More Utah travels, September 2020 – Blanding, UT; Mesa Verde NP; Southwestern CO

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Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde NP

Blanding/Bluff, UT

The next day we are off to Devil’s Canyon, a National Forest campground, about 40 miles down the road.   After setting up we empty our cooler, the last of the food is still frozen, we will leave it slowly thaw in the camper refrigerator.  We head off to Blanding to do laundry then see The Edge of the Cedars Museum.  It is well worth the price of admission.  There are many indigenous people exhibits from archaic through the pueblo era.  A partially excavated pueblo stands behind the museum.

More Utah travels, September 2020 – Canyonlands - Island in the Sky; Arches NP; Canyonlands NP – The Needles; Deadhorse Point

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Canyonlands National Park – Island in the Sky

We are staying at the Canyonlands RV Park in Moab, other places we had hope to stay were already booked and this place is full too; fortunately I made reservations a few months ago.  It is a convenient location for Canyonlands – Island in the Sky, Dead Horse Point and Arches.  We visit each of them.  First we have to do laundry, find produce for the refrigerator and restock the dry ice.

More Utah travels, September 2020 – Cedar Breaks National Monument; Zion NP; Goblin Valley State Park, Sego Canyon

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Cedar Breaks National Monument

Today we are on our way to Cedar Breaks National Monument.  It is a smaller, less visited, version of Bryce Canyon, and is only about an hour away from Bryce Canyon.

On the road between Grand Canyon and Cedar Breaks we see many areas where wildfires have burned.  They are in various stages of self-restoration; grasses, aspen, and small pine refilling the areas.  Prior to entering Utah we stop at Le Fevre overlook.  This is the area where the wildfires burned only a few months earlier.  The entire valley is blackened.

Continuing on to Kanab we make a stop to restock the refrigerator and dry ice for the cooler.  At this point the only time we were not able to find any was in Holbrook AZ.  The food in the cooler is doing well, most of it still frozen.

Full cooler we drive on to Cedar Breaks.  The road is a continuous climb from Kanab to the park, ending at over 10,000’ in elevation.  Cool nights ahead.  The campground is only a half mile from the visitor center with a trail snaking between.  We are able to leave the truck sit for a day while we hike several trails starting from the visitor center.

More Utah travels, September 2020 - Central TX; Petrified Forest NP; North Rim - Grand Canyon NP

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Grand Canyon, sunset

Since I last posted we have relocated from NM to central TX.  We are enjoying our time here, happy we made the move.

Back in early-March we started thinking about a trip to Greece when the pandemic hit.  As time went on we knew Greece was out of the question so we started looking at revisiting southern Utah catching some of the areas we missed in April, 2019. 

Alaska adventure, Mid – Late September, 2019 – Juneau AK to Albuquerque, NM

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Juneau, AK

It rains most of the night.  Our alarm wakes us at 330 for 515 check-in for our 36 hour ferry ride to Prince Rupert, BC.  Low clouds and drizzle surround us while we wait to board.

Alaska adventure, Mid-September 2019 – SE Alaska, Sitka, Ketchikan, Juneau, AK

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Sitka

Misty Fjords NP

We leave for the airport early preparing for traffic and long TSA lines.  The camper will stay at the Juneau airport for the next 4 days while we visit Sitka and Ketchikan before returning to Juneau.  Once through the lines we notice an earlier flight to Sitka is still boarding.  We take a shot asking if we can move to the earlier flight. The attendant responds with a yes allowing us to continue right on the plane.  The plane is more empty than full.

Alaska adventure, Early September 2019 – SE Alaska, Haines, Skagway, Juneau, AK

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We are unofficially starting our return trip.  There is a lot more Alaska to see, so it’s not really returning -  yet.  I really don’t like taking the same route twice, so we planned this trip as a big loop.  This is the first portion, Tok to Haines Junction, where we are taking the same road back that we came up on. Sometimes there is only one Alaska road option.

Alaska Adventure, Late August 2019 - Valdez, Wrangell St. Elias NP, Kennecott AK

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Kennecott

Still in Whittier, we check-in for our ferry ride to Valdez.  While waiting, the person taking our information receives a call asking if the boat can be held; the road from Cooper Landing, where we had been three days previous is closed due to the Swan Lake wildfire erupting again.  This also explains all the haze appearing in the Whittier area over the past day.

 

Valdez
Our six hour ferry ride to Valdez is the first of four in Alaska.  The Alaska Marine Highway parking lot is full of people and vehicles waiting to board the ship.  There are 9 different lanes of different size vehicles.

Alaska adventure, Mid to Late August, 2019 - Hope, Seward, Homer, Kenai, Kenai Peninsula, AK

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Glacier near Whittier

Passing through Anchorage we stop at the Marsh Bird Sanctuary.  There are only a few ducks swimming along the stream and ponds surrounding the boardwalk.  We also notice very few birders which should have been an indication that this is not necessarily the best time to visit.

Alaska adventure, Early August 2019 - Anchorage, Talkeetna, AK

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Glacier near Denali

We are on our way to Anchorage to visit some of Nicida’s friends then spending a few extra days touring other areas around town.

Almost immediately after leaving Denali NP we run into road construction.  This is serious; flag persons, stop and wait, pilot car, the whole nine yards.  Not once but multiple times.  To this point the roads are in pretty good shape, certainly not the horror stories we have heard from years past.  We are driving among green covered mountains that look like the mountains we hiked just a few days ago on our Discovery hike so I am not fooled into thinking a hike here would be easy.