Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Moab, Utah-DeadHorse State Park - Moab 6/30 - 7/11 2020 Travel Tour "Rock Stars" of Moab

From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 
Tim and Linda Bunyan

Travel Tour 2020 - The "Rock Stars" of Moab

A day downtown and evening boat cruise in Moab


We take the day to go 'downtown' to the 'gateway to massive red rock formations in Arches National Park': Moab (population: 5,500).  It is a popular base for mountain bikers who ride the extensive network of trails including the Slickrock Trail, and for off-roaders who come for the annual Moab Jeep Safari.

Main Street 4-way street light, downtown Moab where adventurous travelers come.  Since the 1970s tourism has played an increasing role in the local economy.

Moab is an increasingly popular destination for four-wheelers
 This is a sign in the local grocery store checkout line.  This store knows its audience!
Moab's economy was originally based on agriculture but gradually shifted to mining Uranium discovered in 1910 and 1920s.  Potash and manganese came next and then oil and gas were discovered.
After geologist Charles Steen found a rich deposit of uranium ore south of the city, in the 19050s Moab became the so-called "Uranium Capital of the World".  By the end of the cold war, the early 1980s nearly all of the uranium mines had closed.  

Uranium is on its way out: the Uranium Mill Tailings are extracted and moved away from the Colorado River.  This plan is contracted out by the Department of Energy.
 Covid sign: Hand Sanitizer.  Please use it and we will all feel better. Thank you.
 We choose Miguels' Baja Grill for 'meal of the day'.  Excellent and fresh.  Moab is unique with a bit pricey as they have an attentive audience.


 Indoor/Outdoor seating at Miguel's.  Reminds Tim and me of restaurants in Mazatlan.

Eat well and prosper; locally produced food here at the Baja grill tastes better, lasts longer, and supports community farmers and ranchers.

 A sign along the street!  There is a Trump Patriotic Boat Parade on the Sacramento River this weekend.  Sam and Kathy Teresi's boat was filmed for this event and reported on the local news!  (also a Trump Patriotic Boat Parade held in San Diego too)!
The area around Moab served as the Colorado River crossing along the Old Spanish Trail.  LDS settlers attempted to establish a trading fort in 1855 to trade with travelers attempting to cross the river.  Finally, a permanent settlement in 1878 under the direction of Brigham Young Moab was incorporated as a town in 1902.

SEE "About US" on casarollnotes.blogspot.com
NOTE of Tim and Linda Bunyan Travels:

1/1/2009 began RV travel in a 21' Toy Hauler
1/1/2016 we now travel in a 26' Travel Trailer: CasaRoll.
Total Nights: 1130; places: 244.  (per Tim's locations journal).

This is a laundry day with Mike and Sherry and a walkabout downtown Moab.


 

Intrigued with seeing the Colorado River and rock cliffs at night, we chose a Water Tour, Sound & Light Show with Dinner boat cruise.   The dinner is served covid friendly with ample table spacing.
Boat Cruise station and dinner house.

Waiting area at the cruise boat terminal.  History, culture, geology; every National Park has an inspiring story to tell.
 

Canyonlands by Night Tour, the entrance gate to board the cruise boat.

The dining room has seating for covid friendly spacing.

 

All you can eat (and drink) dinner cruise; this rustic bar sets a Moab-friendly atmosphere.

 The evening cruise on Colorado River.
The tour guide is friendly, a native Moab, and tells stories of current events and of the history of Native Americans that roamed in the area for a couple thousands of years.  National parks create jobs, strengthen local economies, and support historic preservation and environmental sustainability.


Mike and Sherry seated across the aisle from us in the cruise boat. 
The different colored rock tells their own story.  Black Rock is an accumulation of manganese oxides that accumulate on the surface of the rock.
 The brown or orange is an accumulation of iron.

Layers of rick include the Wingate (the name of our campground) Sandstone and Mancos Shale.  Rock layers represent over 500 million years of geologic changes. 
 320 million years ago much of Utah was covered by ocean.

The different rock types as young as 100 million years old, 
when dinosaurs roamed the area. 

Sundown and patriotic music and light show begin. 
 A 'must-do' tour to experience this boat cruise under the stars. 
The scenery is dramatic and as the sun sets the story and lights begin with a patriotic message and music.  It is a wonderful experience and one I tell our friends that are joining us next week 'to do' this cruise (Viator Tour Company - $85.00 per person) for an evening of dinner, entertainment, and relaxation with a different perspective of the natural environment.  The tour is a memorable 3 1/2 hours not to be missed.

The 'go-to downtown Moab', we stop at the Moab Brewery and Distillery!
  John and Barbara Webber come to the Moab area, annually, with their group of Rzr friends.  They are familiar with the 4-wheel Trails and the Moab Brewery!
This one is for you!

An oasis in the desert.  The only Microbrewery in town!

Sam and Kathy Teresi always come to mind when Tim and I spot a distillery.  This looks to distill hard alcohol sold inside the Moab Brewery Restaurant.   
 We dine and delight with a flight of beer tastings.  From over the top Hefeweizen to Golden Sprocket, to dark chocolate/coffee-flavored beer.  

With a state liquor license, The distilled hard liquor and mixes are sold 
in the store at the Restaurant which makes an even more accommodating restaurant and pub.
Mike G. bought us a gelato, from a choice of 18 flavors.
Here is a sign at the Moab grocery market: Senior Citizen Parking Only. 
The guys choose to park here, they are with us senior hussies!!

Shuttle to the panoramic mountaintop views at the Sunset Grill Restaurant.  The building is in the former home of Uranium King: Charlie Steen.  The Atomic Energy Commission was offering a $10,000 reward for finding domestic uranium.  Charlie, a geologist searched for three long years.  He with his family nearly destitute he extracted ore samples 240 feet beneath the earth's surface. The ore samples in his broken drill bit hit the Geiger counter and in 1952 Charlie had finally hit his "paydirt."
 

2020 covid sign

Back at our Wyngate Campground at Dead Horse State Park (8 degrees cooler up here).  
Atop the mesa with Moab nearly 30 miles as we look east, just before the backdrop of the La Sal Mountains along the Utah/Colorado border.   The range is part of the southern Rocky Mountains.  We will be crossing over those mountains when we depart here next week to Grand Junction, Colorado

Flowers from Sandy Connelly in the vase given to us from Sherry.






Sunday, June 28, 2020

Moab, Utah-DeadHorse State Park - Canyonlands 6/28 - 7/11 2020 Travel Tour "Rock Stars" of Moab

From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 
Tim and Linda Bunyan

Travel Tour 2020 - The "Rock Stars" of Moab

Canyonlands National Park  "Island in the Sky"


Mike and Sherry and Tim and I drive (west) to Canyonlands National Park.  The Visitor Center is closed; however, there are Rangers there to answer any questions and guide information on the myriad of hiking and 4-wheel trails.



Canyonlands, the Island in the Sky.  The easier district within Canyonlands to visit.




At elevation 6,000 feet, the Green River overlook.  This Dead Horse Point Overlook holds unforgetable sandstone canyons some a mile deep. When the Colorado Plateau began to rise above sea level about 10 million years ago, forces of water and gravity carved deep canyons and sculpted buttes and over 500 squire miles of mesa buttes.  The maze scene in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" film was filmed here.
 The hardness of Sandstone Rock is more resistant to erosion.  The Green and Colorado Rivers began carving into the geologic layers creating the canyons of Canyonlands.  The rock layers were deposited nearly 300 million years ago.

Mike takes a peek from the parking lot using his binoculars. 
 

We watch many four-wheelers take to the trails in Canyonlands. We wonder which trails Gordon and Kevin will choose this sublime beauty of a road to ride their new Rubicon Jeep.

We decide to take the short, relatively easy trail that leads to Mesa Arch, one of the most scenic panoramas in Canyonlands.  
This natural stone arch frames spectacular views of the La Sal Mountains, Buck Canyon, Washer Woman Arch, and Monster Tower.
The famous Mesa Arch, most photographed sunrise in the National Park. 
 We made it here for a noon photo op.

Mike and Sherry are with us the entire 'trail hopping'!
 
 Back at Dead Horse Point State Park (Wingate Campground), our place we will carve out for our own for 13 nights, Tim has found the most convenient way to fill CasaRoll water tank.  His trusty 6-gallon water jug is 'our best friend'.  He fills it at the outdoor, oversized sink near the camp bathrooms.  Then hauls it back on the back of the Toyota Tundra pickup bed.   He uses the pump to bring in the water into our holding tank.

Mike and Sherry have us over for dinner at their rig (just next door) for BBQ ribs!

We've taken a liking to the oversize, outdoor sink (just as our parents used when they camped) for washing our dishes.  This saves on RV water and actually is eased as plenty of space for washing/rinsing/drying in this outdoor sink 



 SENIORS......and good at it.
We have earned our due, and love the card with the poppies! 

We have found the entrance fee to many National Parks to be about $30.00.  With the $85.00 life-time purchase of America The Beautiful National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass
for 62 years or older,the entrance fee is waived.

Views on 4 wheel drive trails in Canyonlands.  Gordon and Kevin Hubble are arriving next week eager to ride these trails in their Rubicon, Jeep.  Many pullouts along the scenic drive with hiking trails and four-wheel-drive roads to the backcountry areas for a day or overnight trips.

Here is Mike at his Mighty Self! 

Canyonlands National Park, "The Island in the Sky" mesa rests on sheer sandstone cliffs over 1,000 feet above the surrounding terrain. 

Tomorrow we are touring the Colorado River on an evening dinner, light show, boat tour.  
This is the building where we will meet.