Summary Notes

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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.
Capitol Reef National Park - very interesting view of a 100 mile long fault with its huge cliffs. The road follows this for a while and we saw enough.
Arches National Park - Well, it was along the way and kind of interesting. Probably would be nicer if we were hikers.
Mexican Hat - not recommended. We chose it as it is the northern entrance to Monument Valley. Not a lot here and DO NOT order Navajo tacos. What was I thinking?
The good thing about going to Mexican Hat was that we saw the cattle and talked to the cowboy - and - the fantastic drive down the cliff on the windy dirt and gravel road.
Monument Valley - just what I wanted to see - the icon of the western movies.
Four Corners - well, is $3 bucks per person worth seeing a metal cross in the sand? I think so. Besides, it was on the way and M found some good Indian jewelry and I got some good Navajo stuff for the grandkids.
Cortez, Colorado - nice mountain town. I’d stay there again.
Mesa Verde National Park - most interesting, those cliff dwellings. Really high (altitude) and you can see for miles. The walk down to the cliff dwelling is worth the huffing and puffing on the walk back. DO IT!
Durango, Colorado - the historic downtown is a quaint western town and in the evening, it rocks! That’s for the younger crowd, we go to bed. Pretty good Italian restaurant.
Durango-Silverton Railroad - I guess you have to do this once. It’s a pleasant way to spend a day and see some stuff. Maybe I’d do a one-way trip and take the bus home. If you are going UP the mountain, get a seat on the right side of the train - the seats are assigned. Sitting in the outside car is ok, but dress warmly. If you don’t like heights, sit inside. Silverton is what you would expect - tee shirts and burgers.
San Juan Skyway - a wonderful scenic drive - well worth the time.
Telluride - forget it.
Arches National Park - Nice - but once again you should be a hiker to get up close to the arches. The views from the road are OK.
Dead Horse State Park - DO IT! An unbelievable view. Not that long of a drive.
Green River, Utah - get the Best Western River Terrace top floor end unit. You get a balcony view of the (what else?) Green River. Get some take-out, go to the truck stop restaurant and buy a bottle of wine and sit on the balcony and drink it. Al’s Tavern has pretty good steaks.
Vernal, Utah - entrance way to Dinosaur National Park. Nice town, good gift shop at the Best Western Dinosaur Inn. Also has laundry.
Dinosaur National Park - Not that long of a drive if you trust the GPS lady. You must like viewing dinosaur bones imbedded in the cliff. Interesting. Good gift shop for the grandkids.
Flaming Gorge - not much flaming anything, but a nice drive. Stop at the dam and look at the 51 pound brown trout caught at the base of the dam.
It was snowing at Yellowstone - so we skipped it. We weren’t disappointed because we have been there before.
Boise, Idaho. Stopped for two nights to visit old (I mean OLD) friends we haven’t seen for about 20 years. Ron and Ruth had their whole family (children and grand kids) come over for a steak dinner. What a wonderful family. Ron and Ruth haven’t changed very much and we really enjoyed talking about the old days and getting reacquainted.
Winnemucca, Nevada - surprisingly an easy 5 hour drive and when we saw the town we decided to skip this place and drive to Sparks, Nev.
John Asquaga’s Nugget - M and I really liked this place. $59 for a large room and good restaurants. I’m coming back.
Pat and Ron’s house, Roseville, Ca. is a short drive from Sparks. Enjoyed sitting out in their yard and drinking manhattans.
Judy and Phil’s house, El Dorado Hills, CA - our last night away from home with our good friends.

Statistics: 3,541 miles, 19 days

Thanks for reading my adventure and sending your comments. Each time I logged on I anticipated reading what my friends had to say. I'd read them to M and we felt connected with our friends. It sure is nice to be HOME. I can't wait to see the family. We really missed them.

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Comments

[Keith]

Armchair Vacation
Has it really been 19 days? You made us feel like we were riding in the back seat. Thank you! Now we can save this year's vacation money for something else. Welcome home!

[Pat & Ron]

The End
Thanks Giddyup and Tagalong for the great TravelBlog. So much fun to open your chapters each night and read about your adventures. Your pictures only added to the interesting 'read'. You really should try your hand at publishing...I know you want to be the 'master of nothingness', but just imagine...you could be another Mark Twain. ;>)