A trip to Moab, Utah

Kathleen and I took a three day to Moab, Utah in mid-May.  The purpose of our trip was to visit and photograph at Arches National Park and Fisher's Towers state park.  On our return trip we planned a stop at Rifle Falls, near Rifle, Colorado. 

Fisher's Towers

 

The first stop on our trip was at Fishers Towers.  We turned off I70 at Cisco and drove along Highway 128 toward Moab.  The road runs along the Colorado river and gives several nice longs views of the towers from a few miles away, with the river in the foreground and the La Sal mountains in the background.

The road continues to an entrance to the park, a dirt road that continues up a parking area at the base of the towers.  Beautiful views in every direction for the parking area.

The view from the base of the main tower, called the Titan tower, is very impressive.  The tower is over 900 feet tall and is a popular climbing site, although it looks a little spooky to me.

The view to the south from Fishers tower shows some nice red rock country and butts.

Arches National Park

 

Kathleen and I spent 1 late Friday afternoon and the following Saturday morning in Arches National park.  We had nice weather with sunny skies both days and a few clouds on Friday.  While at the Park Avenue Viewpoint on Saturday a couple asked us to take their photograph, which we did.  The wife then asked if we wanted a photo also and I said yes.  I then had to explain that my camera did not have live view and she would have to look through the view-finder -- LOL.  She did and made this shot of Kathleen and me smiling.  I guess the younger crowd does not know about cameras with view-finders.  I guess I am dating myself ;O)>.

After entering the park our first stop was at the Park Avenue Viewpoint.  A short walk leads to a trail head with large stone structures on both side of the trail and hence the name park avenue.

Here is a shot from the Park Avenue viewpoint 

Here is another shot from the Park Avenue viewpoint

The next stop was at the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint.

Looking west from the viewpoint we see the rock formation called the Three Gossips.

Here is a second view of the Three gossips.

This is a shot of the structure called the Organ which is on the west side of the road.

North of the Organ is a structure called the Tower of Babel.

From there we continue north on the road to Balanced Rock.  The balanced rock is a unique structure that appears to be ready to fall at any minute.  In the second shot you can see a glimpse of the La Sal mountains in the background.

We continued on the road east of the Balanced Rock to the windows section where we saw the North Windows arch and the Turret arch.
This is a view of the North Window Arch from the west side.

 

This is a view of Turret Arch from the front of the North Window Arch.

 An interesting formation in the area of Arches NP called the Garden of Eden.

Rifle Falls State Park

 

We left Grand Junction, Colorado on Sunday morning and drove over to Meeker, CO to visit one of our son and his family.  Just outside of Rifle, Colorado is a road leading the Rifle Falls State Park.  This is a beautiful location the has 3 water falls cascading of rocks  This is a camp ground on the site and picnic table along the river.  This is a great place with lots of trees, the sounds of rushing and crashing water.  A wonderful place to photograph or just sit and enjoy the sights and sounds over a leisure lunch.

 This image shows the center fall as it crashes down on the moss covered rocks.

 

This image shows the detail at the base of the center falls

  Here is Kathleen posing in front the river flowing out of the falls.

The following images are a few of Kathleen's taken at the falls and showing her artistic approach to seeing the falls and their surroundings.  I rather like her approach!

 

 Anniversary Trip 2012

Kathleen and I spent our anniversary last year (September 18th, 2012) on a short trip to Buena Vista, Colorado to stay in a Bed and Breakfast.  It was a great time for us, 34 years.  We drove for Denver going over Kenosha Pass.  We stopped at the summit of Kenosha Pass and walked through the aspen stands which were in full autumn color.   It had rained and lightly snowed the previous night which left a blanket of aspen leaves on the forest floor shining with dew drops, Perfect!

 Here is Kathleen kicking up some leaves from the forest floor ;O)>.  Even with all these leaves on the ground, there is still a colorful display of aspen gold in the hills!

Here is Larry admiring the beauty of nature.

After Kenosha Pass we drove over to Buena Vista to our Bed and Breakfast lodging and checked in.  We then drove up to Cottonwood lake and took a few more photos.  We ended the day on the porch of the B&B and watch ta beautiful sunset over Mount Princeton, a great way to end our day.

Needless to say we had a great anniversary and are looking forward to more to come.

2012 California Road Trip

Part VI Old Route 66

Leaving the central California coastline we headed south and east to Bakersfield, CA  where we spent the night at a nicely furnished Holiday Inn Express.   The following morning we headed east through some beautiful wine country and the sierra mountains.  We drove through part of the Mojave desert and connected to old highway 66 in Kingman Arizona.  We followed 66 and Highway 40 to Gallup NM. 

We stayed overnight at this Holiday Inn Express in Bakersfield, CA. 

It is amazing to a Colorado boy how much green and how many flowers are available in late November in central California.

We next drove through the Sierra mountains and through the lower reaches of the Mohave Desert.  Again we had great weather on this stretch of the trip.

This was our first stop on the Route 66.  It looked as though it was mainly used as a trailer park currently. 

I think this photo really sums up the spirit of old Route 66.  This is the kind of stops I remember from trips my brother and I made back in the late 50's.

This old Chevy looks like it could have been around since the 60's.

The two arrows stop was closed and this is what remains.

The old Wigwam Motel was a highlight on old Route 66.  It is still open and has space for rent.  We were short on time or we would had loved to stay there.  The next few shots give a real feel for the place.  There were old (mostly 50's) cars parked by each wigwam.

A rusted out Hudson with a few teepees in the back ground.

Here is Kathleen in front of one of the teepee rooms.

Another shot of the teepee's with old cars in front

The El Rancho Hotel in Gallup is a famous landmark going back to the 1950's when a lot of movie stars stopped here.

The hotel is in remarkable shape (I suspect it has been restored).  Kathleen and I had a very nice lunch there before continuing our journey.

From Gallup we headed north through Indian country to Shiprock, NM, then on to Durango, CO.  It was too dark to get any photos on this stretch of the trip.  We left Durango the next morning after breakfast and headed over Wolf Creek Pass and the last leg of our journey back to Denver.  Wolf Creek pass is noted for very heavy snow pack, 8-10 ft of snow not unusual this time of year.  But as the photo below shows this year in late November there is virtually no snow.  This is very unusual, but made the last part of a long trip much less stressful then expected.  You might call that an unexpected pleasure ;O)>.

This wraps up a tell of 2 travelers on a great road trip, eleven days and 3300 miles.  The photos here only give a hint of the scenes and places visited.  We hope you enjoyed sharing our journey.  Thanks for looking.