UTAH Part 3, May 14-21



Leaving Monument Valley after spending less than a full 24 hours was bitter sweet, but this state of UTAH is really BIG and spread out with so much to see! If you've never been and continue to read, you will discover that our counter clockwise loop was aggressive for a 7 night trip, but very doable. In fact, we figured we would want a break from long drives somewhere for a few nights and that place would be MOAB, special request of our daughter. Our plan was to drive to Mexican Hat then detour through the Valley of the Gods. Once we arrived at the bridge crossing San Juan River we were in need of a snack, so we stopped just over the bridge at the Old Bridge Grill. They served incredible chicken soup and hand cut french fries, perfect! After lunch we continued on to visit the rock formation from which the town gets its name. I'm truly amazed at the hundreds if not thousands of "balanced" rocks we saw on this trip, this one was in a league of its own!








While there we could see a storm front quickly approaching so we beat feet to the red dirt side road that leads to the Valley of the Gods. At the entrance there's a sign that read something like "use extreme caution in wet weather, roads may become impassable, no RV's!" Even with 4 wheel drive we heeded the warning! Within minutes it began to rain cats and dogs and then a serious hail storm! So much hail in fact that it covered parts of the road. We actually had to pull off the road for about 20 minutes to allow the heavy part of the storm to pass. Continuing on in the drizzle we came to the quaint small town of Twin Rocks and pulled into their cool little gift shop area, cool little town. We would continue trekking on enjoying the amazing scenery including the snow capped peaks of the San Juan Mountains to the east and we actually stopped right on the road for our most convenient of arches, Wilson Arch, cool!














Our total drive time to Moab with stops was about 3-1/2 hours. Entering Moab we could tell it was our kind of small town. It was loaded with Adventure Outfitters, small local art shops, great funky coffee shops and road side pubs including a Micro Brew Pub!! We stopped to top off the gas tank and then proceeded to the Colorado River and turned right. We had 14 more miles to travel along this scenic road that meandered along the edge of the raging Colorado. The river road was surrounded on both sides by massive red cliff walls, outstanding! The sun was still high in the sky as we rounded the bend at mile marker 14 and saw beautiful Red Cliffs Lodge. This working ranch is positioned perfectly against the Colorado River surrounded by dramatic red cliff walls. This ranch is so picture perfect that many western movies were shot here including the "Dukes" Rio Grande! I like that! When we checked in the staff were all wearing jeans with great silver buckled belts and crisp white western shirts, again PERFECT! We lucked out in our planning just a week prior finding a room for 3 nights here. We had considered a brand name hotel in town, but we really wanted the full western experience and the 20 minute drive to town was beautiful and easy. We grabbed our creek front room key and moved our family truckster right in front of our door, again PERFECT! The room was spacious and clean, it had 2 levels, upper with 2 queens and large bath and the lower with kitchenette, dining table and sofa. There was a nice patio that opened to the greenest and thickest grass I've seen, not to mention the flowing creek and pasture full of horses to watch.....PERFECT!

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After unpacking, actually hanging up clothes since we would have 3 nights here, we drank a couple of the local beers we still had on ice and took a stroll around this beautiful property. They had everything we could want, including their own Castle Creek Winery, stables and a Western Movie Museum! The pool and hot tub area was very inviting as well and we would get to use it.

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We got cleaned up, sporting our best jeans and not so crisp white shirt and enjoyed a fantastic dinner at the lodge, including Elk, filet mignon, sauteed mushrooms and a nice bottle of Castle Creek Cabernet....PERFECT! FYI, our daughter just turned 21 this month and got carded every time she ordered, "you're not in Europe anymore young lady!" The service, the food and the atmosphere with the sunset lighting up the canyon walls and the shimmering Colorado right outside the large windows was everything we could hope for! After dinner we checked on our "adventure" reservations we made prior to arrival. The front desk confirmed that we would be white water rafting on the Colorado the next afternoon, YES! we also confirmed our ATV/Zipline excursion and a half day trail ride on horseback, very excited! All in all it was a marvelous full day and we were exhausted!

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To be continued.....

Great job, Beerman! Wonderful pictures! I am looking forward to hearing about your white water rafting adventure. Being the chicken sh*t that I am, I think I will only experience this through someone else's eyes!!

Come on Carol - White water rafting is safer than driving in DC at rush hour. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> And some days zip lines would be quicker.

Beerman - I hope you kept the camera dry!

Tom, I left the "good" camera in the room, I had my dry bag but wasn't sure what to expect. I did risk the cell phone though <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Hey, I left most of the DC driving to Eric, as my office was in Manassas! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

Makes me want to do a US Trip!
Incredible scenery!

I am loving your report! As I am reading, I am yelling my husband to look up your hotels. We are so going next May!

The May weather and more importantly the smaller crowds was perfect! You'll have a blast! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />