Monday, April 8, 2013

The Trip Home....

So many picture to choose from to depict our trip north.  We chose a route through Arizona and Utah before we headed north west to home.  We enjoyed our visits to the National Parks in the last few years it was an easy choice to visit another couple of parks again this year.

After leaving the beach we stopped at our usual spots along the way - the boulder fields of Catavinia are so beautiful ........


and of course the sand dunes and miles long beach at El Pableon (just south of San Quintin)

A stop overnight at Potrero county park in southern California then off to Arizona, a long driving day to Salome (a KOA park) for the night.  Daytime temperature was 30' C so the pool was a nice evening treat.

The next days were mostly traveling - we did spend a bit of time in Prescott Arizona, then through Jerome, Sedona, Flagstaff reaching Monument Valley for the night.

Monument Valley - Gouldings RV park - red rock everywhere!

We reach Moab on the first day of "Jeep Safari Week"!  we were lucky to get a RV spot for a few days.  The town was buzzing, excitement and action everywhere, and jeeps, jeeps, jeeps!!!



Arches National Park is on our agenda - so we spend our time exploring the park - red rocks everywhere and more natural arches than you can count.  This is just a small sample -
 
  Skyline Arch
 The Windows

 Double Arch
 Delicate Arch

Landscape Arch

The Wall
Balanced Rock


the full moon is rising just to the top left of this rock formation

There are over 2,000 natural arches and amazing formations all through the park. I won't go into history details - if you are interested you can check it out www.nps.gov/arch

Next we move 2,000 feet higher (=cold nights) to Horsethief campground where we are just minutes from Dead Horse Point State park and Canyonlands National Park. 

 We decide to 'bike' the trail -this is the real thing, not a ride in the park so to speak, quite a few sections are dismount and push the bike along, up, over, thru rocks, sand and....well, you get the picture...but so much fun and we did it!! the hour long trail ride took us about 2.5 hours, with lots of stops for pictures and just to take in the view - spectacular!

beautiful scenery
and dangers along the way - wouldn't want to fall into a clump of cactus
End of the ride for today.


 Canyonlands - Upheaval Dome

 The Confluence of the Colorado River and Green River

 from Canyonlands overlooking the Shafer trail road, if you look carefully you will see the 'jeeps' on the switchback and way down at the bottom of this canyon road.  John had a bout of 'Jeep Envy' watching the parade

Wildhorse Casino, Pendelton Oregon (actually in the truck stop because the parking lot was full) we were treated to a fantastic fireworks display for their 18th anniversary.

Poor planning made for a very long next day - all the way to Tulalip Casino where there was plenty of room for us. Now, since we are a day ahead of plan, we shop then head to Anacortes (where we find the Brew Pub of course).  Next morning we catch the ferry for home.  Whew, great trip yet again.