May 11-18, 2004
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May 13 The next day we drove south on I-15, peppered by "Las Vegas 512 miles" signs. We tried to stop at the Great Salt Lake, but because we would have had to pay $8 to get to its actual shore (the road involved a state park with a toll bridge), we decided we were content with a view from a distance. After a stop for a fast-food lunch we were back on the highway, passing what seemed like a thousand billboards advertising various hospitals' obstretician services. Our favorite was "They held my husband's hand throught all three of our preganancies."
On the way (actually this is taken from the northbound lane) we passed the Mormon Graffitti Barn.
After driving through a lot of urban sprawl and through Provo, and after I'd eaten a lot of the peach rings I'd bought, we reached the big empty part of Utah. First we were scudding along through a wide valley with tall hills on either side, then we got into more rocky terrain, and eventually into some interesting scenery. Like this.
Because we didn't take a two-lane road south, we got to experience one of the steeper, more winding areas of interatate highway that I've ever been on. Interstate 70 actually passes right over the San Rafael Swell which rises to almost 8,000 feet. It's quite scenic. At the top a pass (probably the top of the San Rafael Knob) we stopped at a scenic pullout to rest Claire's Trecel.
After a long day of driving we arrived outside Moab. We drove into town and after dithering decided to camp at the first commercial campground we had seen on the west side of Moab. There were state park sites, but they were all full, as we discovered when we drove down a heavily rutted dirt road that wound up a canyon alongside the Colorado River. After pitching the tent (a ten-minute process) we headed into Arches National Park to see the sunset.
To get into Arches, you drive over a rise on a little switchbacked road. You can stop and pullouts and look back, as we did, at the road and at Moab (the patch of green in the distance).
Here we are at another pullout. I am pointing to some of the red "slickrock" that the area is famous for.
One of the first formations you come to is Park Avenue, so called because with the tall, straight rocks it reminded people of New York City.
Another famous (as these things go) destination is Balancing Rock, so called because, well, it's obvious. The mountains on the right in the distance here (and in all the other Arches pictures) are the San Rafael Mountains. We walked the little trail up to and around the rock; all the while small, unidentified birds taunted me by allowing themselves to be seen, but not sitting still long enough to be viewed with binoculars.
Claire flopped down on the ground to take this picture. I was fascinated by the various flowers, and she indulged me.
This was just so...Southwest.
After looking at dead trees and a rabbit and flowers around Balancing Rock, we walked around the Windows, a nearby arch-filled area as the sun set. You can climb up to some of the arches, sit in them, and look out over the desert, but we didn't do too much of that because by then it was dark and we had decided that tonight was the night we would make dinner using Claire's Coleman stove. We'd bought some groceries at a grocery store in Pokey, so after I fumbled with the kerosene and the Coleman for about thirty minutes, we finally were able to make some canned beans and Lipton instant rice. And the Coleman didn't explode! Claire, obviously, is enjoying a hearty 10:30 dinner.
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