The Rest of the Story

Day 10 Route

The Rest of the Story

Summary of the rest of the trip: caves, bats, wind farms (again), fajitas & margaritas, Buc-ee's, and 4,816!

Day 10: We left Farmington with the intent of heading through Amarillo to Wichita Falls possibly for the night. However, along the route, there were signs for Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Hmmmm, one more National Park...we decided to head south instead of east just yet. While driving there we researched the park operational hours- we knew this one would be a little different simply because the main attraction is a cave. The last hikes in begin at 3:30. We were not going to make that. The last elevator down was at 5 pm. It was going to be tight.

It was not meant to be as we arrived at the park at 5:05. There was no talking our way into an elevator. The bat flight would take place at 7:45 so we decided to hang around for that. We read quite a bit about the caverns while waiting. An amphitheater has been constructed near the entrance to the cave where the bats exit. A ranger gives a talk starting at 7:45 about the bats that reside in the cave and takes questions while we wait for the bats to exit. All cameras, phones, etc have to be powered off. So difficult to not capture the event but research has shown that the bats are so sensitive that they are affected by the light and electrical noise sent out by our devices.

Once the bats started exiting the cave, they would swirl around near the entrance then fly out overhead to the surrounding desert in search of food. The exit went on for at least 30 minutes with a constant flow of bats flying out. They would return before sunrise the next day.

With several hundred people in the theater it was amazing that everyone got absolutely quiet and still while the bats flew out. It was a truly amazing sight to see. (BTW, if you're planning on going, bring bug spray- the gnats prior to sunset were terrible!)

On day 11, we left Carlsbad with the intention of driving as far we could to get closer to home. Houston seemed doable so that was our destination for the night. West Texas is something of a unique place all on its own. For several hundred miles it looked just like the by pass roads that we take in Pensacola or Destin. very sandy, dry soil with scruffy looking plants/grasses. LOTS of oil and gas production in this area. We then entered Hill Country and that was a nice change. Along the way we saw more Wind Farms and several of the blades on the interstate.

I did have an ulterior motive for staying in Houston. We love Papasito's Cantina and I know there are several locations in the Houston area. I booked a hotel not too far from one of the locations. We Ubered there and back to enjoy margaritas with our dinner. We had steak and chicken fajitas along with some bacon wrapped, jalapeno and cheese stuffed shrimp. Yummo. A perfect final dinner of our trip.

The Biggest They Got!

Celebrating a Great Trip!

Bacon wrapped, jalapeno and cheese stuffed shrimp...um, yes!

Chicken and Steak Fajitas

Day 12: On the ride home from Houston, we stopped at a Buc-ee's in Baytown. Have you guys ever stopped at one of these? O. M. G. It's a gas station/convenience/grocery super store! I've read a few people post about these stores on Facebook before but had never stopped. Holy cow! We shopped for a good thirty minutes I'm sure. My only regret is that we had just eaten breakfast so we did not try any of their food. It all looked incredible. Really neat experience. Cleanest restrooms I've ever visited in any store. Very impressive- stop if ever you drive past one!

The Last Legs

Here are some stats from our trip:

• 8 National Parks Visited: Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Carlsbad Caverns
• 2 National Monuments: White Sands, Grand Staircase Escalante
• 3 National Forests: Lincoln, Kaibab, Dixie
• 9 Tourist Stops: Roswell, NM, Meteor Crater Natural Landmark, Antelope Canyon Navajo Tribal Park, Horseshoe Bend, San Rafael Desert, Monument Valley, Forrest Gump Point, Four Corners Monument, Navajo Nation Indian Reservation
• Total Miles traveled: 4,816

It's been a heck of an adventure! What an incredible country we live in! Thanks for coming along with us. We look forward to coming back and reflecting on the trip- it's been somewhat of a sensory overload. We'll let you all know when we have the three-hour slideshow presentation at the house...LOL!

A Final Map of our Trip

Day 9 - 7.8.17

Day 9

From the National Park Service: Canyonlands National Park preserves 337,598 acres of colorful canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches, and spires in the heart of southeast Utah's high desert. Water and gravity have been the prime architects of this land, sculpting layers of rock into the rugged landscape you see today.

Canyonlands preserves the natural beauty and human history throughout its four districts, which are divided by the Green and Colorado rivers. While the districts share a primitive desert atmosphere, each retains its own character and offers different opportunities for exploration and adventure.

We chose to explore the Island in the Sky section of the park, which is the north entrance. The Colorado River is the root cause of the developed canyons, but so is the Green River. 

Green River Overlook- the Green & Colorado Rivers meet up 25-ish miles downstream from this point.

One of the hikes that we took in this park was to Mesa Arch. The rock formation that you see through the arch is named Woman Washing Clothes.

Upon leaving Canyonlands NP, we were officially heading south. We wanted to drive through Monument Valley on this route home. Monument Valley spreads across Utah and Arizona along their border. It is on Navajo Land. The collection of sandstone buttes spread throughout this drive are just beautiful. One of our favorite scenes from FOrrest Gump has Forrest running through Monument Valley. He realizes at a particular spot on the highway here that his running days are over. We (along with numerous others) had to stop and capture some pictures and video of this infamous spot. Here is a quick video of the movie clip.

Forrest Gump Point

There was still daylight to burn so we headed towards Four Corners Monument. Dean visited this same spot some 50 years ago with his folks and it has definitely developed since that time. It is the only spot in the US that four states share the same point. Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico are accessible in this one spot.

It was now late in the day and we needed to find a place to rest for the night. We decided upon Farmington, New Mexico. The landscape on the drive there still amazed us.

Day 9 pics

Day 8 - July 7, 2017

Day 8

Summary: rough hike, homemade apple pies, Utah National Parks #3 & 4.

There are no room darkening shades in our Teepee so we were up rather early.  Did I mention how comfortable our teepee was? Guaranteed it was nothing like Stands With a Fists & Dances With Wolves teepee, we had a few more modern conveniences... we were roughing it 21st Century Style! There was a baby jack rabbit that greeted us as we awoke!

Our teepee was located just two-three miles from the entrance to Capitol Reef National Park so we were in the park early. One of our first stops was to look for petroglyphs on the side of the mountains. Ancestors of the Hopi Tribes made this red rock oasis their homes. They were potters, jewelry makers, farmers, and spent time carving stories and pictures into the mountainside.

The next stop included a hike to Hickman's Bridge. It was a 1.5 mile hike with an elevation change of 400 feet. The temperature was already at 100 and there was no breeze. There was no shade. It truly felt desert-like. This was the hottest we've been the entire trip.

Arrival to Hickman's Bridge did not disappoint. We stayed a while to snap a few pictures and to catch some shade before hitting the trail back.

After the hike we were hungry and still thirsty. We came upon Gifford Homestead where we bought a wrap to eat. They also specialized in homemade pies. We bought an apple personal size to share. It was perfect! We enjoyed it tremendously.

Drive from Capitol Reef to Moab- we drove through miles of desert that had mounds of sand that had motorbike trails on them. Interesting way to pass your time I guess. After a couple of hours o n the road we arrived in Moab, Utah and decided to hit Arches National Park for the rest of the day.

One of the first stops in Arches is called Park Avenue. You can see the rock structures below resembling high rise towers against the blue sky.

This particular formation was in the same area as Park Avenue and we could not find a particular name for it, we just thought that it somewhat resembled a hand giving a 'gesture'. LOL

Be nice!

Just Impressive

The Window 

Delicate Arch - is on Utah License Plates

Balancing Rock

This day truly kicked our tails. Mine especially. When we finished at Arches we stopped for pizza that was fabulous- we were so hungry I didn't even think to snap a pic of it before we devoured it. Got back to the hotel, showered and I passed out with my hair in a towel before 8 pm. I woke the next morning. That is why I am delayed with getting blog posts up.

Anyway, tomorrow brings us to National Park #5 of 5 in Utah, Canyonlands. I hope to have it posted soon. In the meantime, enjoy pics from Day 8.

Day 7 - Thursday

Day 7
Summary: hoodoos, hiking to canyon floor, aspen forests, and teepee living.

We got an early start on our drive from La Verkin to Bryce Canyon National Park. Before entering the park we drove through Dixie National Forest. These are some of the reddest rocks we have seen so far!

No other place looks like Bryce Canyon National Park. Hoodoos (odd-shaped pillars of rock left standing from the forces of erosion) can be found on every continent, but here is the largest collection of hoodoos in the world! Descriptions fail. Photographs do not do it justice.

Once again, we used the shuttle bus system in place in the park to avoid parking at every stop.

We decided to hike to the canyon floor. It was a steep hike but it was so very beautiful.

Video of part of the hike onto the canyon floor.

Our drive from Bryce to our resting place this night brought us through more amazing scenery- there were sweeping meadows with mountains as their backdrops and aspen forests on the mountains- my favorite trees!

Our 'room' in Torrey, Utah just outside of Capitol Reef National Park was just a bit more themed than previous nights...

Take a look inside our teepee!

We ate dinner in the hotel restaurant. Dean had Flatiron Steak with grilled onions and I had Marco's Chicken Enchilada with steamed veggies. It was all delicious. After dinner we went sit by the fire pit within the circle of our teepee. We met a family from New York and a family from Panama City Beach (who were both Shreveport natives). We spent a few hours trading stories about our National Park visits, etc under the moon and stars.

Our teepee was extremely comfortable! If ever you are in this area, you need to check out this resort. There are even conestoga wagons to sleep in!

Day 7 pics!