And That's All She Wrote

Bravely stepping forth, to the departure gate. Farewell America, home of the brave, land of the free soda refill.

Got Canyon?

If you thought we'd be sick of looking at big red rocks by now, you'd be wrong. Early Thursday morning we queued up on the highway to drive along the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Next time we do this, it better be in one of these!

There was a bit of a wait to get onto the canyon road, so we kicked back in the car with coffee and a book - pretty sure Edward Abbey, with his hatred of people, cars, maps and established roads or trails of any kind, would entirely disapprove of our whirlwind driving tour of the desert, but I'm enjoying this memoir of Arches National Park anyway.

Heading into the park.

The first lookout point along the canyon, coming in from the east side.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, it is windy when one is standing on the edge of a cliff.

Climbing the Watchtower for even more scenic views

Raccoon bravely poses on the precipice

As well as the epic vistas, there are also 800 year old Tusayan ruins to tour. Roughly 4000 artefacts have been found in the park, and only 5% of it has been surveyed - it's mindboggling to think of how much there still is to learn about this area and its inhabitants over time.

Raccoon was more interested in the photo ops than the history, though.

The colours are incredible, and I gather they change over the course of the day. Next time, I'd love to be able to camp here (in my refurbished 1950's Airstream, obviously) and see the sights at sunset.

Smooching ravens

Phew. So glad we got to stop by and see some of this - it truly is quite grand!

A Brief Drive Through Colorado

Once again, the diversity of landscape in the Southwest is making my brain explode. After our stop in Dinosaur, we had spent an hour or two on the highway in Colorado, heading south and back to Utah. The sandy hills of dino country quickly turned into green mountains.

Real live cowgirls! Is that what they're called now? Cowwomen? Cowpeople? Has political correctness extended to ranch hands yet?!

I'm not sure what I expected Colorado to look like, but this took me by surprise.

Addendosaur

How did I forget to put this in my Dinosaur post?!

Dinosaur, Colorado!

The next stop on the prehistoric portion of our grand tour was the Dinosaur National Monument - just a short drive from the Colorado border (and the town of Dinosaur) and the site of many fossil discoveries.

There's some work being done in the park right now (the visitors' centre kept collapsing because it was built on soft clay, so they've finally shelled out to rebuild it), but there's still a few things to see.

Heading up the track

These rocks are covered with the impressions of prehistoric fish scales, as this area used to be partially under water.

Sauropod tail bone fragments

Stegosaurus humerus!

Paul communes with a sauropod's femur

Tiny fossilised clams

As well as dino stuff, there are also 1000 year old Native American petroglyphs

And possibly best of all, motherfucking prairie dogs!

Prairie dogs EVERYWHERE. These are but two of the many, many photos we took of these little dudes popping out of their burrows and dashing about the place.

Paying our respects to the dino guardian of the carpark

Next next stop on the dinotour? Colorado, and the humble town of Dinosaur.

Blue Mountain, near the Colorado border

Farewell Utah (for now), and hello Moffat County Colorado...

... and hello Dinosaur!

All of the streets in Dinosaur have dino names - I can't tell you how funny it is to hear the GPS say "turn left - Highway 64, Stegosaurus Highway". We may have made a few unnecessary turns just to enjoy the absurdity.

We met some of the locals...

... and visited a few more street corners.

Our final item of business in Dinosaur?

 Lunch, of course!

Delicious malts...

... and a grilled cheese. 

Dino Tracks

On Monday morning, we drove north from Richfield, heading towards the curiously named town of Vernal, UT. Vernal is the closest town to the turning point of our road trip, the town of Dinosaur, Colorado, and it's a good place to stop if you're visiting the many nearby fossil quarrys and prehistoric sites. 

From what we've seen so far, the landscape of Utah seems incredibly diverse - it wasn't long before the red canyons changed into lower-lying sandy hills and green scrub.

Refueling diner-style in Price, UT

The highway led us through some kind of coal processing plant, and in amongst some incredible rocky cliffsides...

... which then led us up a mountain...

... where a deer crossed the road in front of us and gracefully scaled the verge (she's the brown blur on the left of this photo).

An amazing view from almost 10 000 feet

After the mountain, we drove towards Red Fleet State Park, where we would hike out to the site of some dinosaur footprints, preserved in the Navajo Sandstone surrounding a reservoir.

Different landscape again - this time, so many greens, browns and oranges

Hitting the trail - I believe these rocks are actually petrified prehistoric sand dunes. According to the plaques on the trail, this area was once a dessert, dotted with oases where dinos would come to drink.

Following the path to the dino feets

First sight of the reservoir - anyone else who grew up in the 80s suspect this may have been the inspiration for the backdrops of The Land Before Time?!

Moonscape!

Overcome with excitement about proximity to dinos, Paul ran down the last bit of hill to the water.

200 million year old dino feet!

After our dino foot hike, we went back to Vernal for dinner. They take their local heritage seriously in this part of the world!

Utah has some pretty restrictive laws regarding the service of alcohol (for example - you can't order a drink containing more than one shot, but you can get a drink with a single shot in it and a second shot on the side, which you pour in yourself. We also found out today that as of July 1st this year, sale prices on beer (ie, happy hour) will be illegal. Sadface!), but despite that we've found the brew pubs to be pretty great. Polygamy Porter, anyone?

Another thing that has taken me by surprise in small town Utah? Great vegetarian food to go with your microbrew. Can this state get any better?!