We took a very scenic route - one of 20 All American roads in the US. It did not disappoint! We stopped at Utah's Petrified Forest State Park. We didn't want to take the time to hike up the ridge to hike through the forest, but they had a pretty garden with several samples of the wood, flowers and trees - so we enjoyed that!
The state park had a campground on the reservoir in a very pretty area.
Just one of the many scenic overlooks along the road. I couldn't even take pictures of some of the vistas...they were so vast and stretched so far in the distance in three directions. In the picture below you can see where the water was by the line of trees.
We ate lunch in the small town of Boulder - it was called Hell's Backbone Grill - and came highly recommended by some folks we met in Bryce Canyon City. We enjoyed the setting and the food. People are very friendly and talkative in these small rural towns.
There was one stretch of road that was on a ridge with scenic views along both sides of the road!
I'm not sure how they even built the road. Later we drove through the largest groves of aspen we have ever seen...thousands and thousands of trees.
We went up and over a beautiful mountain. It was open range for cattle, so we had to be careful - they would just ramble out onto the road. We are staying at Broken Spur Inn outside of Capitol Reef NP and talked with the owner who used to be a cowboy. He own 1200 steer who wandered the countryside. Every October they rounded them up, finding them at water holes. It took them 45 days on horseback. Can you imagine? Sounds like the old days, but they are still doing it today!
We arrived in Capitol Reef National Park around 3:00 and stopped to get info at the visitors center.
We had time to enjoy a nice hike up Capitol Gorge - pretty much had the place to ourselves. It was at the end of their north-south scenic road.
Can you imagine seeing, feeling, hearing a huge boulder like this one breaking off and coming roaring off a cliff?
This historic inscription was one of many in the canyon...
Can you imagine a 15 foot wall of water coming around a bend right at you in one of these crayons - with nowhere to go? There are warnings of the dangers everywhere!
Back out on the main road...each rock formation is so unusual - there are so many different types. Andy has been very patient to stop and pull over for me to take pictures.
The weather continues to cooperate! Really nice! It cools down quickly once the sun goes down, but it's nice all day.
Our last stop was at Sunset Point...to watch the mountains change color as the sun set behind us. Was really fun to watch. This is Andy out on a huge pile of boulders taking pictures.
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