We are beginning to understand how much those early pioneers suffered. Can you just imagine being without WiFi for a whole day? I mean, it’s just amazing that they all didn’t turn back to a major city with decent connectivity, rather than stay at the Boulder Mountain Lodge in Boulder, UT. Thank goodness they moved us tonight to a different room with the basic amenities of modern life, five doors down from last night’s abode. At any rate – for those who noticed – that was why last night had no post.
However, don’t feel bad for us. Boulder Mountain Lodge is one of the top destinations in Utah. On its grounds is the restaurant where we had breakfast and dinner. We usually skip dinner, but when this place in the middle of nowhere has been in the New York Times six times, and every foodie publication, you just have to try it. One of the Buddhist ladies who runs it, Blake, took extra good care of us. Kind of amazing to find this level of cuisine in this location. They grow much of their food themselves, which makes great sense, having seen the local grocery store. Kudos to the ladies! Since it was only 20 feet from our room, how could we resist? (Lovely homemade biscuits, goat cheese fondue with homemade crackers, smoked trout and roasted pork chop.) The restaurant was about 20 feet from our room, right on the lake just filled with geese. I wonder if they ever appear on the menu…
So, to recap: Yesterday we left Moab and went to Capitol Reef National Park, which might look like just more red rocks to the uninitiated, but to those of us with several days of red rocks under our belts, this was a lovely park. It is a giant buckle in the earth’s crust that stretches across southern Utah, created 65 million years ago. Along the Fremont River, there was an early Mormon settlement, Fruita, of which remnants remain. The school house still stands, along with its own petroglyph in the back. The impact of annual flash floods eventually signaled the town’s demise.
Nearby ancient petroglyphs told a story that is only conjecture today, of gods and hunts and migrations from other lands.
The real wonders are those nature has created. The canyons and gorges are rather breathtaking and are really quite varied. Guess I am beginning to see the nuances of rock. (Pity poor Don, who is color-blind.)
We started today with the Anasazi State Park Museum. The Anasazi got their name from the Navajos, who moved into these ancient people’s lands in the 15th century. These ancestral pueblo people lived both above and below ground and left many artifacts behind in this area. The pottery is especially beautiful and we keep eyeing the really nice stuff in the gift shops. But so far we have been strong.
Our next park of the day was Escalante, which also has one of those million dollar roads, that was built to defy all engineering odds. But this one hardly raised a yawn from us veterans of the Rockies. Lovely scenery all around, which you may have to wait till the next good internet location.
And then there was the Petrified Forest! Enjoy the pictures of petrified conifers which are at least a hundred million years old. And be glad you didn’t have to climb a mile up a mountain, scrambling like a goat, to get these shots! We definitely had our exercise for the day, as the lake got further and further away.
A few more pictures to come with a better connection.