February Trip 2004
We began our trip on Friday the 13th. Not the best day to begin a vacation, but the gods must have been smiling upon us because the initial drive to Moab went fine. There was one interesting side note to the drive. About 5 - 10 miles west of Fruita, CO we saw a man leaned up against a mile marker post. It was somewhere between mile marker 12 and 13. He was bundled up, but it was going to be a bitterly cold night, and he didn't seem to be trying to hitch a ride. I wondered if he was hurt, dead, or just f*cked up on drugs. We decided not to stop because we figured that the State Patrol would be along before too long. We almost called the local 911, but hesitated because we didn't want to get some weirdo in jail for nothing. Eventually a patrolman or a truck driver would stop.
We decided to opt out of the beautiful canyon route of Hwy 128 into Moab because the sun was going down and we were running low on gas. We were surprised to find there was lots of new road construction past the airport on the way into Moab. It seems that they are going to make the road four lanes. It was interesting to note how the road crew stopped exactly next to Arches National Park boundary. They decided to move it to the other side of the road at that portion.
We arrived at the Gonzo Inn (our favorite place in town) and settled in for about 45 minutes before heading off to Eddie McStiffs. McStiffs is easily my favorite restaurant in town, They serve good cold micro beers and have good burgers, pizza and other foods. Interestingly, you can now bring in your own bottle of wine, (provided you pay them a $5 corking fee). We had some pizza, which hit the spot quite well. I tried the Cisco Bend Stout (a new one for me) and really enjoyed it.
While taking a smoke break outside after dinner I read the billboard they have outside. Really strange and interesting stuff. There was an advertisement for the Utah Unorganized Militia at some nearby local campground. Supposedly at the meeting you would find out survival tips, how to prepare for Armageddon, and who the trilateralists were. Likely a local right wing group that is on some terrorist watch list. That would be an interesting meeting to attend. I wonder if Moab has any Homeland Security official monitoring it? Some other interesting notices were for a missing adult, a couple of posters against the War in Iraq and a funny enlarged cartoon about V.P. Dick Cheney and his pals at Halliburton and Bechtel. McStiffs seems to be the progressive liberal bastion in Utah. Something to note, McStiffs has free wi-fi access if you're so inclined.
After dinner we returned to the Gonzo Inn for a nice soak in their Hot Tub.....mmmmm good for sore driving-butt.
Woke up @ 7:30 on Valentines day to the sun casting beautiful shadows on the
sandstone cliffs around Moab.
We were surprised at the amount of snow still on the ground this year. In years
past, it has been quite warm with no snow on the ground. Anyway, we finally got
out of the room @ 9:00 and headed over to the
Moab Diner for our "free
breakfast". I recommend this place for good eats in the morning....albeit it can
get a little crowded.
After Breakfast we headed south towards Canyonlands National Park. I wanted to show Kelsi the Needles district. I had been there in 1990 on a trip with Interlocken Camp's Western Wilderness Adventure. That trip changed my life and I wanted Kelsi to see why. We stopped at Hole in the Rock a few miles south of Moab. After about an hour we came to the turn off for Hwy 211. This road leads to the Needles district and some supposedly good 4-wheeling at Elephant Hill. Since the snow was still all over the place, we saw tons of animal tracks all over. One doesn't think of the desert as having many animals, but one trip in the winter will surely disprove that theory. We stopped for a glance at newspaper rock and gathered a bit of sage for a nice smelling car. (I don't feel bad picking a bit of the stuff.....there's literally millions of acres of it all over the west)
As we motored down the road we kept seeing these signs for Chicken something or other....about 5 miles down the road we realized that they were shooting some kind of movie or commercial out in the beautiful desert. We stopped for a bit and saw some people dressed up as cowboys and a nice fire going. As we neared the entrance to the park, we saw plenty of hawks and other interesting birds.
We stopped for a bit at the visitor center and got a CD of relaxing music and a good reference book for 4-Wheeling in the area. Here we found out that what we saw earlier was a Marlboro commercial being filmed. Too bad we'll never see it here in the U.S. Kelsi and I then drove by the group campsite where I had so much fun 14 years ago. We then checked out a trail we hope to hike in the future. The trail was to Druid Arch. In 1990 I had hiked this trail with the WWII group and was amazed by the mushroom rock formations. Unfortunately we didn't have time for the 8mile hike this time but we put it on out "to-do" list. We moseyed along a bit more and parked by an interesting canyon. We got out and walked up carefully to avoid stepping on the Cryptobiotic soil. The rock formations in the Moab/Arches/Canyonlands area are outstanding... I got a few cool pictures of the textures and of Kelsi and I. We then drove to the entrance to Elephant Hill....again time said we must put it on our "to-do" list. Next we drove over to the Spring Canyon overlook. There were some interesting animals down in the canyon.
After about an hour at the overlook we began the jaunt back to Moab. On Hwy 211 we stopped and saw some wild turkeys along the road near newspaper rock. We also watched some rock climbers through my telephoto lens. As we neared the main highway we saw a huge hawk (at least 3ft. tall) right next to the road. He was munching on a dead deer. The rest of the trip back to Moab was uneventful if you consider the desert scenery boring ;-)
Once back at the Gonzo Inn, we took a shower and got cleaned up for dinner. As is Valentines tradition for us in Moab, we had reservations at the Sunset Grill which overlooks the valley. We arrived on time for our reservation and had to wait a while.....oh well. We were then seated downstairs by the window and had a wonderful view of the town below. The restaurant seems to have increased the lighting....kinda kills the romantic mood on Valentines day. I had a decent micro beer, and Kelsi had some wine. We both ordered our favorites...Filet Mignon and shrimp cocktail. The Filets at the Sunset Grill were wonderful as always. We opted for a mousse dessert which was super rich and super tasty. I enjoy the Sunset grill because the food kicks butt, the prices are very reasonable, and the views are outstanding.
After dinner it was back to the room to get ready for tomorrow's jaunt to Ouray, Colorado. We did some reading...I was reading my copy of Barbed Wire Surgeon by Dr. Alfred Weinstein and Kelsi was reading a book by Sark. We finally hit the sack @ 11:00. Unfortunately I was awakened by some of our Valentine's inspired neighbors around 1:15 a.m. Oh well, they were having fun :-)
The 15th arrived with another round of bluebird skies. Again we hit up the
Moab Diner for breakfast......mmmm breakfast burrito with good green
chili. We gassed up the jeep and hit Hwy. 191 south for La Sal intersection. A
quick left brought us onto a two lane road that seemed to go straight into the
mountains. The scenery from La Sal Junction to the towns of old and new La Sal
was typical high desert with the snowcapped peaks of the La Sal range off to the
north. Hwy 46 is a scenic drive that should be enjoyed with plenty of time for
sightseeing. Be careful though, there is plenty of open range throughout this
whole area. For you flatlanders, that means there are cows on the road.
At
the Colorado border the road turns into Hwy 90. You pass some really tiny
towns...Paradox, Bedrock, Naturita, Redvale, Coventry, Norwood. Once you drop
down to Hwy. 145 at Naturita "Nature-ita" you begin to drive up onto the high
mountain plains that make Colorado so beautiful. You can begin to see the San
Juan mountains as you pull out of Naturita. We stopped in Redvale to take a
quick snapshot of the post office :-)
Eventually you drop back into a canyon and come to the intersection for Telluride. Since Hot Springs were on the agenda and overpriced tourist traps were not we decided to bypass the gorgeous town. As we ascended the pass we came to a beautiful overlook that is reported to be one of the most photographed spots in Colorado. The area has been the backdrop for many a beer and cigarette commercial and I can see why.
Eventually we dropped into the tiny town of Ridgeway, CO. Just south of town on Hwy 550 we hit Orvis Hot Springs. This was the first one of many we would encounter on this trip. Orvis was pleasant. There were a number of different pools to soak in and the majority of the clientele was in the buff. There was a smoking pool and a few others, but the main one held the most attraction for us. After an hour we decided we'd had enough and hit the road for Ouray. Since it is only a few miles down the road, and our hotel had it's own hot springs we figured we'd rather soak there. The road into Ouray can't be described by words alone. Pictures don't do it justice either. All I can say is the beauty of Colorado is represented in infinite ways along the road to Ouray.
Once into Ouray proper, we quickly noticed the huge local hot springs pool. It's quite a sight. It was a Sunday on President's Day weekend, so it was packed to the gills with people. We hose to pass it up. Another interesting side note, the baseball fields directly behind it were completely devoid of snow from the heat of the Springs. The surrounding area had 4 foot drifts. I wonder if people play baseball in February there? That would be a sight to see!
Our aptly named hotel, The Box Canyon Lodge was nice and cozy. The room we had was a bit small for the price I thought, but the on-site hot springs were hard to pass up. Our room had the typical stuff one needs, plus there was wi-fi access available from our room for $10 a day. I didn't bring the laptop for aesthetic reasons. After unloading the car, we quickly hopped in our swimsuits for a soak in the pools. Actually they are more like hot tubs, but they're natural, so who cares? The 4 tubs that were open were all made out of what probably used to be wood casks. The tubs could seat four friends comfortably. The temperature was between 100 and 104 when we were there. It seemed to vary by the time of day and how much use they had gotten before our arrival. After our initial soak we headed back to the room for a nap.
Kelsi and I got up around 7:00 to find some grub for dinner. It seems Ouray has limited dining options in the winter. We moseyed though town checking out menus and found 1 fancyish steakhouse, 1 Mexican place, 1 higher priced Italian joint, and what seemed to be the new gig in town the Goldbelt bar and grill. We decided to stop in and get something. When we arrived the place was slightly crowded, but we quickly found a few seats at the bar. I ordered a 90 Shilling beer and Kelsi got an Amstel Light. We settled for a pepperoni pizza, thinking it wouldn't take too long. Obviously we were wrong. The waitress/bartender who couldn't have been close to 21 chatted her friends up the whole time. As time passed, people left and eventually there were only about 5 groups in the place. As people's orders came up she had to ask each party what they had ordered. She seemed to be a bit out of it, sort of like her short term memory was gone....possibly too much hanging out out back smoking something :-) Regradless, we had a great pizza!
After dinner it was back to our room for a good night's rest.
The next morning we woke up @ 8:00 so we could have first dibs on the hot tubs. After another good soak, we headed into town for some coffee and bagels. We found this popular little place called Back Street Bagel. Prices were good and the bagels were nice taboot!