Zion to Moab

The whole collection of photos are on Flickr, so you can see all of them, but here is a synopsis of our trip.
Here is our first stop: Flagstaff, AZ. On our way outta Flag we found a Joe Soren painting on the wall of a building. My photo doesn't really do it justice, Joe Soren is an amazing painter, and he lives there, we almost went up to his studio to stalk him the last time we were in Flag, but we got scared. I think Flag is the kinda town I think I would enjoy living in these days. Laid back, outdoorsy, with a college and a brewery, with a small town feel, cute houses..

Next stop: Glen Canyon Dam. I had never been there before, but it looks like a dam. Lots of Europeans were there and dressed warmly even though it was like 80 outside, they must have been warm. I liked all the European parents, I didn't get any pics, but they had all these cool gadgets for their kids. Poor Dennis had a dramatic experience with a old man and his Depends in the bathroom..he was a little bit traumatized by it.

During the road trip up to Zion we ate beef jerky, lifesavers, chocolate chip cookies, and Pringles, diet coke and seltzer water, but not all at the same time.

Next stop: Driving behind a house... we drove behind this house for 30 minutes and then we stopped for gas, and got back on the road and guess what? The house stopped and we got stuck behind the house again.Next stop: Zion Canyon. Zion has a mile long tunnel that you can drive through that made D very scared. He kept asking me when it was over and I kept saying, almost... when i was a kid I liked to drive through it with sunglasses on, but as an adult I took them off, too scary. We stayed at Watchman campground inside the park, which is a nice campground but you are right up against your neighbors, especially where we were. We had a tent and everyone else had an RV. Once we set up our campsite we drove into Springdale to get some firewood. The town of Springfield is walking distance from our camp. I was amazed that the town was so close, and we could go for thai food or pizza if our camping food didn't work out. But darn it, we wanted an authentic camping experience, so we instead roasted weinies and drank beer. Ahh....nice. Later that night while we were asleep the wind was so bad it shook our entire tent and the back of the tent touched our heads and woke us up. Finally we got to sleep at 3am.

Next stop: Observation Point. Zion is a really well run park and has a tram that goes all around the park. We decided to do a hike to Observation Point which is 2148 feet up and is one of the highest points in the park. This hike was all uphill on the way to the top and it was 5 miles up and took several hours. The early part was beautiful, we smiled, and walked through a slot canyon and took lots of pics. We walked up many many switchbacks and my legs were burning and for a moment I didn't think I could make it. I thought we were going for a leisurely 2 mile hike, not a grueling 10 mile hike. But I made it to the top and met a gal who was soliciting duct tape because her shoe broke in half!! I gave her some surgical tape,and felt better because that gal was WAY worse off than me. Before the hike

Slot Canyon

Barely moving up the hill
At last at the top!

So after walking that many miles we had some french fries and ice cream at the lodge, and then walked another 3 miles to Emerald Pools which I remember going to as a kid, and didn't look at all like I remembered. That hike was all sand, and uphill and if I wasn't sore before, I was now! Sweaty and tired and sunburned we made it back to our campsite, I really wished I had a jacuzzi or at least a shower, but had to get by with hot water and a tub. Note to self: next time we go camping, don't do 16 miles of hiking, save that for days in a hotel.

Emerald Pools

Next stop: Driving across Utah. We drove all day, and listened to Italian horror music which really captured the alien creepy beautiful landscape. I had no idea Utah was pretty, no photos we have really capture how beautiful Utah is. The mountains are covered with snow, and the canyons are red, pink, yellow, and vast.

Next stop: Moab. Ah, we made it to Moab to raft. Moab is like a Sedona with a bit more of an outsider flair- hippie meets extreme sport. Everyone walking around is wearing mountain bike gear or some sort of extreme sport shoe, like a Teva. It has two breweries, a couple of bars, a rock/fossil shop, a juice bar. We made the mistake of going to the touristy Eddie McStiff's the first night. Skip that place and have a terrific burger at the Moab Brewery. The beer has less alcohol content so its not as strong as regular microbrews, but pretty tasty nonetheless.

Next stop: Rafting. Rafting was one of the funnest things I have ever done. The photos we took didn't come out with the waterproof disposable camera, so I took a picture of a spot on the river. We rode down Fisher towers on the Colorado river with Class 2 and 3 waves. You wear a life jacket and we wore shorts and tevas, much to D's shagrin, he didn't like the sport sandals, and especially after he saw the rafting dudes wearing Vans. The rafting team we used was sort of the Bad News Bears of rafting, they were all extreme sports guys who raft/climb instruct in the summer and ski instruct in the winter.One of our guides must have been late 20's but looked like late 30's with leathery skin and his two front teeth were chipped. He is quoted as saying "On the river, if you ain't pretty, you better not be dumb, cuz dumb gets you killed on the river." Another guy talked about hiking as a 1 fist beer hike or a two fist beer hike. I am guessing the overnight trips are a bit wild, from the looks of these guys, but you would probably have a blast. It was about 5 hours, and at hour 3 we stopped at the winery on our journey to have a taste of the local vino. Not too impressed with the wine, but it was a nice stop during the trip.



You got to paddle your own boat, and we went in with 6 plus a guide, and D and I got to be in the front in the morning and caught some air on one of the rapids, that was a little scary. Dennis got to be in front the whole time and got doused a few times. I was impressed, he rocked the rafting, and didn't get intimidated by the water. The guides shout at you directions and you have to either pull or push, I wasn't very good at it. But the scariest part was the sketchy portapotty at the beginning of the raft trip.


Next stop: Arches National Park - This park is gorgeous and you can drive through it in an hour to see all the sights if you don't feel like hiking, which we didn't. We then drove home - happy, sore, burnt and tired. We went back to AZ down the far Eastside way through the Navajo and San Carlos reservations. I can now see why information resource access is so limited out there, some of the towns are really far apart, and have no phone or internet available. I hope that gets fixed soon. I almost ran into a teen moving sheep across the highway, that really woke me up. I startled the kid as much as he startled me. But other than that got home safely through Salt River Canyon to Tucson. It took about 10 hours to get home, and along the way D and I talked about why AZ rest stops are so much worse than other states, and why is Utah so pretty but so creepy at the same time. Must have been the italian horror movie soundtracks we were listening to. All in all an awesome trip, that I totally recommend.