Archive for the 'Further Afield' Category
10:00 a.m. 45 degrees. Raining
For some reason, I just could not sleep last night and for five hours I lay awake. But no hurry to get on the road today so I was able to sleep in. Our journey today is only 128 miles.
It is not a very nice day. When we look out the window it was overcast. I went across to the front desk to get a newspaper and some of the complimentary breakfast and it was drizzling. As Tom was loading the suitcases into the car, it was raining.
We fueled up with gas. In Oregon you do not pump your own gas. We asked why at the gas station and were told that it a) it provides employment and b) a kid pumping his own gas blew himself up and since then the law was changed. I’m sure there must be more to the decision.
We are soon outside Bend and traveling north on Highway 20 towards Sisters. The town is named after the three mountain peaks nearby – North Sister, Middle Sister and South Sister or affectionately called Faith, Hope and Charity. The mountain we saw yesterday with a little bit of snow on it was South Sister and it is now covered with snow. The scenery is green pastures and farmland. Very pleasant after our horrendous trip yesterday.
Sisters was a cute little town but we did not stop. At least it has stopped raining now.
The area round Suttle Lake was thick pine forest but with deciduous trees amongst them which were showing their Fall colors. Parts of the forest though have been devastated by fire. At the top of the Santiam Pass, elevation 4,817, there was snow on the ground. The scene looked like a Christmas card with the all the pine trees covered in snow. Even the burnt parts looked better.
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October 10 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
8:30 a.m. 48 degrees. Chilly
Sorry no photos on this one. There just wasn’t much to capture.
We checked out and then walked into downtown Boise for breakfast. It was 8:30 before we hit the road. Traffic going out of Boise was light, not so coming the other way though.
Our route is Highway 84 north to the Oregon boarder. Around Caldwell there was a lot of road construction but it didn’t hold us up too much. The road construction lasted for 12 miles but finally we were through.
We are headed towards Bend but we may stop before we reach there if we see anything decent. On Friday evening we are expected in Eugene, where we will be staying with Annie, Tom’s daughter, and Mitch, her husband.
It is mostly farmland we drive through, with lots of cows, sheep, goats but mostly horses. Towards the Oregon border the cattle all but disappear and so have the houses. There is just wide open spaces. We did not see too many potatoes in Idaho. Isn’t Idaho famous for potatoes? Maybe it is the wrong season. Thought I saw a truck load of them but Tom said they were sugar beets.
Just when I thought we were stuck with the open spaces, small farms and cattle were back. At 9:20 we enter Oregon and soon we exit I84. It was time to turn my watch back to Pacific Time. Negotiating our way around the town of Ontario to Highway 20 was a bit confusing but we eventually made it.
This part of Oregon is pretty. Difficult to say why it is different from Idaho. Maybe it is because the grass is greener. What we did notice, though, there were lots of onions around, both on trucks and on farms where they were sorting them. There is even an Onion Avenue.
We pass through the small town of Vale and we are out into the country again. On the right we see large white buildings with two tall chimneys belching white smoke. In my Benchmark Oregon atlas I can see it is called the Eagle Picher Diatomaceous Plant. Tom thinks it is something to do with soil. Will have to check it out later. (Well Tom was right. It is a chalk like soil which is similar to pumice powder and is used as a filtration aid, insecticide, in cat litters and dynamite. It is also heat resistant.)
The road starts to climb and the hills begin to look dry but then we go downhill into Little Valley and all is green again. More hills and more arid landscape but the Malheur River is running alongside us. We drop down into Harper Valley and we are green again. We pass a field of sun flowers, which was a stunning sight.
Right in the middle of nowhere we pass a tree to our right covered in shoes! Go figure.
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October 09 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
6:09 a.m. 48 degrees. Chilly
Neither of us had a good night’s sleep. Just after we dropped off to sleep we were woken up by a thunderous knocking at the door. Tom got up to investigate. He didn’t open the door but looked through the curtain. There was nobody there. It was probably somebody knocking on the door to the room next to us. It is always difficult to get back to sleep after you have been woken up like that. Then I became aware of the freight trains passing nearby. Long rambling trains which blew their whistles constantly. On top of all that the bottom sheet on the bed was not quite big enough to be tucked in so it was all messed up. Oh, how I miss our own bed.
[Click on the image for a larger version]
It was really dark when we left and rush hour was under way. We got onto I15 going north and stopped at Willard Bay for breakfast. Afterwards we went down to the shore of the Great Salt Lake. By this time it was light so I got my first real glimpse of the lake, although Willard Bay is separated from the main lake by a breakwater. Nobody was around and we did not even get out of the car.
We found our way back to the freeway and continued north west, taking I84 at Tremonton. At junction 26 we turned left onto Highway 83 and headed towards two sites of interest. The first was the ATK Rocket Display. ATK manufactures the solid fuel for rockets and the Shuttle. On display they have various sections of rockets and missiles. ATK is a huge site in the middle of farmland at the north end of the Great Salt Lake. There was an information board there saying that nearby are two of the main overland routes the early settlers took; to the south is the California route and to the north is the Oregon trail.
We continued on the same road to the next destination - the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Once again we were able to use our National Parks pass. We arrived just at 9 as they opened and were their first visitors of the day. It was at this site the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad met and two golden and two silver spikes were placed there to mark the spot. The original spikes are on display at Stanford University in California.
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October 07 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
7 a.m. 36 degrees. Cold
Although the hotel has a complimentary breakfast, we have decided to drive to Park City to eat. It is very cold outside and there is more snow up on the mountains.
Our journey continues north on I15. Just south of Provo the traffic slows down. Of course it is Tuesday and it’s rush hour. We take Highway 189 through Provo. Brigham Young University is here. We are on the lookout for a coffee shop spot nothing at all. Imagine a town this size in California without a Starbucks on nearly every corner.
North of Provo we start to climb and drive through Provo Canyon. They are building a new road here but although we slowed down a bit we were not held up. There was a waterfall coming down the side of the mountain and it looked so pretty with the trees changing color. It was the first day of Fall yesterday.
Nearing Heber City we pass a hot air balloon. Although the sun is shining here, the temperature is just above freezing. I bet they are cold up there.
We pull into Park City Historic Center at 9 a.m. Now to look for breakfast.
Well that was disappointing. There are a lot of shops on Main Street but only one that served anything resembling breakfast. There were a lot of art galleries and collectible shops and some small boutique clothes shops plus lots of restaurants and bars but none of those were open. We had breakfast at The Main Street Deli but it was nothing to write home about and certainly not worth an entry in my breakfast blog. The only thing worth mentioning was the fact that my oatmeal was served in a polystyrene cup!
Behind the town the ski runs can be seen on the side of the mountain. At the moment there is just a light dusting of snow on the runs. Park City was one of the venues for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
We drove to Salt Lake City, which was just 30 miles away. This is the state capital of Utah and also home of the Mormon Church. We parked in Temple Square and visited the temple.
It covers 35 acres and there are many buildings on it. The main building is the temple itself. There is also the Tabernacle, two large visitors centers, a church, a huge conference center plus several other buildings. Everywhere you are greeted by young women, modestly dressed with long skirts and flat shoes and carrying the Book of Mormon. They are all called “sister” and are Mormon missionaries.
Every 15 minutes there is a guided tour of the site so we joined one of them. Our hosts were two very earnest young women who explained not only about the building of the temple and the tabernacle but also informed us of their beliefs. The last stop was the Northern Visitors Center, where we sat in front of a huge statue of Jesus Christ. At the end, our two guides sang the verse of a hymn and handed out cards which they wanted us to fill out.
Well, it was quite an experience but it did not persuade me to become a Mormon.
From the temple, we walked to the Gateway shopping mall. One of the entrances is through the old Union Pacific railway station. We couldn’t stay long as the car was parked at a parking meter.
From the city we drove north to Ogden. Tom used t0 live here in the 1970’s and he saw a lot of changes. There used to be countryside between Salt Lake City and Ogden but not any more. Also you used to be able to see the Great Salt Lake from the highway but I saw no sign of it. We found one of his old homes. The neighborhood had not changed much except the trees have grown.
We checked into the Best Western in Ogden. I am getting a little tired of living out of a suitcase.
October 05 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
5:27 a.m. 48 degrees. Dark and chilly.
We left early today for two reasons - we have a long drive ahead of us and Tom wants to get to Monument Valley when the sun gets up.
It was dark and cold when we left but I’m wearing shorts because it is going to get hot later. At first it is too dark to write. Also must add that the notebook is still damp from yesterday.
We took the short cut up to 160 and it was certainly much quicker. I reckon we saved nearly 100 miles. There was quite a bit of traffic around but surprisingly a lot of vehicles were school buses. I guess the kids have to set out early because everything is so far away. At one point we drove through water on the road. Obviously from the deluge yesterday.
At 6:30 we stopped at Kayenta for breakfast before turning down 163, which is the road through Monument Valley. It was all Tom hoped it would be and the scenery was pretty amazing. Hundreds of mesas rising out of the ground with lots of space between them. In silhouette they were stunning. You have to be careful of the wild horses roaming free though and there were quite a few dogs around as well.
We go through a small town called Mexican Hat, so called after a rock formation just to the north of the town. We are back in Utah and out of Navajo land.
The next part of the journey between Mexican Hat up to Moab was uneventful. I may have dozed off a little while Tom kept driving.
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October 03 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
8.45 a.m. 63 degrees. Cold and windy.
We were lucky to get out of the canyon in one piece. All in all, it was quite a day. It started normally enough though. As we were not driving anywhere today, we took our time having breakfast. We reported to the Gift Shop at Tunderbird Lodge just before 9. As the weather looked a little unpredictable we were in long pants and sweatshirts and had our raincoats with us. There was a bit of confusion as to whre we should wait. We were on the all day trip but there was not only a private tour going out but also a half day tour.
At 9.10 all those on the day long tour were collected and taken to our 4×4 truck. There were 16 of us on the trip and George was our Navajo guide. The truck was large and uncovered. The seats were padded but it was all a bit basic.
There is a road round the south rim and the north rim but the only cars allowed onto the canyon floor are tour jeeps or private SUVs as long as they have a Navajo guide with them. The valley floor with just sand with no proper roads at all.
Just inside the canyon George stopped the truck, climbed out of the cab and told us of the history of Canyon de Chelly. The first inhabitants of the canyon were probably the Anasazi Indians from 300 - 1300 and the first structures in the cliffs were probably built by them. Nobody knows why the Anasazi Indians left the canyon, it might have been due to illness or prolonged drought. The Hopi Indians were the next residents, though they only lived here in the summer. Some Hopi still come every year to plant crops. The Navajo Indians moved into the canyon about 1700 and they live here all year round.
He went on to say that there are three main canyons but many smaller ones. They were carved out by streams from the Chuska mountains to the east and by wind and rain. The streams are tiny now and just run off from the mountains. Within the canyon thee are two main dangers - flash floods and quick sands. Apparently quick sands do not stay in one place but move around so you never know when you are going to run into one. George said there were many vehicles buried in the sand.
We stopped at some ruins to take photos. They were some way up the sheer rock face. When the National Park took over the canyon, the Navajo wanted the ruins to be protected so all trails, foot and toe holds to all ruins in the park were erased and fenced off.
Our next stop was the junction where two of the canyons joined. George told us that he heard on the radio that it was raining up at Spider Rock. As it was at the highest elevation and the furthest distance away he decided to go there first instead of the Mummy Caves. We felt a few spots of rain so George handed out rain ponchos. I took one but Tom didn’t. We passed the White House Ruins. This is the only place where you can walk into the canyon. There are signs and fences around stopping people venturing into the canyon proper without a guide. We drove straight past. It began to rain heavily and I was pleased of the poncho.
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October 01 2007 | Further Afield | 2 Comments »
Kanab, UT to Chinle, AZ
7.30 a.m. 63 degrees. Warm.
We went down at 6.30 for breakfast and the place was packed out. The bus group had taken over the place. We were relegated to sit in the back room.
We checked out, fueled up, cleaned the windscreen (the cashier came over the loudspeaker saying we had missed a bug) and we were off.
The first part of the journey took us through the southern end of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Although this road is not marked as scenic, I think it is. Lots of unusual canyons and rock formations. The rocks appear to be older here, especially around Big Water. You can see how fragile some of the formations are and they seem to be disintegrating before your eyes.
Lake Powell comes into view. At 8.30 we cross the state line and we are back in Arizona. We cross the Glen Canyon bridge. It was completed in 1959, is 387 m long and 213 m above the water and is a steel arched bridge. We approached it with a few trepidations, trying not to look down, but we made it over OK. Page was just up the road but we bypassed it but frankly it does not look that exciting. I wonder why we could not find a room here for last night? Tom say it might be because Lake Powell is a huge recreation area.
We turn left onto Highway 98 and pass a huge power station with three tall chimneys. It’s been in our sights since Big Water and it’s a blot on the landscape but I’m sure it does a worthwhile job. Soon we enter the Navajo Indian Reservation. This is a huge area which completely surrounds the Hopi Indian Reservation and covers all the north western part of Arizona including the Four Corners. For those that have not heard of Four Corners, it is the only place where four states meet up.
At 9.50 we turn left on 160. More traffic around. The condition of the road in parts is not good and is much worse than the road we have just turned off.
The weather so far today has not been too bad. The forecast earlier this week said it would rain at the weekend but it doesn’t look as though it’s going to rain today. The sun is quite hot, temperature 72 degrees, but there are a few clouds around.
At the junction of 594/41 intersection we stop to stretch our legs. There is a gas station and mini mart with Indian arts and crafts. We get something to drink and some chips. The restrooms were out of order but tom was told he could use the employees restroom. He said the only light source in there was a flashlight on the toilet tank.
We were hoping to take the 591/59 Indian road to Highway 191, thereby cutting about 70 miles from our journey but when we turned onto 591 it was a dirt road and we didn’t want to risk it. It’s a pity because we want to take that same route back on Monday. The entrance to Monument Valley is to the left of 160. We may be doing a lot of driving on Monday.
At 191 we turn right and we’re on the last stretch to Chinle. We have made very good time. At 12 we are just a few miles from Chinle. Check-in time at the Holiday Inn is 4 p.m. so we have some time to kill. We decide to take a trip to Rough Rock, so at Many Farms we fill up with gas and take the 15 mile trip on Route 59. This is the other end of the road we were hoping to take to Highway 160. Rough Rock is an Navajo village with several schools. We followed the signs to the trading post. The last part of the way is a very rough unmade road. No wonder most of the locals have pick-ups. The shop was quite large but did not have a lot of stock. It was owned by a lady who came originally from San Diego. She is also a local teacher. There was a small craft section with some Indian hand made jewelry and we were assured it was made by the local community. So we bought a couple of bangles. We also bought some ice creams. Of course we also asked whether the road went all the way through to 160 and it does. The map is not quite right. So we will venture down it on Monday.
We hit Chinle at 1.30. Still too early to check-in so we went to the Thunderbird Lodge Gift Shop just inside Canyon de Chelly (pronounced che) to see about booking a jeep tour of the canyon tomorrow. We were thinking about doing a half day tour but then decided that as we have come all this way we might as well see as much as we can while we are here. So a full day we booked, which includes lunch. It starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
As there was nothing much else to do in Chinle we decided to see if we could check-in early and we were lucky. At 2 p.m. we were in our room.
The evening we had dinner in Garcia’s, which is the name of the restaurant at the Holiday Inn. For an appetizer we tried the local specialty - frybread. The bread is about 12″ round and flat. It looks very much like a pizza with no topping. Of course it is deep friend and was served with honey. I must say it tasted really good but very filling. We could hardly eat much of the main course.
Tomorrow Canyon de Chelly. Now it gets interesting….
September 30 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
Kanab, UT to North Rim, Grand Canyon, AZ
7:30 am, 54 degrees. Cold
Once again a cold start and once again I put on my jeans and sweatshirt at the car.
Today we are headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Most people head for the South Rim but we like to be different.
The road we take out of Kanab is 89A, which is not be be confused with the main Highway 89. We drive through Freedonia which is just over the border in Arizona. We were on the lookout for a Starbucks but we were out of luck. Tom is suffering from withdrawal symptoms from lack of strong coffee.
Tom told me an interesting fact about towns in Utah. All of them have very wide streets and it is because Brigham Young decreed that streets should be wide enough for a oxen team to turn round in.
Arizona is one hour behind Utah even though they are both on Mountain Time because they don’t have daylight savings time. I read today though that one part of Arizona does have daylight savings time and that is the Navajo area where we will be going tomorrow. Very confusing!
The scenery has changed dramatically from the red messes of Utah to almost flat with scrub land and grass.
At 7 a.m. we enter the Kaibab National Forest which is a large pine forest and we start to climb. The undergrowth has been cleared from the forest floor and for mile upon mile we pass hundreds of mounds of dead wood looking like unlit bonfires. What a huge undertaking that must have been. And what are they going to do with all that debris? Are they going to burn it or haul it away? One huge section to the south has been burnt. It must have been one hell of a fire.
Finally we come to the end of the burnt trees but the forest continues. It looks completely different here. Among the pines there are aspens and, not only that, but there are grassy areas. It reminds me of the New Forest in England. There are also cattle grids because cattle room free here, not that we saw any. No horses either. The aspens are beginning to change color. Some are really bright yellow.
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September 27 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
Kanab, UT to Bryce Canyon, UT
7.40 a.m. 57 degrees. Cold
Change of plan. We were going to Grand Canyon today but have decided to do that tomorrow then go on to Page for the night before going to Chinle.
[Click image for a larger version]
Today we are headed for Bryce Canyon. This is a smaller national park than Zion. It is 75 miles north of Kanab.
I was wearing shorts this morning but as it was cold when we went outside I now have jeans on and a sweatshirt.
According to the weather forecast, it is going to be a wet and windy weekend. Don’t know whether that will be good or bad. Will have to wait and see.
It is a very uneventful drive to Bryce. Very few cars on the road in either direction. We drive through the towns of Mt. Carmel, Orderville, Glendale, Long Valley Junction and Hatch. We don’t see anybody. At this time of the day surely there would at least be children going to school.
The trees are getting taller and there are fewer red mesas. We pass green fields with cattle and horses grazing.
I can now see red rocks to the right. Bryce Canyon must be behind them.
We turn right onto Highway 12. Now there is more traffic and there we were thinking we would have Bryce Canyon to ourselves. We begin to see strange rock formations which Bryce is famous for. We enter Dixie Forest and almost immediately we are in Red Canyon. Tom pulls over to take some photos. The rock formations are called hoodoos. When we go to the Visitors Center in Bryce, we will try and find out how they were formed.
At 9.05 we arrive at Bryce Canyon National Park. We show our pass and save another $25. After a visit to the restrooms (I was not impressed because the lock was broken and there was no toilet paper) we watched a 20 minute film of Bryce Canyon and learned how the hoodoos were formed. Quick geology lesson here. We are on what is called the Colorado Plateau. It is huge and extends into four states - Colorado, New Medico, Arizona and Utah. During the Cretaceous Period, 144 - 65 million years ago, the American continent was split in two and a seaway stretched from the north to the Gulf of Mexico. The plateau was huge island in the middle. The changing season, weather and water erosion over the remaining millions of years have carved the scenery I see before me now.
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September 26 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
St George, UT to Kanab, UT
8 a.m. Temperature 70 degrees. Warm
We will be visiting Zion National Park on our way to Kanab today.
As the Best Western we stayed at did a complimentary breakfast, we did not have to search for somewhere to eat. No breakfast blog today. Pretty good for a complimentary breakfast, however.
We set off a bit late because of having breakfast first. At this time we were expecting to get caught up in rush hour traffic but it was not too bad. We took I15 north for a few miles and turned of towards Hurricane, La Verkin and Springdale. It was a very scenic drive past towering red rock mesas.
Virgin was a funky little place with Fort Zion, which looked like a kids playground, and an ostrich farm. Rockville is a cute town. I can see how it got its name as there were some huge rocks in peoples’ gardens.
The closer we got to Zion National Park the more spectacular the scenery became. We arrived at the park at 9 a.m. and parked in the Visitors Center. The entrance fee to the park is $25 per car but we used our pass. We were able to get a parking space but the lot was nearly full. There is a free shuttle service from Springdale so you don’t have to bring your car into the park.
There is a different free shuttle bus service in the park. No cars are allowed into the canyon apart from those belonging to people staying at the lodge. It’s a very good service but we would like to pass on a few tips. Get here as early as you can because the buses can get very full. Also, sit on the left side going up. There is a very good commentary but all the sights are to the left. There is no commentary on the way down. There are seven stops in all and there are different trails from each, some easy, some moderate and some strenuous.
We opted to go to the end of the canyon to the Temple of Sinawava where we took the Riverside Walk. It was a two mile round trip and was an easy one. There was a photo opportunity nearly every step of the way. Tom had his tripod but had difficulty using it sometimes because of the number of people around.
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September 23 2007 | Further Afield | No Comments »
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