Giddyup

We are home, safe and sound. Thanks be to God. We really enjoyed our trip and were amazed at the things we saw. The views rivaled anything we’ve seen in Europe. Here are my thoughts and comments on the trip. National Parks trip summary and comments. Las Vegas - Nice, I went to LV because M likes this place. She wanted to stay 3 nights, so we did. You know the old saying - “When the wife’s happy, I’m happy.” Zion National Park - Excellent, wished we stayed overnight. Bryce Canyon National Park - Excellent, wished we stayed overnight to enjoy the view longer. Best Western Ruby Inn at Bryce Canyon is a nice place to stay if you can’t get into the Lodge inside Bryce. The drive between Bryce and Arches was spectacular! Ask Marilyn. ... read more

Well, folks, I guess I'll end the journal of our trip today. For the rest of our trip we'll visit friends, have a few drinks, and tell stories about the old days when we were young. I must say I really enjoyed relating our adventures and hope to do it again some day. By the way, have you looked at our picture show in my profite?I just love those 70's clothes. Giddyup ... read more

Day 13 May 27 Rock Springs Wy - Pocatello, Id Yesterday evening, before going to bed I decided to check the weather in Yellowstone. I'm glad I did. They were predicting 6 inches of snow and major traffic problems with their holiday visitors. Now, we are not into stress and believe in keeping things as simple as possible, so we cancelled our reservations at Old Faithful and decided to stay out of the mountains as much as possible. We set the GPS lady for Pocatello, ID, and away we went, traveling on Interstate 80 and, later, on I15 north to Pocatello. We wern't too disappointed to miss Yellowstone as we've been there before - years ago when we drove to Wyoming to visit my sister, Louise, when her family lived in Cheyanne. It started raining, then ... read more

May 26 Day 12 Vernal, utah, Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge, Rock Springs, Wyo. GPS Lady's Revenge. Our drive to Dinosaur National Monument is supposed to take about 15 minutes. The GPS lady had us driving down a road barking commands to turn right on nonexistant roads. I don't know what got into her mind. Maybe she was still upset from yesterday when I didn't pay attention and missed a turn. Geez, give me a break, having two touchey females in the car is just too much to take. I turned around and found drove for 5 miles and found a crossroads grocery store. M went inside to ask directions (men do NOT do that) and was told the Dinosaur place was just down the road we were on. Another 15 minutes and we were there. ... read more

May 25 Day 11 Green River, Co to Vernal, Ut I guess you can call this a vacation day. Our day consisted of driving about 3 hours to Vernal, checking into our hotel, then reading and napping the day away. Vernal is the gateway to Dinosaur National Park. As we drive down the main street many of the signs are dinosaur related. Of course, we are staying at the Best Western Dinosaur Inn and just down the highway is the Dinosaur Museum (a must-see, I am told). We are in the Utahame Basin, a huge expanse of nothing to see except mounds of grey like-dirt and dry creeks and the ubiquitious desert scrup. We did climb a mountain pass and got stuck behind a truck going about 5 miles per hour for quite a while - ... read more

May 24 Day 10 Grand Jct Arches NP Dead Horse Pt Green River, Ut. We left Grand Jct around 9:30 after loading up on the Best Western's fine breakfast. In just a few minutes we are heading west on Interstate 70 where the speed limit is 75 and most everone is going faster than that, including the trucks. It's 35 miles to our next turn and I never touched the gas pedal almost all the way. Stick it at 80 and that's it. We crossed the state line and entered Utah. We turned south on Hwy 131 for about one hour and entered the county seat, Moab. It's a good sized town with all the amenities, including an excellent MacDonald's and an automatic car wash which I used to clean off the encrusted bugs on the ... read more

May 22 Day 8 Durango Silverton RRy To my brother Chuck - please read below. Man, did I sleep. I think I didn't wake up once all night. When I finall awakened and pulled out my ear plugs I realized that M was awake and it was 7am. We needed to get going because we wanted to be at the train station by 8:30am. Train Station you ask? Yes this is the day we take the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Rail Way from Durango to Silverton. I remember making the reservations about 2 months ago. M and I had a discussion (?) about reserving an OUTSIDE car vs. an INSIDE car. The discussion went this way: Me: Maybe we should sidt outside. M: No, I want to sit inside. Discussion ended. We had reservations for an ... read more

Well folks - I think I got my days screwed up and just found this unpublished journal. Day 6 - May 20 Monument Valley, Four Corners, Cortez, Colorado Leaving Mexican Hat at 9am, we deferred breakfast until we reached Kayenta, about 1 hour away. We didn't want to take a chance on breakfast in Mexican Hat after our gormet dinner last night. Then around a bend, up a grade and THERE IT IS!!! Monument Valley. This is what I wanted to see. All those cowboy movies - John Wayne, the prairie scooners, covered wagons, kids walking alongside the wagon with their dog, men or horseback returning from a scouting mission telling the leader the best way to go. All those scenarie os flashed through my mind as I gazed out on Monument Valley. I looks just ... read more