The Big Rock and Bakery Tour

 We didn’t get enough of southern Utah last year, so we headed back to Moab to explore and drove through the Monument valley which we somehow missed last time.

It’s the perfect introduction to Moab where you will be knocked flat from the stunning landscape at every turn.  We took the jeep 4-wheeling to the Gemini Bridges – it was an excellent wild ride but upon arrival we looked around in bewilderment for the Gemini Bridges.  We knew we were in the right place, but…there was no “there” there.  We finally noticed faint green painted arrows on some of the rocks and began to pick our way across the scrubby ground until suddenly….there it was. BENEATH us.  We looked down and realized we were on top of it all along.

Dead Horse State Park was next - we had heard so much about it and it didn't disappoint.

As we were slack-jawed at the view, Patrick spotted a faint dirt road winding through the bottom of the canyon and said, “How did those people get down there?  That’s where I want to go.”

So of course the next day we set off up Kane Creek Canyon to Chicken Corners.  How did it get it’s name, you ask?  Well, its so precarious that in the narrowest parts if you’re chicken they used to let people out to walk across.

From Moab we headed to Panguitch, UT to see friends of mine in town who were there visiting their parents.  Panguitch is a beautiful little town with one stoplight that was celebrating their annual Quilt Walk by hanging actual quilts out on the street and from building windows.  In the WIND and RAIN and SUN and WEATHER.

As a quilter I only hyperventilated once or twice at the thought of the beautiful quilts being exposed to the elements.  As a city girl I wondered what prevents people from stealing them, but it was neat to see them everywhere and great to visit with my friend, Wendy.  We knew each other in Atlanta for 13 years and we solved a lot of world problems together.

 We wandered our way north, traveling through Capitol Reef National Park so we could stop at Fruita, a town with an orchard inside the park maintained by Park Rangers.  We stopped there specifically because we read they sell homemade pies made from the harvested fruit.  How did we know about this?  I’m pretty sure by now Patrick has the French equivalent of a homing device that leads him to pies, pastries, and all things sweet.  His apple pie did not disappoint.

On to SLC where we biked the Jordan River bike trail, toured Temple Square, swooned over the homemade rolls at the Lion House, and met up with one of my old college roommates for breakfast.

Patrick has learned to accept that no matter how far off the beaten path we are, there’s a 50/50 chance I know someone who lives there, so a blanket apology to all the family and friends that I’m missing as we travel around. In this case, my friend Terri and I met when we were about three years old and went through puberty, high school, and off to college together so there was no way we were leaving town without seeing her.  We caught up on 20 years worth of life and attempted to solve the world's problems but mostly we ate a Cracker Barrel breakfast and reminisced.

Patrick always wanted to see the Bonneville Salt Flats so we took a day and drove to the Great Salt Lake and on to the flats.  Unfortunately, Utah has had an unprecedented amount of rain and the flats were still flat,…but covered in water.

We managed to get some fun pics.

And also an odd pic.  These kind of pictures always distress me because I wear myself out wondering a) how did they not notice they didn't have shoes? and b) what did they do when they finally realized they were shoeless?

We lost our flipping minds going to Kneader’s Bakery several times a day  to get ALL the croissants and baguettes and pastries galore!

We then headed for Steamboat Springs, Colorado and fell in love with the little town.

We hiked up to Fish Creek Waterfall

Biked the Yampa River trail that was one of the nicest bike paths we've ever been on - it wound along the river, through the Botanical Gardens where they had this adorable fairy garden, and every view was gorgeous.

And then we stared at each other in shock when Patrick dropped his iPhone in the river while taking pictures of kayakers battling the rapids.  (Actual picture below taken SECONDS before he ceremoniously donated his phone to the river gods.)

We spent the rest of the day finding a phone store and iPhone. I wisely chose not to memorialize this process in photos and we will never speak of it again.

We built some campfires and had a cutthroat marshmallow roasting/s'mores competition, of which there should be no doubt about who won.

Most importantly, Patrick bought a cowboy hat that  makes him look like a movie star. We're pretty sure this makes us honorary Coloradans.

However, Steamboat Springs looked like this up in the mountains:

So after hitting the "Smell That Bread" bakery for emergency croissants (and where I found my new life motto), we headed for warmer weather.

In Alamosa, CO we stayed at a Farm Brewery and met the cool folks who decided to save their farm by converting it to a brewery.

We enjoyed the tour, their hospitality and the wide open vistas.

Then we continued south to Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque, NM where no one (least of all Patrick) should be surprised that I have family to visit. My uncle Jimmy, a highly decorated Marine veteran, and his lovely wife Teresa went to dinner with us and we thoroughly enjoyed catching up on their lives.

If it seems like we're going in circles, you're right...and our GPS tracker confirms it.

We started in Las Vegas, went north, then east, then north, then south, etc.

And the thing is...we're ok with that.  We have a loose idea that we'd like to come down the Eastern seaboard in the fall to view the foliage, but other than that we're just following our feet and warm weather.  Patrick is from France and we've often talked about going back there to visit and someday we will, but we are both constantly amazed as the beauty of this country we live in and how much of it there is to explore and appreciate.

So for now....it's big rocks and bakeries and views like this one that keep us happily wandering in circles.

We're Back....

Sorry I was gone so long.  I was in the shower.

So where were we? Oh yeah…in the Pacific Northwest and I promised you tales of vampires and rain forests and hurricanes and I will definitely tell you all about those … someday.  But our trip was cut a bit short when my brother was visiting my place in FL and his daughter got hit by a car while they were riding mopeds... and the driver left the scene...and was never apprehended.  I flew home and Patrick drove the rest of the way but all was ultimately well and I went back to working full time and Patrick went back to waiting for warm weather. 

In the meanwhile we took a cruise to Cuba...

Got engaged...

Biked Savannah, Hilton Head, and Winter Garden, FL where we saw LOTS of these critters!

And spent Easter weekend in New Orleans so Patrick could have a beignet!

Patrick took up fly fishing... 

We got a puppy (meet Tilly, a 3 month old Havanese)...

My last child at home graduated high school and college in the same week...

and we started planning our summer itinerary.   

Since we mostly did the West Coast last year, we decided that this year we would hit the states we missed,starting in Las Vegas since Patrick had some work there.  We wanted to do Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and Wyoming again, because we love them and there’s so much to see, and then meander through the Dakotas and up into Canada. Toward fall we'll head toward the East coast for the fall foliage and work our way down the coast back to Florida. Because we’re not on a time table like last year, where we needed to arrive in Alaska before the cold weather, we’re going at a much slower pace and trying to stay a few days in places that interest us.

I met Patrick in Las Vegas and we hit the road for southern Utah, since neither one of has much interest in Vegas’s gambling or bright lights.  

We made Kanab UT our base and I have to say we really like this little town.  We stayed here last year and it’s centrally located for access to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Capital Reef, and Grand Staircase Escalante. The weather was off and on rainy and sunny but the scenery is so stunning we hardly minded.  

Patrick’s unerring ability to find a French restaurant/bakery didn’t disappoint and our first night we went to Vermillion 45, where it was so crowded the hostess told us it would be awhile.  

Of course, Patrick spotted an empty table and said “What about that one” and she said it was reserved for two women ahead of us, but if we wanted to dine with them we could ask…  You know how this ended, don’t you?  Patrick approached, made instant friends, we horned in on their table and had a delightful dinner with them.  They were from San Francisco and they spend two weeks in Kanab every year volunteering at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.  We had never heard of it but we soon learned it’s a no-kill shelter dedicated to saving animals all over the US – they have about 1600 homeless animals at any given time on their huge ranch in the canyon.  We took a drive the next day to tour the facility and one of the most touching areas was “Angel’s Rest” where people can bury their pets or place a memorial wind chime for them…thousands of wind chimes hang in the trees  and when the wind blows it’s truly touching and melancholy.

This year we’re towing a Jeep Wrangler (the Mini Cooper was sacrificed to the cause) so we spent one day 4-wheeling in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument area and it was so fun.  I’m all about wild, reckless, bumpy driving, especially when it’s legal!  

And as a bonus, remnants of an old town set from the “Gunsmoke” TV show still exists and can be seen from the road.

Moqui Cave was next on our list and it's a funky, fascinating cave (or sand mine depending on who you believe) in the side of a mountain that an enterprising entrepreneur turned into a naturally air-conditioned speakeasy in the 1950's for the Hollywood people coming into the valley to make movies.  It's got fluorescent rocks, dinosaur tracks, a gorgeous bar inlaid with native stones, kitschy souvenirs, and antique photographs of the polygamous family from whom the owner descended.

The Kanab Creek Bakery is owned and run by the Vermillion 45 owners so we started each day there getting our requisite croissants and pastries.  We went so often that the cute elderly lady who did double duty as the restaurant hostess and bakery cashier started greeting and hugging us each day as if we were long lost friends. Stocked up on carbs, we took off in the Jeep for the White Pocket area of the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. It’s only accessible by 4-wheel drive and we were anxious to test our mettle. It was a wild ride through deep sand, solid rock, red dirt, hot sun, and worth every bumpy mile.

The landscape is eerie, haunting, stunning, and mind boggling.  We ate our picnic lunch gazing at what you see below and then headed back, hoping we were going in the right direction since our phone GPS pooped out in the middle of nowhere.  A red-tailed hawk flew right in front of us with his dinner of a snake hanging from his talons – no picture of that but the memory won’t be forgotten.

On another day we drove to Marble Canyon, the Cliff Dwellers, and the Glen Canyon recreation area where rafters embark down the Colorado through the Grand Canyon. It was picturesque and beautiful and another perfect site for a picnic lunch.

Memorial Day started rainy, morphed into hail, and then back to rain and wind, so it ended up being a Netflix and Chinese food day after I taught Patrick how to play Mexican Train dominoes (and mercilessly beat him).

But whether it’s rainy or sunny, hot or cold, at the end of every day Patrick always asks, “Was it a good day?”… and the answer is always “It was a perfect day.”