This morning we woke up in Grand Junction, Colorado, and tonight we are in a Quality Inn in Richfield, Utah. This is our second visit to Utah, as last week we were in Northern Utah and visited Salt Lake City. Today we drove 317 miles, and visited what Susie just said was one of her favorite stops so far, Arches National Park, but more about that later.
First a couple of notes about the day. As I said we started the day in Grand Junction, at a very nice Econo Lodge. For what we paid for the room (under $90) we were pleasantly surprised by how nice a hotel it was and were happy. This morning we went down for the continental breakfast, and we were treated to a display which just goes to show that PT Barnum was correct…you will never be disappointed by underestimating the intelligence of people!
First, there was this young couple…if they were 20 I’d be surprised. She had on flip flops and he was walking in the breakfast room shoeless! Not to be rude, but they were dumb as stumps, and stood dead center at the counter trying to open individual cereal containers! They were totally unaware that people were behind them, trying to get to the counter. God, how I love people like that!
Then there was the Italian Family, Mom and Dad and two teenage kids. I knew they were Italian, because I remember enough of college Italian to be able to recognize the language, speak it, no, but recognize it, yes! When they left, the floor looked like there had been a large group of toddlers eating there, as there were crumbs from chocolate muffins all over the table and the floor.
Then there was the girl that was working in the hotel, putting out breakfast items, who looked at Susie as she was eating a banana-nut muffin and said, “Oh, you butter your muffin? I never heard of that.” Talk about a banana NUT!
Then there was Arches! We got there about 11:20 this morning and we got in using my Senior Pass (best $10 I have EVER spent), and started to drive through the park. The road is 20 miles from the Visitor Center to the end of the park, so if you drove it like we did, to the end, it’s 40 miles in total. Along the way there are areas where you drive off the main road to get closer to the sights. At some of them, there is a short walk on paved paths to get a better view, but in many, there are also paths that you can hike to get really close. We took the short paths and used the telephoto lens of our Nikon Camera to get really close.
Words can not adequately describe the beauty we saw today, so here are a selection of the over 100 pictures we took, that we hope will give you an idea of what we saw.
One more note before we leave Arches. The temps were in the 90s today, low humidity, but still hot. We passed a group of Asian tourists, some who had on hoodies, some fleece vests, some hats and scarfs! What are we missing here??
Tonight we are at a Quality inn, in Richfield, Utah. We have a very nice king bed room, and at total cost of $83.55, it’s a real bargain. Early on, we had one or two experiences that made us review our reservations, and we changed about a half dozen of them. For $83 and change, you might think we should have changed this one, but the room is nice and the hotel is very well maintained. We’re happy, and that’s what’s important! As usual when we get to the room, I make a drink, we download the day’s pictures and edit out the ones we don’t want, I start working on the blog, and Susie does restaurant research. Tonight she found us a real good one…Frontier Village Restaurant. We both had a beer, flat iron steaks, with salad and baked potato, and the bill was just over $50. A great meal at a great price, and much better than a Ruby Tuesdays or an Applebees!
Enjoy today’s pictures, tomorrow we head towards Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, and a two night stay in Kanab, Utah! Then it’s on to the weekend in Vegas!
Viva Las Vegas!!! https://youtu.be/nzht1l3UkKE
R New Adventures 