Monument Valley, UT

On Friday, we left Moab and all the beautiful sights there to go to Monument Valley. It is a Navaho Reservation and very different than Arches and the other parks we've seen. We were advised to leave our personal vehicle and take a tour ride instead. The ride was a truck with benches in the back - enough for 20 people. We left at 8:45 am and returned at 1:00 pm. Although we stopped several times to take pictures, shop and learn about the history of the park, we rode for about 2 1/2 hours on a very bumpy road. We were so glad we left Tug at home and didn't try the drive ourselves. Because we were on the tour, we were able to see a lot of the back country that isn't accessible in personal vehicles. The Native Americans consider this their sacred land and are very serious about people who trespass in areas that are prohibited. Our guide was knowledgeable and seemed to enjoy sharing his people's history. Although it was a great time, Donna is not planning on going on that particular type of tour again. The old bones are still rattling around!!! While we were there we also saw John Wayne's cabin from the movie "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon". There were two documentaries that had beautiful pictures of the area and also a lot of information All in all we considered it a great weekend.

Parks At Provo & Moab, UT

Canyonland Lights and Sounds at Night



Delicate Arch in the Morning

After leaving Reno, Nevada, we headed east to Utah. We spent a few days getting here (Provo first) and enjoyed the traveling together. Donna has been following Tom in the chase car for a long time, so it is fun (and interesting) being together in the truck again. We stayed at the Elks Lodge in Provo. It has full hookups, beautiful scenery and we had a good time there. We took a drive through the mountains one day and saw the largest grove of Aspen trees I've ever seen. It went on for miles. We actually went to a movie one day as it was rainy. Tom was able to get his projects finished that he had pending so it made him happy. After leaving Provo, we drove to Moab. Awesome is about the only word we have for it here. We have been to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We also visited Dead Horse Point State Park. We both have swivel disease from looking at so much beauty. Yesterday we packed a picnic lunch and ate at the state park. Being surrounded by nature made the food taste even better. A couple of chipmunks saw us and came right up to us, but we were good and followed the rules to not feed them. They quickly figured out we weren't giving out to them and took off again. Last evening we decided to take a cruise down the Colorado river. It included dinner (very good food) before leaving on the boat, a beautiful light show and great music. We enjoyed it so much. Today we stayed home to take a little break. I told Tom I had so many sights in my brain, it was starting to leak! As it turned out, it was a good move as it has rained off and on all day, sometimes very hard. I'm sure the land here is happy as it is so dry and their average rainfall PER YEAR IS 10 INCHES!!! We have received quite a bit of that today. Tomorrow we'll be off again to find new adventures. More to come later. . . . .

Our Adventures in Nevada

We spent 3 days in Reno with our friends, Mary and Paul Wells. They are great hosts. We arrived Saturday and were treated to a home cooked dinner including a birthday cake for Donna. Sunday was Donna's birthday and our anniversary. We met Mary and Paul at 5:30 am to go to the hot balloon festival. It was smaller than the one we used to go to in Albuquerque but still spectacular. After leaving there we went to Virginia City and saw the camel and ostrich races followed by a stagecoach ride in an authentic stagecoach. Tom rode shotgun and I don't think he quit smiling the whole time. After a long day, we finished up with a fabulous dinner at an Italian restaurant. What a wonderful day we had. Monday, Mary and I went to our favorite yarn store in Reno, had lunch then back home to knit. What could be better you ask? On Tuesday, we went to Lake Tahoe and road the boat across the lake and back. It was too beautiful for words. We went back to Reno on the scenic route. Pictures are included. One of the best things about our adventures was that Donna's new knee was really put to the test walking over rough ground, standing and climbing up hills and down. It worked great with very little pain. Awesome! Wednesday we left Reno and are slowly working our way toward Moab, Utah. We are currently in Provo for a few days to check out this area. We have heard there are some good things to see. We'll leave here on Wednesday for Moab - are staying at the Portal RV Park for at least a week. Check often because I'll be keeping you all up to date on our latest adventures and Tom will wow you with the pictures.

Alturas Ca

We had another good travel day - not as pretty scenery as yesterday but still good. I forgot to mention in the last post that Tom did some excellent driving yesterday when a doe ran out in front of him. I was a way behind him and suddenly saw smoke coming from the tires, then a deer running from in front of the truck. He had seen her running along beside him off the road, so he wasn't entirely surprised. I was though. Nothing that exciting happened today. Tomorrow we'll be in Reno to see our friends, Mary and Paul. We plan to stay there until Wed.

On the road.......

Ms. Donna in Ukiah, OR


The Antler Inn

We left Portland on 9/4 and headed east to Pendleton for the night. We stayed at Wildhorse Casino RV Park. It was just okay at best. Today we headed south on 395 and are staying in Burns, OR at a very nice little RV park. We took a short detour to Ukiah, Oregon, just to take a picture of the sign!!! We had a beautiful drive. The scenery ranged from horse country to rolling hills to mountains through winding roads. It was so peaceful. Now we are relaxing in a nice thunder storm. Tomorrow we'll be back on the road toward Reno.

Happy Labor Day

Hope you are all having a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Our time at the park is coming to a close and we are leaving here on September 4th to do some traveling for the next couple of months. We are heading to Utah to see some of the national parks. We will be blogging more regularly, so be sure and check our posts to see what adventures we're having. Life is good.