We timed out for a bit to enjoy the trip.
After Durango we went to Moab where we encountered lots of red rocks.
Moab is the hub for hitting all the big Red Rock Parks in Utah.
It also used to be a Uranium mine way back when.
We did not directly contact radioactive isotopes (as far as we know) .
As far as the Red Rocks. THere are millions of them.... Maybe billions.
We did Arches, CanyonLands, DeadHorse, Negro Bill's Canyon.We ate a whole lot of great food and stayed in some decent and not so decent places to sleep.
Utah is pretty backwards when it comes to alcohol.
Who even makes 3.2% beer?
So much for the first amendment, at least in Latter Day Utah..\
Moab is pretty much hotels, restaurants and a Department of Energy Nuclear Remediation Activity. But it does have some great hikes!
I can't say there's a better place to hit all the high spots of red rocks of the west.
Unless you actually score free first row tickets to Yanni at Red Rocks.
That would be as good if not better
Anyway
Was it Kierkegard or Mad Max who opined: What's wrong with a little fallout!!!"
Onward we went to Escalante and the Dixie Forest
This was truly a far out part of the trip.
The Dixie Forest was fabulous!!!
Here's a photo from near Posey Lake
We also ate at the Hells Backbone Inn twice. Truly great food and looks like a great Inn.
We had a great hike near Torrey Utah. It was a 9 miler with some vertical gain that kicked our butt!
And I finally found a rattlesnake!!
I ventured off the trail and look what i found
Escalante and Capitol Reef escarpment took me back to my days in the Rift Valley of Kenya.
Sleeping in the desert mile from another human being staring out at the milky way good was a superb night
From there we went on to Tropic Utah and Kodachrome/Bryce etc.
Checking all the boxes as we go
'
Next we headed south to see friends in Scottsdale Arizona.
Man we had fun.
Great restaturants & a super bar scene.
We went to the taco festival and also the Musical Instrument Museum.
The MIM is a place no musician should miss. Its worth a day by itself
Intense
We stopped along the way for some bakery goods
Good fun lasted a few days then we had to start back east toward the homeland
Hurricanes and rain forced us to jog a bit but we got our heading right and ended up in new Mexico
Truly a nice piece of territory. Wish we had found more time to explore. We did manage a nice hotel, a bottle of vodka, quality bakery products and a great breakfast burrito smothered with green chile before we hit the road again.. this time for
We skipped all the crazy crap in downtown Roswell and camped the night in BottomLess Lakes State Park. THe next day we went to BitterLake Park and ,even though it smelled from all the hydrogen sulfide it has some very nice wildlife including sandhill cranes, which we mostly saw flying.
Many odonates clinging to the bush.
Anyway from there it was on to Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo Tx. Whopee Tye Oh !!!
The canyon seemed like a nice place but it was overrun with people. For us it was just an evening in a campsite.
We took off early toward Arkansas
That's about where we are now.
I will try to post some photos over the next couple of days
