On to Utah
Wednesday, 9/17
We left Grand Tetons after another early morning of wildlife viewing. We saw a moose cow with calf and also another moose come through the parking lot before climbing down to the Willow Flats wilderness area. There were lots of trumpeting elk bulls and not many females in sight (not sure which causes which?!).
We opted to skip another night in Jackson and head to Logan, Utah. The drive was beautiful. We first followed the Snake River south through its Grand Canyon, which was very pretty, although not much like THE Grand Canyon. At Alpine, WY we stopped at the Yankee Doodle Café (attached to the Red, White and Brew) for a late breakfast. Everything in the place was red, white and blue, and they served only American Toast (none of the French stuff…). I was a little worried about this choice given the “Obama ‘08” bumper sticker on our car, but all was OK. The next part of the drive was through the Star Valley, a broad, beautiful agricultural valley where more hay was being harvested than we had ever seen. It must be a big dairy area, because we did see lots of cows and a cheese co-operative.
We went into Idaho, a first for both Arthur and me. We stopped at the Oregon/California Trail Museum in Montpelier, ID, which didn’t have much, but it did make us think of those pioneers who went through here. In St. Charles, ID we saw a sign commemorating the birthplace of Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore, which we had just visited (was that really part of this trip?!).
After driving along Bear Lake, we headed up through Logan Canyon, which turned out to be another beautiful drive with views back over the Lake and then very high canyon walls on each side of the road. There are lots of deciduous trees scattered throughout the canyon, many of which are starting to turn. There were some absolutely gorgeous red/orange trees and bushes at their prime; many yellows were also coming out. Some of the aspen trees at the Grant Tetons had begun to turn, and we have continued to see patches of these all day on the drive.
Once in Logan, we made a short drive through the campus of Utah Sate University. We have heard from friends in AZ that the University has a summer program for retirees who want to get out of the heat. They offer campus apartments for rent and short-term classes. We also stopped at the Visitor Center in the recently remodeled old Court House and had a nice visit with the volunteer manning the office. We strolled through the downtown, which is in very good shape – two book stores, two bike stores, a fabric store and numerous clothing stores. All of this in spite of a mall on the outskirts of town.
On the recommendation of the volunteer at the visitor center, we had dinner at La Nonne, a delightful Italian restaurant in a remodeled old house. We sat on the patio and had a delicious dinner.
Thursday, 9/18 –
At breakfast at the hotel Arthur spotted a young man with an unusual T-shirt. It looked very broken in and originally said Cleveland Browns. That had been crossed out with a magic marker and Pittsburgh Steelers written in the same magic marker in its place. Arthur asked the young man the story of the shirt. He said it was his friend’s favorite shirt, and he had borrowed it and had not given it back. He was not sure of its history with the friend, but since he has it now, he is wearing it on his drive across the country and having his picture taken in it at all of the major tourist spots and then sending them to his friend. Pretty funny.
After breakfast, we headed south to Price, UT to the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum. We had a guided tour of the Museum by Manon, a freshman at the college who came from Massachusetts to study dinosaurs. She really loves them! Half of the museum tells the story of Utah’s rich dinosaur history. They have found thousand of bones in this area. The other half of the museum is about the people who have lived in this area, especially the Fremont people who were in most of Utah at about the same time as the Ancestral Puebloans (a.k.a. Anasazi) in Mesa Verde. Arthur and I both decided we would have learned more by reading the information in the exhibit, as Manon is still very new at her job. She was, however, very enthusiastic.
We had also hoped to go to the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry south of Price, on Thursday, but it is only open Friday – Sunday, so we have to head that way tomorrow, en route to Moab. While in Price, we have also learned about the San Rafael Swell, which we will drive through tomorrow. There are supposed to be beautiful views and pictographs unlike any we have ever seen before.
We left Grand Tetons after another early morning of wildlife viewing. We saw a moose cow with calf and also another moose come through the parking lot before climbing down to the Willow Flats wilderness area. There were lots of trumpeting elk bulls and not many females in sight (not sure which causes which?!).
We opted to skip another night in Jackson and head to Logan, Utah. The drive was beautiful. We first followed the Snake River south through its Grand Canyon, which was very pretty, although not much like THE Grand Canyon. At Alpine, WY we stopped at the Yankee Doodle Café (attached to the Red, White and Brew) for a late breakfast. Everything in the place was red, white and blue, and they served only American Toast (none of the French stuff…). I was a little worried about this choice given the “Obama ‘08” bumper sticker on our car, but all was OK. The next part of the drive was through the Star Valley, a broad, beautiful agricultural valley where more hay was being harvested than we had ever seen. It must be a big dairy area, because we did see lots of cows and a cheese co-operative.
We went into Idaho, a first for both Arthur and me. We stopped at the Oregon/California Trail Museum in Montpelier, ID, which didn’t have much, but it did make us think of those pioneers who went through here. In St. Charles, ID we saw a sign commemorating the birthplace of Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore, which we had just visited (was that really part of this trip?!).
After driving along Bear Lake, we headed up through Logan Canyon, which turned out to be another beautiful drive with views back over the Lake and then very high canyon walls on each side of the road. There are lots of deciduous trees scattered throughout the canyon, many of which are starting to turn. There were some absolutely gorgeous red/orange trees and bushes at their prime; many yellows were also coming out. Some of the aspen trees at the Grant Tetons had begun to turn, and we have continued to see patches of these all day on the drive.
Once in Logan, we made a short drive through the campus of Utah Sate University. We have heard from friends in AZ that the University has a summer program for retirees who want to get out of the heat. They offer campus apartments for rent and short-term classes. We also stopped at the Visitor Center in the recently remodeled old Court House and had a nice visit with the volunteer manning the office. We strolled through the downtown, which is in very good shape – two book stores, two bike stores, a fabric store and numerous clothing stores. All of this in spite of a mall on the outskirts of town.
On the recommendation of the volunteer at the visitor center, we had dinner at La Nonne, a delightful Italian restaurant in a remodeled old house. We sat on the patio and had a delicious dinner.
Thursday, 9/18 –
At breakfast at the hotel Arthur spotted a young man with an unusual T-shirt. It looked very broken in and originally said Cleveland Browns. That had been crossed out with a magic marker and Pittsburgh Steelers written in the same magic marker in its place. Arthur asked the young man the story of the shirt. He said it was his friend’s favorite shirt, and he had borrowed it and had not given it back. He was not sure of its history with the friend, but since he has it now, he is wearing it on his drive across the country and having his picture taken in it at all of the major tourist spots and then sending them to his friend. Pretty funny.
After breakfast, we headed south to Price, UT to the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum. We had a guided tour of the Museum by Manon, a freshman at the college who came from Massachusetts to study dinosaurs. She really loves them! Half of the museum tells the story of Utah’s rich dinosaur history. They have found thousand of bones in this area. The other half of the museum is about the people who have lived in this area, especially the Fremont people who were in most of Utah at about the same time as the Ancestral Puebloans (a.k.a. Anasazi) in Mesa Verde. Arthur and I both decided we would have learned more by reading the information in the exhibit, as Manon is still very new at her job. She was, however, very enthusiastic.
We had also hoped to go to the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry south of Price, on Thursday, but it is only open Friday – Sunday, so we have to head that way tomorrow, en route to Moab. While in Price, we have also learned about the San Rafael Swell, which we will drive through tomorrow. There are supposed to be beautiful views and pictographs unlike any we have ever seen before.
posted by arthurandjane at 8:19 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home