Green River, Utah

Good morning, my friends. We passed into Utah yesterday. It was a long day of driving. In two days, we have traveled nearly 700 miles. Thankfully, we will stay put here for a few days before moving on to Colorado. We have loved the black-eyed Susans lining both sides of the road for most of our trip so far.

It wasn't long before we left Idaho behind and crossed into Utah.

It was a flat and dull landscape for a good part of the day.

There were a few barns sprinkled in.

This next one was my favorite for the day.

We passed through small communities with large farms.

This next one looks to be a house, posing as a barn.

Here was a very large bull. A sign to his left advertised "range bulls" here. I guess if you want to, you can rent a bull to go out and, you know, "mingle" with the ladies.

Eventually, we passed through the Ogden/Salt Lake City/Provo areas. You can see the state Capitol building there where I've indicated in the image below.

We've driven this road many times, and the traffic is always horrible going through here. The traffic wouldn't seem so bad, except that the road is eternally under construction, with narrow lanes, and both cars and trucks going FAST. It's very nervous-making. 

We were thrilled when, for the first time this trip, we turned off the interstate at Spanish Forks in favor of the much more relaxing US Hwy 6. Right away, we started seeing nicer scenery and the characteristic red dirt of Utah.

Here's a barn nestled into an idyllic setting. 

Ahhhhh....now that's some pretty country right there.

We got into a few sprinkles of rain. It appeared to be raining good and proper off to the passenger side. We saw occasional lightning flashes, but we never even needed to turn on our windshield wipers.

We were impressed at seeing how the road had been cut into this rocky hillside. Notice the band of black in the lower part of the image, kind of where the road disappears. Maybe billions of years ago, something volcanic must have happened there. We were heading down a steep slope here, and as we went, the black band moved from the bottom part of the cliff to the top with the change in elevation. 

We still had around 100 miles to go when I noticed this cliff formation that extended nearly from horizon to horizon.

It was hard to capture the vastness of it in a single photograph. It continued on for many miles until, finally, I inquired of my friend The Google to see if it could be identified. I entered these words in my search bar: "escarpment, parallel to US 6, Utah". 

Well, don't you know my friend The Google never lets me down. It was identified as the "Book Cliffs," and here's what else I learned:

[T]he thousand-foot-high wall of the Book Cliffs that parallels the highway just to the north. Winding for 250 miles across Utah and Colorado, it is the longest continuous escarpment in the world.

Cool!!! I love this kind of stuff. Have I said lately how much I 💓 the internet? You can read more about the area at this link right here. To my side of the road, we could see the area known as "Desolation Canyon."

   

And here's what The Google told me about it:

The Book Cliffs-Desolation Canyon wilderness is a merging of three different worlds: the great rampart of the Roan and Book cliffs, the high alpine forests and meadows of the Tavaputs Plateau, and the inner world of Desolation Canyon.

 It reminds me of areas we've seen in various parts of the country designated as "badlands."

We'd been heading south, but even as we turned east onto the interstate at I-70, it continued to stretch on. We'll probably continue to see it as we make our way to Colorado. But here, after such a long drive, we were very happy to see the town of Green River, our final destination for the day.

 

The kitties are always excited to see where we've ended up. Mainly, I think they're just hoping we're home. When they see we aren't, they remain curious about what's going on outside. Sadie had the window seat this time. 

We're staying at a KOA here in Green River. We aren't generally fond of KOA's, but we're here to see Goblin Valley State Park. It's a remote park, and so there aren't many choices. There is camping in the state park, but it couldn't accommodate our length. Besides, we timed our visit to land on the weekend when campgrounds fill up anyway. So, here we are...KOA, and this one is a pretty nice one, thankfully. We have a long enough site, but we had to pull the trailer to the front end and unhitch in order to be able to reach our hoses and cords to the electrical, water, and sewer hook-ups. 

It was in the 90's when we arrived. When the sun set and the temperatures cooled, we got out for a little walk around the campground. After sitting all day, it was nice to move. Along our way, we saw a sliver of moon.

If you've enjoyed these pictures, you can thank Smitty for his helpful input as I edited them. 

When we checked in yesterday, we were told that a restaurant across the driveway from us serves meals all day, including breakfast. We can get a 10% discount if we tell them we're staying at the KOA. But that's not the most exciting part. They serve Indian Fry Bread and, oh my gosh, there are few things in the world that I love any more than I love Indian Fry Bread. That stuff is delicious. When I die, I'll know I'm in heaven if I find a place where one can eat Indian Fry Bread morning, noon, and night. Oh wait...maybe I'm already there! 

Well, anyway, there are lots of recipes and tutorials about how to make it online. I'm just really not into that sort of frying though, and so it's unlikely I'd ever make it for myself. And it's rare to find it in a restaurant unless one is deep in the heart of territories once occupied by our indigenous peoples. So, all of that to say we're having breakfast at the restaurant this morning. Indian Fry Bread is definitely not on our diet, but you know...when in Rome...

And after two long days of driving, we're taking the day off. We'll visit the state park tomorrow. It's 50 miles from where we are, and we're determined not to sit in the truck again today. Tomorrow will be just fine. Probably I'll write my post later in the day tomorrow. The day is going to be warm, and so we want to get out early for our hiking to beat the heat. I'll check back again before we head for Colorado, but don't be surprised if my post comes late in the day. 

It's going to be nice to have a day to relax again. I hope y'all have a relaxing day planned for yourselves too.