Southern Utah

 I have been out of wifi for a while but you'll see why. Southern Utah deserves a post of it's own. I have been hopping from park to park, seeing the most spectacular vistas and sculptures of nature. I have also seen quite a few dusty little towns, scattered ranches, and choices that people have made to live in these places. I think many do make a choice to live here. There are established places that have a hundred year plus history. Of course there are also places that came in 100 plus years ago and then disappeared. Railroad was a driver. Water was a driver. (That will only continue to be a challenge- or a deciding factor) But I am just going to talk about what I have seen.

Wow. What I have seen.

I came into Blanding, UT out of Flagstaff. It is a Mormon town, so not a lot going on, no wine served at the Steakhouse, but the portion of Navaho Taco was big (Too big.) Stopped at a very nice small museum [Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum] to the Pueblo culture. Informative and attractive. The town touts its central location to the Big Outdoor Events (State and National Parks).

It was not a long drive to Moab and Arches National Park so we took a bit of a turn there. I had to get her in the photo album for Arches. Dogs are allowed on paved areas but hey, it worked. This is Gina at Balanicing Rock. I have a senior Parks Pass so I come and go and have paid with the purchase of the card. Very convenient. I also checked out a day care for Gina-
Moab National Bark, just outside of town. It turned out to be.a good thing to find and truth be told it was nice not having dogs and irresponsible owners on the trails. Note: Most popular national parks do not allow dogs on the trails so

you cannot hike with them. Make plans accordingly. I did Arches for two days. Took a challenging but awesome hike on my day without Gina  to the Delicate Arch as well as driving through other parts of the park and chilled.

I began staying at Dead Horse Campground near Moab. It was really cold. The wind blew over the mesa and found every crack in the van. We had winterized also so it was a challenge to use restroom facilities at the end of the day and the beginning! Getting old? yep. I hate being cold. There is also an issue with the propane heater due to a Flagstaff RV "repair". I bought a little heater and will have the system checked.

We ended up at a La Quinta Hotel that was so convenient and comfortable I asked to stay another night. I slowed down a bit. Got my laundry done, Gina liked the walking paths around the hotel. There was a barbeque place right next door which was pretty fair. It all worked. We walked around town a while, finding the dog park and trails that went through the town, next to streams and through neighborhoods. Nice!

Taking a day trip from Moab (Nov 17) to Canyonlands National Park worked out well. Again, we couldn't walk the trails so we explored and got in and out  of the van where we could. It is very different from Arches, Each of these parks seem different from the other. What a heritage we have to have all these parks! There are many visitors in all the parks from everywhere here, many Asians, lots of young people hiking, biking, 4 wheeling, Europeans who seem to have brought their camper vehicles with them, retirees.

If you are going to go to one place Moab is probably where you want to go but honestly, I am glad I have gone to each place, as they are different. I was taking pictures- and pictures and pictures. I asked myself how many pictures of rocks can you take? But they are all different, although I won't post as many as I took here. There will be different ones on my FB page if you are interested in a wider scope

We headed out to Capital Reef NP on November 18. They have pictographs, hoodoos and incredible landscapes The speed limit said 80. I don't want to go 80. I didn't folks passed me. What do I care. At any rate the time allotted by Google Maps almost always needs to be doubled. Between me in the lumbering van and stops for Gina. It takes twice as long to do anything. I drove some remote roads to Cap Reef but you  know, there were still folks living way out there on the range. We ended up at Frulia campgound for the night because it was so pretty and fairly protected. Although they did have a sign for mountain lion sightings.... I kept Gina close! Lots of big deer. She went after a big buck but was on a leash or I may have never seen her again!They sold pies at a little store at the campground as the early settlers planted fruit trees (which are still there) Good pies, deer, a rapid river. Plugged in for the night

Wanted to spend a couple of days at Kodachrome State Park (Nov 19-21) which is an hour from Bryce. It wasn't very crowded and had a super dark sky. Good dry firewood and, it is famous for it's showers so I had to take a shower. Felt good to get the red dust off. The showers were quite nice. River tiles on the

floors, bronze and stone theme. I know, I should have taken pictures but I did not bring my camera into the shower room. Imagine. We took a number of walks. Gina was allowed on the trails here. She had lots of new smells and I saw tracks of rabbits, little antelope feet, free range cows and micey things. I saw a kangaroo rat run across the road (she missed that) and have been getting a kick out of the ravens that are brave and big.  I hear Native American stories in my ears as I walk these trails. 

We were plugged in and pretty cozy. THe wind wasn't blowing!

Bryce was out destination on the 21st and I had hoped to spend a couple days there but it is a bit crazy. LOTS of visitors, busloads of Asians, carloads of Norwegians, lots of Americans of all flavors. Suddenly I remember it is Thanksgiving week. I had been asked about it but thought it was out there somewhere. No, it is here and I think it will be a challenge to camp anywhere this week. We'll see how it all shakes out. In the meantime, Bryce is another
astounding place. I had to skip seeing Sunset Point as there were no parking spots... But I feel like I got a good feeling for it. See if you agree. Again, no dogs on the trails, at the Lodge, etc. But we got our documentation!