Mike & Kris - Enjoying The Ride

If you answered “Forrest Gump” you are correct. Mike and I traveled from Phoenix to Monument Valley this week and truly enjoyed all the sights and sounds. It is right on the border between Utah and Arizona and is worth an overnight stay. We easily found the location (the road signs helped) of that iconic place they filmed Forrest walking down the road. I was going to go out and stand in the middle, but there was a lot of fast moving traffic. Mike also took great shots of the famous mittens. This entire area is spectacular and was made famous when several John Wayne movies were filmed there. We even watched the first movie “Stagecoach” that Wayne made here and Mike took a picture at John Ford Point which was named for the director of these movies. Oh and by the way…we are still battling the weather a bit but this time with cold temperatures and snow. Yes, the low in Monument Valley was in the mid 20’s and it liked to stay in the 30’s most of the time during the day. We have been snowed on 3 times but it was mostly just annoying having to walk back and forth in the snow to get our laundry done. The sunset/sunrise pictures required a lot of layers of clothes not to mention the hats, gloves, and even new coat for Mike which was all purchased in Arizona when we realized we wouldn’t need our shorts much more on this trip.

Our next stop was Moab, Utah. We have been here 6 days and used every one of those days to see the two beautiful National Parks in this area. We started in Arches NP and, of course, were amazed by everything. This park, especially, is perfect for me. I think of it as “low effort–huge reward!” You just drive the main road stopping at each turnout and are treated to a short (usually) walk out to a spectacular view of a different arch. Almost all hikes in this park are under 1 mile and all have that huge reward. There are over 2000 arches throughout the park.

Finally, we made our way to Canyonland National Park which is literally just across the street from Arches and couldn’t be any more different. The only similarity between the two is that they both have a very famous arch. In Arches it is Delicate Arch and in Canyonlands it is Mesa Arch. Mike took a beautiful picture of the Mesa Arch just after sunrise and we included a Delicate Arch picture too. On the road to Canyonland NP there is also a great state park called Dead Horse Point. Mike headed out here for a sunrise picture. It is the crown jewel of the Utah state park system and well worth a stop. Everywhere you go out here we are surrounded by Jeeps and other ATVs. This area is known as a mecca for off-roading and it is easy to see why. Even in Canyonlands NP, there is a dirt road that travels from the top of the canyon down and requires a permit to drive. Maybe we will save that for next time.

Tomorrow we move on to Torrey, Utah, home of Capital Reef NP and more cold temperatures. Thank goodness for our trailer with electric fireplace and propane heating system, and most importanly, our Starlink internet and TV!