Vacay ’08 – How the West was fun. « Morgan’s Valuable Opinion

Vacay ’08 – How the West was fun.

August 20, 2008 at 1:07 am Leave a comment

Jason and I had racked our brains trying to decide on a place to go for our week long vacation this month. I was in love with the idea of the Florida Keys and spent a LOT of time researching a trip and trying to crunch the numbers to fit into our budget, but it just wasn’t going to happen. We thought about Disney World. Nah, Jason doesn’t really like rides. We thought about visiting my uncle in South Carolina, but we’ve been there before. We considered a cruise, but you apparently need a passport now even for Mexico and we didn’t have enough time to get one for me, I thought about Colorado, staying in the mountains.. but soon got frustrated with prices and availability. One evening I had a breakdown, really, and left the entire thing up to Jason, who hadn’t really played a big role in the planning of this trip. Making decisions is sometimes too hard for a person like me. The very next day I called my husband to find out how the planning was going. He had already booked a trip for us! I was relieved to at least have a destination. When we got home he begged me to let him tell what that destination was. I wanted to be surprised, but not really, so I found out we were going to Moab, Utah. *Crickets chirping* Utah? Who books a vacation in Utah. What’s even in Utah? I learned that the desert is in Utah. Great, we’re going to the dessert.. in August. Whatever. I was thrilled to not be the desicion maker and ready to get the heck out of dodge.

During our trip I kept a travel journal at the suggestion of a coworker so that I could remember everything about our trip. What follows is an account of our vacay, the good, the bad and the ugly

Saturday, August 9 – Travel Day

Kansas' windmill energy generators

We left our home in Branson, MO, at about 10:30am and drove to Springfield to drop off our dog, KImmel, with some friends. Jason then proceeded to drive all the way to Colby, KS. We had heard that driving through Kansas is boring and the land is flat. Well, the land is flat, but we weren’t any more bored than usual. We had occasional windmills and fields of sunflowers to look at and each other to talk to. We drove under cloudy, rainy skies, stopping for dinner at a gas station where we made turkey sandwiches on the tailgate of the truck. The Motel 6 in Colby Kansas seems clean and all, but beware of bugs in the bed. Now I read a LOT of hotel reviews and people are always talking about bugs in the bed and I never believe them. Whether or not they are telling the truth I don’t know, but I am. They didn’t seem to bite, but weren’t fun to think about while trying to sleep. We watched the movie “21″ on our laptop in the room. I thought it was mostly cheesy with a few decent parts. I give it 1.5 bedbugs out of 5.

Sunday, August 10 – Travel Day

Check out the mountain

Woke up to rainy skies again. We packed our stuff back into the truck and Jason drove us all the way to our first destination, the Rocky Mountain National Park. Since the package Jason booked didn’t start until the 12th, we were able to leave early in order to spend some time in Colorado. We set up camp at Moraine Park campground, on Bear Lake Road. We camped on site A127 where we had an excellent view of a beautiful mountain. Not a hill like we have here in the Ozarks, but a glorious, rocky topped MOUNTAIN. The campground was very nice, with flush toliets and large sites with picnic tables. The weather cleared and became chilly in the evening. We made a fire with wood purchased at the campground and Jason prepared hot dogs for chili dogs. We spent the rest of the day riding our bikes around the campground (saw lots of cute chipmunks!) and setting up our brand new “truck tent” for the first time. Off to sleep.

Monday, August 11 – Adventure Day

Jason on a cliff over the Colorado River

It stormed last night. The thunder echoing in the mountains is more scary than the thunder at home. We didn’t sleep very well. We woke up at about 8:30 am and went back to sleep on and off for half an hour. When we finally got up, Jason made us breakfast. We had nectarines, apples, granola bars and crackers with peanut butter on them, which we had to eat standing in the sun to keep warm. Sleeping in the truck tent sucked because the queen sized air mattress does not fit in the truck bed. I hate how Jason sleeps like a log, regardless of the situation. After we got dressed for hiking, we walked to the ranger station to get info about Fern Lake trail. They told us where it was and how to get there and to watch the weather because it storms in the mountains around noonish almost everyday and lightning is dangerous to hikers. I wanted to take the park’s free shuttle to the trail head but Jason wanted to hike. It was .9 miles further to walk, so we did it. At the shuttle stop, we saw our first elk. It was a big cow with some kind of radio device around her neck. She was casually strolling through the area and I was able to take her picture. Pretty cool. As we were walking to the trail head, a couple of nice guys in a Toyota Tacoma (Jason drives one, so I notice them now) offered to give us a ride the rest of the way and we accepted. We saw a whole herd of elk, including a mature bull with an impressive rack, right next to the dirt road trying to hide in the trees. Wow. We began our adventure on the trail which was shaded by trees. We had views of mountains covered with fragrant pine trees on one side of us and a clear flowing stream on the other where I saw a trout. Our first stop was at these huge rocks where we ate lunch. We had salmon, crackers, cheese nips and granola bars. The chipmunks were brave. They wanted our food. I tricked one into thinking I had some food to give it just to get a picture. Shameful, I know. It wasn’t long after we started hiking that we realized going without bugspray was a mistake.

Bridge over The Pool

Mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds! Jason was bitten by a huge horsefly at the “pool”, which is an area in the stream reminiscent in Jason’s opinion of Johnson’s Shut-ins in Missouri. Lovely area, even with horseflies. We had bought hydration packs made by High Sierra for this trip. Mine was working out great, but Jason had some trouble with the fit on his. I don’t think they’re good for men with big muscles. Our favorite part of the hike was Fern Falls, which had to be at least 40 feet tall. It felt good to stand there and feel the cool mist from the falls hitting your skin. It was a scene straight out of a John Denver song. Another highlight was Fern Lake, though the hike to reach it was pretty intense. All in all our more than 7 mile, 6 hour journey was incredible. Breathtaking views, wildlife, beautiful weather (it never even rained) and together time in the most awe-inspiring place makes for one of the best days of my life.

We heard a Great Horned Owl outside our tent. Our bellies were full from fat free hotdogs and canned soup, and even though we overheard our neighbors say they’re having steak for dinner, we’re as happy as two peas in a pod. Colorado is EVERYTHING everyone said it would be.

Tuesday, August 12

The Napier Sportz III Truck Tent SUCKS

Last night was the worst night of sleep either of us have ever had. The air matress does not fit between the truck’s wheel wells, so the parts that are up on them force us to roll into each other in the middle. We ended up being two very angry peas stuffed in a pod far too small. We tried deflating the mattress to a point we could force it to fit, but we only bottomed out on the ridged truck bed. Grrrr. Oh well. We’re going to return the truck tent “Napier Sportz III” and go back to putting the tent on the ground. We wanted to truck tent to work out so badly, but it was a pain to set up, poor quality and we had trouble remembering why it was a good idea to set up a tent on the truck bed anyway. Anyway, we got a lot of our packing done the night before and were able to pack the rest up pretty quickly today. Jason woke up with a runny nose, but was still able to drive. We took 36 south to 119 to get back to highway 70, West, to Utah. I was glad we took 119 to get some more scenic views of the Rockies. We unexpectedly ran into a casino town called Blackhawk in the middle of the mountains. It looked like fun, but we didn’t have time to stop. Highway 70 was also VERY scenic, running along the Colorado River at times. The Grizzly Creek rest area was an awesome place to stretch the ole’ legs. Poor Jason, not feeling well at all, tried to take a nap here, but couldn’t. As we traveled it was fascinating to watch the landscape change from lush, shade-filled

Scenic Colorado mountain views

mountains and forrests, to sandy, shrubby hills, to red, rocky towers and canyon walls. We were just into Utah when Jason had enough. The poor guy’s nose was dripping like a faucet, his eye’s looked weepy and red and he was exhausted from a near sleepless night and driving all that way. I asked “is there anything I can do?”. He said ” yeah.. drive!” So we pulled onto some country roads and I worked on my stick shift driving skills. Pretty soon, I was driving. I drove us almost into Moab! I was very scared because I had never driven a standard in real traffic, but we made it. It was when we switched seats 8 miles outside of Moab that I noticed the dramatic climate change. Colorado was cool, cold at times, with rainy, misty mornings and evenings. Utah is hot and dry, but absolutely beautiful. We checked into the Gonzo Inn, which was a very cool place and the Moab Adventure Center, the company we booked our trip through. We tried to nap in our hotel room but were too excited. Instead we took showers and ventured out to have pizza at Zax Place, which I thought was very good food. I was not a fan of the Cutthroat Pale Ale however, as I am more a drinker of wussy beers. Moab is a quaint town, oozing with adventure, but lots of shops and restaraunts to chill at too. It is seemingly in the middle of the desert, which is pretty neat. Back at the hotel, we slept like babies. I heart Moab.

Wednesday, August 13 – Taste of Moab

View at the end of Park Avenue

After waking up at 6:00 am, we quickly got ready, ate the Gonzo’s continental breakfast and met with our group at the Moab Adventure Center (MAC), right across the street from the Gonzo. The Gonzo is very cool by the way. The rooms are big with high ceilings and the bed was uber comfy and the shower was big with nice water pressure. The whole place is decorated kind of funky with attention to detail, such as the Moab skyline made of metal on the bottom of room doors and the lizard door handles on the front lobby doors. Anyways, we met our guides, loaded up into 2 vans and drove to Arches National Park. It was SO DANG COOL! First we stopped near the park enterance to talk about some geological stuff, then we went to Park Avenue, a trail with a great view of one rock formation that looked like Queen Nefertiti and some fins, which are really thin rock structures. Arhces N.P. was home to 2,000 arches but the Wall Arch fell August 4th so now it’s 1,999. Our next stop was Balance Rock, which is exactly what it sounds like, only huge. We learned that most formations form due to ancient salts under the rock, fault lines and wind erroding rock away. From Balance Rock, we also had a great view of the La Sal Mountains, which were named by the Spanish who couldn’t believe the mountains actually had snow on top and thought they were actually made of salt or sal. Our next stop was Devil’s Garden, where we hiked 1 mile to see the amazing Landscape Arch. This was our first look at an arch up close. Along the hike we got to know our guide a bit, although I can’t remember his name. He was a nerdy older man who was very knowledgeable and fun to talk to. We also saw a Leopard Lizard and a chipmunk. The arch itself was a true work of art. It was very long and slender, like a ribbon, bent in mid air, gracefully defying gravity. A piece of this arch fell in the 70′s and the falling rock was actually captured on camera. Our guide also talked about desert plants and how they have adapted to become dormant until it rains, or cut off water supply to part of themselves, like the Utah Junipers. Many of these trees appear half dead, but are really just half dormant. There was also dark moss on the ground and when the guide poored a bit of water on it, it turned bright green. Pretty sweet! Our next sop was Delicate Arch, probably the most famous arch out there. I guess because it stands alone, it has a unique, chunky, shape and it’s big. It is a very photographed arch. We didn’t actually hike to this one, but we had a good view of it. The last stop was our favorite. We took a short hike to Double Arches, two arches next to each other that share the same bases. We were able to walk beneath these as well as climb around on/in them for some great views and photos. It was great to be in the shade of those two big beauties too. Everyone in our group enjoyed the climbing because nearly everyone in our group was a kid! Kids everywhere. The package Jason signed us up for, the “Southwest Sampler” was for ages 5 and up and it showed. Jason and I were the only couple in the group that did not have kids! After our exploration of Arches, we all went to Moab Brewery for lunch as part of the package. I had chicken and Jason had steak and I got a huge piece of cake for dessert. The food there was just ok, but I was impressed with the root beer and seasonal soda (black cherry at that time) they brew themselves. Great service too. At lunch we got to know some of the families in our group, which was nice.

The Hummer we took on Hells Revenge

After lunch we were set free, but told to return to the MAC @ 5:45 for the Hummer Sunset Safari. With our free time, we took a nap and swam in the Gonzo’s pool and hot tub, where I was attacked by the kid’s in our group who all had water cannons. Good times. I was ready to leave our room for the Hummer trip way before Jason, so naturally this caused a fight. We got there after almost all the other families and almost didn’t get the good seats in the hummers.. the elevated back seats. We managed to squeeze into some back seats though and the ride was incredible. The first part, which I called the razorback, was a thin, rock ramp that we drove on to get up tp the rest of the trail. It was barely as wide as the hummer and a pretty steep fall on either side! Scary! We drove fast on the sandy parts, which was my favorite. Sometimes when we were coming down a rock slope, the driver would let off the brakes and we would roll down like a roller coaster. Weeee! We were taken to some pretty high points with amazing views of the Colorado River and the gorgeous sunset. We took many pictures and ate crackers and cheese provided by MAC. The hummer tour was so much better than I expected! Very exciting. Jason wanted to do some off-roading of his own with the Tacoma, but he said the hummer tour got that out of this system. After the trip, Jason and I walked around Moab, doing a little shopping since the stores were open until 10:00pm, but we didn’t find anything. We split a wonderful piece of lasagna (only served Wednesday nights) at Pasta Jay’s and went to bed. It seems the desert is not all heat and suffering in a barren land. It is a fascinating, colorful and delicate environment worthy of exploration.

Thursday, August 14

After a very hurried morning (packing, checkout and breakfast) we met with the gang @ 9:45am for the white water rafting portion of our trip. We put our valuables in the safe at the MAC, got fitted for life vests and boarded the school bus that took us to meet our guides and rafts on the Colorado River for an overnight float trip. Our ears were talked off by the two 6 year old girls that were sitting in front of us on the bus. They stole our hearts and became our new best friends. There were a few inflatable 2 person kayaks available in addition to the big, typical rafts. Jason and I hopped on one of the kayaks. After bathing in sunscreen and going through some tips and pointers with the guides, we were off. The river moved pretty slow. It was huge and muddy. We stopped for lunch after an uneventful couple of hours of paddling under the intense Utah sun. They served sandwiches, which were good. One exciting part of the float was the constant water fight happening among the rafts. Those kids were ruthless with their water cannons! But we managed to snatch a cannon of our own and fought back. The most exciting thing about that day was seeing a group of big horned sheep making their way to the river to drink. There was about 6-7 of them, all pretty small. It was surprising to see how little we bothered them. They must have been really thirsty. We made camp that evening at a sand bar that followed our first and last real rapids for the day. At camp, we played games with the kids, especially Jason who loved tossing the football with them. We had an awesome dinner of chicken, green beans, salad and rolls. After dinner one of the guides showed the kids and some adults, including me, how the leftovers can be used to feed the catfish. We stuck the food between our bare toes and the fish sucked it out! It was a very creepy and fun thing to do! Jason also had a great time creating an “ant hotel” with the kids in the sand. By this time, we had gotten to know everybody in the group and it was nice to sit around chatting at camp. We had cake for dessert. One cake was for a lady’s birthday and the other cake was for us for our upcoming anniversary. We were touched! We sat around the campfire (which was in a grill instead of on the ground.. odd) and watched the kids compete in a “talent show” and then it was off to bed. We were provided with cots and sleeping bags. The weather was clear and the temperature perfect. We had some of the best camping sleep we have ever had under the full moon that night. It was so peaceful.

Friday, August 15

We were promised some more exciting water today and we got it. I gave up my spot in the kayak with Jason for any of the kids who wanted to ride in a kayak, so I ended up in a raft.. blah After cleanup of camp and a breakfast of pancakes and fruit, we shoved off. The raft was not as much fun as the kayak, especially since the folks I was with did not seem too excited to be there. The white water we encountered was fun anyway and I was glad to finally see some. Jason had a great time. I think the kids were more fun to have in the kayak than I was! He took a young English girl for the first half of the trip and her younger brother for the second half. They were delightful children. They had a great time going down the rapids backwards to make it even more exciting. Jason appears to be pretty great with kids. Jason also had to go on a “rescue mission” of sorts to fetch one of the dads who had been swimming and got pulled into a strong current. Yay Jason! We

made it to the takeout point and had a delicious lunch of chicken salad wraps. On the bus ride back, we enjoyed some frozen Otter Pops and listened to the guide tell us about Matrimony Springs, a place by the road where water comes out of the ground, clean enough to drink. There was a story.. something about people who drink the water end up married. When we got back to the MAC, we washed the sand from our feet, collected our valuables and said goodbye to all our new pals. On our way out of town, we filled the cooler with ice and decided to go to the Moab Visitor Center.. kind of backwards, I know. I needed some brochures for scrapbooking and a gift for our friends who watched our dog. We then stopped at Matrimony Springs, which was on the way out, and filled up our water jugs. The water tasted great and was cold. We enjoyed drinking it all the way home.

Moab indian writings

Our last stop in Moab was off the road to Potash, where we looked at some of the ancient petroglyphs, pictures carved into the rock by Native American people, probably the Ute Indians. There were people, animals and some cool designs. Fascinating. Jason also did a little free climbing. We were glad we stopped there. Then, we officially left Moab.

We drove through the Rockies and came to a peak where it had actually snowed. Snow was covering the trees and some buildings. Seeing snow in August was a first for me. We made it to Denver and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, $120 and worth every penny for these weary travelers. What a day.

Saturday, August 16 – Home sweet home

We checked out at 11:00 and drove and drove and drove, even I drove some again, all the way back to Branson Missouri. We ate breakfast at the hotel, lunch on the road at Arby’s and dinner at Taco Bueno on the toll road between Topeka and Kansas City. We watched one movie on the way back called “Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story”. It had quite a few funny moments, but it was pretty dirty, I have to say. I was entertained and will give it 3 out of 5 brown bags. I played Sudoku on my Nintendo DS and Jason played Grand Theft Auto on his PSP with the sound hooked up to the truck’s speakers. It’s a bit nerve racking to hear gunshots in the truck while you’re driving. We mostly stayed awake for each other, but when 2:00am came, and we were finally driving in Missouri, my eyelids became very heavy. Jason, the little trooper, sucked down a Rockstar Energy Drink (love those) and kept on trucking until we arrived home at about 3:30am. The next day we got up around 11:30am and I went to pick up the dog from Springfield since Jason had enough driving.

As we settle back into the daily grind, it feels strange, but good. There is truly no place like home. However, I am already getting the itch for another grand adventure.