Minnesota and Arizona 2023:
Day 18 - Moab

	Saturday, June 24, 2023: We were up and on the road just after 7:00 AM. We were back in Arizona a few minutes after that, ...
	... driving through the spectacularly beautiful canyon formed by the Virgin River.
	That's the Virgin River right there.
	Welcome to Utah!
	Exactly one year ago, we stopped at this Walmart in Hurricane, Utah, as a bathroom break and supply stop on our way from Las Vegas to Lees Ferry as the first part of our river trip with Grand Canyon Expeditions.
	This time, we took the northern route out of Hurricane and headed toward Zion National Park.
	We drove through Springdale, which is the last town before you get to the western entrance gates of the park.
	Ooooh. Cool bike racks!
	As expected, there was a line to enter the park. We pulled up to the end of the line a few minutes before 9 AM.
	These bike riders weren't carrying canned goods, so they must not have just come from a retirement condo complex. Back in Hurricane, we had passed three bike riders and Tom made Debbie laugh for 10 straight minutes when he said to each bike rider as we passed, "Canned goods?"
	After fifteen minutes, we could see see the entrance gate, ...
	... and were almost up to the official Zion National Park sign.
	All of a sudden, the park service employees at the gates just started waving everyone through. No paying fees, no checking for passes, they just waved every single vehicle right through the pay station.
	We drove directly to the Human History Museum. This was closed for renovation when we were here last year, ...
	... but they had opened it back up earlier this year.
	We were here to get a photo of the Mather plaque, of course. The plaque looks really good considering it had washed away from its original mounting location by a waterfall along the River Walk Trail by a flash flood in the 1950s. After an extensive search, they found it buried in sand and moved it to this safer location at the Human History Museum. This plaque is part of the original 1930 casting series.
	Escape campervan! We walked from the museum down to the restrooms and passed this beauty in the parking lot. This was the first time we noticed that it has a number: 421.
	Even after photographing dozens of these, we are still amazed that the designs are so vibrant, beautiful, and most importantly, unique.
	That's the Virgin River again.
	The 20 mile-per-hour left-turn sign ahead means that we are starting our climb up ...
	... and up, and up. There's a great scenic overlook where you can really get a feel for how far up you've climbed and the view is spectactular.
	There was a flagger and stopped traffic as we arrived at the entrance to the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel, but just after just a minute or two, we were entering the tunnel.
	There are viewports or air holes spaced throughout the tunnel which do a great job of letting the vehicle exhaust out and the light in.
	Here's a view of the flagger station at the east end of the tunnel. The tunnel is too narrow to let big trucks, RVs, and busses through going opposite directions at the same time.
	The next tunnel was apparently wider and taller, and they didn't have to restrict traffic through it.
	The drive through the park is stunning, with beautiful rock formations around every turn.
	Check out the lines in the face of Checkerboard Mesa. So beautiful.
	And just like that, just about an hour after pulling into line at the west entrance station, we were heading out of the eastern end of the park.
	A few minutes after leaving the park, we passed a pasture filled with bison. There were cars pulled off on the side of the road to get a better view of them.
	As we reached Mt. Carmel and the junction with US-89, we could see the hotel room that we had stayed in 2021. It's the very last one on the far right.
	We stopped for breakfast at the Thunderbird Restaurant, which is famous for being the "Home of the Ho-Made Pies." Our friend Erin had been here a few weeks earlier so we sent her a picture to match the one she sent us.
	Hey! Our straws were made from upcycled agave. Neat!
	The restaurant is decorated with street signs and license plates from all over the country.
	Debbie ordered a Denver omelet with toast, ...
	... and Tom ordered a Western skillet.
	After breakfast, we used their gas pumps for a quick fill-up, where Tom washed the windows.
	Here's a cool vintage neon sign on the Bryce-Zion Inn.
	We headed north on US-89, driving alongside the Sevier River, ...
	... until we reached the turn to ...
	... Bryce Canyon National Park. We weren't quite there yet, but those hills have the distinctive Bryce Canyon color to them.
	You have to drive through Dixie National Forest to get there, ...
	... but you can see that gorgeous red color in the hills all around you.
	Just after noon, we arrived at the sign for Bryce Canyon National Park. Normally we stop to take a picture, but there were several groups of people hovering around so we drove right past it.
	There was no waiting at the entrance station, which was a welcome surprise.
	The visitor center parking lot was packed, so we thought we'd drive out to Sunrise Point first, but with no luck. There was nowhere to park once we got there,  ...
	... so we completed the loop drive, ...
	... and stopped at the field of prairie dogs, or more accurately, the prairie dog crossing sign.
	We couldn't see many, but this guy was diligently standing guard. Isn't he cute?
	We returned to try the visitor center parking lot again. Debbie hopped out near the entrance while Tom went to try to find a spot.
	There were signs all over the park announcing that Bryce Canyon National Park was celebrating its centennial this year.
	The Mather plaque was on a rock right by the path to the visitor center.
	Like the one in Zion, this is one of the original 1930 casting series and looks fantastic.
	It's hard to imagine how we'd missed this the last time we were here, but we did. We walked within a couple of feet and it was facing us the whole time! Oh, the shame.
	The rock formations that make Bryce Canyon so distinctive are called hoodoos, and you can hardly blame the park service for making an obvious dad joke.
	Hoodoo you love, Debbie? This guy right here, Bryce. That's hoo Debbie loves.
	We bought a collapsible water bottle at the gift shop, filled it from a nearby water station, and headed back to the parking lot.
	Check out this Toyota MR2! It's rare to see an MR2 on the road any more, and very rare to see them in such good shape. Debbie's friend Rich had driven an MR2 so it was nice to think of him again on this trip.
	We decided that we couldn't leave without going to one of the overlooks, so we headed to Fairyland Point just outside the entrance station. There were several parking spots and we parked and walked to the overlook. Here's the view looking south, ...
	... and here's the view to the east.
	The trees were loud with cicadas, and this one flew right by Debbie's head and landed on a nearby rock. In addition to the typical cicada buzzing sound, these guys made loud clicking noises.
	We drove out of the park and stopped at Ruby's Inn General Store. Tom had bought replacement shoes the last time we were here, ...
	... but we decided against both shoes and all of this local beer this time, ...
	... and instead bought these incredibly delicious individual pies. Debbie got chocolate, and Tom got the lemon cream pie.
	In the parking lot was another Escape campervan.
	We took Utah Highway 22 north out of the park, which we'd never been on before.
	It was a beautiful drive, winding through a pleasant valley. That's the Sevier River again just visible in this photo.
	We passed Otter Creek Reservoir as we continued northward, ...
	... along farmland and forest as we made our way through the hills. That's our route off ahead in the distance.
	We saw very few vehicles along this route, which was fine with us.
	There was still a little snow remaining on the surrounding hills. It was a nice change to be cool in the mountains after all of those days in the heat of southern Arizona.
	Debbie just had to stop to see these Belted Galloway cows! They have that distinctive white band around their bellies and she's been a fan for decades.
	Just before 3 PM, we entered Fishlake National Forest, ...
	... and the road continued to wind pleasantly through the green hills.
	Doesn't that look idyllic?
	Those are aspen trees on the hillsides. In fact, these are probably part of a single aspen underground system like the huge aspen colony named Pando that isn't far from here.
	The road crossed a summit at nearly 9,000 feet, and we stopped at the scenic overlook there.
	Gorgeous. Those are the Henry Mountains in the distance to the southeast, ...
	... and way off to the east somewhere is Goblin Valley State Park. It was around here that we started thinking that maybe Utah is the prettiest state. It has everything: mountains, rivers, greenery, sand dunes, big cities, small towns, everything.
	We headed down the other side of the summit, ...
	... seeing signs for open range cattle along the road, along with the occasional dead cow, ...
	... when we rounded a bend and had to react quickly to avoid this little guy standing on the side of the road. It must have gotten separated from a herd that we had seen being driven up the valley a mile or so back. Poor little guy.
	Trees, hills, ...
	... sticky-uppy rocks. Yep, Utah has everything.
	The two-lane highway through the scenic countryside met up with I-70 and we sped eastward along four-lane divided spendor.
	There were a number of scenic viewing areas along the road, offering great views of formations like this one named Black Dragon, which is a pretty great name.
	We saw a large monument made of white concrete blocks as we neared Green River, Utah. The sculpture, named "The Ratio," was created by artist Andrew Rogers and was commisioned by a high school math teacher who retired to the Green River area.
	Look at that blue-gray rock sticking out of the hillside. Beautiful.
	We got off the highway and turned south, crossing over Debbie's beloved Colorado River, ...
	... and entered Moab.
	Escape campervan!
	We arrived at the Big Horn Lodge, which was our destination for today.
	We had a great room with two queen beds, ...
	... and some of these elm seed bugs. The clerk that checked us in warned us about them, noting that they were harmless and that all of the hotels in Moab have them. We got out our bug zapper and got rid of the ones we found.
	We unloaded our stuff and then headed right back out to the nearby Moab Brewery for dinner.
	There was yet another Escape campervan in the parking lot.
	A few days ago, we had texted our friends Tom and Ruth who live in Moab to see if they wanted to meet up for dinner. They replied that they were on a trip to Canada and wouldn't be back for a few more weeks. We sent them this selfie from Moab, ...
	... in response to the picture they sent us from the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes, Canada, where they went on Debbie's recommendation.
	Debbie had a delicious burger with steak tips and fries, ...
	... and Tom had an equally delicious burger with Hatch green chilis. Tom ate both pickles, of course.
	After dinner, we looked through the gift shop. We passed on this pricy bottle of Confluence Whiskey, but we bought a pint glass and a 12-pack beer sampler to drink when we got home.
	We returned to the motel and settled in for a relaxing evening before going to bed. Day 19 >