The Best of Week 6 in Utah and Wyoming

After a week in Colorado, we headed east to Moab, Utah.  Moab had a nice campground we stayed at for 4 nights while going to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.  The Colorado River also runs nearby, making it a fairly attractive area to stay in for a few days.  We got to Moab late on Tuesday night after a good 5 or 6 hour drive from Vail.  The plan was to spend a day in Arches and a day in Canyonlands and then head north to Salt Lake City and on to the Jackson area in western Wyoming.  

Here is an updated pic in Seattle.  Just to make sure everyone is still here.  

For the new and improved blog, our first poll question on the right.  It concerns Bub's facial hair.  What should he do with it?  

For anyone who doesn't know..... Bub is on the left

A quicklime time of reference points since the stories won't be in chronological order this time 

Tuesday September 13th, Day 36- Vail to Moab, Utah

Wednesday Sep 14th, Day 37- Moab- Rainy Day

Thursday Sep 15th, Day 38- Arches NP- Moab Campground

Friday Sep 16th, Day 39- Canyonlands NP- Moab Campground

Saturday Sep 17th, Day 40- Salt Lake City and Campground 

Sunday Sep 18th, Day 41- Salt Lake to Jackson Wyoming Campground

Monday Sep 19th, Day 42- Jackson Wyoming- Campground in Teton National Park, Wyoming

Tuesday September 20th, Day 43- Teton National Park

To change things up and to honor the magical game of Blackjack, here is a countdown of the top 21 things in Week 6.

#21- A stop at a grocery store in Moab, Utah

This was on the 2nd full day of rain on the trip and hindered our traveling for the afternoon.  We slept in, played a few games of Madden and decided to wander around- eventually entering the grocery store.  Everything goes like a normal grocery store visit, except the checkout.  We get in line to check out and realize that the line is fairly long.  Come to find out, the cash registers were down.  Somehow the power was still on but the cash registers weren't working.  The cashier took out a piece of paper, wrote down every item in the cart, and then walked around the store to find the price of each single item.  She came back, tallied up the total by calculator, added sales tax, and that was it.  We were about 5 people deep in line and this process took over 2 hours by the time we walked out the doors.  It was a rainy day and we had nothing to do, but this was awful, we just stood there for an extended period of time.  I like running because it is a workout.  What's worse than running? Walking.  What's worse than walking? Standing.  My lower back gets tight, my legs start hurting, my head hurts thinking about my legs and back hurting- its a vicious cycle.  By the time I'm done standing somewhere, I'm furious.

#20- Backtracking to get gas

After a few days in Moab, we decided to head over to Canyonlands National Park.  After leaving the campground in Moab and driving about 20 minutes, we realize that we don't have much gas.  Slinging it around with no gas in the middle of nowhere is not a good idea.  See Devil's Tower, Wyoming.  Where was the nearest gas station in relation to our location?  100 yards from the campground we just left.  Let's turn around, go right back to where we came from, and try this again.  

#19 The Sweet Spot

What is the sweet spot?

A)  The area of a metal baseball bat that is the perfect spot to hit a baseball.

B) A spot on ESPN's website concerning Major League Baseball. 

C) The area right below my chin on my neck that doesn't grow hair.

The correct answer is C.  Someone along the trip called it the sweet spot, but I can't remember who.  If you will step up and claim your prize for the naming rights of the sweet spot.  Although I can't grow facial hair very fast, my beard is starting to morph into something semi-respectabele, well except the sweet spot.  It is a loner on the trip and barely lost out to…..

#18 Bub's Mustache

Bub's mustache comes in ahead of the sweet spot.  Bub's mustache is something added to facial hair, where mine takes away.  Maybe one day it will fill in.  Bub's mustache on the other hand is starting to grow a mind of its own.  It attempted to apply for Canadian citizenship in Niagara Falls but got denied.  Watch out Vancouver.

#17 Allen's Eyes

Allen doesn't have the best vision in the world.  It has nothing on how bad my eyes used to be, but he still has prescription sunglasses and regular driving glasses.  Less than a week into the trip, Allen broke his sunglasses and has been struggling until the past few days, before he had a new pair shipped to him.  "Can you tell what that says, Allen?"  "Nah man, I got bad eyes."

#16 Goofy Asian people at Arches National Park

After visiting China for a week, I saw some very interesting clothing choices by the Chinese.  They are very goofy and really don't seem to care either.  At Arches near the best viewpoint, we saw a group who I would identify as Chinese people.  They were wearing very colorful clothing, goofy hats, bright-striped leggings, strange shirts and talking very loud.  

#15 The Town on Blu-Ray

The Town is a bank robbery movie with Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner.  We watch a lot of movies in the camper and this one was great, even though I have seen it 10 times already.  They wore nun's masks to rob one.  Check it out if ya get a chance.  Every night heading back to the camper, a conversation goes something like this.

"I'm wiped out"

"Yea, me too.  So what are we going to do tonight?"

"We should watch something awesome."

#14 Playing soccer in Idaho on a sweet overlook

We were on the long drive to Jackson, Wyoming from Salt Lake City and decided to get out at an overlook and mess around with the soccer ball.  We juggled and did headers and got a workout for the afternoon.  Too much fun.  This wasn't  when we set the record for the afternoon, but a good idea of what's going on.

#13 Wendys in Moab, Utah on a rainy day

We hadn't ate too long before Wendys, but for some reason, we were all starved.  Chicken nuggets, junior bacon cheeseburgers, ranch fries, chicken sandwiches, and fries were scarfed down in a matter of about 5 minutes.  No one remembers who had what, but it was amazing.  I shouldn't be allowed to go into the grocery store hungry.  (We were just about to go to the grocery store before Wendy's and I had to have a clear head.  I couldn't let my stomach do the buying.)  I end up spending an hour there, buy way too many things that will go bad before I can finish it all, and hurt my bank account in the process.  

Other things that I shouldn't be in charge of or allowed to do

A) Be in charge of directions.  I can read a map fairly well and figure out how to get places on an iPhone.  But under no circumstances should I be allowed to navigate in unfamiliar territory going on memory alone.  It has gotten so bad that at times, I make a decision on which way I should go, and then just go the opposite direction because I know it won't be right.

B) Be in charge of anything of importance or something easily lost, for example, car keys or sunglasses.  I have completely given up on buying expensive sunglasses because I am too reckless.  I can literally have something in my hand and it can disappear.  I amaze myself sometimes.  

C) Fixing things.  You give me a math problem, I can do wonders on that.  You name about anything dealing with sports, I can talk for hours about it.  If a screw comes out of something I own, it's in the trash can.  Ok, it might not be that bad, but I have no future as a handy-man.  

#12 Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming

The crew stopped by at this famous bar in Jackson to see what it was about.  I had got several recommendations to visit the bar.  Supposedly, they have a million dollar's worth of coins underneath the bars on each side of the restaurant.  I didn't stop to count, but it looked pretty legit.  If only we had cowboys hats and denim jackets to fit in.  I felt like I wouldn't fit in by taking a picture of the bar itself, so use your imagination to see the inside.

#11 Eating after going to Arches National Park

Arches NP wasn't that big of a park (By not that big I mean 75,000 acres) and since we had already lost a day to rain, we wanted to do it in one day.  However, most of the arches and cool viewpoints required a little bit of hiking.  We calculated that between 3 or 4 different trails walking back and forth that we put in about 7 miles.  We also did not pack much food with us, and the camper was back at the rv park in Moab.  We watched the sunset and then set out to find food.  By the time we got to a restaurant, I was ready to eat anything and everything.  I can't be sure of it, but I think I saw Bub squirting ketchup straight out the bottle into his mouth with no other food because he was so famished.  I ate a huge burger in a matter of minutes and then finished 2 or 3 pieces of Allen's pizza.  I don't ever remember being that hungry before.  I felt like I hadn't eaten in weeks.  

#10 Great Salt Lake

After a night in Salt Lake City, we headed out to check out "The Great Salt Lake."  Without using Wikipedia, I have no idea why there a salt water lake in Utah.  There wasn't much of a drop off once you got into the water, and we were able to walk out at least 100 yards into the water without it coming past our knees.  I wish there were more to the story, but the lake was beautiful.  The marina where we parked had a sketchy gift shop that had pretty much nothing to offer except a very good selection of taffy.

#9 Bison crossing in Teton National Park

Wildlife has been crucial from about South Dakota on and only adds to the greatness of the road trip.  In places like Bear Country and in national parks, animals often are right by the road and even cross the street with all kinds of cars around.  Some start to cross and then their ADD kicks in and they just stand there and look around.  I always wonder what goes through their head.... "Hey guys, I don't know why all these people are looking at us, let's go eat as much grass as possible and see if we can fall asleep standing up…. wait a minute, do you see that bird flying around.  Man, I want to fly." 

#8 A Big Moose

We drove out to a smaller lake in Teton National Park to do a day hike.  Word on the street was that there was a massive Moose right by the water.  We walked down, and sure enough, there he was, just minding his own business.  We took at least 100 pictures of him and stood there was a good while, mesmerized by his size.  Like the bison, this moose did not move very fast.  It started out sitting down for about 15 minutes, stood up, took about 10 steps in the water and then stood for another 30 minutes without hardly moving.  What goes through their head? I have no idea.  But I do know that it is nice being at the top of the food chain.  

The lake he was in

#7 Mormon Headquarters/ Salt Lake City

The campground for the night in Salt Lake was right by the Mormon Headquarters, so why not check it out.  Now, I really don't know anything about Mormonism, but this place was awesome.  The main building looked like a castle and the gardens were so nice.  The grass looked so soft and there wasn't a single weed in the whole place.  I wanted to take a nap on it.  Ever since, we have seen other places with good looking grass.  "Is that Mormon grass?" "No way, man"


Bub's take on the Mormon Headquarters….. "Man, this place is so nice.  This is like Canada."

We walked through the visitor center and even though the inside was really nice, it felt a little creepy to be honest.  I felt like everyone was looking at me and the sweet spot.  We walked around the city for an hour or two after the Mormon headquarters and it was a really nice place.  Going to a clean, nice city is tough to beat.  Unlike the big cities, people aren't trying to sell you things and speed isn't moving at 100 mph.  Salt Lake City wasn't that big, but they had a train running right through the middle of the city on the streets, which I thought was unusual for a city of its size.  I looked at one of the trains, about 6 cars long, and saw about 10 people in it.  To their credit, the biggest football game of the year in Utah, Utah vs BYU (Both are in Salt Lake City) was the day we were in the city so everyone was probably watching it.  I didn't realize this at first, because we wanted to find a sports bar and watch the Oklahoma vs Florida St game (#1 in the country vs #5) but this was easily triumphed by Utah vs BYU in Salt Lake City.  Neither one of the teams is that good so I don't see how people root for them….. wait a minute, I'm on NC State football fan.  Ummm, let's move on before someone throws an interception...

The Mormon Castle

And gardens too! Look how nice that looks

In the bottom left on the window, it says building for rent.  Does what you name your business have anything to do with whether or not it succeeds????

#6 Drive through the something Canyon right along the Colorado River

This was the evening of the rainy day in Moab once the rain had ceased.  On the way back from a 19 hour grocery store visit, I saw this random road that said scenic drive.  The only other plan for the day was watching something awesome back at the camper, so why not give it a try.  A very good choice on our parts.  We snapped plenty of good pics and met a couple camping along the way.  The guy was from England and the girl was from Colorado.  He had saved up money to come over and travel with her.  "Shit man, I have been working so hard for 6 months doing shit work with shit hours.  I saved up enough money to come and travel for, I don't know, 4 or 5 months.  I might repeat the process when I'm broke."

  

#5 Kelly DD

Wait a minute, the meeting with the Kelly DD happened like two weeks ago.  But the legend lives on, and he is often referenced in the everyday travels.  "What do you think Kelly DD is doing right now?"   

#4 Canyonlands NP Mini-Hike with a Belgian Couple

After going through the park, we set for a short mile and half round trip hike to a good lookout.  We started about the same time as a foreign looking couple.  When I travel overseas somewhere like Australia where people look somewhat similar and speak English, I can't figure out how people know right away that I'm a foreigner.  Not even that, but somehow they know that I'm American without asking.  Traveling to many tourist destinations, I can start to see how they know.  Sure, Asian tourists stand out easily, but I can sniff out a foreign tourist pretty easily now.  Well, maybe I can only "sniff" out the Europeans.  

We got to the end of the trail and made small talk with this Belgian couple.  They had flown into Los Angeles and were spending 3 and half weeks in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and California to see much of the West Coast…. LA, San Diego, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands.  They ended up being pretty entertaining and we quizzed them a little about Belgium and what they thought about the United States.  Their one beef with the U.S.?  Tipping servers after a meal.  In Europe and most places, you don't tip unless you get exceptional service, and even then it's only a few bucks if any.    "Restaurants here claim that a meal is $15.  After tax and a tip, I end up spending about twice what the menu says."  We explained that servers don't get paid much other than tips, so that's all they rely on.  I told them to blame the system, not the servers......... and the opposing political party from the one you associate with.  

#3 Arches National Park

The name speaks for itself.  There were at least 15 different rock formations that formed some type of Arch throughout the park.  We put in about 6 or 7 miles throughout the day but to a couple of great overlooks.  Both Canyonlands and Arches are in the desert so it was a comfortable 80 degrees for the day in the middle of September.  Many of the viewpoints and overlooks in Arches had lots of people around, but with some places, there isn't much of a second option to stray away from the rest of the tourists.  We saved the best one, Delicate Arch, for last and right before sunset. All uphill there but all downhill back.  The walk there was rather brutal- this being mile number 6 for the day.  Everyday I'm struggling.

Bond. James Bond.

Delicate Arch

#2 Teton National Park

Teton NP is just north of Jackson and just south of Yellowstone NP.  The Grand Teton's were the main viewpoint and the pictures look like something out of a book.  We were in the park for two days.  The first day, we got up to the park a little late in the evening and drove around just to the overlooks, good view points and saw the bison cross.  The next day, we took a hike to a nearby lake and chilled for an hour or so after about a 2 mile hike.

#1 Off-road driving through Canyonlands National Park

The original plan was to do a hike through the park, but after not realizing the low gas level- see #20- we had to turn back.  We stopped at the visitor's center on the way in, and they told us about this off-road drive that required 4 wheel drive.  Hey!  The truck has 4 wheel drive, let's do it.  This drive was at least 2 hours (But only going about 10 or 15 mph the whole way) but led to some breathtaking views.  At times we were going straight uphill and at times down the side of a mountain.  The truck should be sponsored by Ford with some of the pictures we took.  It was a good chance of pace from Arches, where there were hundreds of people everywhere we went.  About halfway through the drive, we started passing by man-made water sources.  It was strange to see them in the middle of the desert with no water anywhere else near.  It was government property, so don't ask any questions.  The trails led to the edge of these massive, massive canyons with the Colorado River running underneath.  At some point, I run out of ways to say that certain overlooks and viewpoints are amazing, but to this point, this was my favorite scenic point of the trip.

After messing around on the blog a little bit and figuring out some added features, I found a poll question.  What will be the first poll question?  Let's make it about Bub's mustache.  Just in case you were wondering, no one has shaved.

  

Through 6 weeks

Miles Traveled- about 6,700

States- 23 plus Canada 

Casinos- 2 wins- 1 loss- 2 ties and there definitely are not casinos in Utah

The campground lifestyle has treated us very well so far.  We have figured about everything out with the camper, and can set up shop like clockwork now.  We figured out that by putting all the jacks down on the camper when at a campground, it is much more stable.  In the past, if someone moved around in bed, you could feel it.  If someone walked down the stairs to go outside, the entire camper rocks for a second.  

My mom bought me a huge book with almost every campground in the United States, broken down by state and city.  This has been by far the most useful book on the trip so far.  We look on a map to see what looks like a good city to stay in, and then- to the book!  It gives the prices, the location and address, how nice the park is, and all the amenities included with your stay.  If there is someone you want to be involved in planning a trip- look no further than my mom.  JHW3- your presence is missed, and thanks for making all of my travels possible.  I tell people I meet along the way about what I'm doing with my life right now and I feel very blessed to be in this position.  

Up next, north to Yellowstone National Park and on to Montana and Glacier National Park.  It's hard to stay caught up on the posts and I am only about 3 weeks behind now.  I am writing this post on the way to Seattle, where we are in route to pick up Kaysee and Sarah, who are flying in for the weekend.