The Highs and Lows

Tuesday

July 22, 2014

After I had posted last night, George and I went to find some supper. Believe it or not, there were more places to eat than you would think in Torrey. On the way in, I had seen a restaurant that I thought served Mexican food. It was called Cafe Diablo. It was a beautiful setting with outside seating. The weather was breezy and warm so we sat outside. When the menus came, we were in "sticker shock." Oh well. We started out with rattlesnake cakes. Two little patties made like salmon patties, served with served with three toppings. It wasn't bad. George then got a veal dish and I got a marinated chicken breast. It was all delicious and we loved sitting  outside enjoying the Utah weather.

Donna's chicken

George's meal

This morning we took a drive to see Capitol Reef National Park. We had already seen some of the beautiful rocks and cliffs but today we were in for a treat of an awesome nature. We have seen plenty of cliffs and beautiful valleys from the top but today we are seeing the beauty from the bottom. Capitol Reef is huge. There is a roadway that takes you through the more beautiful areas....a self guided tour. We thoroughly enjoyed our ride. We even went off road to take a hike to see the slot canyon. The walk was about 1 1/2 mile one way. As you looked up, there were huge walls of rock towering over us. We saw some huge rocks that looked like they were teetering on the edge of mounds of dirt/gravel and you wonder what was holding them there.

We then left Capitol Reef and headed towards Goblin Valley State Park. The ride there was something like being on the moon. The Colorado Plateau never stays the same. We passed huge expanses of gray looking dirt, rock, hills, red cliffs on the horizon, scrubs. We arrived at the entrance after going about 30 miles of deserted land. I thought Utah had gone totally wireless. There were no wires of any kind by the roads except for miles and miles of barbed wire. We went to the parking lot and started down. We had seen a few goblins on the way in. The valley floor is full of them. The temperature at the bottom was awful. It was so hot I know I felt my skin starting to sunburn. I told George lets get a few pictures and get out. The ground was packed white dirt/rock which reflected the heat. UGH We did get a few pictures. 

We arrived in Moab around 5:00. We were both tired and ready for showers. We're chilling right now.

Tomorrow we're going out early to see Arches National Park. The high temperature is projected to be 103. Right now it's 8:00 and the temperature is 98. I'm missing Reidsville and home.