Utah – A Traveling Fool

On the way from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Salt Lake City, we took our morning break in Afton, Wyoming. Afton is a very small town known for having the largest arch made from elk antlers in existence.

In Idaho, we made a stop in Montpelier. In 1896, Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch robbed the bank in Montpelier. I took a photo of the plaque commemorating the heist. The gang took the money supposedly to spring one of their members from jail. Most of them managed to abscond with the money, but one of the gang was captured and held in prison until 1912. Nearby was Bear Lake. We drove through Logan Canyon to Logan, Utah to have lunch.

When we arrived in Salt Lake City, we took a tour of the Capitol and Temple Square. We could go inside of the Tabernacle, but not the Temple. Non-Mormons are not allowed inside. We could take a look at a model of the Temple, however. We had dinner at the Roof Restaurant that was in a hotel near the Temple Square and had a great view of both the Temple and the Tabernacle.

On our way to Bryce Canyon the next morning, we took a morning break at Scipio, Utah, which had a petting zoo. I made some new friends with several bunnies and baby goats. There were some Ostriches on hand which I was quite content to look at through the fencing. I had once had an experience with an Ostrich back in Texas when I was growing up who was just a tad too friendly.

Then I joined an interesting trio – an Ankole-Watusi (a type of cattle), an Alpaca, and a Peacock. The Ankole-Watusi seemed like he was much more interested in a nap than in people. The Peacock strutted around making noises but did not spread his tail feathers. The Alpaca was just plain adorable. The face was so cute, what with long bangs sweeping across his large, long-lashed eyes.

We made a stop at Red Rock Canyon and took photos of the Salt and Pepper Shakers. We continued on to Ruby’s Inn at the entrance of Bryce Canyon to have lunch. We were also staying at Ruby’s Inn for the night. We hiked into Bryce Canyon to see Bryce Point, Inspiration Point and Sunset Point. A couple of us also went part of the way down the Navajo Trail. We knew that we would have to come back up that same trail at some point and that it was steep, so we only ventured as far as we figured we could return from without giving ourselves heart attacks. Bryce Canyon was really beautiful.

The next day, we went to Zion National Park. The tour coach could only go as far as Zion Lodge. From there, we took a tram to what was called the Temple of Sinawava. I chose to hike the Riverside Trail, which was about a mile long. The temperature was about 102° F. Fortunately the Riverside Trail was relatively level and even had some good shade in places. I had a couple water bottles with me (one for going in and one for coming out) and managed to finish them both by the time I returned to the tram pickup point. Back at the lodge, I had some ice cream and downed about three more bottles of water back on the coach.

We stopped off at a Subway Sandwich shop to pick up lunch to eat along the way while crossing the Mojave Desert. The temperature there was about 112° F. We did take a pit stop along the way and it was like trying to breathe in an oven. It was even hotter than Egypt had been in September/October of 2008.

When we got back to Treasure Island in Vegas, we had a farewell dinner before getting repacked to fly home the next day and into bed. Repacking for the plane home was an adventure due to all of the Native American items I had purchased along the way. But I managed and it all arrived safely with me back in Minneapolis. It helped that I had packed some bubble wrap which I then used on the Kachinas (two of them) and the bowl of the peace pipe. The Lakota breast plate and the horsehair and bead dancer’s bustle I got in Jackson, packed pretty well since they were relatively flat. Also had several pieces of jewelry purchased in Monument Valley, the Black Hills, and Jackson which I placed in plastic sandwich bags I brought with me and tucked in among my clothes.

Next time – a 2014 trip to Greece and the Greek Islands, where we spent 8 days on the mainland of Greece and 8 days on a cruise in the Aegean.

I loved Monument Valley so much that I was reluctant to leave. But our next adventure was to take place at Arches National Park at Moab, Utah. En route, we passed a rock formation called the Mexican Hat. The nearby town of 31 residents was also called Mexican Hat.

We went by another interesting rock formation before entering Arches National Park. The park contains roughly 2,000 natural arches and is considered to be the largest concentration of naturally formed arches in the world. The arches were formed from an underground salt bed that was deposited there about 300 million year ago. Humans have occupied the region for 10,000 years – since the last Ice Age. Ute petroglyphs can be found.

One feature that I found interesting was something called the Petrified Dunes. These had once been sand dunes that turned to rock. They were cool to see, but didn’t translate well into photos until I hiked up to the North Window. The view on the other side had a pretty decent example of Petrified Dunes about mid-range.

The Balanced Rock was one of the famous rock formations. I thought it resembled a seated alien with a large head. The head was about the size of three school buses. It seems to be staring at a solid stone wall. We parked by the Balanced Rock so we could take some photos. I have included two of the nine I took here.

We then drove over to where we could walk to the North Window, the Turret Arch and the Double Arch. I had packed hiking sticks and pulled them out of the suitcase that morning, carrying them onto the tour coach. They really came in handy. The climb to the North Window turned out to be steeper than it first appeared. It was also a hot day and we were in a desert. I felt that the hike was worth it to see the view on the other side. It was also worth it to get closer to the Turret Arch.

When I came back down from the Turret Arch, I could cross the road and take a better look at the Double Arch. This arch was formed differently from the rest of the arches in the park. It was created from water coming from above and escaping through the two arches that were formed.

From there we drove to a spot from which we could take the long hike up to see the Delicate Arch. The hike was more of a climb as it was nearly straight up (and this was considered to be the easier of the possible routes). The sun was beating down with the temperature hovering near 100°F. I drank a lot of water on the way up.

The Delicate Arch is made of sandstone and is often used as a symbol of the state of Utah. Originally it didn’t lie within the boundaries of the Arches National Monument that had been created in 1929. But the monument was enlarged in 1938 to include the Delicate Arch. Once again, it was worth the climb. It was quite beautiful.

Before leaving the park, we drove around to look at other areas and other formations. Another formation I found interesting was called the Three Gossips. It does look like three women clustered together, but they could just be three close friends and not necessarily gossips.

We drove along the Colorado River into the state of Colorado to Grand Junction, where we paid a visit to the Grande River Vineyards. We had a tour of the winery, a wine tasting and lunch. After lunch we headed towards Vail, where we took a break. By this point, we were well up into the mountains and surrounded by snow. So we had gone from summer temperatures of around 100° to snow. I had a rain jacket with a zip out lining with me that I put on before leaving the coach for our break.

Vail was a small town with mainly hotels and restaurants and ski resorts. From Vail, we continued to climb up to about 11,000 feet above sea level. Eventually, we arrived in Denver, where we spent the night at a downtown hotel.

The next morning after breakfast, we began our journey to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We had our morning break in Cheyenne, Wyoming, lunch in Torrington, Wyoming, and an afternoon break in Edgemont, South Dakota. Edgemont is at the southernmost edge of the Black Hills.

Next time — the Black Hills, Deadwood & the Devil’s Tower.