Road Trip!!

"Been through the desert on a horse with no name"... more music what can I say?

Stopped in Moab on Tuesday AM ( also see last Sept post of Arches) and drove up to Park City to visit my cousin Jill and her family. It was great to see them! The kids are adorable! I went for a bike ride with them in the AM and then went swimming. Robbie went camping that night with his dad so we had a girls night with Hanna and baked black bottom cups... and then she made her own version of peppermint cupcakes with lots of water, sugar, and pepper... hmm....

I left to travel across NV on Wed driving south of Salt Lake on 80 which actually crosses the "Lake" at one point. It has been evaporating so long that I didn't even see the lake...it was all salt flats!! Strange!

NV was not the desert I was expecting. Lots of little mtns..big hills? and it was greener than I thought it would be. No trees and definitely hot!! First big city I found was Reno after 9 hrs of driving. All the other little towns also had casinos... It must be making them money because I went through more road construction! Why I have no idea.. Lets take a perfectly good road and repave it! It was the best road I have been on in a while...didn't need to be repaved!

Driving into UT from CO

Not much harsh weather here.

Ah!! An earthquake! ok my ghost doen't hold the camera too steady!

My new home away from home...

The Three Gossips on the left.

The Double Arch

Don't ask where I am sitting...

If I am climbing up here on my own...who will tell my kids not to!! I guess its good I don't have any kids!


The color of the day on Monday was RED!

Park City UT

Ok my chemistry friends...how does blue sugar turn your tongue green??

Julia Childs...

I left Wed AM from Park City and drove through Salt Lake City and south of the Lake...

Luckily it was first thing in the AM and I was wide awake!!

Someone else wasn't!! It had been there a while. The tires are covered in salt!

Really?? Are they kidding? Why would deer be out here? They would REALLY be thirsty if they are eating the salt!!









Ok if you enlarge this you can see the sign says surf board rentals!!! Why?? Where is the water?? Two inches about a mile away? Then need to rent ATVs to get out to the water!!


The view from the beach house...if you look closely there is water on the left... a few miles out!!

I can't explain. Can you?
Art?

I am getting better at this... I am in the picture and so is the background!

The Great Salt Lake...or should we say Salt Flats??

The Color of the day on Wed was White.

Thought it was a cool reflection!!

A few little marshes by the side of the road but no water in the Lake for miles!!

Every town had a casino!!

First town I came to in NV was a ghost town. Visitors center was closed. So was the rest of town!!

They had some nice cars though!

Open Road!

Open Road in Nevada! Route 80

Made it in time for a late dinner.

On the road again..

What can I say? I have a lot of music running through my head lately!

I finally left CO springs. I have been dragging my feet. Plans have changed a million times. I had a nice day in the springs on Sat visiting with friends while hiking, hitting the farmers market and enjoying a wonderful lunch. Then we finished packing up my car and I hit the road...

The car is packed and ready to go....with a little over flow this time.. Thanks for letting me borrow the car top carrier Billie!!



I made it all the way to Denver where I spent the night at a friends house and got to catch the movie Julie and Julia. Cute movie. Now I want to make Boeuf Bourguignon. The recipes looked yummy!!

So I hit the road after eating at my favorite breakfast place in Denver. It was the first place I went when I arrived in Denver a year ago with Rachel and the last place I hit this AM with Jess! Snooze has awesome pancakes if you are ever in Denver you should try them. Pineapple upside down pancakes, carrot cake pancakes, sweet potato pancakes... and of course New England style which have Maine blueberries and sunflower seeds?? Mine didn't have sunflower seeds when I was growing up in New England... and my favorite, cherry chocolate chip!! Anyway. I highly recommend the place!!

http://www.snoozeeatery.com/

I headed west about 8:30 Am thinking about stopping in Moab UT at Arches...so of course I stopped at the Euro deli in Breckenridge on my way across 70. (to get some fruit tart for later) Then decided on a whim to go to Aspen since I still hadn't been to the Maroon Bells. They are one of the most photographed places in CO! So I had to see it! Bad time of day for pictures but still beautiful!

http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/whiteriver/recreation/wilderness/maroonbells/index.shtml

My new home away from home stopped in Breckenridge at my favorite deli!!




Aspen looks a bit like Breckenridge until you look at the stores and the prices!!

Even the play ground was cool!

I stopped at the deli to pick up a sandwich for my hike...the sign says Caviar and sandwiches... Yeah right! I am not in KS anymore toto!



I took the bus up to the Maroon Bells parking lot and then walked to the lake!

Beautiful!!


Maroon Bells weren't too Maroon today the way the sun was hitting it.

Proof. I was there!

The bus driver gave a little tour and description of the area. You learn something new every day. Did you know that Aspen groves are one tree? Well typically. Sometimes a few but the Aspen tree sprouts its branches underground and then they grow up into the trees we see... hmm....

So that is oh, one or two trees and the rest are all of their branches!!

On the way back we were told to look out for bears since they are seen regularly. They could be blonde, cinnamon, brown or black. Then they also said to look out for Lance Armstrong. He would be wearing yellow....they said it not me!! Apparently he is seen there regularly too! He lives in Aspen. That road up to the lake would be a good hill for practicing for the Tour de France!


On the side of the road driving out of Maroon Bells parking area.


I headed back up to 70 and decided not to go all the way to Moab tonight. I stopped in Grand Junction around 7pm. Actually a town called Fruita. (so a 4 hr drive only took me 10.5 with a few stops...) Lots of wineries around here...go figure! I am about 20 miles from the UT border. Arches in the AM!! Park City by dinner!

I love the sky when the sun does this!!

Heading out of the Rockies into Mesa County and Grand Juction, CO.

Did anyone know that Colorado had a national monument?

http://www.nps.gov/colm/

This is part of it. I drove through this last year. Mesa and canyons. Beautiful.




This was on the Maroon Bells website...I like it...

"After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on -- have found that none of these satisfy, or permanently wear -- what remains? Nature remains."

"Now I see the secret of making the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth."

---Walt Whitman---

My bags are packed

"My bags are packed, I am ready to go, I am standing here outside my door........ Already I'm so lonesome I could cry."

Kind of wish there were a jet plane involved ! Driving alone through the desert! Yeah! However I am so excited to be stopping in Park City Utah to see my cousin and her family! That will be the highlight of this 20 hr road trip!

I am trying to break it up into 4 to 6 hr drives if possible. I leave for Vail on Saturday if my friends car is working or she has a ride home! then head to Moab Utah Sunday and on to my Cousins in Park City on Monday and maybe Tuesday night.

I hope to hit Reno and Lake Tahoe on my way to Antioch CA! I am homeless again... I mean living out of my car again.. : ) I have a job this time.. last time I drove west I had a copilot and lots of places to visit but no place to live or work!

I am going to miss CO and the friends that I have made here (as I still miss my friends and family on the East coast) So on to new adventures! Looking forward to exploring San Francisco (50 miles west of me), Lake Tahoe 2.5 hrs north east and Yosemite (2 hrs east). Come on out to visit!

My first assignment is in a nursing home in Antioch CA until Nov 21st. Just in time for my 20 yr HS reunion!