The Clip-on Tie
Oh, the lonely life of the clip-on tie. They are loners. No roots. Few friends. Several months ago, I was in one of my favorite exclusive men's clothing stores, Walmart, and saw some of these scorned survivors of a more enlightened age on a sale rack. I thought..."Miniarms, those would be easier to use than choking yourself with a noose every time you go to a Church meeting". So I became the proud owner of two magnificent clip-on ties. They are also perfect for traveling. Easy care, and they slide right into the side pocket of the suitcase. What could be more efficient, I thought? While in St. George, I wore one of my new ties to Church. After Sacrament Meeting, as we were leaving the chapel, I heard the booming voice of the Branch President, "Did someone lose their tie?". As I was turning my head to look, I snickered to KR...."who would be dumb enough to lose their tie in Church". But as I got a good look, I thought to myself, "that looks like my clip-on". I glanced down....sure enough, no tie. Now you know the rest of the story. Clip-on ties do have their shortcomings.
Westridge Snow
The snow just keeps coming to Wenatchee. It is by far the most we have had at any one time since we moved here. We have about had enough of this!
Zions to Provo and Home
Back to Provo. We left St. George this morning and headed back in kind of an indirect way (shock). East through Hurricane, Zions NP, to Mr. Carmel Junction, then north through Orderville (didn't see a whole lot of order there) to the Escalante turnoff. Soon after you make that turnoff, you go through Red Canyon. It was a clear, cold, beautiful day and the rocks were glowing. Escalante seems like an interesting, nice place.
Isolated. But the area is gorgeous. They have a new high school. Would
be rough to bus to road games from here. Home of the Moquis. Just north of Escalante, the Escalante River swings east on its way to Lake Powell. We entered into one arm of the Grand Staircase-Escalante NMT
(I believe one of Clinton's giant Utah land grabs) and down into a
magnificent canyon area carved by the river and its tributary creeks. It
covers a huge area, all the way to the small town of Boulder. From
Boulder to Torrey, the road crosses over the Boulder mountains and a
9000+ pass. The east side of the range is covered by some of the largest
aspen groves I have ever seen. Must be glorious in the fall. But the
best part of the up and over is the view. You can see forever to the
east...over all of central Utah...Capitol Reef NP, the Waterpocket Fold,
the Grand Staircase down into Lake Powell, the canyons of the
Escalante, the Burr Trail, the Henry Mountains. And no people. We finally rolled into Provo around 5:00pm, having
seen more little Utah towns than we really needed to....but it was fun!
The Matt Anderton's and the Dover's met us at Applebee's and we had a
nice dinner, then spent some time at Amy's visiting. We were up at
4:00am on the 16th to catch our flight. (January 15-16)
Bucket List #49 Completed
ALERT ALERT While in St. George, I checked the internet for local dinosaur footprints "in situ" and found some quite close to where we were staying. So Monte and Miniarms were off on the hunt. The website said they were close to the water tower in Washington City, so we checked out the various water towers (plural), as there was more than one. We finally went to the City offices to ask them, and were directed to one particular tower. After an hour of trying to find the road to THAT tower, we approached it on a dusty road. We noticed a City employee coming down the road and waved him over, asking directions to the "dinosaur prints" - and got asked in return the question...."are you paleontologists?". We looked at each other and told him "never mind". Just a few yards down the road we found this small wooden sign. Pretty cool footprints, huh.....
St. George
Mom and Dad Merrill were kind enough to show us around town, take us out to dinner, and attend their Church services with us on Sunday. It was a nice, sunny 50 to 60 degrees both days. Enough said. Brigham Young knew what he was doing. (January 13-14)
REALLLLLY in the Middle of Nothing
We thought we didn't see many cars yesterday....we didn't see ANY cars today. But what an incredible drive. We drove from Blanding, Utah, west by northwest, to Natural Bridges NMT, Hite (the bridge across the Colorado at the far upstream limits of Lake Powell), through Hanksville, west through Capitol Reef NP, to Richfield and I-70, then south to St. George. Whew! Check out the pictures: 1) Natural Bridges NMT, 2) Henry Mountains from Fry Canyon, 3) the Colorado River near Hite, 4-5) Capitol Reef NP, and 6) Waterpocket Fold.
Put on Your Mexican Hat
As you can see, we had an exciting day! We were up early and out of Durango, backtracking through Mancos to the entrance to Mesa Verde NP. It was a clear, beautiful, cold day, but the roads were fine...until we started climbing into the Park. It is several thousand feet higher than Cortez (on a mesa, naturally). The road into the Park (about 20 miles) is steep and hanging on the edge of some cliffs to begin with, and as we gained altitude, they were icy and snow packed. We had to slow way down for safety and it took us a while to get to the Visitor's Center. Only one ranger station and cliff house (Spruce Tree House) were open this time of year, but we had a great tour guide. He put on quite a show for us. KR decided to get a first-hand look at the kiva.
After some lunch in Cortez, we headed west out into the unpopulated area of the Four Corners north of the Arizona-New Mexico line. Part of it is Colorado and part Utah...all you see out there are a few cows, lots of small canyons, juniper trees, and, they claim, thousands of Ancestral Pueblan (the new name being substituted for Anasazi these days) ruins scattered over many square miles. Hovenweep NMT contains some of the largest, but a huge, recently-designated Canyons of the Ancients NMT protects many others. There are few roads - we used the main one through the middle that goes to the Hovenweep Visitor's Center.
Hovenweep NMT is right across the Utah border, and as you head west, then south, you eventually hit the San Juan River at Montezuma Creek (on the Navajo Indian Reservation), and then Bluff (are there any Mormon families still there?). You Church history buffs will remember Bluff as the destination for the Hole in the Rock pioneers that were asked to settle in Southeast Utah and found the Colorado River to be such an substantial obstacle in their pathway. Bluff has some wonderful, old pioneer houses, most of which are not being cared for and some not even occupied. We continued on to the Valley of the Gods and the "goosenecks" of the San Juan near Mexican Hat. The Valley of the Gods is a sort of Monument Valley "Lite" and the goosenecks are an incredible set of compressed, sharp bends in the San Juan before it enters Lake Powell. Both spots are well worth the visit and the long drive. What beautiful country this is! We had dinner in Mexican Hat, which is right on the San Juan, the Navajo Reservation being across the bridge. KR had a Navajo Taco!
East to Durango
Upstream from Moab, the Colorado is approachable from the highway. I had explored downstream a bit on a prior trip, so , of course, I had to look around upstream.....the Entrada Sandstone walls are incredible and worth the jaunt. We went as far as the Fisher Towers and Castleton Tower. On the way to Monticello from Moab, you can head
inland on a paved road into the lower part of Canyonlands. About 20
miles in, there is a wonderful flat slab of petroglyphs - Newspaper
Rock. Equally impressive was the TP display in the biffies. Do you think
they were concerned about running out? After passing through Monticello, we turned east
into Colorado, across the "Great Sage Plain Valley" of Cortez and
Dolores. The temperature dropped noticeably, and the amount of the snow
on the ground doubled as we headed east. We passed through Dolores and
Mancos, and over a high pass into Durango. Ever since my first trip to
the Four Corners area, I had wanted to bring KR here and stay in the
late-1880's Strater Hotel. We managed to get a nice room, despite the
fact we were entering into the fringes of ski country.
Down the Green River
We spent last night in thriving Green River, Utah, and headed out on our little adventure in the morning. The Green does not look like much this time of year - very low flows. The town does have a nice little museum dedicated to the explorers of the Green and Colorado Rivers, most notably John Wesley Powell. We had a great day, taking our time and seeing
Canyonlands National Park, Deadhorse Point State Park, and Arches
National Park. We were not sure how the roads, etc. would be with the
recent snow, but our apprehension was unfounded. The roads were fine,
and you get a completely different feel for these magnificent parks
coming this time of year. The snow dusting the red rock adds another
color and makes for some some breathtaking scenery. And with no other
people cluttering up the hotel, roads, and parking lots. Make a note
everyone - Four Corners in winter!
Car Rental
We rented a 2008 Saturn Vue for our little jaunt. After a day driving it around, I liked it. Good job Saturn, and keep up the good work. With more like this, we can start keeping those manufacturing jobs in the U.S.
Utah or Bust
KR and I drove down to Utah with Amy, Olivia, Ethan (Mike had flown back earlier), and KT. Other than a little scary ice around Baker (good driving Amy), the trip was fast and we made it in one day! Olivia and Ethan were real travel troopers. The car DVD player has revolutionized traveling with kids. They dropped me off in Morgan, where I stayed with Mom and Dad until Monday (the 7th), while KR and KT were in Provo with the Dover's. (January 3-16)
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