spectacular. Add to the fact that hardly anyone was here besides
us, made it even better.


The ruins here are in average condition, but to me, that helps give
one a feeling of how they looked when they were first discovered.


We left the Square Tower group near the Visitor's Center and drove
toward the Holly/Hackberry Group. Even fewer people visit this
remote area and it is located a short drive down a dirt road to the
northeast. We hiked in over some really interesting slick rock
to the Holly Group and there it was with a commanding view of the
canyon.


Indian Paintbrush is one of my favorite flowers and they were here in
abundance as well as many other varieties.






We saw all kinds of lizards along the trail, but this yellow-headed
collared lizard did a wonderful job of posing for us.

Camping at Hovenweep

In 2009, only 37,848 people visited Hovenweep National Monument,
making it the 10th least visited Monument in the National Park
system. If that number increases by two for 2010, Lynn and I
can be thanked because we decided to stop here to camp for the
night on our way home. It's a great little park that has a lot of
different Anasazi (Ancient Puebloan) structures, stradeling the
Utah/Colorado border.


Even though we pulled into the small campground at around
5:30, we found a pretty nice little spot, overlooking a nearby
canyon, and Ute Mountain, far to the east. Unlike the past two
nights at Chaco, there was no wind, and the temperatures were
relatively warm.


Apparently, it takes very little to make us happy and we
discovered that we were going to be the first to use the
fire pit that had recently been installed at our site. It
performed like a champ!


Because the weather was so nice, there weren't any clouds, and
we were able to get a spectacular showing of stars. Probably the
best display we've seen since we last wintered on the Ice a few
years ago. The moon was just a sliver in the sky, certainly helping
our view.

Way Too Windy

We spent a very windy night at Great Sand Dunes, and
even though we planned on staying a second night, we
decided to break camp and look elsewhere to camp for
our second night. We read the weather forecast at the
Visitor's Center and there were to be wind gusts of up
to 60 mph this evening. Even though our tent did well
last night, we didn't have that great of a time because we
couldn't sit outside and enjoy our campsite. We decided
to head west in hopes that the weather would be better.
Along they way, we saw a large elk herd that reminded
us of when we lived in Estes Park upwards of 200 elk
would gather in our yard at the same time.


This part of Colorado has quite a few farms where bison
are raised. It was interesting watching them and it's
quite relieving to know that they aren't as endangered
as they were even a generation ago.


As we drove west, through southern Colorado, we traveled a
few roads through country we hadn't visited before. We went
through Pagosa Springs and when we got to Durango, we
stopped at the Public Lands Office to check the weather.
We had thought about stopping for the night near Dolores
and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, but found
that it was going to be even windier there than at Great
Sand Dunes. We even thought about staying at Hovenweep
National Monument, which is even farther west. It was very
windy there as well. It seemed at times that the whole state
of Utah was blowing east into Colorado. The skies had such
a hazy, dusty look. We decided to cut our losses and head
home for the night. We headed north and visited the small
resort/ski town of Telluride. We decided we would visit
later in the summer since it looked like a pretty neat place.
Later, we drove the the small town of Ridgway where we
saw this old firehouse and fire truck. They also have an
interesting railroad museum there that we might check out
at a later date. Overall, we spent a long day in the car, but
it was fun to see so many places we hadn't seen before.

To Moab and Back

Some of our best trips are the ones that we don't start out taking.
We were on our way to a place called "Trail Through Time" to take
a hike when we decided to drive further on down the road to Moab.
Moab Utah is kind of an outdoor enthusiast's mecca, primarily
catering to mountain bikers, hikers and jeep four wheelers. It's also
home to Arches National Park and Canyonlands Natonal Park. We've
been here many times before, but it's always interesting to check
out the scenery. We decided to take a back route and this led through
the small ghost town of Cisco.


At one time, about 400 people lived in Cisco and it was a center
for sheep ranching, the railroad (the Union Pacific still goes through
town) and minerals. Not much is left now besides lots of junk cars
and a few dilapidated buildings.


We turned toward Moab on Utah State Route 128. This is also known
as The Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway. After crossing the Colorado
River at Dewey Bridge, we checked out the first of many BLM
campgrounds we would drive by. We plan to camp at a few of
these later this summer.


There definitely isn't a lot of shade here, but the valley along
the river is really pretty and there are also lots of hiking trails
nearby.


While driving through Castle Valley, there are numerous spots where
the valley opens up, exposing huge red sandstone monoliths.


I'm a big fan of all the different types of sandstone and how it
settled over the eons. This particular sandstone formation was
laid down in lots of layers. All of this was once an immense amount
of sand on the bottom of an ancient sea.


Summer is still a bit away, but the weather was perfect and because
it was a Sunday. lots of rafters were out on the river. This particular
guy reminded us of the Punters on the Avon in New Zealand. I don't
think anyone would confuse these sandstone canyons with Christchurch,
New Zealand however.


When we got to Moab, it was past lunchtime and all of our exploring
made us hungry. I had seen on the internet a small drive in named
Milt's Stop & Eat. It's a tiny little place that's been open since 1954.
It looks like they cater a lot to mountain bikers and jeepers, and they
didn't have any car hops, but they had great hamburgers and it was
delicious enough for us to want to come back some time. On our
way out of town, we picked up some information from the Visitor's
Center for hiking trails and campgrounds for later this summer. We
plan on spending some time in this area this summer taking advantage
of everything this area has to offer.

Headed Home

Before we left for home, we stopped for lunch at a great
Mexican restaurant named the Red Iguana. It's been rated
by most as the best Mexican restaurant in Salt Lake City and
has even been featured on a favorite television show of mine
called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The food was awesome!
It was the first Mexican food I've had since coming back to
the States (Taco Bell and Taco John's doesn't count) so I was
especially enamored by the food. They even make seven kinds
of Mole from scratch. We tried the Mole Coloradito which is
made from Pine nuts, almonds, peanuts, dried chile chiuacle
and guajillo chiles, blended with fresh chile poblano and
Mexican chocolate. It didn't disappoint. We will definitely
go back to the Red Iguana again.

Park City

We drove just a half hour east of Salt Lake City to visit the
ski town of Park City. It's a nice little town, but definitely
set up for the ski industry. It was originally a mining town,
but when the mines closed, the skiing moved in. Now there
are lots of little shops, restaurants, bars, etc. all set up to
cater to the tourists.


On our way out of town, we visited the Utah Olympic Park.
Park City was host to most of the skiing and outdoor events
during the 2002 Winter Olympics and they have a small museum
and park where several of the events took place, to commemorate
the event.


It's a fun museum, with lots of interactive displays, including this
bobsled.


I was amazed how heavy a curling stone is...42 pounds!


We got to send emails to ourselves as ski-jumpers!


I think I would have been a lot more scared looking if I had gone
down the real ski jump, which is located just outside the museum.
Very Steep!


The Bobsled and Luge facilities are also located here. No chance to
take a ride on this...not sure I would want to anyway. Looks kinda
dangerous!

We had a great time in Park City and the Olympic Park was a lot of
fun and much more than we expected!

Salt Lake City

I've been home two weeks and Lynn and I decided on a
change of scenery! Yes, we both still have the travel bug,
but we're taking trips close to home this summer. We headed
to Salt Lake City, which is about 4.5 hours away from home.
Along the way, we stopped at the new In-N-Out Burger in
Draper. In-N-Out is a regular stop of ours in California, but
now we have one only 4 hours from home! Good thing we
don't have one in Grand Junction because it certainly would
not be good for my waistline!


We checked into our hotel in downtown Salt Lake City and
it's a cute little mom and pop style motel, called the City
Creek Inn. It's located only blocks from the center of the
city. Salt Lake City is set in a beautiful location, with mountains
all around. Much like Denver, if Denver had been built right
against the Rockies instead of on the Plains. Right against
the mountains is the University of Utah. We drove around
the campus and saw Rice-Eccles Stadium. This is where the
opening and closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics
were held.


Before we came back to the hotel for the night, we drove around
the downtown area. Salt Lake City is the home of the Mormon
(Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) religion. Salt Lake
City is to the Mormons like Vatican City is to Catholics. The
centerpiece of their faith. The Temple itself is very pretty and
is especially so at night. We can't go inside though since we
aren't Mormon. Overall though, Salt Lake City is very welcoming
and there are lots of things to do here. We should have a good
time seeing the sights over the next couple of days.

A Visit From Justin

This morning, we received a nice visit from our friend Justin.
We wintered with Justin and his wife, Kim a few years ago on the
Ice and he was driving through from their home in Utah to Denver.
He just got a new job, flying as a pilot for Great Lake Airlines.
He and Kim are also huge fans of Butter Chicken and I bought
them a few packets of this spice mix when I was in New Zealand.
Good timing, as they just used their last package only days
before. It was fun having breakfast, catching up and talking
about good times. They might be moving to Denver soon, and
if they do, we should be able to see more of them in the future!

And Away I Go...

Ready to start season number 10 on the Ice, I started my trip.
Today was a long day. Lynn dropped me off at the airport
in Grand Junction at around 11:30 and immediately drove
off for Denver. My flight left at around 12:30 and after about
40 minutes, I was in Salt Lake City.


The plane from GJT was pretty small...about 25 people, but this
plane from SLC was about 75people. Quite a bit bigger. I sat
next to a woman from Israel who was going around to cities in
the western US selling body muds and salts from the Dead Sea.
Interesting.


When I landed in Denver at around 4:45, Lynn was waiting for me
and had been there about an hour. Amazing that it took her less
time to drive than it took me to fly.

Grand Mesa National Forest

We see Grand Mesa every day from Grand Junction but
until now had never taken a drive through this beautiful
part of Colorado.


Water seemed to be one of the themes of the day as we
saw streams and lakes everywhere.


Wildlife was abundant and had very little fear of humans.


Lots of people were out on the many lakes, enjoying
some early autumn fishing.


There were lots of trails that we want to check out and
hike next summer.


Deep thoughts...with Tom Hamann...LOL


There were hillsides at every turn that were on fire with
color.


The views were awesome!


At Land's End one can see all the way to Utah from almost
11,000 feet altitude. That's Grand Junction in the center
of the photo.


These little guys have obviously played the "pose for the
tourist" game before.


Each direction had fantastic views. This is overlooking
the Gunnison River valley and Uncompahgre Plateau to
the southwest.


Somewhere in the middle of this photo is our house!


Even more birds were practically begging to have their
photo taken.


Gold and Green apparently aren't the only fall colors in
Colorado.


Some of the Aspen were holding onto summer and were
stubbornly staying green.


Although it was a bit hazy and warm in the valley (84 degrees),
the air was clear and a crisp 51 degrees on top of the Mesa.
That's what 6000 feet of altitude will do for you!


One of the few buildings at Land's End is the Observatory,
built by the CCC during the Depression by World War I Vets.