Goblins and Ghosties

Saturday Morning - After a quick 20 minute drive, we arrived at Goblin Valley State Park.  This is a truly interesting and unique park as visitors are free to roam amongst the "goblins" in the valley.  Here's the view from the observation deck.... 30 or so steps from the bottom...

View from the top

From the observation deck - white house

 And then we went down to the valley floor and "up close and personal" with the goblins...

Dutch Dancers

Rocks Day at the Spa

Through the Rock Window

We left the goblins behind and drove to Moab - We're staying at a small-ish RV park on the outskirts of town.  (Passport membership gives us 1/2 price!)  Very nice and friendly folks here, one of whom has offered to dog-sit for Mr. Hobbs tomorrow!   We're planning a double-whammy day doing a 4 x 4 tour of Canyonlands National Park in the morning, lunch on the tour company, and then a jetboat tour of the canyons from Colorado River level all afternoon.  Should be fun.

Busy Days, Busy Camera, Amazing Experiences - I'm so lucky!

O.K.  The days got a bit mixed up.  I guess I need one of those retirement clocks that just has the days of the week instead of hours of the day!  It's day 29 of our trip - and it is truly fantastic!  We overnighted in Richmond, UT last night after driving a few extra miles to avoid something called "Hell's Backbone", which would have been a shorter route, but Pam has done it before and put her foot down!  Too scary, I guess.   Anyway, here's the photos of the petroglyphs we saw in Parawan yesterday:

Zipper Glyph

Snakes and Suns

Here's some of Cedar Breaks - also yesterday -

The Cedars at Cedar Breaks - Really Junipers?

Beautiful Deep Vally - 10,000'

Today we drove to Capitol Reef National Park.  Thinking we might camp in their campground if there was room... we were thrilled that they had open sites....until we learned that it's primitive camping.  I can live without Wi-Fi and TV, but I am spoiled when it comes to water and electric!  So we paid $5.00 for a campsite, parked the rig there for 6 hours, and then enjoyed the vistas and canyons of Capitol Reef unencumbered by a 31' rig.  That allowed us to do the scenic drives down into the canyons and whoa!!! what an amazing day.  I have never seen/experienced an environment like this before.  It is absolutely, positively stunning.  Here's just a bit of what we saw.

Looks like sentinels guarding the valley

Lovely rock wall & Cloud-scape

Sandstone Beauty

Window Rock

In the canyon...

Did a lot of driving, stopping, photo shooting today.  I'm sure that I'll feel it in the morning...

Bye Bye Bryce...

Our last day at Bryce was a re-visit to some of our favorite areas and on our way we saw these...

Utah Prairie Dog on Alert

Mom, Dad and Fawn

 

 

Casual Lunch Break

We were thrilled to get so close!  I got most of the "chores" done Wednesday evening so we could just hitch and go in the morning... and the rear stabilizers wouldn't retract!  Since one cannot drive with the rear stabilizers down - what to do?  I had the brainstorm to just disconnect the darn things and do without stabilization for the rest of the trip (those who know me well know that stability is not my strong point anyway) but I am not really in shape to crawl under the rig to do the deal.... and don't carry a big enough tool box.  A 'neighbor' saw my dilemma and came to the rescue.  He liked my game plan and did the work for me.  Pam and I decided to give the gentleman and his wife the gift of a dinner on us.  So we were on our way - just two hours later than planned.  We headed for Cedar Breaks National Monument where we enjoyed a Ranger "Talk" about the CCC Program that developed the parks.  Here's what we saw:  Hmmm.... problem uploading photos.... more tomorrow!

Red, Red and more Red...

From Sedona to Zion to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes to Bryce and then, today, the Red Canyon there is definitely an abundance of red rock/sand in Utah!  But every area has its own distinctive hue and "style" of rock formations.  And nothing like I've ever seen on the East coast.  We travelled 15 miles from camp today to visit the Red Canyon in the Dixie National Forest. We enjoyed a fairly easy 1 mile hike with not only beautiful rock formations, but also some of the prettiest wildflowers I've seen.

Utah Rocks!

Tunnel entry to Red Canyon

We did the Pink Ledges Trail (and a little bit of the HooDoo Trail when we took a wrong turn) and here are just a few of our 'finds':

Evening Primrose

Cookie Cutter HooDoo?

Not sure, but sure pretty!

We closed out our day with a trip to a lapidary/rock shop where we each found some nice specimens for making jewelry and then a stop at a bakery where we drooled over and then had to buy some fresh rosemary/olive oil bread and assorted sweet treats from the day-old but still yummy counter.  The winds continue to blow like crazy - strongest winds I've ever experienced other than hurricane.

Looks like a hoodoo hatchery

Looks like driftwood, but no ocean....

And then there was Bryce...

HooDoos!!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, we arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park.  First we learned that it's not a canyon, but rather a millions-year-old sea bed comprised of sandstone layers which have been colored mostly by iron and magnesium.  As the yearly rains and, more importantly, constant freezing and thawing of the land, has eroded the soil leaving a unique series of upright sandstone 'columns' called Hoodoos.  Our guide told us that this type of landscape exists nowhere else on earth!  It is surely a mesmerizing sight to behold.  Took lots and lots of photos - it's hard not to - but will share just a few here:

Entry

Hoodoos in the valley

View from 9,000'

Bristle Cone Pine

 Weather today has been overcast and very, very windy.  The RV is shaking from stem to stern and an awning is not even a consideration.  We are enjoying a quiet afternoon relaxing, watching movies and resting some very weary muscles!  We're definitely not the most experienced or capable hikers... but we did climb Inspiration Point today and it was worth it but left us a bit weary.

Day 23 and Still Good Friends!

Well, we've been on the road together for 23 days now and I gotta say, things are going great!  We had a busy, busy day today.  Packed up at Zion River Resort early this morning and headed for Bryce Canyon City.  We went from Utah through parts of Arizona and then back to Utah.  First on our agenda was a visit to a State Park, Coral Pink Sands.  The sand dues were formed by something called the venturi effect of winds through the canyons.  Since the canyons are sandstone full of iron, the sand that blows through the canyon has a strong coral pink hue.  It is super-fine and there are miles/acres of the stuff, as far as the eye can see.

Pink Sand Dunes

Lots of ATVs

Pam Slide during Sand Collection

Beautiful Dunes

We drove on to Bryce Canyon City, arriving at our next base camp around 4PM.  Ruby's Inn is quite the "conglomerate", one that started many many years ago as a small tourist rest.  Over the years, 3 generations have developed the resort and it now includes a Best Western, Diner, Steakhouse, Gift Gallery, Rodeo, Full-service garage and RV repair center, car wash and very efficient shuttle service to Bryce Canyon National Park. 

Barrel Racing

Ruby's

Seeing it in person is so great!

It was a family oriented rodeo, with kids as young as 5, complete with chaps and helmets, entering the ring and attempting to ride the pet sheep they are raising.   So adorable.

Kids start early...on animals they've raised.

Dancing on the Fault Line...

Well, I cannot say we "did" everything at Zion, but we "did" everything that a non-hiker can see and do so we decided not to return to the park today, but rather go to St. George, UT.  It was a nice adventure, taking us past some olde timey buildings and "temples".  We passed on the LDS tour because my experience with that sect is that if you put your foot in the door, you are on the list for re-contact forever.  But we did tour at the Daughters of Utah Museum (unfortunately goes by the acronym DUM) and that was fascinating.  Lots of memorabilia from the early settlement days of St. George.  Quite a few family collections of clothing, jewelry, tableware, tools and oddities.  Particularly enjoyed the clothing accessories like add-on collars, cuffs, shawls etc. that allowed folks to wear the same outfit, just change the 'extras'.  The beaded, hand-made shoes were lovely.    We drove back through a town called Hurricane and noticed a rather prominent 8 - 9' ridge of rocks and hardpacked earth that ran alongside houses/road for quite a while.  Our Zion guide had mentioned a nearby fault so we guessed that was it, took photos and brought them back to the RV Park and verified.

Rocky Fault line Behind Homes

Curves in Fault Line - Hurricane UT

Close-up

This evening we are going to join in the Beer n' Brats at the clubhouse... Pam gets the beer, I get the brats!  A good deal if you ask me...  Tomorrow morning we head out again, making our way toward Bryce Canyon National Park with a couple of stops on the way.  Details to follow!