We drove south in the waning Utah afternoon, crawling higher in elevation as we neared Kanab.
Outside of Kanab, lovely red rocks greeted us, worn by the sun and rain and wind...
We stopped at a little pulloff on the side of the road. Although there were patches of snow clinging stubbornly to the dirt and rocks, the air was balmy and clean. We scurried up the side of a hill, finding twisted trees (mesquite? pinon?), brown scrub, and a few tiny cactus plants, our first of the trip...

the kids were just happy to get out of the car after two hours of winding roads and slower speeds...


This is the rock wall that greeted our view when we parked. I love the stripes of sedimentary rock, dampened here and there by the melting snow,


For a better size reference, here is our minivan against the rock cliff:
We left our doors open for half an hour to get that 'travel smell' out of the car a bit... three kids and a bin of snacks did not bode well for the aroma!

Here is the view of the road from atop the hill. Again, a place we'd love to build right into the rock and just exist there...
The trees were enchanting in their carved and twisted beauty. Something about the shape of them echoed the flow of the rocks they grew in, a perfect testament the Artist who created this land,
Driving away from the red rocks:

Labels: mountains, red rocks, road trip, travel, utah

This wasn't a ghost town in southern Utah. Close to several State and National Parks/Forests/Resevoirs, it seemed like a town that had sprung from mining, ranching, or perhaps tourism. On this street, as well as others in the area, boarded up windows and forlorn driveways greeted us. The area was still as brilliant, peaceful and beautiful as the rest of the state, but it seemed that prosperity had long ago crept away, with its tail between its legs.

The building pictured below was a bit too far north for the pueblo look, and apparently not well loved, for every single windowpane was broken out of it. I'm sure there's a story to that, I only wish I knew what it was...


A little further south, and we began to see nice homes tucked away into the increasingly beautiful mountains. This nifty geodesic dome house captured our fancy:

You can see that its inhabited, unlike some we've seen. I cannot wait to build my straw bale house and live happily off int he country somewhere, with a bed of asparagus nearby...

The next chunk of pics were taken in the basic vicinity, but as time goes on I've begun to muddle which ones fit precisely where. Suffice it to say these were from Utah, somewhere far south of SLC. The road through these rocky crags bent and wandered beside a bright stream. I have never, ever been more enchanted with a place in my life. I want to go back to this river and build right near it and just stay there for many years.
Melting snows tumbling down from the mountains and hills fed the river, springs were visible twinkling in the incredibly bright sunshine...

Red grasses grew beside the river, for miles we could track the curve of the water by where the red grass was.
The weather was a brisk 42˚, cold enough for a coat, but warm enough for ice to melt and join the river. It flowed merrily along, lovely green-blue, beating the ice and rocks into submission under a rapid current.


Okay, so I've done a been of trackback research, and the closest I can come is somewhere around Fishlake Nat'l Forest for this area, and I think this is the Sevier River. Here's a pan:


More pics in a few days...

Labels: road trip, Sevier River, travel, utah

Utah was, by far, my favorite part of the trip visually. Sure, I had been hankering for a sight of those Catalina mountains in Tucson, bristling with saguaro cactus... but I had grown up seeing it, so it was nothing new to me, just nostaligic.

Utah, however, was new. And it was a massive state. We headed south into Arizona, and got utterly lost somewhere along the way, winding up in a lovely town, pictured below.
I am sorry to say that I have lost the name of this town, for I would like to wander into it again. It was low in a flat valley, graced with fine white morning mist, like something from a dream...

Cattle ranches sat solemnly against the town's Wal-Mart and Pizza Hut. There's a bit of poetry or irony in there somewhere, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Everywhere we looked, the fenceposts, house siding, and farm structures were weathered and worn. The area seemed peaceful, clean, and happy.

We drove further north (yeah, I know Az is south- we were lost, remember?) and found some incredible rocky outcroppings:

Again, I apologize for the poor picture quality. We could only stop our car every half hour or so, or we would have never made it anywhere. Inevitably, once we'd say "Okay! No more pcitures, let's just drive!" we'd make it about twenty minutes before a voice piped up from the back seat, "I hafta go potty!" Well, of course you do...


What were we thinking, traveling five thousand miles with three kids anyhow?

Labels: road trip, rocks, utah

So, I know I could edit and crop these photos so that you (maybe) can't tell i just shot them from the van window as we drove. But I'm feeling a smidge lazy lately, maybe it's the pain. I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed last week, developed dry socket in one spot. It's pretty painful, and they've got me on a strong antibiotic for the bacterial infection underneath the teeth. Between pain pills every 4 hours and antibiotics every 6, I am so tired of pills I don't think I'll ever go to a doctor again!

Either way, Utah was a large state to traverse the length of. We have literally hundreds of photos, and I don't plan on boring you with the bulk of them. However, it is an incredibly diverse and beautiful place, we saw more different terrain there than in any other state.

Nifty little abandoned gas station at sunrise in a small town I've forgotten the name of...


A couple hundred miles of Utah looked like this:
Cattle ranches and open fields. The good stuff comes next post.

Labels: road trip, travel, utah

We left Park City around 5 pm. By our calculations, we could make it to Las Vegas by midnight, or thereabouts. Michael and I have always wanted to see Vegas, and it isn't too far out of the way on a southbound drop down to Az. We figured we could crash at one of the cheaper hotels (Circus Circus was advertising rooms for $29) and leave early, at least see the lights of The Strip before bedtime.

But you know what they say about the best-laid plans... turns out that we have a kid somewhat susceptible to altitude sickness, if not just plain ol' carsickness. As we dropped over 4,000 feet down out of the mountains, Oldest Child, with a belly full of pizza and her nose stuck in her GameBoy Advance, began to whimper. Michael was in the HOV lane in Salt Lake City when her voice came to the front of the car, with that telltale squeak to it that warned me she was about to puke.

"Pull over!" I warned Husband.

"I can't! You can't cross the line in the carpool lane!"

"Pull. Over. NOW. !!!" Sometimes a mom has to lay the smackdown. Michael illegally pulled over on the left curb, we found a holiday bag for Oldest, and she deposited her dinner, lunch, and hot chocolate in it with just milliseconds to spare. As we dug for a tissue to help her clean up, the inevitable flashing lights appeared behind our car.

"Hi there!" called a cop, striding confidently towards us, probably noting the Michigan plates, possibly wondering if all Michiganders are dumb enough to cross the double white lines and park in the median during rush hour.

"Hi, sorry about this..." my husband showed the cop the offending bag, which, ironically, had 'JOY' emblazoned in silver glitter down the side.

As soon as the cop ascertained the situation, he backed up a few steps, now more friendly than ever, and offered to escort us back into traffic. He was by far the most polite police officer we have come across in a while, and I'm sure the JOY bag of vomit did nothing to lower that. He escorted us back into traffic, Kid #1 remained ill, and we eventually pulled off early for the night so she could not be in a moving vehicle anymore. I don't even remember the name of the town we stopped in, although it's probably on our trip map. We stayed in a tiny little old 'motor inn' of 1950s vint. It was clean, comfortable, and quiet.

Labels: altitude sickness, motel, road trip, sick kid, travel, utah

Welcome to Park City, Utah.




We had no idea when we marked this place as a destination what a resort town it was. We'd heard vaguely something about the Winter Olympics, and we knew Aaron (a professional snowboarder) did his thing in the area.One of the few vestiges of non-commercialized rustic history. Park City is rife with history, but it all has a shiny hardened glow to it that rather set my teeth on edge. I don't mean to sound critical, Aaron after all loves this place and has called it home for three years.

Labels: park city, snowboarding, utah

Labels: mountains, road trip, travel, utah

View Larger Map

From Cadillac to Utah, with our stops at friends, family, and overnights highlighted with the little green letter tab thingies.

I love Googlemaps!

Labels: colorado, google maps, iowa, Michigan, miles, nebraska, road trip, travel, utah, wyoming