Sun, Sept 16th
We signed up for a boat trip on the CO River this morning. Our capt was a pretty funny guy. We got to see Canyonlands from the river, nice view.
After the boat trip we jumped in the car and off we went. We stopped for lunch at world famous "Mom's Cafe". Tom heard about it because of their famous pies. It's in Selina, UT just off I-70. He says the pie was okay, but his mom's pie is better. And there was "mom" with a desk right in the middle of the restaurant, kind of funny.
Has anyone heard of a deep fried scone? That's the way "Mom's" served them, instead of a dinner roll.
We arrive in SLC and had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.
On the way back to the hotel, we ran for the train (Tom ran too) but just missed it so our hike today was back to the hotel.
We'll be home on Tues and back to work on Wed.
Canyonlands & Arches, UT
Sat, Sept 15
Started our day in Canyonland again. We had a few more things to see.
Canyonland has 3 diff areas: Island in the Sky, The Maze and The Needles. We went to Island in the Sky. Take a look at the first pic to understand why it's called that. FYI the Maze only has about 300 visitors a year, it's inaccessible except for 4-wheel drive or ATVs.
Went to a geology talk at the Grand View overlook. It was 1000 ft down to the mesa then another 1000 ft to the floor of the canyon.
Went to Upheaval Dome, they don't know why it's there. There are a couple of ideas, one of which is a meteorite!
Then hiked to Mesa Arch and there it was, right in front of us.
This afternoon we went back to Arches to do 2 more hikes to see some famous arches; Landscape Arch & Delicate Arch.
The first pic is Landscape Arch. We think this shud be Delicate Arch, a piece fell off this arch in '91
and at the thinnest is only 6 ft. That seems delicate to me.
The second pic is just one of the "fins" we walked through. Fins are thin rocks that rise up from the ground, you can see what I mean.
Delicate Arch is the unofficial symbol of UT, it's on their license plates, pins, hats, etc. It's the 4th pic. Pic #3 is part of the hike in to Delicate Arch, it's slip rock we walked up to get to the arch. Those tiny dots are people.
Last pic is the last leg of our hike, we had to walk on to see the arch. That's Tom on that ledge!
Oh by the way, if you've been reading along you know we saw a German guy in Yellowstone and then again at Natural Bridges. We did see him again at Arches, at Delicate Arch, but I decided not to assault him this time and left him in peace. He had spent over 3 wks driving around to more Natl Parks than us!
My friends, visit your national parks!!! We encountered many Europeans, there's nothing wrong with this, I just think we take our parks for granted. Plan a vac or a long wknd & visit our parks!
Natural Bridges & Arches, UT
Fri, Sept 14th
We had a fun drive up the side of the mountains, we seems to keep doing this.
Our first stop was Natural Bridges Monument. We did a few little hikes to the 3 main bridges.
The 1st pic was a little hike into to visit this bridge & I can't remember it's name, but isn't it cool? We also saw a German guy we spoke with in Yellowstone. I don't know how I remember people, but I do. I'm sure he thought I was nuts when I told him I remembered him from Yellowstone. I think he is visiting more natl parks than us, if you can believe that.
In the afternoon it was on to Arches Natl Park. Here's Balanced Rock (we also saw one in the Garden of the Gods) another arch, then "the Windows" and last pic is Double Arches. Can you find me in the pic? I'm there just to show you the size of these arches.
Monument Valley, AZ & UT
Thurs, Sept 13th
We got some wimpy WiFi again. I got some pics published but then it stopped.
Today was another driving day, but not as much as we've done recently.
We had b-fast in Cortez and went to Four Corners. It's fancier than I remember as a kid, but that's not saying much. It's a concrete marker w/ the flags of the states. But it's still cool being in 4 states at once! As you can see Tom liked being in 4 states on one foot.
Then off to Monument Valley. It was beautiful. We took a tour through the valley by a Navajo guide. She told us lots about the Valley and she even sang us some songs. We had so much to talk about, our 2 1/2 hr tour was 3+ hrs. We were very dusty and hot when we returned. If I can't add pics today, hopefully i can tomorrow.
I am standing in front of "The Mittens" (in Monument Valley) which is why I have my hands up, between the right and left mittens.
That lone rock formation is referred to as the Totem Pole, even though it's mainly Pacific NW Indians that use totem poles, not SW Indians.
San Juan Skyway, CO
Wed, Sept 12
Today we drove the San Juan Skyway. Oh sure the suggestion is 2-3 days, but we did it in a day. It includes mining towns, skiing towns and little towns. Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Rico, Delores and Cortez. Not sure if I got them all, 232 miles around.
This area is also referred to as the Switzerland of America.
Then we watched the sun set from Park Point for our last evening in Mesa Verde.
Mesa Verde, CO
Tue, Sept 11
We remember.
Note: I'm posting several days right now.
Sorry to have fallen behind on the blog for all you dedicated bloggers. Our socializing tied me up and now we’re in the middle of the park with WiFi only in the reg office and it's taking forever for pics to upload. I'll have to wait on them, but will add them in a day or 2.
Now that you know what Mesa Verde (see prev day) means, the other important thing to know is that ancient peoples lived here. They were sometimes cliff dwellers and sometimes mud huts. There is evidence of both all over the park. Of course the cliff dwellers are more exciting.
We headed off for the visitor’s center; you must be on a ranger lead tour for many of the cliff dwellings.
We took two tours, the 1st was very informative and we got to walk down to the dwellings and became part of the Sand clan.
The second tour, not so informative but fun to watch Tom. There was much more ladder climbing, steep footholds and tiny tunnels. I had a great laff (as did the people behind me) watching Tom get through the tiny tunnel. I didn’t post that pic because you would not know what you’d be looking at. Instead here he is on a very steep ascent up from the cliff dwelling.
Left Denver for Mesa Verde, CO
Mon, Sept 10th
We left rainy Denver and set out for Mesa Verde. It was a long driving day.
It wasn’t scheduled but we stopped at the Great Sand Dunes National Pk. The best view is on top of the Great Sand Dune but it took 1 ½ - 2 hrs to climb to the top and we just didn’t have the time, so this pic will have to do.
We arrived in Durango, just before we entered Mesa Verde Natl Park. We stopped at the first restaurant we found, Applebee’s. Once we were seated we noticed the place was full but very quiet. Upon closer inspection, few were eating. We decided to leave and had a great Mexican dinner at Francisco’s.
For those of you that have never taken Spanish or have forgotten all the Spanish you ever learned, Mesa Verde means green table. Here’s a pic that I really think shows you why it’s called Mesa Verde.
Sun, Sept 9th
Garden of the Gods is an amazing rock garden in Co Springs. There are some amazing formations that have been given fitting names. Here I am at the 3 Graces, if I remember correctly, mainly for perspective.
We stopped at The Broadmoore Hotel, wow. That’s some hotel.We then visited the Air Force Academy. It seemed nice enough but the intro movie felt like a commercial why I should join up. Tom took this pic inside the chapel.
This evening we were lucky enough to be invited to dinner again with another college friend, (Mike) Digan & his family, whom I have not seen for about 20+ years.
Rocky Mt Natl Park, CO
Sat, Sept 8th
We met up with my girl friend Mary and her family. Mar has quite the busy life so we met at the bowling alley where one daughter was bowling, then on to the baseball field to pick up her husband & youngest daughter.
We left Mary so she could get on with her stuff and we journeyed off to Red Rocks, an amphitheater just outside of
Next we visited downtown
We ended our day with dinner at Mary’s (& Jim) house. It was nice to have a home-cooked meal.
Rocky Mt Natl Park, CO
Fri, Sept 7th
D’s p’s 55th anniversary
We started our day in the Rocky Mt Natl Park with a hike at
This hike started at an elevation of 10,080 (at Bear Lk) and had a 650 ft increase. Did you know CO has 58 mountain peaks over 14,000 ft.
After lunch and another hike we drove Old Fall River Road. The drive was a single lane dirt road along the side of the mountains that ended at the Alpine Visitor Center. This visitor cntr is above the tree line, but that wasn’t high enough for us. We hiked to a lookout point that was at 12,005 (which is 2.3 miles) above sea level, nice view.
This evening we drove to Denver area.
P.S. I didn’t see/hear any ghosts at the Stanley Hotel but its walls are made of paper. We heard our neighbors’ cell phones, alarm clocks, conversations and other things.
SD to WY now in CO
Thurs, Sept 6
Sorry for the inconsistence of my formatting. My excuse is I'm on vac and this is my first blog. Yesterday I had to catch up and it took a while.
Today we didn't do much, just lots of driving. We left SD, drove through WY and ended up in CO. We did take a slight detour to Fort Laramie WY. Ft. Laramie is considered a very important historic site because of its placement and gateway to the west. Established in 1834 and abandoned in 1890 because it was no longer needed. Revitalized in 1938-1964 and given as a national park.
We had hotel reservations at the historic Stanley Hotel. The guy F.O. Stanley, which invented the steam driven car, built the hotel in 1909. I guess "The Shining" was filmed here (it's always on TV in the hotel) and the hotel claims to be haunted. I'll let you know how we sleep tonight seeing as how I'm married to a chicken, redrum.
When we arrived we were greeted by a bull elk (as seen in the pic) and his harem. As we left for dinner he finished eating the tree and was on the move. We had to duck behind a Subaru for temporary protection until he & his harem & kids settled down. Some people were too close - did you see those antlers?!?
Custer, SD
Sept 5th
Today is Tom's mom's b-day.
We visited
Here the six of us are posing for a pic, not our best side...
We visited Jewel Cave, the 2nd longest cave (in the world? can remember) Called Jewel Cave because the early visitors thought the formations, calcite crystals, looked like jewels. It is very beautiful with a variety of formations. One formation is named bacon because it looks like a 20 ft piece of bacon (the geological formation is called a curtain). This cave is 49 degree year round.
We ended our day w/ pie in honor of Tom's mom's b-day and I had to pack and catch up on the blog. Hope you're enjoying our trip
Custer, SD
Sept 4
Our first stop was at the Crazy Horse Memorial, if you don't know about this go to www.CrazyHorseMemorial.org for more info. It won't be finished for many many years and we got a close look at him. This is a pic of the plaster model & the mountain under the arm on model.
It was another warm day so we ducked into the Wind Cave where it is 51 degrees all year round.
We had dinner in Rapid City (the biggest city in SD) at a fabu restaurant suggested by Tom's cousin. It was great!
Devil's Tower, WY
Sept 3rd
Lots of driving again today. We took an amazing drive through WY's Big Horn Mountains on Highway 14, it was breathtaking.
We stopped at Devil's Tower and took the 1+ mile hike around the base. It was quite warm, I was sweating, I think it was 90+ degrees. I always thought Devil's Tower was big...
We visited Deadwood, it was full of casinos & (cigarette) smoke. There are museums to visit but we were there on a holiday, so all were closed.
Yellowstone, WY
Sat, Sept 1
Jumped in the car and off to MT. We visited my friend Arin.
Sun, Sept 2
We spent the day at
Our wildlife sighting included several chipmunks, deer and bison. Oh yeah, I forgot the tiny cutthroat trout. We ended our day in
Tom posted our pictures on Flickr, send us an email if you want a link. The above pictures are my first attempt at posting pics.
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