School of Rock

As we drove west on I-70 from Frisco, we encountered more tunnels and steep downgrades. Beautiful scenery to drive through, although I think I prefer climbing up slowly rather than barreling downhill. When we took our California Zephyr train trip two summers ago, we missed this part (Salt Lake City to Denver via Glenwood Springs) because of track repair. We were re-routed through southern Wyoming on part of the original Transcontinental Railroad that was no longer used for passenger trains, so that still ended up being cool. But seeing all this from the observation car of the train, chugging along right beside the river, would have been even better!

We reached Grand Junction, CO just after 11:00AM and headed up to Colorado NM...

...where we stopped at the Devils Kitchen picnic area and R made sandwiches again for all of us.

Chef Dad makes a mean ham sandwich!

Since we had a limited amount of time to see the park, we ate in the car as we drove along Rim Rock Drive.

Cold Shivers Point with Grand Junction, CO in the distance

Red Canyon

It seemed like every time we stopped to check something out, the rain would start coming down hard and then clear up again as we drove on.

Only R and J got out of the van to see the Coke Ovens in the rain

Clear skies at Monument Canyon viewpoint

Grand View

Independence Monument

We started hiking Otto's Trail, hoping that the rain would hold off, but it started to pour when we were more than halfway in. Unfortunately, juniper trees don't offer much protection from rain. We didn't want to wait it out, so we ran back to the car.

By the time we reached the visitor center at the western end of Rim Rock Drive, the rain had passed over. We were able to hike Canyon Rim Trail for another view of Independence Monument...

Then it was back to the visitor center to collect Jr. Ranger badges and westward ho to Utah!

The stretch of I-70 between Fruita, CO and the junction with US-191 is pretty desolate. No towns, no gas, no food. Seeing thunderstorms and lightning off in the distance was quite striking, though (pun intended).



Somebody was still asleep in the car

Our next stop was Canyonlands National Park, northwest of Moab, UT. This is a huge park, but with only a few areas accessible by car. We were only able to visit the Island in the Sky district.



We did the short hike out to Mesa Arch...

And drove out to the Grand View Point overlook, where we were met by a rainbow...

I wish we would have had time to see more of the park. But not J... he couldn't stand the midges (nasty little gnat-like insects that bite!) that were swarming everywhere. Driving out, it sounded like rain was hitting the car, but it was really the attack of kamikaze midges. The front of the minivan looks freckled now. Ewww!

Just a short drive from there on to Moab, our base for the next two nights. We had dinner at Zax in town (R had the best entree with the seafood platter special), then back to the Aarchway Inn (another TripAdvisor recommendation) for swimming (and more laundry).

Arches National Park and the Fiery Furnace tomorrow!