Grand View Point Overlook (August 20, 2018)

Grand View Point offers a spectacular view of the Canyonlands area. From the viewpoint at 6,080 feet elevation, you can see distant mountains, canyons, basins, and the White Rim Road.  Papa Tom stands 1,000 feet above the White Rim plateau, at the edge of the aptly named Monument Basin.  The "monuments" are 300 feet high. I should have asked Papa to stand to the right or left of the plant "monument."

Another view from Grand View Point. The White Rim road (see earlier post) skirts the rim of the Monument Basin.  Not visible in the photo are roads used by uranium miners before the national park was established in 1964.  The roads will take decades to disappear from the fragile desert ecology.

Mesa Arch (August 20, 2018)

A short trail took us from the paved road to Mesa Arch.  I'm still humbled by the vastness of the canyon lands.  Did you know the hideout for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was in the canyons of Southeastern Utah?

Papa Tom and the Nikon. So many photo ops!

As we wound up the trail, Papa Tom was excited about climbing on top of Mesa Arch. Then we arrived. Sorry, Papa!

White Rim Trail, Canyonlands National Park (August 20, 2018)

From the top of the Island in the Sky mesa, we saw a red Jeep far below traversing switchbacks on the 100-mile White Rim Road. The road loops around and below the Island in the Sky mesa top.  Four-wheel drive trips usually take two or three days and mountain bike trips usually take three or four days. The road is described as "moderately difficult" for high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles and--due to steep, exposed sections and switchbacks--"challenging" for mountain bikers. Indeed!

Dead Horse Point (August 20, 2018)

Dead Horse Point is some 2,000 feet above the Colorado River, which took 10-15 million years to carve the canyon.  See the road far below?  The river starts from snow melt 9,000 feet above sea level in Colorado's Rocky Mountains then flows 1,450 miles through Utah and Arizona before reaching the Sea of Cortez.

Papa Tom and I scrambled as close to the edge as we dared for this photo.  The sandstone ledges aren't always stable.

According to legend, wranglers often drove herds of wild horses across the narrow bottleneck leaving them corralled by the sheer cliffs.  On one haunting drive, for reasons unknown, the cowboys chose the best horses and left the others corralled on the point. With the gate across the neck closed, the remaining horses were trapped with non way out, no water, and no hope for survival. Those who found the remains of the unfortunate horses gave this place the name Dead Horse Point.

Otis and Portland Trail Blazer C J McCollum (August 20, 2018)

Otis finished the summer at the C J McCollum Basketball Camp.  C J has played for the Portland Trail Blazers since 2013-2014. McCollum is also involved with his community. In 2016, he opened up the CJ McCollum Dream Center, which is an innovative learning room outfitted with new computers, books, art and learning tools, at the Blazers Boys & Girls Club. The Dream Center aims to provide a safe and inspiring space for underserved youth to learn, explore, create and grow. He also takes an interest in local youth journalists through an initiative called CJ's Press Pass. Students receive media credentials and attend a postgame news conference through CJ’s Press Pass, and it provides aspiring journalists the opportunity to attend events with McCollum, receive personalized mentorship from members of the media and to have their work published.

I'd love to know what you're thinking, Otis!

Jug handle arch and a perfect sunset (Sunday, August 19, 2018)

Thanks to the high clearance on our Dodge Durango rental, we could go off the paved highway in search of jug handle arch.

Sandstone sentinels

We saw this sign as we turned off the paved road but didn't spot any big horn sheep.

We drove several miles down the dirt road and gave up.  Turns out the jug handle arch was at the intersection of the paved road and dirt road! 

Love, love, love Tom's desert sunset photo!

Petroglyphs and rock climber (Sunday, August 19, 2018)

Along Utah Highway 279, near Moab, are petroglyphs from the Archaic Period (6000-1000 B.C.)  How does art, exposed to the elements, last for up to 8,000 years?

Looking across the Colorado River from the petroglyphs

Growing wild beneath the petroglyphs are sunflowers and moonflowers, a touch of home!

Rock climbers travel from around the world to Utah Highway 279 (aka "Wall Street") to try one of the many routes.

Arches National Park (August 19, 2018)

Balanced Rock in the foreground, with a twin balanced rock off to the left.  The sandstone formations in the distance look like skyscrapers.

Tom below Skyline Arch, on the rubble left from the boulder that fell out of the arch, doubling its size, in 1940.  

Arches National Park (Sunday, August 19, 2018)

Our first hike was to Delicate Arch.  Three miles round trip: up, up, up 600 feet  across slick rock and along a cliff on the way there.  The sandstone arch is 60-feet tall. 

We met many other hikers at the top.  Everyone cooperated and took turns taking photos under the arch.

A different kind of arch.  Many trees along the way looked like driftwood in sandy washes.

Dinosaur tracks and fossils (August 18, 2018)

The Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite contains about 200 tracks from 112 million years ago.  I can't even fathom how long ago that was.

Hard to believe this sign is necessary.  Sigh. 

One of the dinosaur tracks

We took a nearby hike to see fossilized dinosaur bones.

Part of a fossilized camarasaurus leg bone.

Scenic byway 128 (Saturday, August 18, 2018)

We took 44-mile scenic byway 128, along the Colorado River, from Thompson Springs to Moab. 

The roadway of wooden planks was 502 feet long and only 8 feet wide.  Many drivers lost side mirrors on the bridge.  The bridge, constructed in 1916, was the longest suspension bridge in Utah until the wooden parts of the structure were destroyed by a brush fire in 2008.

The bridge could support the weight of six horses, three wagons, and 9,000 pounds of freight. A new bridge, designed to support today's vehicles, was completed along side the Dewey Bridge in 1988.

Award-winning wine is produced from vineyards that grow along the Colorado River.

Cisco, Utah (Saturday, August 18, 2018)

Cisco is considered a ghost town but has post office boxes. The town started in the 1880s as a saloon and water-refilling station for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Stores, hotels, and restaurants sprang up to accommodate work crews and travelers. Around the turn of the 20th century, more than 100,000 sheep were sheared in Cisco before being shipped to market. Oil and natural gas were discovered and Cisco continued to grow. Then the bottom fell out. The town's decline coincided with the demise of the steam locomotive. Cisco survived long enough into the 20th century to be assigned a ZIP code, 84515. A declining economy crashed when Interstate 70 was built, bypassing Cisco. 

The town site contains many relics of a typical old west railroad town. Unfortunately for history and railroad buffs, the ghost town's easy access and proximity to the freeway have lured vandals. The relics are heavily damaged and the town is littered with abandoned vehicles.

High-tech satellite dish on the left side of the house and low-tech tire shredder (nails sticking up in boards) to keep tourists out of the driveway.

Whoever lives here rides a bike and likes National Public Radio, which was blasting loudly from one of the buildings behind the post office. Notice the box-springs fence is as high as 55-gallon drums.  For cattle?  Can they not go under a fence that low? Or through the wide open gate?  For decoration? So many questions.

Salt Lake City (Friday, August 17, 2018)

Creekside dining at Ruth's Diner in Emigration Canyon, just a few miles from downtown Salt Lake City

Ruth must have been quite a character.  She ran her diner from 1930 until 1989, when she was 94 years old.  The diner, celebrating its 87th year, is the second oldest restaurant in Utah.

"Tom, I have a feeling we're not in Austin anymore."

This sign is across the road from Ruth's Diner and near a hiking trail. My first thought was that I wouldn't want to hike in a bow hunting area.  Then I realized I might not want to hike in a big game area, depending on the big game.  Bear? Mountain lion? Elk?

Inside the nightstand drawer at the hotel. 

Zephyr and Violet (August 15, 2018)

Violet likes to sit in her food bowl to munch.  Zephyr dreams of joining Violet in the food bowl.

Moth that looks like a brown leaf (August 12, 2018)

This moth was circling around the porch light, looking for all the world like a floating brown leaf.  We lured him inside by turning off the porch light and turning on an inside light.  "Like a moth to a flame . . . ."  Or, as Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice: "Thus hath the candle singed the moth." 

Kids Acting camp show (August 10, 2018)

Fox attended Kids Acting camp August 6-10.  The kids had 4.5 days to learn their lines, music, and choreography for a shortened production of Wicked. Fox played Dorothy in some scenes and a munchkin in others.  Her big moment as a munchkin was when she did a cartwheel and the splits!

Anjanette and Fox after the show

Happy 67, Tom!

How can Tom be 67 already?  To celebrate, we started with dinner and a selfie at Kerbey Lane.

On to REI for Papa Tom to get good jogging/hiking shoes.  He'll break them in next week when we hit the Arches and Canyonlands national parks in Southeastern Utah.

No birthday cake, but a giant apple fritter at Voodoo Doughnut.

Could have had a doughnut with Oreo cookies or Fruit Loops on top.  Because.