Today was a travel day - we checked out of the Homewood Suites (highly recommend it - great hotel!) and started driving.
We had seen a park called Dead Horse Point on the map of parks - it's right next to Canyonlands. We assumed it was another National Park, so we decided to stop by this morning before heading to Bryce Canyon.
When we got there we found out it was a Utah State Park, not a National Park, which meant a $15 entrance fee. Ugh.
But at least the Visitor's Center had flush toilets! Yey!
We drove to the one and only overlook to Dead Horse Point
Which was about as much as we were going to do, so we went on our way.
During my research of google generated routes, I planned out a few stops for overlooks and bathrooms (of course) - most of the route was on I-70, followed by Federal Highway 89. Sure enough, we were on I-70 West (speed limit 85! Woohoo!) for quite some time before we saw a pullover for a gas station. Luckily we decided to fill up and take advantage of the facilities.
It turned out to be a really, really good move, because that was the last gas station (and flush toilets) we saw until we arrived at our hotel in Tropic 4 hours later.
We stopped at the Black Dragon Canyon overlook for a bathroom break and a quick lunch of some of the trail food we bought the first day at Arches. Not what we originally had in mind, but it seemed that we were not going to see what we thought would be a standard issue interstate rest stop.
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| Black Dragon Canyon |
It became apparent that Goggle was taking us on the scenic route through endless miles of unpopulated Utah.
Miles and miles later, we came across the last bathroom we would see of any kind until we arrived at our hotel. Of course, it was a port-o-potty, but on this vacation I've long since given up on being picky.
Charming thing about this particular bathroom - apparently it was used for shooting practice - not while I was in it, thank goodness. In the photo below, you'll notice the shooter kinda focused on the female figure. Not creepy at all.
Back on the long and winding road, we experienced a cow-jam (this is the open range, after all). We sat for a few minutes waiting for the cows to finishing crossing the road - the last one had a keen eye on her babies, who having a great time playing and, well not horsing around because they weren't horses, but calve-ing around. And even after the rest of the group had crossed onto the shoulder, she stood there watching us in the middle of the road.
Here she is circled in this photo. Watching. Waiting for us to make a wrong move.
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| Evil Cow |
Finally, she also strolled to the opposite shoulder. We creept past her at about 5 mph. She gave us the hairy bovine eyeball the entire time.
We really were in the middle of nowhere. Randomly we might pass through a tiny town, but mostly we saw farms and ranches. And more farms and more ranches.
We arrived in Tropic right around 5:00 p.m. - which was actually right on time. It just seemed longer than was because of the back roads.
Moab is a bustling little town. Tropic is not. One street. Motels on either side of the one street. One restaurant. One general store (conveniently attached to the restuarant).
Our hotel (America's Best Value Inn and Suites) is actually a motel. Luckily there was one room left on the ground level - the flight of steps up to the second level is a killer.
We walked across the parking lot to the one restaurant for dinner. It rained while we were inside - when we came out there was a magnificent full-arc double rainbow
Tomorrow - Day 1 of Bryce Canyon
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