Flashback: The Four Corners

Since we aren’t hitting the road again until August, we’ll tell you about a terrific trip we took in 2011.  We decided to give our “National Park Senior Citizens Get in Free” card a little exercise in Utah, Colorado and Arizona.

Downtown Baker City

Whenever we head east on I-80, we usually make our first stop Baker City.  It’s a great little town with some interesting history.  We drove out to Haines to get a steak with ALL the trimmings at the Haines SteakHouse and ran into the Eastern Oregon Museum in the old grade school gym.  It was mostly a bunch of junk artifacts that transcended getting thrown out to become nostalgic memorabilia. Oil lamps, whiskey and laudanum bottles, World War I uniforms and medals, carriages, even a sleigh.  A wonderful place to poke around for an hour or two.

Almost all of Haines, Oregon

The Eastern Oregon Museum. Note the deer hanging on the old backboard

...are you listening?

Next day we were off to Salt Lake City, Lehi actually.  The town boasts an attraction that sounded interesting: The Museum of Ancient Life.  But, being pagans on our first trip through Utah, we didn’t realize that the entire state shuts down on Sunday, so we didn’t get to see any of their dinosaurs. Luckily, we found a Kentucky Fried Chicken nearby bucking the local trend, so at least we didn’t starve.

Sorry, the Tyrannosaurs are in the temple

Next morning it was off to Southeast Utah.  We wanted to get to Mesa Verde the same day (we know, big mistake), so we only had 3 or 4 hours in Arches National Park.  What a wonderful place to explore.  Extraordinary rock formations around every corner.  We vowed to come back and spend a lot more time here.

US 191 from the top of the road in Arches

Amazing scenes like this around every corner

How Arches got its name

So late in the afternoon we got to Mesa Verde National Park and it was wonderful as well.  We mostly stuck to the driving tour, being the sea level creatures that we are.  Even so we saw all the major pueblos and the terrific gift shop, complete with refrigerator magnets. 

Long House. We can see it just fine from up here, thanks

Cliff House

It was a wonderful day of exploring until we got to the No-Tell Motel in Cortez, Colorado where we spent the night.  Enough said about that.

The next morning we were off to Monument Valley.  Along the way we drove through New Mexico for about half a mile and turned off at the Four Corners Monument.  They wanted three bucks apiece to look at four state flags, so we snapped a quick picture at gate and went on down the road.

We can see the flags just fine from here

Was that Forrest Gump we just passed?

We decided to splurge in Monument Valley.  Since the Navajo are very concerned with preserving the valley’s history, tourists are only allowed in certain areas with a guide, so we rented one, along with his jeep.  It was worth the expense.  We saw petroglyphs that are thought to be 1000 years old, as well as a lot of wonderful scenery that is well off the beaten path (and impossible to get to without a jeep). 

Our terrific guide and his Jeep

One of the many arches in the park

The Sleeping Dragon

Kokopele the flute player petroglyph. Thought to be about 1000 years old

  

More petroglyphs in the back country

Of course there are also some areas not as well preserved and protected, like Ford’s Point.  This is where John Ford would set up his camera to shoot John Wayne riding to the rescue or into the sunset.

Ford's Point. It's a lot  higher than it looks from the back side

We're sure it is very tasty.  Thanks anyway

After Monument Valley we drove the eastern half of the south rim of the Grand Canyon National Park.  We had been to the canyon a few years before, but only the western portion where the village is located.  We stopped at many of the viewpoints and got some good pictures of the canyon and the violent weather that was moving through at the time.

The Watchtower

Don't worry dear, just a little lightning

Next we made a stop in Las Vegas on our way to LA.  Tom has always wanted to try driving some hot laps in a hot car, so we went to Las Vegas raceway and he booked a 10 lap package in a Porsche Cayman GTS through Exotics Racing.  Well, it was a very interesting experience, not a total washout.  But suffice to say that he will not be starring in the next Fast and Furious movie.

Exotics Racing garage 

So which is the gas and which is the brake?

On our way to LA we couldn’t resist a stop at Alien Fresh Jerky in Baker, California (maybe it was the 1500 billboards they have counting down the miles).  We avoided the ostrich, lizard, and snake jerky and stuck with what we knew.  We also shied away from the hot sauce collection. 

The really tacky places in Baker are a bit further down the road

Not your typical hot sauce assortment

Finally, we spent a few days at Disneyland with the family.  It is always lots of fun for us to see the enjoyment the kids get from a trip to the park.

A most photogenic caterpillar and his passengers

Taking the plunge

At one point we even snuck over the the Grand Californian Hotel for a cool one.  At Disneyland, even the ice in your drink is an attraction

The Imagineers at work. Yes, the ice is glowing