Goblin Valley State Park Utah

Info on the internet said that this was Utah’s favorite park. It’s in the middle of nowhere, I mean a nowhere that you can only know if you’ve been out west. And you think, how can this be a favorite? There’s no gas, no food, no visible houses for 60 miles. It looks like nothing from the main road but as you drive up to the visitor center, you realize you’ve landed on Mars.


Fortunately, we got one of only 12 campsites in this amazing place. Essentially, the whole park belongs to the lucky campers. It’s hard to describe these goblin-like hoodoo rock formations everywhere. Small (4 ft) mushroom-shaped rocks, tall troll castle-shaped rocks, maze-like paths between them. You can climb on everything and run between them and, best of all, camp right next to them so your campfire flickers on them.

The lonely ranger (formerly a trucker from PA) told us about several movies that had been filmed in the park (Galaxy Quest with Sigourney Weaver, for instance) and gave us a “state park passport” which made us stop at every state park we saw to get a stamp (it kept the trip moving and took us to places we would never have seen).

Grand Canyon and such

Driving from Utah to the Grand Canyon took a surprisingly little amount of time (compared to what we've been doing recently. Seriously- I don't think there's a way that we will ever complain about a car ride being too long after this trip!)during the drive, I used this cool thing with the library where you can download books onto your computer and read them without internet (helpful when you'ere in the middle of nowhere!)so I wasn't looking out the window much... Anyways, I glanced up every once and a while (book a total page turner...or, well, scroll down-er)and saw the landscape changing from rock formations and canyons to desert to forest. Sadly, though, the forest was mostly burned down, blackened dead trees lining the road instead of live green ones. It was pretty depressing... like the dead trees all over Colorado from beetles (except there, there were libe trees dotted through- here there was only dead ones in a huge clump and live ones later. Oh well. So we got to the Grand Canyon and walked along this little rim trial to eat lunch (fried chicken...still have some left :P)and almost froze to death. Seriously- 58 degrees in July in Arizona?! No fair, especially b/c it was supposedly 100 down inside the canyon! We hurried and finished when *FLASH BOOM BOOM BOOM* a lightning storm started creeping towards us.Looking over the rim of the canyon, we could see a wall of rain coming towards us and ligh ting forking out and hitting the rim of the canyon right out across from us! We ran to the canyon lodge & attached gift shop and took shelter from the storm. Afterwards, there were few people in the drizzle, so we asked if there was room to camp there... and yes! We were camping IN the grand canyon! (well, in Grand Canyon national park, not in the canyon itself) We drove around and hiked a bit and took in the views (what really got me was how ENORMOUS the canyon was!) We cooked a nice meal of pasta and a salad and buttered rolls (homey), and saw the end of the sunset (and alex nearly stepped on this 7 foot snake..yes! I wanted to see at least one snake on the trip- check :) ) In the morning, we got up, packed up, and left to Albuquerque NM, arriving at night and eating in this 60's style route 66 diner with delicous pie. The we stayed at a -get this- a HOTEL!!! Like, with a bed that doesn't deflate, and a bathroom/shower that isn't public, and a pool, and- after so many days camping, it was absolute LUXURY!!! In the morning we swam in the pool for a while, took showers, and then, at 11, got out to explore the old section of Albuquerque. Oh My God, there is soooo much shopping there! And the stuff is so reasonable, I just want to buy it ALL! I could have spent several days (and hundred bucks...) there if we had time, but no. We had a 12 hour drive ahead of us... :( bleh. So we shopped around a bit, ate a delicious breakfast/lunch/dinner (our one meal of the day unless you count the whole bag of chips shared by the kids- 11 servings for 4 people...) at a french restaurant, and left.. at 2 :P On the drive, we watched 4 movies, passed through several ghost towns, stopped at 3 gas stations and 1 public restroom. I read a book, listened to music, we played a car game, and spraypainted a smiley face on the third car in at Cadillac Ranch :) .. I even managed to sleep for a little bit at the end of the long ride, arriving at 4am. Its been weird staying in the same spot for a couple days, but our trip is almost over, so I better get used to it (be home in 2-3 days). today we're off to Memphis as soon as Dad vacuums all the ants out of the car. Well... see you guys soon!

~Cecilia

Colorado

Colorado was really the beginning.  Once we left Denver and entered the Rockies, everyone was in sight-seeing mode.  We took this crazy, wild, scary drive up MT. Evans in the middle of a rain storm.  14 thousand plus feet high, we all experienced a bit of altitude sickness at the top.  Even though the view was non-existent when we reached the top (T was crying because she was so scared of the road), we all wanted to get out.  As Rich, Tamsin and Alex opened the doors, the wind was so fierce, it was like a vacuum sucking them and the contents of the car out the door.  I have a clear image of them being blown about, their cheap plastic rain ponchos whipping around them and doing nothing to block the rain.  By the time we were ready to leave, though, the skies began to clear and the views were amazing.

We had been searching for a North Carolina license plate and a man pulled up next us at a scenic view.  When I told him that he was the first person from NC we had seen, he told us that we need to go to Rocky Mtn Nat Park, explaining all the spots where we could see wild beasts.  Who could resist? Seeing a moose had always been my grail after spending hours in mosquito swarms at Moosehead Lake in Maine for nothing, not even a whiff of moose. And, indeed, we saw elk, marmot, long-horned sheep and MOOSE.  A snafu with camping equipment had us in a motel that night which was fine because it was another experience for the kids (and because the sounds of wild animals at night in the park had me a little freaked out).

It was just beautiful.  The weather was like fall and we were all happy.  Alex couldn't say enough about how much he liked it.

We stood on the Continental Divide, we stood on snow and then we sat

Out of the wilds

It's felt like we've been living off-grid for ages.  We hit the Rockies and every contact with the modern world ended.

It's almost impossible to explain all we've seen and done these past few days.  Without reservations, we've allowed ourselves to take advice from locals and have seen some excellent places.  We left the interstate right outside of Colorado and didn't get back on it until yesterday in Flagstaff to make our run to meet grandma in Texas.  Our last hotel was in Denver and it felt great to sleep in a bed last night here in Albuquerque.

We've talked with a lot of people because of the writing all over our car.  We were in a diner on Route 66 last night and a guy came up to our table to see if we were that family from CT (he took our picture and promised to email it).  We met another family on a similar road trip and saw them at a gas station in a tiny town, Zion, Bryce, a small food store in Kanab, UT, and finally in the Grand Canyon.  Funny world.  We wondered if they were stalking us and I'm sure they wondered the same thing.

We have only a few more minutes before we get on the road for the 12 hour trip to Tyler, TX.  I should be able to get more computer time there while the kids are at the water park. Always an optimist.

Utah!

Hey! Writing from a laundromat near Bryce canyon after a day of hiking among the hoodoos (i think thats what they're called...) Its absolutely amazing here- breathtaking. We've seen canyons (Bryce, Zyon, Red), arches (Arches :P), windows (like arches but with rock on the bottom) (Arches, Bryce, driving past), petroglyphs (Capitol Reef), sand dunes (coral pink sand dunes state park where we're camping last and tonight), and we've explored these awesome rock structures that looked sorta like mushroom goblin things (Goblins state park where we camped two nights ago)The reds, whites, yellows, and orangey pinks of the different sands and stones are so amazing, and its so cool the different things water did/does/can do to the beautiful landscape. I wish I could hike around more, though, instead of driving and just getting out to see some things. I wish we had time to walk and hike all these places like we did Bryce, it weould be so great... but would be at least one whole day a place and you know how it is... so much to see, so little time (and Alex was such a complainer about the hiking thing...ugh) Agh. This stupid site wont let me upload simple pictures, let alone vidoes anymore ):( I hope its just malfunctioning now... I'll try again next chance I get.