Monthly Archives: August 2013

Vacations

Arches Park near Moab, Utah

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Park AvenueWhen we decided to do this vacation as a road trip, I had zeroed in on seeing Arches National Park in southern Utah. It’s similar, in a way, to the area around Drumheller, with incredible rock formations. The unique thing in Utah is the brilliant red color of the rocks. This picture of Pam and I is in front of the iconic rock formation known as Park Avenue. I’m sure you’ve seen this used in commercial and westerns!

Dual archLayers upon layers of different kinds of rock, with different hardness have been manipulated with water and wind to create strange and unique shapes. Some of the rocks look like they have melted; some look the have been sheered off with a huge knife or axe; some look like the rocks were in motion like the ocean… it’s a crazy wonderful stretch of the world!

Balancing rocksRocks balance precariously on top of cliffs, on top of spires of rock shooting into the sky, on sloping cliff faces -it’s hard to describe everything you see.

Lots of archesWe spent a lot of hours driving around this park, and we didn’t even see half of it. This is definitely something that needs more than half a day.

Here is a short movie taken by Pam of the Dual Arches. It is right opposite the formation called “The Windows” (there used to be a second window, but it collapsed some years ago.)

Pam with the wildlifeHere is a little shot of Pam with some of the wildlife in the park! The Visitor’s Center has several of the bronze statues depicting the various creatures who inhabit the park.

I’ve also created a separate gallery for the shots of the park – way too many to include in one post. I’ve added a slideshow here at the bottom. I’m going to add more shots – I was totally fascinated by the place.

 

Vacations

Price, Utah

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Native IndianToday after leaving Boise we headed south and east toward Utah. The land is very dry, with mountains in the distance on both sides. As we approached the Utah border, lots of irrigation pipes were tossing water over an increasingly verdant landscape. There were lots of vines full of grapes, and corn fields with stalks 4 and 5 feet tall.

The Interstate speed is 75 in Utah, and the roads were crisp and clear. We made good time, passing through Salt Lake City. It’s a smallish city, under 200,000 with a small downtown core tucked close to the mountains. It rained quite heavily as we passed through the city, but quickly cleared up as we approached Provo.

DinosaurWe stopped for a quick bite to eat in Provo and check the hotels via free wifi at a dive bar. They only served double hamburgers, so we had a couple burgers, a beer and a diet coke for 16 bucks! Not too bad – plus free wifi! We decided to stay the night in Price, a small mining community nestled among the red cliffs of the Colorado Plateau.

Dinosaur close upThere is a dinosaur museum here, with lots of walking trails. The one that most people know is Nine Mile Canyon, famous for it’s long, continuous Indian pictographs.

Dinner at Groggs was an eyeopener – if you need a BIG, HUGE plate of food, with enough to feed two on EACH plate, then this is the place for you. The waitresses seemed to know everyone who came through the door, and everyone greeted the other regulars. Definitely a place where locals come to enjoy dinner and a brew. It’s associated with Pinnacle breweries.

 

Vacations

Through to Idaho

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Fruit and AntiquesToday we stopped in Boise, the capital city of Idaho. Interestingly enough, the Hudson’s Bay Company was the first to start a settlement here, as a means to protect the Oregon Trail. It’s a fairly good sized city, about 210,000 people. It’s a university city, so it’s vibrant, and fun, with a semi-arid climate. That means it’s a lot like Kelowna – hot summers, and some cold winters! We are staying tonight in a Best Western, called the North Lodge. It’s done in a cool log cabin style, with nice rooms, a big tv and comfy beds. They give you a free breakfast too! And their Happy Hour is truly happy, starting you off with a FREE beer!

Oregon Trail markerTravelling today was nice, with beautiful roads. The American Interstate is really a wonderful highway system. We’ve had no construction, with smooth roads, and lots just freshly resurfaced in the last few years. It’s funny tho, in Washington, the speed is 70 mph and most people travel easily at that speed. We saw the odd speeder, but not many. In Oregon, the speed is 65 mph, and most everyone speeds, including Oregonians who routinely do 75, and a lot at 80 or more. In Idaho, the speed is 75, and there are still a LOT of speeders, maybe even more than in Oregon. It’s a strange thing.

UmatillaThe pic here is of the Sturgis Bridge that crosses the Columbia river into Oregon into a little town called Umatilla. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center there, wanting a map of Oregon. The lady there was super friendly gave us maps for all the states we’d be visiting! Nice little center too – artwork on the walls, and just tons of info.

Here is a brief movie of a couple of cool cars we saw near Benton, Washington. Love that little trailer the second car is towing! Pretty cool.

Vacations

First day on the road

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Today we started a road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with stops in Salt Lake City, Utah, Roswell, New Mexico, Denver, Colorado, Deadwood, South Dakota (to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse) and maybe we’ll even take in Old Faithful in Yellowstone. Today we dropped Bailey off at the Maximum Security prison where she will be boarded with some inmates.

The border lineups were long, due to the long weekend, but we managed to get through in a relatively short one hour. Luckily we were able to use the Nexus line, but we had quite a long wait to get to the Nexus lane – the Abottsford border can only be approached by a single line road, and the Nexus lane only branches off when you are within three hundred metres of the border!

Ellensburg, Wa

We were hoping to get to Kennewick, but managed to only get to a quaint little town called Ellensburg Washington, about 350 kms from home. We didn’t see Ellen, but the locale is much like the Kelowna area of BC. We had a nice dinner at the Roadhouse Grill. Very good service, and the food was pretty good. Prices were ok, not great. Had a nice local beer, very tasty.

Tomorrow, we’re going to aim to get to Boise Idaho. We don’t need to get to Santa Fe until Tuesday, so we can take our time on the road and stop to see the sights. There have been some nice looking roadside fruit stands, so we’ll make a stop and get some cherries at least!