Lake Powell

Wow! What a really great campground! It’s part of Wahweep  Resort which has a hotel, restaurant and tour packages along with the RV  park. The guests in the RV park also get the use of the resort pools. This is the view from my site.

I arrived Monday morning and on Tuesday I took a tour of the canyons by boat along with 80 other people. The people at the head of the line got the seats up top. I was inside, but could move around the boat and take whatever shots I wanted.

We had to cruise closely by a marina full of private house boats. This one “Sotally Tober” caught my eye.

This is Castle Rock, the first thing you see as you exit the marina.

When we were back in the narrow canyon, the captain had to blow his horn  as we rounded each bend. On one we encountered these kayakers.

 

The captain called the white line on the rocks “the bathtub ring.” It’s the same as it is at Elephant Butte; it’s the high water mark.

I tried to get as up close and  personal as I could. Being in your own boat would be better. This reminded me of Marty and Sue and I exploring Elephant Butte, only on a much grander scale.

I loved standing at the back of the boat watching the wake.

I can’t say enough about the RV park. The sites were spacious and paved with full hookups. There were sidewalks and hiking trails to and from the resort and marina and also all around the park. On my last night, I met my neighbors who also drink Beringer White Merlot. We had a great visit with promises of meeting somewhere in Arizona this winter. Home again, home again on Saturday. I can’t wait to take off for the winter.

Best Friends

 

On Saturday, Judy and I took a two hour tour of Best Friends Animal Refuge just on the outskirts of Kanab. They have 3800 acres of purchased land plus 3000 more that they lease from BLM and 480 paid employees along with volunteers. Aside from cats and dogs, there are horses, pot-bellied pigs, goats, and donkeys. This is a picture of the front garden near the entrance. The grounds are beautifully kept.

We toured in two modern air-conditioned vans (15 seats). Our first stop was Angel’s Rest, the burial ground for those who wish their pets buried there.

There are many specialized areas for the dogs and cats, but we actually went inside Dog Town and the attendants explained how they care for the dogs.

The kitty area was amazing; there was no odor at all.

On Sunday, we toured Kanab, but a lot of places were closed. We had lunch at Grandma Tina’s, a really great Italian restaurant. Then we found the city park which was lovely and being used by picnickers and their children.

While we were driving around town, we found a new subdivision with very nice homes, but sort of in the middle was this was a cabin which was a movie set from Gunsmoke.

On Monday morning, I left Kanab promising to meet up with Judy and her friend Rex in the next couple of months.

Zion

My friend Judy got here to the Hitch’n Post RV Park in Kanab on Thursday in time for us to check out the Lotsa Motsa Pizza place for lunch. Not bad. On Friday morning we headed for Zion. The road into the park was totally under construction. It’s amazing the number of RV’s that braved the road, mostly the rented ones.

This is Judy at one of the first stops we made. The construction was improving  the smoothness of the road, but did not widen it. The only place to pull over was the designated pull-outs.

We went through a 1.1 mile tunnel that was constructed in 1930 before we got to the Visitor’s Center and the place where we had to take a shuttle. In 2000, the park decided it couldn’t handle all the cars, rvs, and tour buses stopping along the way, so the only way you can do the park is on a shuttle. Actually, it’s painless and the tour guide is very informative.

 

The other thing I might  mention is that the only way to see all the narrows, arches, and other great photo ops is to HIKE. We hiked at various stops, but the younger people hiked the narrows. Here’s the hanging gardens formed from water seeping through the rocks.

This is a small waterfall on the Virgin River and people walking the middle of the river heading toward the Narrows.

Judy got this squirrel to pose for me. There’s a sign at the beginning of the trail telling you not to feed the squirrels because they bite; however, they are constantly underfoot.

The hike up to Weeping Rock was almost straight up, but this is the picture I took from underneath the rock.

On our way out of the park, we had to stop for road construction, and I got a picture of what I call a future arch.

Utah is definitely a place to continue exploring in the future.

Bryce Canyon

Before I got to the park, I took a picture of Mossy Cave Trail, just a preview of scenery to come.

This is the most accessible and kodak-friendly park so far. I stayed at Ruby’s Inn RV Park and signed up for a FREE tour on a big tour bus. The driver was extremely knowledgeable and told stories about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid who were from around here. Here is an elk that stopped to pose just for me.

This is a rock formation that is supposed to be a turtle with Leif Erickson to the left. Honest, and no adult beverages to be had!

This formation is supposed to be Queen Victoria.

This is the Natural Bridge Arch. I took a lot of pictures of this formation, but this one is  my favorite.

Fairyland Point let’s you use your imagination and pick out your favorite cartoon character. Of course, I flunked cartoons same as kindergarten, so this is my best shot.

In this one, if I move backwards, it’s goodbye Dolly. I think I look a little tense.

The next day, I left for Kanab, but on the way down, I came through Red Canyon which is extremely beautiful and at the entrance to Zion. I came through two tunnels that look like natural arches (didn’t get a picture), and really didn’t want to stop because of road construction.

I’m staying at the Hitch’n Post RV Park, and my friend Judy from MO just got here, so we are going to do Zion and Best Friends tomorrow. She actually stayed in Red Canyon and said it was great. Oh well, next time.

Capitol Reef

On the way to Bryce National Park, I was able to drive through Capitol Reef National Park. The scenery here in southern Utah is always spectacular. The key to good pictures is the time of day. I have a tendency to travel between 8 and noon which is not an optimum time for pictures, so I cheat a little with my Elements 7.

This is Navajo Dome.

The Grand Staircase is a fairly new national monument that spans a lot of acreage. It’s really just more spectacular scenery.

Along the way I stayed at Thousand Lakes RV Park outside of Torrey. I got there just in time because the wind starting blowing like springtime in New Mexico.

The gift shop had some great stuff, so I did some Christmas shopping. I also got myself another hat and some earrings. This the view from my spot.

On the second day I walked the three miles into town, just trying to stay in shape. This is one of the remaining log churches. It was built in 1898 and served as a church and school house for the LDS church. It was the first building in the pioneer town of Torrey.

This is downtown Torrey. There were several restaurants and B & B’s. In Utah, when you’re not looking at crazy rock formations, you’re seeing some pretty farm country and valleys. They do have trees.

Arches National Park

 

I stayed at Canyonlands RV Park and was looking forward to renting a car and touring the national park and taking a jet boat ride down the Colorado, but there weren’t any cars available. I guess everyone else had the same idea. Tuesday morning at six, I left for the park and was able to get a picture of the sunrise.

This is a picture of the Three Gossips and some other rocks which probably have an appropriate name, but to me, they were the Heads.

Then I headed for the Delicate Arch. I parked the boys in the area for RVs and headed toward the trail. Two couples were in front of me and the sun was still coming up over the rocks, so I could see their silhouettes as I followed them, but not exactly where I was going. Eventually, I discovered I had wandered off the trail and was looking at the Delicate Arch across a very deep canyon. I don’t know how long it took, maybe 15 minutes, to get back on the trail. When I got to the top, I could see the rig at the bottom. Then I took some pictures of the arch; however, the lighting was not the best. On the way back down, I captured the Baby Arch (my name for it).

The trip down was uneventful, but near the end of the trail, I found some beautiful blue-white stones embedded in some other formations. The ranger didn’t even know what they were called, but when I got to the Visitors’ Center, I saw a display that called it blue-green sandstone.

I called this picture my Blue Men because of the manganese in the rock.

Today, I’m taking a break in Green River.

Off to see Utah

Wednesday, September 1, I left on my Utah adventure. West of Los Lunas on Hwy 6, I had my very first flat tire ever in a motorhome. State Farm gave me the names of some wrecker and tire people who would help. Craig Tires came out and fixed the valve stem and put my spare on which fortunately was new.

That night I stayed at USA RV Park in Gallup. This is one of the nicest parks I’ve ever stayed at. They had a beautiful pool and grounds, live music, and a great menu for dinner served nightly during the summer for RVers. I had a great buffalo burger.

On Thursday, I drove up to Monument Valley and Gouldings RV Park. What a really incredible place: establishment wise and scenery wise. This is dawn on Friday morning.

I took the all day Gouldings tour of Mystery Valley, Monument Valley and some other exclusive places. We visited a 92 year-old Navajo woman who demonstrated rug weaving in her hogan. There were a lot of drawings on the walls and Anasazi ruins. Notice the kokopelli.

I’m getting in practice for Arches Nat’l Park. This is Geronimo.

Sandy, the Navajo guide, took a picture of me on my back after I laid down to take a picture of a hole in the rocks.

This is Monument Valley’s Elephant Butte.

This is the North Window, the view between Elephant Butte and Cly Butte looking north in Monument Valley.

Today is a day of rest and I’m going down to the Goulding’s Trading Post in a while and take pictures of John Wayne’s cabin and play tourista. Tomorrow I’m off to Moab.