18 days
10 states
5200 miles
2 Harry Potter books (on CD)

T & D Adventures to National Parks of the West!
Sept 2007
-Spokane, WA
-Yellowstone, WY
-Devil's Tower, WY & Custer State Park, SD
-Crazy Horse & Wind Cave, SD
-Mt Rushmore & Jewel Cave, SD
-Estes Park & Rocky Mt National Park, CO
-Denver, CO
-Garden of the Gods & AF Academy, CO
-Mesa Verde, CO
-San Juan Skyway, CO
-Four Corners & Monument Valley, AZ
-Natural Bridges & Arches, UT
-Canyonlands & Arches, UT
-Canyonlands & Salt Lake City, UT
-Pendelton, OR

Scroll down and go to the "Older Post" to start at the beginning.

Moab to Salt Lake City, UT

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.