Continuing on our journey from the last post, we travelled from Durango CO over to Cortez then west to Hwy 191 - a scenic route from Arizona northwards. Moab was our stop that night.
Heading out from Moab is this funky destination display, "Hole in the Rock" complete with a giant gecko!
We had a beautiful day for red rock viewing.
These rock formations are just so amazing, interesting and make me want to learn so much more about geology!
Layers and buttes.
Lots of sagebrush, and an endless sky.
Piles of rocks in such interesting formations.
The rock formations are witness to the power of nature and time. It is humbling.
One of the little hikes we did to explore Sand Dune Arch/
We were back to Moab for lunch, at the Sandbar Lounge. A tricky place to find! It is a 50-stair climb up to this wee treasure! They had an elevator system for getting their food/drink items up from the kitchen. The view was amazing and we had fun chats with the server.
Next in our day was Canyonlands National Park.
These prickly pear have much bigger spines than the one I have in my garden!
Unfortunately they are working on the grandest viewpoint so we couldn't get there but it was worth the drive through.
We had Flaming Gorge on our trip this day, unfortunately we had to do this drive in the dark. We landed in Green River WY for the night. Next day started with a visit to the Wild Horse & Burro sanctuary in Rock Springs, with quite a few horses and lots of burros.
Continuing on Hwy 191 we landed for lunch on the patio at Heart & Soul Cafe in Pinedale WY.
Which was right beside this delightful little quilt shop! My quilty stop for the trip.
This day included Grand Teton National Park.
And Yellowstone National Park, with a viewing of Old Faithful erupting and all the steaming geysers and mud pots and hot springs! And bison.
This night we stayed in West Yellowstone, and had a terrific dinner at Bullwinkle's. Elk Ravioli, Bison Bacon Cheeseburger and Bison/Hamburger meatloaf meals were all delicious.
Next day we are headed back eastwards, through the northern part of Yellowstone NP on Hwy 212. The bison did not disappoint!
Red Lodge Montana was our rest for the evening. Next day included Spearfish Canyon, Lead, Deadwood, Sturgis.
This day ended at Rapid City SD. Driving across SD are the delightful billboards for Wall Drug SD.
Onto I90 to blast across the midwest, we made it to Mauston WI for the night. And the next day, home! Google Maps kept trying to put us on the ferry across Lake Michigan, so that we would have fewer tolls (hah!). Through Chicago again, on the day the Democratic National Convention was starting but we made it all the way home. The trip was 5,115 miles (8,232 km).