Showing Up at Show Low

A bunch of us met again at Fool Hollow State Park in Show Low.  For us, it is the last hurrah before we finally go home in the fall.  Although there were only 3 rigs this time, there always seemed to be plenty of people around.  Doris and her dog, Molly, stayed with us while Sandy and Jerry had their granddaughter, Cassidy, staying with them.   Here we are, watching Doris' son, Curt, play ball with his two daughters and Cassidy.  

We were also hosts to Pat and Joy Wilcox that same day.  They were former camp hosts here and now have a cabin nearby.  As usual, food was involved, and plenty of it.  All of us (Sherry, Doris, Sandy and I) love to cook and we never, ever run out of food.  

  While the adults shared stories and conversations, our three great nieces, Cassidy, Lauren and Makenna went rock hopping behind our site.

What else do we do besides eating?  Well, we also brought along bikes to work off some of those calories we consumed.  Don is ready to go, but Jerry needed to check something before he started out.  

We enjoyed campfires in the evenings, after supper.

We played games and cards.  Below, Doris, Cassidy, Sandy, Don, Greg and Lori compete in a game of Mexican Dominos.  Doris, Sandy and I played Taboo with Cassidy several times, each one peppered with lots of laughter as we tried to guess the words.  

All went well until a stray softball made it's way to the back window of Greg and Lori's car.  It was Saturday afternoon, on a holiday weekend.  All the auto glass places were closed until Monday.

No problem.  All you need is a few black plastic trash bags and some duct tape.  Don knows how to fix this type of problem after having back windows broken in both of his last two trucks.

There you go!  Good as new......................almost.  A rather unique look, isn't it?

My hair is too short for me to be in line with all the others to have their hair done up in French braids.

Sandy and Cassidy sport their new hairdo's afterwards,

That evening, Jerry and Sandy did a shrimp boil.  Directions were read and re-read by Doris, Jerry, Don, Sandy and Gary as they worked their way through the detailed recipe.

Sherry put in a call to Dale, who has done a shrimp boil many times, just to make sure we were doing it right.

All done!  Time to carry the pot to the table.

Another yummy meal!  Looks like we had enough for all of us once more.  Good food, good times with family and friends, wonderful memories.  What more could we ask for?  Nothing.  The Lord has richly blessed us.

The Surprise Was On Us!

While we were up in Show Low, we found out that our oldest granddaughter, Hailey was in a volleyball tournament in Peridot.  We decided to drive the 2 1/2 hours south to surprise her.  Our friends, Gary and Sherry MacFarlane went along with us, as well as our great niece, Cassidy.  

The drive took longer than expected, so Hailey wasn't even aware that we were in the stands during the first game.  She was too busy concentrating on her serve.

The first game was over when she saw someone "familiar" in the stands and headed straight for...........her second cousin!  She hugged Cassidy as Don stood by, dumbfounded!  Our friends and daughter Heidi were laughing as Don's mouth dropped open in total surprise.  It was one of those Kodak moments.

Don pretended to do his "What am I, chopped liver?" pout and THEN Hailey came over to give him a big hug.  After all, Christmas is not that far away now and one ever wants to slight their grandparents when presents are at stake!

After the games, it was time for a few quick pictures and hugs before we had to head back to Show Low and Heidi, Hailey and her volleyball team had to return to Phoenix.

The girls won both of their games and they all had on their "silly" faces as I took their team picture. It was worth the trip just to see the look on Don's face!  

I'm Not Bluffing

As we headed south for warmer weather, down Highway 191, we stopped in the small community of Bluff, Utah.  Located here is the historic Bluff Fort, which was settled by Mormon pioneers way back in 1880.

There were about 70 families that were given a mission to settle the land near the 4 corners region. They came from 16 different villages in Utah.  Previous routes from their home towns were around the south or north and quite long, so they settled on a short cut across the southern part of the state.  Scouts had been sent ahead of them, but had only explored about half of the route.  The journey was expected to last 6 weeks, but ended up taking 6 months due to the difficult terrain.  You can see part of their route below, which took them through a a place still known as Hole-in-the-Rock.

I took the next 2 pictures off the internet, showing climbers at the Hole-in-the-Rock, a narrow canyon that drops at a 45 degree angle down 1200 feet to the Colorado River.  The Mormon pioneers spent 6 weeks blasting, chiseling rock and filling in gaps so the trail was just wide enough for a wagon.  Normally, horses would stop and not even go down the steep incline because of the drop.  However, the man who led the first team down the canyon had horses who were blind from getting pink eye, and they would go where ever he led them.  His team went first, and the rest followed.  Chains were put on the back wheels so the wagons would slow down as the driver braked.

Numerous diaries kept by these pioneers told of how terrifying the experience was.  Even if they had a road through there today, I wouldn't be taking it!  Once they got to the bottom, they built rafts to cross the Colorado River.

At Fort Bluff there is a collection of wagons and cabins.  All the cabins except one are re-creations, but are filled with antiques donated by descendants of the original group of men, women and children.

Below is the only original cabin, now covered by a second roof to preserve it.  Many times, families started with just a one room cabin.  Eventually, other cabins were built and connected by a framed breezeway.  This cabin was owned by the Joseph Barton family.  To prevent the building from rotting, the cottonwood logs were placed on a base of sandstone rocks.

All the newer cabins are one room only.  Can you even imagine raising a family of 8 children in one room?  Neither can I.  But that is what the Barton family did! I bet Mrs. Barton sent the kids out to play (or help with the work) as often as possible, even when it was cold outside.  

This is one of the original wagons from the 6 month, arduous trip.  This was quite an interesting stop along the way, and it was free!  So, if you are ever in this area, check it out.

Surprise!

We left Moab this morning, heading south on Highway 191.  We were discussing how nice the drive was, with lots of sunny skies and dry road.

We were almost to Monticello when we noticed snow along the left side of the road, and autumn colors on the other.  What?  We knew they had predicted snow for Salt Lake City and northern Utah, but this was WAY south of SLC.   About 350 miles south, that is quite a distance.

When we got to Mountain View RV Campground, there was snow left over from the night before.

No biggie.  It was sunny out, so we unhooked and got everything set up. Half an hour later, I went outside and thought I felt something on my face...was it snow flurries?  It was!  Then it started coming down harder.  Boy, we were not expecting to have snow falling on us in mid-October, especially in southern Utah.  By the way, I took this picture from the inside of our trailer, looking out the back window.

And here is  the view looking out the side, also from inside the trailer!  The wind was blowing and it was 37 degrees at that point.  There is no way I was going outside if I could get a good photo from the warm confines of our 5th wheel!

We sure have seen many kinds of extreme weather this summer, from flooding in Colorado to early snow storms in both Colorado and Utah.
**** I almost forgot to add that Don had on shorts when we left Moab this morning (it was 40 degrees), but finally acquiesced and put on long pants when the snow started to fall.  His legs must have claustrophobia because they sure don't like long pants.

Plan B

Usually, when we plan vacations, we try to incorporate at least one national park.  But this time, the tables are turned (thanks to the politicians who can't work things out).  The national parks are still closed and this is day 3 of the shutdown.  Now we had to figure out where do we go from here?  Gone is the option for Canyonlands,  Natural Bridges National Monument and Hovenweep National Monument as we work our way south in Utah.  

Don had a bright idea of changing our course and staying at Mesa Verde.  Good thought.  It lasted one minute until I reminded him that it is also a National Park.  So much for that.

Plan B turned out to be doing two scenic drives near the town of Moab.  In the morning, we drove north and west of Moab on Hwy 279, also known as Potash Drive.  There are huge cliffs on one side of the road and the Colorado River on the other.

On the side of the cliffs was a section that contained ancient Indian petroglyphs.  They were at least 15-20 feet above the side of the road, which was a good thing.  There was less chance of them being damaged and defaced.  I'm guessing that the fat four legged animal is a bighorn sheep, but I could be wrong.  Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe it is a "fluffy" deer....

Near the end of this drive, we stopped so I could take a picture of the Jug Handle Arch, which is adjacent to the highway.

That was a short drive which only took an hour and a half.  We hurried back to the campground, made some sandwiches and grabbed some fruit before heading off in another direction.  This time it was Scenic Byway 128.  After going through narrow sections alongside the Colorado River, it opened up to a wide expanse of the valley floor and gorgeous views.

The road reminded me of a ribbon, winding its way through the rolling hills. Recent rains had turned much of this desert area into different shades of green.  It was a nice contrast to the purple mountains and blue skies.

We stopped for lunch at the historic Dewey Bridge, or what is left of it.  It was built in 1916 and completely restored in 2000, only to be destroyed by fired 8 years later.  It was designed to support the weight of 6 horses, 3 wagons and 9000 lbs. of freight and was Utah's longest suspension bridge.

Don stopped for a minute so I could  take a picture of the Colorado River and the layers of the cliffs.

The dirt road up to Fisher Towers was rocky, making it a very slow drive up to the trail head.  We both wondered why we saw a couple driving their newer model Cadillac up the rocky, one way road.

The Fisher Towers, below, are named for a miner who lived near them in the 1880's.  They're made out of two different kinds of sandstone and caked with a stucco of red mud.  They have been in various movies, one of them being Goldmember starring Austin Powers.

At the base of the Fisher Towers is a small campground, which has no water or electric, but totally awesome views during the day and star filled skies at night.  Great place for people who have tents or small pop up campers, but definitely not for large rigs!

Another beautiful rock formation is located off Castle Valley Road.  This little valley was lush with vegetation but the downside would be not being able to get out during heavy rains.  There were numerous low spots in the road that showed signs of recent flooding as we worked our way back to Moab.

Arches National Monument

Ten guesses where we were on Monday, and the first nine don't count.  I think the picture gives it away.  

Actually, we went twice on Monday, once in the early afternoon, and then back again an hour before sunset.  We had read in the brochure that some places are better if photographed in the early morning and others in the late afternoon so we planned our drive accordingly.  At least we got into the national park.  After Monday, all the national parks were closed because of a stalemate in Congress.

After entering the park near the Visitor Center the road climbs up the mountainside.

This rock formation is called "The Gossips".  Even when I first saw it, it looked like 3 ladies in long dresses, wearing prairie bonnets.  They were just standing there, looking at the valley beyond them.

This group of rocks are called Sand Dune Arch.  It looked like slabs of rock were cut and set up against each other.  You can walk between the slabs and towards the back there is a hidden arch.

The walkway was quite narrow!

It was shady and cool further back, with fine sand between the huge reddish brown boulders.

A path through the wild grass led to the Broken Arch formation.

Another arch!  Surprise, surprise.  The booklet that we were given upon entering the park said there are over 2000 cataloged arches, ranging in size from a little 3 foot opening to the longest one, which has a 306 opening at the base.

The following pictures were taken after we had eaten supper and then returned to the park around 6 PM.  I loved the way the shadows are cast across the valley by the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint.

This is Balanced Rock, one of the more popular attractions for shutter bugs like me.

I took this picture from the Garden of Eden Viewpoint.

It was a race against time now.  There was only 15 minutes until sunset and there were still arches I hadn't gotten to yet!  Here is a view of the North Window on the left, and the South Window on the right.

We parked and hiked up the trail and I was able to get closer shot of the North Window.  Then the battery in my camera decided it had enough.  It was done and so was I, unfortunately.  We had made the best of the little time we had at Arches, and by the time we got back to the truck, the sun had set.