We did leave Moab last Sunday, at first we regretted ever moving on, our trip turned into a bit of a disaster for a day or two. So much so, it inspired Mark to write this poem, after reading Alison's comment about us having such an amazing life:
Long, windy, winding drives
Over steep mountain passes
Through drifting snow and drifting sand
Around Kodachrome turns too tight to navigate
No heat, no sleep, no coffee
Too cold and lonely to stay on the canyon
Too long to fit through the tunnel
Detoured away from the promise land to a KOA
We read Al's comment at the perfect time, it allowed us to see a little humor in our situation, which did eventually turn around.
We drove west out of Moab and visited Capital Reef National Park.
This was a beautiful park and would be a fantastic place to visit again in the summer. Early Mormon settlers filled the valley with orchards and all the fruit is free for the picking for park visitors.
Sunday evening we arrived at Kodachrome Basin State Park, an incredibly beautiful area and campground that we didn't get much time to enjoy. It was here that Mark squeezed the Airstream through a tiny loop road and took out several tree limbs, I thought for sure the Airstream was going to flip over, but luckily it didn't. We found a lovely spot that accommodated our 56 foot truck and trailer combination, but soon discovered that we had no electricity - our solar-powered batteries were no longer holding a charge. We made the best of it, made dinner by candlelight and enjoyed the beautiful night sky. But, no electric means no heat and that night was cold, Mark & I barely slept. The next morning, we found out that a winter storm was moving in with snow and 50 to 70 mph wind gusts and we couldn't make coffee (our coffee grinder is electric). No coffee was more than I could take, so we packed up and left.
We made a quick visit to Bryce Canyon National Park.
Due to the aforementioned winds, we didn't spend much time exploring the park, but we were there long enough for Silas to complete the Junior Ranger program. This involved attending a presentation, working through an activity booklet and picking up trash on a hiking trail. Silas took this "job" very seriously and has declared him self the new Lazy Joe Junior Park Ranger - he now can't wait to get back to camp in Maine.
Bryce Canyon is high in elevation and cold, all the campgrounds with electricity were still closed for the winter. We had hoped to detour to Zion National Park, but discovered that the Airstream was too long to fit through the east entrance tunnel. To get to the park would involve a super long drive to the west entrance, which I was way too tired to handle. So, we drove and drove looking for a place to spend the night. We finally stopped on the side of the road and made a phone call to Maine, Danielle was able to do some internet research and directed us to an open KOA campground in Cedar City, Utah. It was cold there, too, but at least we had heat!
I had a big birthday on Tuesday, to celebrate we went to the promised land - Zion National Park. It turned out to be a very good birthday. Zion was a fantastic park, one I definitely look forward to visiting again someday.
Depending on his mood, hiking with Levi can be a challenge right now, so as a birthday present, I got to do a hike to Hidden Canyon all by myself. It was wonderful, but a little scary - steep drop offs along a trail that was in places covered in snow and ice.
After Zion, we headed west towards Nevada.
We spent the night in Baker, Nevada, which was an interesting experience. No phone, internet and hardly any radio. Not very many people there, either. The ones that are there seem to have a good sense of humor, though.
While in Baker we visited one more national park - Great Basin. We all loved the hour long tour of the Lehman Caves, which was just spectacular. It is very hard to take a good picture underground, but here are a few shots.
This was one incredible vacation for us, we saw so much - 6 national parks in 8 days - and we all learned a lot of new things. It was just great. Now, we're back in Winnemucca. I think I can handle it this time, at least for a week!
