Change of plans

Dinosaur N.M. Is closed in an hour and not worth it to stay another night so we will be starting our trip back home. I'm going through Colorado and driving until I can't drive anymore.

More Moab

So we woke up fairly early today. We drove down the road to Dead Horse Point State Park. We just did some biking on the trails. Minor mountain biking I guess. I don't know. Neither one of us have ever biked a trail like those. 

Overlook

Shortly after Ryan wiped out. Who he got on film. Because he was filming while biking. 

Another overlook off another trail. There's a reservoir and the Colorado River down there.

After Dead Horse we went to Arches. It was our 4th National Park so we upgraded all our receipts for an annual pass and initially got into the park for $5.

It's pretty awesome but it's also 100° outside now.

Standing on the car to get a better panorama.

This is Balanced Rock.

We're now heading out back to Moab. Almost ran out of gas. Still might. 

5 miles to Moab. 6 miles to empty.

::sigh:: Ryan.... :) It's all good.

Then we're going to go to Dinosaur National Monument and then home and of there's something along the way home that we want to so we might stop.

See everyone very soon!

- Tina

Moab

We drove across half the state today. Drove through Capital Reef National Park. Got a campsite at Horsethief Campgroud just outside of Moab. Now we're at Moab Brewery for dinner. There's been a fire ban the last few days so no bonfires meaning all we've been able to eat are sandwiches and clif bars. Which is fine but we've got a lot of camp food we can't make so dinner is a must. It's 7:17 here and we've only had a sandwich and some crackers today. :P

We're barely hanging on. Life is tough...

No I'm kidding. It's great. We stopped at Goblin Valley:

These are goblins. :) again, I don't know how panoramas do on this blog but it's the only one I have on my phone.

We'll get dinner and maybe check out Dead Horse Point State Park. Sleep and do Arches and maybe Canyonlands tomorrow morning before heading to Vernal, UT for Dinosaur National Monument then home.

Well...... 

That's about it for now.

- Tina

More driving

We woke up a little later this morning. We're headed to Goblin Valley State Park. Currently were driving through or around the Grad Staircase - Escalante National Monument. 

Our plan is goblin valley s.p., arches n.p., canyonlands n.p. (maybe), dinosaur n.m., head straight home.

I have NO idea when I'm supposed to be back at work.

That is all for now.

Ryan has nothing to say...

- Tina

Oh.... My Goodness.

Bryce Canyon is outrageously gorgeous.

We hiked the Queen's Garden Trail and then veered off onto half of the the Navajo Loop. The last part was pretty strenuous but that's because it's gotta pull you back out of the canyon. Here are some pictures..

(Sporting our Utah clothes!)

Look! An itty bitty Ryan!

Well that was our hike in a nutshell.

We're going to drive to a couple more lookouts until it gets dark and then try to get some night sky shots.

Goodnight!

- Tina

Bryce Canyon

Beautiful place. We just pulled in. Have a campsite up the road a few miles. There are prairie dogs running around like squirrels. 

I got my postmark:

Can't really read it. But I wanted one too. 

There are tons of pretty things here. I'll post pictures after our hike because there's actually service at the visitors center.

Talk to you soon!

- Tina

Arizona - Grand Canyon

Well we slept in a walmart parking lot last night and got up and went to Grand Canyon National Park. Very very cool. Nice drive up to it. And holy cow! THAT is a BIG canyon. We wet up to the North rim which is supposedly less crowded and quieter but there aren't as many stops along the road to view it. But like I told Ryan, I feel like it's pretty much going to look the same no matter which way you look at it unless you're in it. The hike that went into the canyon was a 3000ft elevation drop in under 2 miles. It wasn't recommended to try in one day so we skipped it. But it was beautiful and I'm glad we stopped.

I don't know how well that panoramic works on 'mobile devices' but I'll try it out anyways.

Now something scary... We were driving and saw black smoke and as we got closer it was a wildfire right on both sides of the road just in the brush. Driving through it you could feel the heat of the fire. It was kinda scary. And it must have started recently because there were no fire trucks or emergency vehicles. We saw them a few minutes down the road rushing to it but SHEESH! It was so scattered it couldn't have been from a cigarette I don't think. It was on both sides of the highway. It might jit be that dry as that hot out. Fire danger signs everywhere say "Very High" an there's a fire ban just about everywhere so no bonfires or charcoal BBQs allowed. Just cook stoves. Which we don't have.

Oh.. Local bank says it's 100°F

Woo!

We're on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park and then probably Goblin Valley State Park, then Dead Horse Point, followed by Arches National Park and then Dinosaur National Monument. Then head home.

That's the rough plan. May or may not stick to it but it sounds good and reasonable for time left.

I hope we're keeping things somewhat sequential on here and not leaving that much out.

Probably going to be my turn to drive soon. Later!

-Tina