Thanksgiving in Denver!

Our tour through southwestern Colorado was cut short by some severe winter weather.  We were in Moab, Utah preparing to travel south to Mesa Verde National Park, Durango, Silverton, and Ouray, Colorado when the meteorologists announced that a strong and frigid weather system was making its way towards the Colorado mountains from California.  The Rockies were expecting 1-3 feet of snow within the next 2 days.  In light of the new weather alerts, we decided to scratch our plans of seeing the points mentioned above and headed straight for Denver.  

We left our campsite in Moab and jumped on I-70 which took us straight over the Rockies of Colorado, all the while listening to the updated weather forecasts on the radio with dark looming clouds right behind us.  We started seeing some snow flurries as we passed through the ski area of Vail, Colorado.  It was now 9 pm and it seemed like we were the only ones on the road at that time- well, us and the snow plows ready for action.  We made it to our campsite outside Denver safely that night, excited to see our good friends in the coming week, but sad that we had officially started the decrescendo of our trip.  Two months down, one to go… Time flies…

The next week was spent hanging out with friends that we had known since grade school, drinking good wine, eating deep fried turkey, and laughing until we cried.  We couldn’t ask for a better Thanksgiving.

Arches National Park

"Balanced Rock"

"Double Arch" on the left

the "Windows"

Utah's famous "Delicate Arch"

the furnace

Kenny finds the windiest spot in Utah

Place your mouse over the image...

Bryce Canyon (wtf!) National Park

Looks like Utah has very weak mountains...

The canyons erode 1 foot every year, like crumbling sand castles...

Fairyland Canyon

panorama of Bryce Canyon

Zion National Park

Zion National Park wasn't on our original itinerary, but we decided to add it because we heard some other travelers talking about it's splendor, and it was on our way to Bryce Canyon anyway.  I'm glad we decided to take a day and drive through because it is a beautiful park.  Like a lot of national parks, it's hard to describe the beauty and atmosphere of the land.  I don't know what was more stunning, the drive into the center of the park or the inner canyon itself. 

The Virgin River runs within the Zion Canyon for miles.  The canyon walls, which are 2000 feet high, get closer and closer together until the canyon can only be passed through on foot.  In the warmer months, adventurous hikers can trek past the end of the Riverside Walk Trail into the deepest part of the canyon called The Narrows.  Kenny and I are already planning our next trip to the Zion Canyon to tackle The Narrows.

The Grand Canyon

 Everyone has seen photos of the Grand Canyon before but you can not even begin to comprehend the immensity of this natural wonder. I was taken by complete surprise. You are standing on flat level ground and out of nowhere behind some trees is this hole that plummets more than 2000 feet to the Colorado River. The days we were there we had a blanket of haze thanks to LA. In the Fall you can have days were you can see for 120 miles but we only had 5 miles visibility for the two days we were there.

We had enough time to take a walk on the Southern Rim after we unhooked from the camper. This was my first meeting with the Grand Canyon. I couldn't wrap my head around the size of the canyon, since there are no familiar objects at the bottom. Jean cooked up some rice and sausage for dinner and we prepared for a long day on the Southern Rim tomorrow.





We drove into the Canyon Village and took advantage of the National Park Shuttle System. We decided to check out the Hermit Rest area of the park via the shuttle. We spent the whole better half of the day on the Hermit Trail exploring the Canyon.

As the sun began to set the temperature dropped extremely quick. So we skipped the Angel Bright Trail and went to the market to pick up some chicken for the grill. Later that night we were were held hostage by a hungry deer. I first noticed him when I went outside to empty the tanks for the night. The shot to the right is from our kitchen window which is right above the tank valves that I needed to get to. At one point Jean and I went outside after checking out the window to see if he was still around. I went to the back of the camper and as soon as I turned to corner he was right there. Scared the crap put of me. Have you ever seen that Youtube video of that hunter getting the piss slapped out of him. If not here it is.

Sedona and a big hole

After leaving Las Vegas we started heading back east. This was another long day of driving. It also seems to take longer to get places now because the days are so much shorter. We ended up driving five hours to Flagstaff. In the morning we went to a meteor impact creator. The wind and low temps made it a little harse to be out in open but we managed to make the best of it. Since it is basically a hole in the ground there isn't much to do so we only stayed for about an hour and headed south to Sedona.

Before we left on this trip, about a month and a half ago, our friends Mark and Sarah told us to stop by Sedona, Arizona. I loved every minute of this city. To travel into the city from the north requires a 2000 foot decent through switch-backs and narrow roads. It was still daylight when we hooked up at the campsite and we had enough time to take a stroll down Main Street. Which hasn't happened all that often lately. There is a good selection of shopping and restaurants.  Dinner was great, even though I over did it on the all you can eat chips n' salsa.

On the second day we heard about a dog park on the other side of town. We expected a flat dirt lot like we saw in Vegas but this was by far the best park we have ever been to. They had a fenced-in wilderness area full of trees and hilly terrain that King loved. The size alone made this a great place to spend the morning. After taking King back to the camper we hooked the bikes to the back of the truck and headed out to trails for some back country mountain biking. I don't know if you have ever had the feeling that you were in over your head but if you want that feeling try


mountain biking on Little Horse trail in Sedona. There are parts that require you to carry your bike on your shoulder to climb almost vertical walls. By the time we turned around the sun was beginning to set and we needed to get out of the hills and head home to shower and eat.

 Sedona is filled with Vortexes or areas that contribute to great spiritual health. The area has New Age book shops and tons of art galleries. I can see how artists flock to this area because of the natural beauty around every turn.

We wanted to head back out the next day to on a hike to the Devils Kitchen but we decided to push on to our next stop.This small blog post does not do this place justice. We could have stayed another week and still of had no problem finding new things to do.