HurricaneMaine

I first spent the night in Panguitch which is a lovely town!

There actually still is a Recall Drug store here and they have a Radio Shack still inside. Old school!

Bryce Canyon

The lore is that a coyote, tired of the humans wicked ways, turned them into these hoodoos. Some of them appear to be standing, S9 e sitting, and all have he dresses and face paint!

After Bryce, I spotted Butch Cassidy’s boyhood home.

I decided to stay in Fremont state park. The remains of the Fremont people were found here when they were building I70 and found the remains of the civilization.

Goblin Valley has these structures crafted from sedimentation and erosion. They were cool and I found one that looks like a goblin…or maybe an elf…

I stayed in Green River. The state park was amazing and it had grass! The town is very rundown which is pretty sad and it seems that drug addiction is rampant her as well.

Capital Reef

Mormons came here and created a small community that is shelter d in the canyon and they were able to divert some water to grow fruit trees. It is like an oasis here.

The Gifford pie shop gives homage to the history of fruit trees here. of course I had to get a strawberry rhubarb pie.

I then worked it off with a long hike.

On the way to Panguitch, I went through Escalante National Staircase. It was some of the narrowest roads with steep drop offs.

A view from the bottom of the canyon…

i stayed at this state park. It was a nice quiet stay and this overlooks the place where the ending scene occured in Thelma and Louise. As I named my car Thelma, it seemed fitting. The arrow is the spot.

The views here rival the Grand canyon.

Area 52 was a fun place to stop on the way through to Green River.

The beef jerky was amazing…

What an amazing park! Many beautiful arches and hikes to get you out of your car. Amazing!

Balanced rock.

I haven’t seen a squatty potty since China. So surprised to see one here in Utah!

Such a gorgeous day and beautiful landscapes.

A lot of driving but some amazing nature!

Natural Bridges

On the way to Canyon lands Needles…

Canyon lands hike

It was so cold in the canyon overnight and was below freezing. It was great to get on the road. In Moab, I stopped for gas and saw this sticker. Price of fuel is up 25% which is cutting into my budget.

Instead of going to Mesa Verde as I have been there before, I decided to go to Hovenweep which is less crowded and had a great campground. On the way I stopped at Lowry Pueblo first. I was able to see an ancient kiva, round rooms used for ceremonies.

Hovenweep

When leaving, I saw wild horses running….

This is a cute little town with a great historic district. I spent one night here to break up the trip to Hovenweep. On the way to Durango I passed the Continental divide. Now instead of the water running to the east, the water here now goes to the west

On my way to ghost ranch I found El Rito. Am art installation there is a spoof on the Mars Rover. Quite interesting.

I stopped at the Georgia O’keefe museum. She found her inspiration from the landscapes here in New Mexico.

At Ghost ranch there were trails to walk and a museum about the oldest dinosaur found in the US and the official fossil of New Mexico. A large number of the fossils were found near here when they died as rivers dried up then the rest in the resulting flood when the rains came.

It was a great time ther but less time to hike the next day due to a lot of rain.

I picked up Alycia Owen from the Albuquerque airport to drive to her home in Taos. I worked with both her and Steve in China. We spent a lot of time talking and catching up but also went sightseeing.

We went to the North Rim of the Rio Grande.

We went to Earthship. These ar homes that help to solve sustainability problems though it is difficult to solve all problems. I didn’t pay to view the houses and just looked at the outside.

The sunsets here in the desert are beautiful.

And do are the sunrises.

We went into Taos and spent time looking around the cool shops and eating Green Chili soup, which is delicious, and a New Mexico dish.

And of course, hiking in the desert.

It has definitely been hot. I went to the Petroglyph monuments and hiked the trails to look at the carvings left by the ancient Pueblos some time ago. They used stones to carve signs into the basalt rock from an ancient volcano.

I then went to Old Albuquerque Town to look at the artisans and different shops.

I then went to a trailhead in the Cibola National Forest to camp for free among the Juniper forest. Very peaceful.

I then stopped at a couple different places to hike in the morning.

One of my hikes took me along the Rio Grande.