running on empty

Friday:  Woke up at 4:30, got ready and left Logan.  We arrived in Jackson Hole around 9:30.  During the drive, we realized that Idaho looked like pictures we’d seen of Ireland with the rolling green hills.  It is much more beautiful than we’d imagined.   Of course, we haven’t come across any blue football fields, so if we do, that may change our mind.

The drive was interesting with lakes, green fields, mountains surrounding us, and cattle crossing the roads.  Apparently it’s common out here to not have fences for livestock, because we saw at least four cows standing in the road as we drove through.  They were not too eager to move either, I might add.

When we got to Jackson Hole, WY. we stopped at the visitor center, gathered some information, then walked around town for a little while.  We bought some chocolate for $8.00 (“worth it?” you ask…..definitely). 

Next was our visit to Grand Teton National Park.  It was gorgeous.  Snow covered mountains surrounded us.  Beautiful lakes reflected perfectly the peaks that stood in front of us.  The amazing and different thing about the Tetons is how the mountains rise directly out of the earth with no foothills or even a hint that they are going to be there.  Although they are not as tall as some we saw in Colorado, they are just as majestic, if not more so. 

Ever since Beau lived in Colorado in 2007, he has wanted to see a moose.  I guess you could say it has been on his bucket list.  Well, he can officially check that one off.  As we were about to drive over the Teton Pass, just west of Jackson Hole and into Idaho, traffic literally came to a stop.  There was a moose drinking out of a pond on the left side of the road, and an eagle’s nest on the right.  Quite a sight to see. 

We decided to stay in a cabin in Victor, ID for the night.  Victor:  A town that may only be known for being next to Driggs, ID.  I also believe Driggs may only be known for being the home to the largest man-made potato. What does that say about Victor?  I’ll let you decide.

Tomorrow,  we head to Yellowstone to camp for a few days and do lots of hiking.  We can’t wait to see more of God’s beautiful creation!

against the wind

Still in Utah.  

Lots of dry wind, salt, beautiful scenery, and of course . . . Mormons.  We made our way to Salt Lake City this morning.  We took our time driving around the city and seeing the sights.  We first went to the Gilgal Gardens.  The Gardens contained many hand carved stone sculptures.  They were very impressive! However, as you will see in one of the following pictures, if someone has carved a giant head out of stone, well....some pictures are just necessary.  

After the Gardens, we drove past the state capitol, the University of Utah, and the Utah Jazz basketball arena.  Before leaving the city, we drove out to the Great Salt Lake.  I have been to the Dead Sea in Israel and in my opinion, the Great Salt Lake appeared even more "dead" than the Dead Sea.  It's not more dead in the scientific sense, i.e. relation to sea level or salt content; the Dead Sea definitely has it beat on those factors.  When I say "dead", I mean there were literally dead sea gulls, trash and gnats everywhere! Pretty gross for a major attraction.  

The Saltaire is a building that stands near the GSL.  It is currently used for concerts and events, but the one standing now is the third one.  The very first one was built as a western version of Coney Island in 1893.  If you're curious about the history (which is pretty cool) and seeing a picture of the very first one that stood over the water (which is also cool)  head on over to it's wikipedia page. 

After our picnic of ham and cheese sandwiches, we drove to Logan, Utah where we are currently staying at the nicest Holiday Inn Express I have ever seen.  I've decided I want to take it with us on the rest of our trip.  

Tomorrow, Jackson Hole, WY. and the Grand Tetons.  We're about to enter into some much cooler weather and a lot more animals.  Don't worry, Moms; we bought our bear spray today!  

i am the highway

2,900 miles. 9 States.  12 National Parks/Monuments.

We still have 10 days until we plan on being home and it already feels like we've done more on this trip than we've done on all of our other trips combined.

Last night was an adventure.  Since we left Moab early, we needed a place to stay.  Everywhere we called was out of our price range.  Finally, as we were about to give up and consider sleeping in the car, we found a place in Kanab, UT that only cost $40 tax and all.  The owner looked like Randy "Macho Man" Savage's hippie twin, and he was just as lively and outgoing as the former wrestler.   The continental breakfast consisted of stale bread & motor oil that he tried to pass off as coffee, but the experience of staying there and being able to brag that we survived it was well worth the price.

We later learned that the town of Kanab is also known as "Little Hollywood."  Several famous movies & tv shows were filmed there including The Outlaw Josie Wales, Planet of the Apes, The Lone Ranger and Gunsmoke.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon's North Rim around 9 AM and hiked out to Bright Angel Point where we had a nearly 360 degree view of the canyon.  The view was incredible.  The North Rim is less touristy and much more secluded than the more famous South Rim, but to me, that made it an even better experience.  The weird thing about the Grand Canyon is that it's so big, you really can't grasp it's size just by looking at it.   Pictures simply don't do it justice.  I know that's an oft used phrase, but I feel it applies here more than anywhere else.  I hesitate to even add any because unless you've seen it with your own eyes, they just look like pictures of rocks that are far away.

After a few hours we headed out of the Grand Canyon, and decided we had enough time to make a detour through Zion Canyon on the way to Interstate 15 which would take us to Salt Lake City.   It was well worth the 1 1/2 hours it added to our day's trip.  If they ever make Jurassic Park 4, it needs to be filmed in Zion Canyon.  I expected a T-Rex to come charging out of the brush at any moment or to see a Pterodactyl soaring high above the canyon walls.  Sadly neither of those happened.

One thing about the state of Utah.  It's always seemed like a misfit among the states, but from what I've seen, it's easily the most stunning area of our country.

We're staying just south of Salt Lake City tonight.  Tomorrow is a rest day and it's a much needed one.  Overall, we were in the car for nearly 10 hours today.  We'll take it easy, sleep in, see Timpanogos Cave National Monument, and continuously bring up how big of a choke artist Karl Malone was to anyone wearing a Utah Jazz shirt.   We'll spend the night in Logan, UT, which is only about 2 hours north of where we are now before we head to Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Friday.

It's 11:00 here and the alarm is set for 6:30, time to sleep!

big rock candy mountain

This update wont be too long, it's 10:00 here and we've been up since 5:00 AM.  I couldn't sleep because we camped in 100 degree heat.  It did cool off over night, but not enough to make sleep comfortable.  We had 3 nights planned in Moab, but we decided if we cut our trip short, we'd be able to see the Grand Canyon while also avoiding having to camp in miserable conditions for more than one night.

The heat made us leave Moab, but not before we saw Canyonlands & Dead Horse Point.  We met and talked to the former sheriff in charge of the rescue of  Aron Ralston, the central figure in the movie 127 hours.   Pretty friendly guy, and full of info about the town of Moab.  For instance, the town was named after Lott's son and when translated, it means "Sin."

Anyway, we hit the road and set out across the deserts of Utah.  At one point, we traveled over 100 miles without seeing a gas station or lodging.  Southeastern Utah is as barren as anywhere on earth.  If you've never traveled through the region, you really need to make a point to do so.   It's eerie and a little depressing, but it needs to be seen to understand it.

We made it to Bryce Canyon around 6:30 PM.  In my opinion, it's one of the most underrated National Parks out there.   Glad we made the detour to see it.  We're now in Kanab, UT, a small town on the state line of Utah and Arizona which is only about 45 minutes from the Grand Canyon.  We'll see it in the morning, and stay for a while before heading north to Salt Lake City.  SLC is 7 hours or more away, so we've got another long day of travel ahead of us.

I guess I need to explain the blog entry's name.  On the way to Bryce Canyon, we actually passed a mountain named "Big Rock Candy Mountain."  Not sure if it's the one the song was written about, but it was still pretty neat to pass it.

into the great wide open

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!  We left Breckenridge this morning, and as we began descending the mountains we were glad to be getting rid of our high altitude headaches, but sad to leave the mountains.  We didn't actually have to leave them, though. Pretty much the rest of our drive from Breck to Moab, Utah has had some sort of mountain range.  Gorgeous drive!  We were able to stop at Colorado National Monument in Fruita, CO. on the way to Moab.  It was amazing! Beautiful scenery, Bighorn Sheep, and free ice-cream at the visitor center because of July 4th! Jackpot!

Next, we entered into the state of Utah.  To say it was desolate and barren would be a disservice to it's definition in the dictionary.  We saw no signs of life for 60 miles.  We passed several "towns" that had signs that said No Service.  When we Googled the towns such as "Cisco, UT" we learned that no one actually lived there and that it had been a ghost town for nearly 100 years.

We kept driving.  The temperature reached 104 on the interstate.  We could only imagine what it would have been like had we broken down somewhere in the middle of that drive.  Luckily, we made it to Moab & Arches N.P. around 2:30pm.  We drove around a bit & decided it would be best to do our hiking in the morning when temperatures are around 70 degrees.  Speaking of temperature, it was 50 degrees in Breckenridge this morning, meaning we experienced a 54 degree change throughout the day.  It's still 98 degrees as I sit in this McDonald's parking lot.  We wont have internet access for a few days because we're camping in the desert, so we're not sure how regular our updates will be.  We are currently using McDonald's wifi to write this.

On a funny note, we had the iPod on shuffle as we were driving through the desert of Utah, when "Holiday Road" from Family Vacation with Chevy Chase came on.  It seemed quite fitting, especially being in the desert at the time.

Anyway, we hope you've enjoyed your 4th of July as much as we've enjoyed ours!

the long and winding road

Rocky Mountain National Park.

That's probably all I could say about today, and it would suffice.  However, I will share a little more than that.

Most of our day consisted of driving through RMNP, and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! We drove up to the top of a peak to the Alpine Visitor's Center (11,796 ft).  It was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on! There was still plenty of snow, as well as mountain goats, elk, amazing look-outs, and a very helpful park ranger named Joan who gladly took our picture at Rainbow Point.  We are now in Breckenridge, CO.  A place that is special to Beau because he spent a summer here a few years ago.

So, here's a question:  What do you do when you arrive at the lodge for which you've had reservations for 6 months, and it's closed? Yes, closed...out of business, locked doors, no lights on, hardly anything in the rooms.  Well, I'll tell you.  First, you worry for a few minutes thinking "we have no place to stay, and they have our money already?" Then you realize, "wait, that can't really happen." You then call some local magic number and the man on the other end says "yeah, that place closed, but we've upgraded you with no extra charge."  No complaints here.  I should also mention that Mexican restaurants out here are not the same as the ones in the south.  For example, we ate at "Mi Casa" tonight and I had a chicken quesadilla. (yes normal, I know.  But wait for it...) Beau had Elk enchiladas. Interestingly enough, they were pretty good! Breckenridge is beautiful, and-be jealous- 65 degrees.  However, tomorrow we head to Moab and I'm pretty sure the forecast is over 100.  Hmmm...we'll see.

i woke up in a car

Well, we've made it to Colorado!  Things I've learned so far:
- You can end up in some scary parts of St. Louis if you miss your turn
- Flooding can and will close an interstate
- Ice in a cooler on top of the car will melt fast in 107 degree temperatures
- Kansas is still flat
- Nebraska is also flat, but with more corn...much MUCH more corn
- Both states are great for napping in the car.
- My best friend Meredith and her husband Chad have two beautiful little boys.  The youngest being one day old, and I fell in love with him immediately after meeting him!
- Colorado is flat for a while before you see the Rockies....I was beginning to think they'd moved them.  Good news:  they're still there, and they are AMAZING
- There are mountain climbing llamas in Colorado

That list pretty much summed up our trip so far, minus about a thousand details (yes mom, you will hear all of them).  We have had a blast so far, and there is still so much left to see! I am continuously in awe of the Creator that we serve, and I cannot help but praise Him with every new thing that we see.