#4 - Movin' along...

Hello peoples!!  It has been awhile, and since our last blog we have set foot in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas,Tennessee and Kentucky!!  Yee-haw!!  First things first, we send out big happy thanks to all of those friends and family members who we’ve stayed with and shared company – muchos gracias!!

Shannon looking out on Highway 12 Scenic Byway...

So, let’s see, where did we leave off? … oh yes, from Bryce Canyon we spent three nights next to a lake in the Petrified Forest State Park, on the edge of Escalante, Utah.  From there we spent our days exploring the area and hiking out to find petrified wood and slot canyons.  We discovered and amazing coffee house/café called Kiva Koffeehouse, built right into the side of a sandstone cliff.  We drove several times on the astounding highway 12 Scenic Byway.  

Fried green tomaters!

We enjoyed a glass of chardonnay and fried green tomatoes during sunset at the Burr Trail Café, and spent several nights at the end of a dock, watching the sky turn from pink to backlit blue, silhouetted by trees, and the lake turn to glass.

From there we headed towards Moab and Arch’s National Park where we were lucky enough to spend several days at an amazing house, all to ourselves, 35 miles from anything.  From our tent o a beautiful wall-to-wall windowed house with a king size bed, washer and dryer, hot tub and a lap pool to boot – we were happy campers!  With perfectly balmy evenings we would walk onto the nearby ‘slick rock’ and watch the sky change.  Then later that night, while sitting in the hot tub, with the house lights turned off and nothing but undeveloped land for miles, the sky was the blackest we’ve seen it and the stars appeared as if each one had multiplied several times and someone turned the dimmer switch up.  It was amazing!  We even had the luxury of making popcorn and snuggling up on a big comfy couch to watch a movie – it happened to be Thelma & Louis!

Our sweet get-away house in Moab!!

Corona Arch - notice the rope swingers at the top!

On one of our days here we ventured into Arch’s National Park and hiked a fun trail with ladders and foot holds to the magnificent ‘Corona Arch’.  We happened to hike out on a day that a few brave souls looking for an adrenalin rush decided to set up a huge rope swing off the top of it – it looked super fun, but I don’t think Shannon or I would have the huevos to actually run and jump off of the top … but it was fun to watch!

From what we coined our “sweepstakes get-away house” in Moab, we headed East into Colorado.  We have both acknowledged to each other how much more beautiful Utah was – it really was so pretty, in an amazing geological way – more so than I think either of us had anticipated.  But all of that to say, there was something refreshingly beautiful about the green that we began to encounter the further we got into Colorado.  We had a great time visiting with friends and family and exploring the areas of Boulder, Fort Collins and Denver.  During that time we ventured into Rockies National Park and went for a beautiful hike through a green meadow, a lush forest of aspen trees, and up to Cub Lake with a huge backdrop of the Rocky Mountains.  We’ve never encountered so much wildlife on a single hike – we saw bunnies, ducks (little fluffy babies too), prairie dogs, marmots, a snake, very brave and persistent chipmunks (and lots of them!), male and female elk, and a coyote!

Hike to Cub Lake

Cub Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park

New Belgium brew!

We also made a stop for a tour of the New Belgium Brewery.  Not only do they make great beer but the story of how they started and the kind of company that they are is awesome!  Employee owned, wind and solar powered, 100% of the sales made in the tasting room go to local non-profits, and if you’ve worked there for five years you get an all expense paid trip to Belgium!!  The tour was really cool and we have a new appreciation for Fat Tire and all the other great brews that they make – two thumbs up New Belgium!!  Did you know that the oldest found recipe was for beer?

Before we headed into New Mexico we took a long drive to the southwest corner of Colorado to camp at Mesa Verde National Park and check out the ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings – pretty cool and honestly a little crazy.  Some of these dwellings were literally in the cracks of the side of a cliff, and we couldn’t figure out how the people would even get to some of them.  They are the largest found cliff dwellings and date back to 600 A.D.  

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde (the largest cliff dwelling)

The day that we arrived and set up camp was nice and pretty.  The second day however, while we were touring the cliff dwellings, progressively became smokier and dustier with a nearby forest fire and gusty winds up to 40mph!  By the time we were heading back to camp we were debating leaving that night for New Mexico instead of waiting until the morning.  With the site of our tent practically blowing away and the crunch of dust in our mouths, our decision was made, and in a mad windblown, dust bowl frenzy we backed up the car and headed for Santa Fe!!