We got a good start on the morning with breakfast in the hotel and headed out for a day of adventure. Our first stop was Red Rock Park. Billy and Sara had mentioned this was a must see location and so we took them up on the advice. This location is well known for its amazing outdoor amphitheater. There have been hundreds of shows here by some of the biggest names in music including Pearl Jam, The Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, Mariah Carey, Dave Matthews, James Taylor and John Mayer just to name a VERY FEW. Billy had mentioned that when they were here it was like being at an outdoor gym because there were so many people working out. When we arrived, we found the same to be true…so we decided to join in the workout fun. That’s the beauty of having all your belongings in your car…so we changed and hit the stairs. It was SO TOUGH. The almost 7,000 feet of altitude really has an impact. I had no idea how badly my lungs could burn doing something as simple as running up seventy amphitheater seats! We spent about an hour doing everything from running back and forth from the top to the bottom (it’s about two miles…I may have skipped a few rows but Ben did them all), to doing jumping squats from the bottom to the top, and simply running from the bottom to the top. It was quite a workout and I can see why so many people spend time here.
Once we were good and sweaty we decided that we should head back to the hotel for a quick shower before heading downtown. While we were there Ben checked to see if there were any shuttle services and it turns out they offer rides into town every hour so we QUICKLY showered and jumped in the van to head to the 16th Street Mall in downtown. Did I mention that it was a GORGEOUS day outside? Bright blue skies and mid-70’s! Our first stop was at an Irish pub called Katie _____ where we grabbed some lunch before hitting the stores. We both found a new pair of shorts at the Gap ON SALE! We continued to walk down 16th Street checking out the different shops including the famous Tattered Cover bookstore. It is a HUGE new and used bookstore that we wandered through for a bit.
We then made our way to The Sports Column, which had been recommended, as a great place to catch game seven of the Canadians/Capitals hockey game. It turned out to be a great spot. In fact it has been named the best baseball bar and pub by ESPN and a number of sports magazines. We sat and watched the game and even participated in round one of trivia night as team “Maineiacs”. We didn’t win but we made a good showing. The shuttle picked us up right at the bar, which was convenient and brought us back to the hotel. We had some popcorn, watched a bit of television, and hit the sack!
Day 177 – Denver, CO - Sunny Mid 60's:
We got up bright and early hoping to get an early start on our trip to Denver. Unfortunately our plan for cereal was cancelled due to spoiled milk!! Instead we ended up having a nice breakfast at a place called Ecleikticafe in town. Once breakfast was done we hit the road.
The drive was rather uneventful across I-70. It is certainly a major ski road though as we passed through Vail, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and other well known ski towns. We made a quick stop somewhere along the way for a picnic lunch before continuing on the road.
Once we got into Denver we made a quick trip to do some window-shopping at a local mall before making our way to the hotel. I needed to do some work so we had planned to spend the evening relaxing in the hotel room. While I was working Ben made a quick trip to the grocery store and returned to make TACOS! It was delicious. We spent the rest of the evening watching TV and working on our computers before heading to bed!
Day 176 – Moab, UT- Sunny Upper 70's:
Today we woke up and had anther great egg breakfast. After we were all cleaned up we decided to head into downtown Moab and explore the quaint little town. It is a very nice town and much quieter now that the car show moved out of town. After we had seen enough gift shops and trinkets we decided it was time for lunch. We decided to eat at Zax’s, which had brick oven pizza and was really delicious.
After we finished our lunch we headed back to the campground and were planning on heading back into Arches National Park to do some hiking but instead we figured we would hang around the pool for the afternoon and then head into the park to hike and see the sunset. We enjoyed the beautiful day lounging at the pool and working on our tans. After a couple hours in the sun we went back to the campsite and while I cooked some dinner to take into the park, Heather took a nap after our stressful day.
Around five we jumped into the car and made our way into Arches National Park. We drove to our first site the Windows. We walked out to the double arch formation that looked liked there the middle had just fallen out of the middle. Next we were walking to the Windows arches and I over heard someone say that the moon was going to be appearing through the south window in about an hour or so. It sounded really cool so we decided to head over to the Sand Dune arch and come back to the Windows for the moon show.
On our way to the Sand Dune arch we made a quick stop by the fiery furnace area, which you need to get a special permit to hike into, because the terrain is very fragile and there are no trail markers, so it’s easy to get very lost. They also have ranger guided hikes but they were sold out until Tuesday, so maybe on our next adventure we will get into the fiery furnace. It was then just a short trip to the Sand Dune arch and an even shorter quarter mile hike into the arch. It was kind of cool and it was possible to get on top of the arch but the park service asks that you don’t because the weight might cause it to collapse. We did see a couple guys breaking the rules and climbing across the arch.
After making our way back to the car we headed back to The Windows trail to view the moon through the arches. By now there were a large number of people gathered to see the moon. We waited for about an hour and finally the moon arrived. It was quite spectacular to see. We took LOTS of pictures as the moon quickly rose overhead. We packed dinner and waited for the sun to set. It wasn’t the most spectacular sunset as far as sky colors were concerned however the way the sun lit up the arches was BEAUTIFUL!
We returned to camp and cleaned up from our earlier cooking. We made sure to pack as much as we could so that in the morning we would have as little to do as possible. It was then off to bed for both of us!!
Day 175 – Moab, UT - Overcast Low 70's:
Today we woke up and got ready for another day of exploring and drove up to Canyonlands National Park about 30 miles west of Moab. We got into that park and made a quick stop by the visitor center to get some ideas for hiking and what we must see while we where there. After some great recommendations we head to the northern part of the park to visit Upheaval Dome. There are two overlook points and we decided to go out to the second overlook first which was about one mile away. Upheaval Dome is unique because it’s a crater that had formed and the National Park Service doesn’t know exactly how it was formed. There are two theories; The first thought is that the crater was created when a meteor struck the earth a couple million years ago killing all the animals in the surrounding area and sending shock waves that could be felt around the world. The second thought is that a salt dome was once there and collapsed forming the crater that we saw today. Heather believes that it was a salt dome where as I think that a meteor must have created this unique formation.
Next on our trip around the park, we went on a short two-mile hike to see some Aztec food storage rooms that were built into the side of a couple cliffs. They were kind of cool but after just recently seeing the houses at Mesa Verde the storage rooms just didn’t keep our attention for too long and we made our way back to the car.
We then drove to the Green River overlook and got to see the White Rim from here which looks really cool from the top because it seems to have a salt rim along the top of the canyons below. We also got to see the Green river where John Wesley Powell the first man to raft the Grand Canyon started his journey about 50 miles north of Canyonlands National Park.
From the Green River overlook we drove to the second overlook on our adventure and where told that we could see both the Green River and the Colorado River from the Grand View Point Overlook which was an easy two mile round trip hike. However, we could only still see the Green River and searched for the Colorado but we couldn’t find it so we made our way back to the car.
Our final stop in the park was the Mesa Arch which was just a short ½ mile hike out and back. This arch was really cool because it stood right above a cliff face that dropped of about 600 feet on the other side of where we were standing. We got some pictures making sure to keep away from the edge. Overall Canyonlands National Park didn’t impress us very much but it was a nice relaxing day.
Once we got back to the campground we decided to lay by the pool for a bit and enjoy the hot tub before dinner. After dinner I once again kicked Heather’s butt in some Phase 10 and then it was off to bed for the night.
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