The Long Road Home

Sorry we didn't post anything yesterday. I think it was the longest day of the entire trip. It wasn't bad...just long. Got up early at our comfy hotel and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park, which was breathtaking. From there we drove some winding mountain backroads to just outside of Denver. There, we drove to the top of Mt. Evans, wich is over 14,000 feet! Narrow roads plus high mountain plus no guardrails equals fun/scary times. When we got to the top we were feeling adventurous and decided to hike to the summit. Man the air is thin at that elevation! If I'm in bad shape back home, lets just say I'm almost an invalid up there. It was worth it though, to literally stand in and above the clouds.

After that, the plan was to spend the night in Denver. But after dinner, we decided we were ready to get home so we started the long drive. The GPS said it was faster to go through Kansas and then cut south, so that's the plan. About 1 a.m. we decided to stop in Western Kansas to get a room. Apparently, there is some kind of car race nearby and EVERYBODY in the entire state decided to come stay in hotels there. After looking for 2 hours we finally found a nasty little place in Oakley that had a room. We were so tired we didn't really care how gross it was. At least we didn't see any bugs.

Slept in and had a big breakfast. Now for the exciting task of driving across Kansas and Oklahoma. It was fun, but bring on my comfy bed!

Ahhh...Luxury

I don't think it's a secret that I wasn't a big fan of roughing it at the KOA. I think I actually slept worse last night. And lets just say that it's not fun to have to hike to the bathroom in the middle of the night when a storm is rolling in.

Anyway, we left Moab this morning and headed across Colorado on I-70. It's amazing how fast you can get somewhere going 80 MPH. We didn't have any reservations tonight so we just figured we'd find something on the road. Stopped in the town of Kremlin, about 40 miles outside of Rocky Mountain National Park, and low and behold, there was this nice brand-new hotel right when we pulled into town. I thought it looked too expensive, but Jeremy wanted to try it so we stopped. I am presently blogging from our fabulous jacuzzi suite...which, ironically, didn't cost much more than some of the rat holes we've stayed in on this trip. We checked in, had a great dinner and then partook of the indoor pool and hot tub. Now this is my idea of vacation!

We hit some pretty major rain on the way up this afternoon, but the scenery was so gorgeous. I definitely prefer the mountains in Colorado to the desert land in Utah and Arizona...all beautiful, but in very different ways. This is the first time I've been to Colorado in the summer and it's a totally different experience. Wild flowers everywhere and beautiful streams and evergreens.

Tomorrow we will drive through the national park, then start heading south. Our goal is to make it home by late Saturday so we'll have at least a few hours to recuperate before work on Monday. It's been a great time so far!

Day 7

Well, we've officially been on the road for a week now. I think we're at that point in the trip when you are kind of missing home, but still not quite ready to head that way. Jeremy got up at 4:30 this morning to shoot sunrise in Canyonlands National Park. Notice I wasn't included in that statement. I happily slept in on the hardest bed on Earth until he got back at 9.

After lunch we drove through Arches again and it was absolutely packed with tourists. It was really hot and the light was bad for shooting so we decided to head back to the Kabin (lol) and take a nap. Rested and refreshed, we went to dinner and had the best food we've eaten the whole trip. The place was called the Moab Diner and it was cheap and wonderful. Plus they serve ice cream and, I'm ashamed to admit, we shared a ginormous banana split.

This evening we headed to Dead Horse Point State Park for sunset. It was one of the more beautiful views we've seen so far. Supposedly, it is called Dead Horse because back in the 1800s cowboys would corral wild horses by backing the to the cliffs and building a fence. Apparently, some dumbass forgot about a whole herd of them and they all starved to death while staring down at the Colorado. Kind of a bummer story behind such a beautiful place.

Tomorrow we will leave the desert behind and head over to Colorado. The plan is to get as close to Rocky Mountain National Park as we can. Funds are starting to get low...I sense some $5 footlongs in our near future. I coerced Jeremy into giving me a photo for tonight. You have no idea how much it pains him to post his photos untouched. I just wish mine looked half as good! Anyway, this is one of the shots he got at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands this morning. Night all!

Long Scenic Drive

Today we put in a LOT of miles. We didnt originally realize how far it is from Kanab to Moab. But the drive was definitely worth it. Jeremy says some people consider that route to be one of the prettiest drives in the world...and I believe it. We went through Bryce Canyon National Park, then on to the Grand Staircase (which was alien looking). After that was Capitol Reef National Park, which I had never even heard of. It was a beautiful place with huge sheer clifs and caves.

The only major disappointmnet of the day came when we stopped in Tropic, UT at the only known place in the universe that sells Jeremy's favorite childhood drink - Orange Bang (yeah, I'd never heard of it either till I met him). Unfortunatley, the folks at the general store had gotten with the times and replaced the Orange Bang dispenser with a cappucino machine. He was very sad.

We rolled into Moab right before sunset and had just enough time to make it out to Arches National Park for the show. Due to some earlier rain, the light was iffy, but he got lucky. Just as we were about to call it a day the light was just right and a rainbow appeared behind some of the formations. We'll try to post the pic tomorrow.

Now off to bed in our snazzy (not) KOA Kamper Kabin. Just love the clever use of K's. More adventure awaits tomorrow.

Days on the road: 6
Miles travelled: 2,100

Antelope Canyon

Another great day on the road. Last night was a little rough because the A/C at Bob's wasn't exactly doing the job. Nothing makes me grumpier than being hot while I'm trying to sleep! Luckily it was uphill from there. We had a guided photo tour of upper Antelope Canyon (see Jeremy's pic above). Our guide was awesome and we had a nice family from Phoenix with us. Jeremy had warned me that it would be crazy, but I wasn't quite prepared. There are literally hundreds of people crowded into a canyon 1/4 mile long and about 10 feet wide at it's widest. Lots of yelling and pushing and rushing. But it's truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I've never seen light like that anywhere else. Note that photo is straight of the camera...no enhancement at all.

After Antelope Canyon we headed to Kanab where we checked into Bob-Bonn's Motel. Not sure what it is with us and Bob on this trip. This place is very nice and had a pool. It was too late to go anywhere else so we took a nice swim and ordered in Chinese. Love tourists towns! Tomorrow we will be moving on Moab where we will see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Hope all is well back home!

As promised...

Jeremy has given permission to post one of the rainbow pics from Monument Valley. We were on the tour when this massive storm blew in and the light just happened to be right to get this shot over the Totem Pole.

While on the subject of photography, we discovered Picnik.com on this trip. It's like a web-based photoshop and you don't even have to log in. Pretty darn cool, especially since there isn't room for Adobe on our netbook. Night!

Bashful Bob's

Greetings from Bashful Bob's Motel in Page, AZ! We had a nice relaxing day around Lake Powell and checked into Bob's today. I found the place online last week...only$44 including tax. Considering most rooms here are $200+ that's pretty darn amazing. I had read good reviews on Tripadvisor and I am really pleased. Bashful Bob himself greeted us at the front desk and told us a story about our room. It's really a one-bedroom apartment and it is where Bob lived for 25-years until he recently moved into his new motorhome. Sure it's shabby and dated, but very clean. It reminds me of visiting my great grandparents as a kid. Something about the smells and bizarre assortment of art and furniture is kind of soothing.

I asked Bob why his rooms are so much cheaper than everyone else and he said he just keeps his costs down so he doesn't have to charge people more. There's something you don't hear often in a tourist town. Thank's Bob!

We briefly looked into renting a speed boat on the lake today. The price was a lot, but we wanted to splurge. Then I found out that the boat holds 40-gallons of gas and that only lasts three hours! At $3.89 a gallon...doesn't take a math major to figure out that's a frickin lot of money. So no boat...too bad. That would have been fun. For those of you who aren't familiar with Lake Powell, it's this gorgeous resevoir that was created when they built the Glen Canyon Dam (see pic above). Gorgeous blue water winds through hundreds of miles of rocky canyons. The most popular way to see it is to rent a houseboat for a week. Someday when we're grownups maybe we can afford that. :)

Tomorrow we are touring Antelope Canyon. Jeremy has shot it before, but lost most of the photos in the infamous hard-drive incident of 2007. He's excited to be going back.

Dinner involved Mexican food (what can I say, can't go a week without Mexican) and one very boozy Margarita. Sweet dreams here I come!