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We stopped two days in Provo, Utah at an Elks Lodge with a beautiful dog park.

Somebody with a green thumb put in very attractive landscaping around the lodge. We grocery shopped and got our laundry done. We actually dropped it off and picked it up the next day. What a luxury that was! After 10 days in the desert the whole camper needed a wipe down inside. So we got all that done and moved this morning. Utah was having a marathon this morning so we had to zig zag around trying to find the way out. There weren’t enough detour signs so it was interesting to say the least.

We are boondocking at the Hideout Motel across from the Gold Buckle Grill where I got lunch. (chicken/cheese quesadillas and a Reuben).

A young couple with two children took the motel over a couple of years ago. You would not believe the playground, there’s more stuff in it than some city parks. Sandbox, swings, slide, glider, tire swing shaped like a pony, tether ball, trampoline, hand made seesaw.

Driving around we saw a sign for Petroglyphs.

There was a boardwalk so I walked on down there.

These markings are about the crops, the family, other aspects of their culture.

This is a national Park. Vic keeps wanting to call it Capital Gains haha. We are camping out in a dispersed camping area (boondocking). There are a few other campers but we have tons of room.

We are humbled by how beautiful the landscape around here is.

We drove around the first day through the town and then out to the actual park. Our plan was to scope out the Gifford House because we had been told they sell many varieties of pie and you need to get there early before they sell out. Turns out there was a great supply so we got 4 pies: cherry, apple, strawberry rhubarb and peach. Yes we are being pigs but these are smallish pies, not the normal 9 inch size. By the way the Gifford House was home to a family of pioneers who planted the orchards and other crops. The house changed hands a few times and is named after the Gifford who owned it last. The house was sold to the Park Service in 1969. The grounds around the home have become some lush grassy areas with picnic tables and a campground suitable for small campers and tents. The orchards are still tended and in season visitors can pick the fruit.

The apple was my favorite but this one was pretty darn tasty!

This is a well known arch and I really wanted to see it. The only way is to hike in but I was game. The difficulty is supposed to be moderately strenuous. Yeah right. After hiking up steep paths and across rocks where you better have good balance then more steep paths finally I could see the Arch but wait that’s not the end of the hiking. Now there’s a 50 foot steep cliff face with a chain link “grab on” and a few widely spaced apart toe holds carved into the rock face. People were scrambling up and coming down backwards. I looked at that and thought I might be able to get up but coming down?? Uh, no, a hard pass. Still got some great pictures and didn’t break a leg. I call that success. After the hike Vic went into City Market and did the grocery shopping while Zoe and I waited in the air conditioned truck.

Before we got to the trail there was a sign “Petroglyphs” so we stopped to see. So interesting.

Tomorrow we leave for Capitol Reef, another national park in Utah.

As I mentioned, we drove through Arches after 4 pm. What a place! Well see for yourself. I hope each of you gets to visit this place sometime. It really is incredible. Lots of foreign nationals, whenever I got out of the truck I heard languages other than English. Some arches have names but they seemed so arbitrary I didn’t try to keep track. I had more fun imaging something. It took us several hours to complete the tour.

I keep wanting to call it Candyland haha.

With a funny name like Canyonland I didn’t expect a lot. Happily I expected wrong 😊. It’s gorgeous anywhere you look. Before you look at all the scenery, there were some young people next to us in tents and of course Zoe had to meet them and charm them.

We’ve been seeing a lot of beautiful places – there are three national parks and a state park near us. I mean within minutes of us. We’ve went to Dead Horse Point State Park ($20 entry fee) yesterday. All of these places have been drive through with pull outs for stopping and getting a better look.

Dead Horse Point State Park

A bit of a line to get in but totally worth it. Gorgeous scenery and the last place on the tour was an incomparable view of the Colorado River. The water was a little muddy but still… fantastic to see.

These photos are DHP and there are many but don’t miss the last one.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend !

We are boondocking in the desert in an area called Willow Springs. The scenery is Amazing! The colors! The rock formations! We haven’t seen anything like this before. Sedona was beautiful but this is bigger and there is more variety. We stopped at a rest area on the way here. It was created at the base of a giant red rock formation. Beautiful setting.

Since we are in the desert it gets pretty warm in the daytime and since this is the end of May, daytime highs are in the 80’s but it will cool off nicely at night. We are comfortable running our AC. Vic already has the wifi going. We’ve been having good luck until now with the T-mobile but today we are using AT&T.

We are staying here until Wednesday. Elevation is 4,025. I think it’s because we caught covid twice since our last trip out west but higher elevations do not agree with either of us.

On the way to Moab we stopped overnight at the parking lot of a defunct ski resort. It was a long climb off the main road on a rutted dirt road. We heard an elk bugling (it’s mating call). It’s amazing to me how far from civilization we are and there was a camper here already! What?!

We have internet (and fast) and cell service. Freezer is stocked. Plenty of bottled water.

We are staying at Durango Ranch RV Resort. It’s a ranch that has been in the family for over a hundred years. Two years ago they opened the campground of 19 sites. Tori and Tanner, a very cute young couple, run it. It is surrounded by fields of alfalfa. They put in a dog park, there’s an outdoor gathering place with a grill, a hot tub and a laundry.

We came here so we could get a local mobile RV repair guy to fix our propane heat. It needed a new circuit board and a fuse.

We are going to Utah tomorrow and see some or all of the five national parks in Utah. Arches, Canyon Land, Bryce, Zion, Monument Valley.