Advertisement
Published: August 17th 2010
Edit Blog Post
We have spent much of our time the past two days relaxing and smoothing our feathers - reminiscing about our trip, what we've seen and what we have thought about it all. One word - AMAZING!! I feel so incredibly fortunate to have had four weeks of uninterrupted time with my husband and best friend. We have laughed, lugged suitcases, duffle bags, camera cases and laptops all over this beautiful county of ours. Moab has given us the peace to reflect and digest a bit and has afforded us some magnificent sights in its own right.
We moved our hotel room to the suite that we have stayed in for the past five years - it was a hassle but well worth it. It made for a very late start to the day and we were clearly out of gas. We had a nice lunch and then went for a swim and soak in the jacuzzi tub at our hotel. We sat on the balcony late into the evening, watching my beloved bats circle and swoop high in the sky against a backdrop of the big dipper and millions of other stars.
We awoke this
morning to a thunderstorm, but that didn't slow us down in the slightest. We headed back into Arches National Park and did a short hike off the Broken Arch trailhead. The rain threatened and we felt a few drops, but the sky never did open up. Next, we headed on to Dead Horse Point, a Utah state park and another of our favorite spots. About 35 miles from downtown Moab and toward the North entrance of Canyonlands National Park.
The story of Dead Horse Point is that the park was used as a natural corral by cowboys in the 19th century. The plateau is surrounded by sheer cliffs two thousand feet high, with only a narrow neck of land (30 yards wide) connecting the mesa to the main plateau. It was easy for cowboys to simply fence off this narrow neck, and keep rounded up wild horses from running away. Legend has it that one group of horses was inadvertently left fenced in and eventually died of thirst. Sad story for such a phenomenally beautiful place. Again, we enjoyed a loud and thunderous storm as it made its way toward us, but again, never felt a drop
of rain - just an incredible light show of lightening.
We came back to the room late afternoon and showered up for dinner. We planned to go to Pasta J's a little early to beat the dinner rush. Our hotel gave us a bottle of local wine by Moab Castle Creek Winery and we brought it with us to match with our pasta dishes. We have been to this particular restaurant every year for one meal - it is always terrific. Homemade pasta, delicious sauces, very well prepared. This dinner actually trumped our favorite pasta/italian dinners on the trip overall - and there are some tough acts to follow!!
Jim had a pasta combo with a manicotti, gnocchi and a slice of eggplant parmesan in a tomato cream sauce and I had Pasta Lorenzo - a linguini with crumbled sausage and a tomato cream sauce baked in the oven with parmesan cheese on top. I have dreamt of this dish since having it last year and while Jim urges me to try something new, I simply couldn't pass up the chance to have this once again. The Cabernet was a perfect match for both
our dishes and we returned to the hotel room happy and very full.
Following an aborted early snooze (thanks honey for not letting me go to sleep at 6:30pm), we are now settled on the balcony; me posting this blog and Jim watching the bat show above and awaiting the stars. The day couldn't have been more perfect.
I sign off tonight in perfect bliss -
Advertisement
Tot: 0.049s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 8; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0306s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb