Blogs from Capitol Reef, Utah, United States, North America - page 4

We are enjoying our morning coffee and scones (yes!) in a wonderful coffeehouse in Torrey, Utah. It is built of timbers with interesting rocks plastered into the wall, a wood stove in one corner, books all round, soothing music playing, the smell of coffee. Ahhh. It's called the Robber's Roost, because near here was the hideout of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The synchronicity starts here. My father has been calling me the Sundance Kid for the last 20 years, I think because I grew a big mustache once (either that or because of my uncanny resemblance to Redford). That's one. There is a painting above the counter of Robert Redford and Paul Newman as Butch and Sundance. It's actually quite well done. Two. The name Robber's Roost is the title of a Zane Grey ... read more

We arrived late in the evening to Capital Reef national park, battling the evening sun in our eyes and a strong and bitingly cold wind. As with most of the national parks, camping facilities are basic and there are no facilities such as grocery stores on site - hence a cold supper of leftover snacks before an extremely cold night. It was still cold in the morning, but the scenery and wildlife (including wild mule deer wandering freely in the campsite) took our minds off the cold for a while. The parks are all very different - this one has an area called Fruita, which was planted with fruit orchards by the original settlers in this region in the 1800s. These small orchards are sheltered from the extremes of weather by tall cliffs, and visitors can ... read more

Arrived at Capitol Reef yesterday afternoon and camped at Fruita Campground. Fruita was a Mormon pioneer settlement from the 1800's which lasted until 1941. There is a school house, a blacksmith shop, the Gifford Farmhouse and barn, and the apple orchids by which they earned their living. A herd of mule deer ran through the meadows of the campground this morning. We started out our day here, on the scenic drive. There are warnings everywhere not to enter if a storm threatens. The roads are frequently washed out when it rains. In the wash-outs, blacktop areas have been replaced with concrete - black top washes away - concrete doesn't. At the end of the scenic drive, we took the dirt road to Capitol Gorge. The gorge was beautiful, but really scary. Huge rocks hanging precariously over ... read more

Anthropology students are all inevitably subjected to a discussion on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; how we must meet our physiological needs in order to feel the need for safety, love and, ultimately, self-actualization. Four years at a university and I had always assumed that contentedness and freedom could only come when self-actualization was achieved. Four weeks on the road and I realize now that there is nothing more freeing and exhilarating than having no more pressing thoughts other than where to lay our heads at night, and how to prepare whatever food we'll eat. Americans are always hung up on the concept of freedom--what it means, how we have so much of it, why it's just so great--and the word gets thrown around so much its true meaning becomes so obfuscated under the weight of platitudes ... read more

Capitol Reef is on the way to Bryce and Zion Nat'l Parks, and we were going to stop for the day until we drove most of the way through it, decided it was just a bunch of rocks, and stopped at the visitors center to make sure our theory was correct. We used the restrooms, picked up a brochure, perused it, and decided to just make our way to Bryce Canyon. We started driving Southwest, exited the park, and drove into Dixie National Forest. The highest elevation we reached in the forest was 9,600 feet! we drove over the summit and started back down when Paul realized the he had left his beloved Aussie hat in the bathroom at Capitol Reef! We were about an hour away and we had no idea what time they ... read more