National parks aren’t the only reason to visit the Moab area.
The Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway (Hwy 128) is located on the edge of town. This 44.5 mile drive along the Colorado River, shouldn’t be missed. There are numerous camping areas along the river, as well as several boat launches. One of the beaches we passed had a couple families enjoying the spring weather…
I imagine in the heat of summer, this place would be packed!
Spring flowers added a splash of color against the red cliffs…
The snow capped mountains in the distance added another layer to the landscape…
Iron oxide colors the land a lovely shade of red…
Not too far off Hwy 170 you can find the remains of the coal mining town of Sego. Around 1910, Henry Ballard discovered an exposed vein of coal and began buying up the surrounding ranches. After mining for a year, he was bought our by investors from Salt Lake City. With grand plans, a boarding house, store and numerous other buildings were constructed. The first coal washing plant west of the Mississippi was also built. And a town was born. Originally named Neslen, in 1918 it was renamed Sego in honor of the sego lily that grows there. The mine changed hands several times before finally being abandon. Water shortages, mechanical problems and fires kept the mine in the red for most of its lifespan. A more complete history of the town can be found here. Today, there are few buildings still standing…
The Book Cliffs surround the ghost town of Sego and offer another reason to visit. Historians have identified 4 distinct styles of petroglyphs on the cliff faces.One can only imagine the stories that were being told…
Unfortunately, several have been defaced over the years .
I hope you enjoyed our journey through the Moab area. The national parks are why we decided to come here, but this area has so much more to offer.
Canyonlands is divided into 4 districts, the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the Rivers (the Green and the Colorado). Island in the Sky is the most accessible with paved roads, scenic vistas and easy to reach hiking trails. Reaching the other districts requires 4×4, horses, overnight hikes into the backcountry and a special permit.
We only had one day to visit Canyonlands and decided to take the Islands in the Sky Scenic Drive. We chose to drive to the end and work our way back to the entrance. The park rangers has warned us about limited parking at the Mesa Arch Trailhead and , as expected, it was packed when we drove by. With stunning scenery at every turn, it’s hard to take it all in. From deep canyons to vast mesas, the views just keep coming…
The cyclist in the above picture, yes, that minuscule black dot, provides a sense of scale.
When sensory overload begs you to find a seat and just take it all in for a moment, find the best one you can!
If you think I’m crazy, at least I don’t have my back to the edge of the cliff while someone takes my picture…
While you are gawking at the landscape, don’t forget to take in the things at your feet…
In my opinion, cacti create some of the most beautiful flowers. You’re not going to pick a wildflower bouquet, but you might end up with a hundred or so pictures on your phone.
It was around 4pm by the time we made it back to the trailhead at Mesa Arch. With only a handful of cars remaining, we easily found a spot and hiked the .6 miles to the arch. While Canyonlands NP is obviously named for, well, its canyons, it does have 80 or so arches. In comparison, nearby Arches NP boasts over 2000 arches (the highest concentration in the world). We had no problem finding someone to take our picture…
Or taking crowd-less pictures of the landscape…
We still had a few hours of daylight left when we finished the Island in the Sky drive, so we decided to take the long way back to Waldo via Pucker Pass 4×4 trail.
We weren’t very far down the trail when we came across a possible problem. With the kayaks on the top, I wasn’t sure there would be enough clearance. Plus the trail at this point had turned a bit rough…
While we made it though without any problems, the vehicle you can see behind us turned around. Soon, we were back to switchbacks and more amazing scenes…
If you look closely, you can make out the trail near the bottom of the canyon. We found an area to pull off the trail and take the required selfie…
Moonrise over the cliffs signaled the impending sunset…
As the shadows began to lengthen, we knew it was time to move along…
The Colorado River signaled the end of the trail and our day’s adventures…
It would be easy to spend a week or more exploring Canyonlands. Maybe next time!
Up next – The Area Surrounding Moab
Thanks for coming along, I’d love to hear your thoughts on our adventure.
Last year, we visited Arches National Park. OK, so I’m a little behind in posting but, in my defense, we did just spend 6 weeks with very limited connectivity. Anyhow, back to Arches. We stayed at Ballard RV Park in Thompson Springs, Utah. We chose Ballard because it was close to everything we wanted to see, but didn’t have the Moab crowding.
We drove into Moab to pick up information about Jeep trails and National Parks so we could plan how to make the best use of our week in the area. We were disappointed to learn the entrance to Arches was generally closed by 11am due to overcrowding in the park and usually reopened in the late afternoon. We passed the entrance to Arches on our way back to Ballard’s and the car lining up to get in for the afternoon was nearly a mile long. We weren’t too keen on the idea of sitting in line for hours!
The next day, we decided to take a BLM road that looked like it went all the way into Arches from the back side. As we rode along, we were treated to some of Utah’s wildlife…
As well as some wildflowers and incredible scenery…
When we reached the boundary of the park, we were quite happy to find an open gate and a sign stating this was a fee area. Since we have a National Park pass, we drove on in!
Our goal was to spend the day exploring and deciding which arch we wanted to photograph at sunrise a few days later. We drove the entire length of paved roads in the park and saw some amazing arches and a very appropriate warning…
Our sunrise photography decision was Turret Arch as seen through North Arch. With our decision made, we headed back to Waldo via paved roads. As we exited the park, I made a time lapse video of the line of cars waiting to get in…
Dang!!! Luckily, to get there and set up for sunrise photography, we’d be coming into the park at 4am, shouldn’t be too bad at that hour.
We arrived back in the park a few days later, well before sunrise. There were lots of cars in the parking lot, but the ranger had told us many of those would leave as soon as the sun rose above the horizon…
We to the base of North Arch in the dark and took up our wait for sunrise. As expected, there were lots of people waiting with us…
But, 10 minutes after the sun broke the horizon…
The crowd began to thin. Steve found a place he wanted to be and so did I. Two very separate places!
My patience paid off with my favorite shot of the morning…
Turret Arch seen through North Arch. Notice the lack of people!
With sunrise behind us, we set off for our next adventure…
I love my Jeep!! The pictures I took don’t really show how bad the road was…
But the road was definitely worth the views!
The only other way to get to Tower Arch is a 10 mile hike ~ no thanks! It was nearing noon, so Steve and I found a place for lunch…
Not a great picture, but you get the idea. We had about 5 more miles to go before we reached the park boundary and the scenery just kept being amazing…
We finally made it back to paved roads and called it a day.
Whether you are a hiker, a 4×4 enthusiast or a see it from the car kind of person, Arches National Park has something for you!
September was passing us by much faster than we hoped. October was knocking on the door promising cooler weather and shorter days. You might remember, I don’t like the cold very much, actually not at all. I was fairly ready to join the southern migration!
One thing we hadn’t taken the time for yet, was another one of those “Michigan things”. We had to go to Cops & Doughnuts! The first Cops & Doughnuts opened in Clare, Michigan. The site had been a bakery since 1896. It was within weeks of closing when all nine members of the Clare Police Department decided to come to the rescue. According to their website, the business plan was written on the back of an empty pizza box. (I’ll bet they didn’t take that to the SBA) It didn’t take long for Cops & Doughnuts to become “a Michigan thing” We didn’t want to drive all the way to Clare, but lucky for us, the business has been so successful, they have opened up several other precincts, including Jay’s Precinct in Gaylord, MI.
Unfortunately, I was caught up in smells so good they aught to be illegal that I forgot to take any more pictures. The interior is decorated with police memorabilia and branded souvenirs. I ordered what they call a “Long John” It is their version of an eclair and Steve had a maple glazed cinnamon bun.You’ll just have to take my word for it, they were huge and delicious!
Only a few miles away was the other reason we had gone to Gaylord. The city maintains an 80 acre park for a herd of Elk. The city has been the caretaker of this herd since the 1980’s. There are several viewing areas where you can sit comfortably (aka warm) in your vehicle and watch the elk. Late September is mating season and we watched the dominant bull strive to defend his breeding rights. All of the cows were lazing up near the feeding area, every so often a bold young bull would walk up the hill to take his chances. Every time, the dominant bull would bugle and charge after him. Chasing him back down the hill to join the rest of the bulls. If one of the cows would wander to far, he would round her up and return her to the feeding area…
“Let’s go! Back up the hill with you.”
the dominant bull
young bulls
“Hey you with the camera, I’m only one years old. Aren’t I cute?”
“Hey babe, how’s about a kiss?”
“You always know just what to say handsome”
If you’ve never heard an elk bugle, this is what it sounds like
I really enjoyed watching the elk, but it was time to head back to Bambi Lake. We would be caravan-ning with Mike and Dawn to our next location and there was still plenty to pack up before we left.
Now, we were ready to say goodbye to Michigan (until next time)…
Well, now we’ve done it. The pirates have locked us below deck while they go ashore, no doubt for a healthy ration of rum. Mike, Dawn, Steve and I only have one option, we have to figure out how to get topside and sail out of the harbor before the pirates return. The clock is ticking. We only have an hour to figure where the keys to freedom can be found. If the pirates return, they will surely make us walk the plank.
Why don’t we call for help you ask? They confiscated our phones! As we look around we are overwhelmed about where to even start…
We each pick a part of the room to search, nervous laughter escapes from us as we struggle to find the clues…failure is not an option. Then we could hear it, a soft voice whispering a clue…”I’ve heard pirates like to hide things under the stairs?” We followed the clues, deciphered the ciphers and solved the mind-bending puzzles only to get stuck on the very last lock. We could hear the pirates coming across the bay in their rowboat. Singing, “Yo, ho ho and a bottle of rum. Arrrrgggh” With only moments to spare, that faint whisper said “Follow the clue exactly, hurry” In our race against the clock, we had been overlooking one step on the lock. With literally seconds to spare, we burst through the door and made our way to freedom.
Well, how did we get into such a pickle to begin with? We had booked an adventure with Northern Michigan Escape Rooms, LLC in Grayling, MI. None of us had ever experienced an escape room first hand but we had all heard stories of how much fun it could be.
The Forrester family opened their escape adventure rooms in 2016. On the night we were there, it was Stan’s wife, Mary Jo who was the faint whisperer of clues and encouragement. She never gave us any direct answers, but her hints would spark an idea. Without her helpful prodding the pirates would have made us into shark stew for sure.
Mary Jo showed us the other escape rooms they offer. They have a speakeasy…
And a very cool room for two , submarine. A perfect date night adventure…
Mary Jo even showed us the newest room in progress, Hetephere’s Tomb. (Since completed) We were amazed at how resourceful the Forrester family is, nearly everything was either repurposed, recycled or homemade, but the results were incredible.
It was a fantastic way to spend an hour with friends. When we arrived, our attitude was, “What the hell, we’ll try it”, by the time we finished our attitude was “Wow! I’d do that again!”
Have you ever done an escape room? Did you enjoy it?
I love lighthouses. I always have. In fact if I were to go through my map collection, I would find several maps dedicated to lighthouse locations by state. I have lighthouse locator app on my phone. I even have a United States Lighthouse Society Passport.
We left Bambi Lake early one morning to start the hour drive that would lead us to the shores of Lake Huron. Lake Huron is the second largest of the great lakes, but has the longest shoreline, over 3800 miles.
Our first stop was the Sturgeon Point Lighthouse. The buildings were closed due to Covid, but the grounds were open for exploration.
Standing on the shore, it’s easy to understand why the EPA calls the great lakes “freshwater seas”. There is no land on the distant horizon and the waves crash to shore as if it were the ocean…
I spent more time than necessary walking along the shores picking up pretty rocks only to decide to leave them for the next person. After all, Waldo can only carry so much weight.
We had planned on going further north, but we realized we would definitely run out of daylight before we ran out of lighthouses to visit. Instead we headed south to Apena. The lighthouse there is at the mouth of the Thunder Bay River and can be seen by walking along a boardwalk atop of the Apena breakwater.
While the lighthouse isn’t as fancy as many, I still enjoyed seeing it.
Our final destination for the day was Tawas Point State Park. There have been record high water levels in Tawas Bay and the evidence is plain to see…
After we parked, we walked along one of the nature trails to get to the lighthouse. Once again, the lighthouse was closed due to Covid, so no tours were being offered. We had to settle for an outside view…
It’s probably just as well, I think my days of climbing lighthouse stairs are over. But it is always neat to tour the light keeper’s residence.
We had ventured as far south as we thought we could and still make it back to Bambi Lake before dinner so with that, we left the shores of Lake Huron and returned to Roscommon.
We said goodbye to our new friend Eddie and headed north to meet up with some old friends, Mike and Dawn from Random Bits of Trial and Error. It had been a hot minute since we’d last had a chance to meet up and relaxing in northern Michigan sounded like just the ticket.
Mike and Dawn had been raving about Bambi Lake for years and we wanted to know what all the hoopla was about. Well, to start with, Bambi Lake is a privately owned lake, nestled in 240 acres of beautiful Michigan woodlands with direct access to several of the state’s ORV trails. After getting checked in, Mike guided us to our site. Since it was already mid-September, the campground was nearly deserted…
We spent lazy afternoons around the campfire and quiet evenings sharing meals with friends. Our original plan was to spend 2 weeks there, but somehow, it stretched into nearly 4 weeks.
Fall is a lovely time to be in Michigan. The changing leaves and crisp mornings leave you feeling alive…
And what could be better than an afternoon of fishing…
One of our day trips was a drive up to Mackinaw City. Our ultimate destination was St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula for a pasty. Get your mind out of the gutter! Pasty rhymes with nasty NOT tasty. We were told the pasty is the quintessential Upper Peninsula food. If you’d like to read about the fascinating history of the pasty, click here. As we drove into Mackinaw City, we chose to pass on this lunch option…
One of the big draws of Mackinaw City is the Mackinaw (or if you prefer Mackinac) Bridge. With Lake Michigan on one side and Lake Huron on the other side, it is an impressive suspension bridge. It is 28′ short of being 5 miles long and is the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Western Hemisphere. While we had no fear of traversing the bridge, many do. At mid-span, the bridge deck is 199′ or 61 meters above the water. The Mackinac Bridge Authority used to offer an escort service for people who were afraid to drive across themselves, but it has been discontinued.
My blue dot locator button is on the bridge.
It was chilly when we started the day, so we definitely were dressed for the weather…
Here, we are on the Lake Huron side of the bridge
The city has several lovely parks along the shores. We saw lots of people taking advantage of them…
The day had warmed up nicely and once we had our fill of parks and lighthouses we headed over the bridge to St. Ignace. Unfortunately, we only had enough time for a quick drive around town, but it certainly looked like a neat place to spend the day (or two). Upper Peninsula residents are called Yoopers. Yoopers refer to people who live in the Lower Peninsula as “trolls” since they live “under” the Mackinac Bridge. Apparently, Michiganders have a sense of humor. What they are VERY serious about is, you guessed it, pasties! Mike and Dawn have a favorite place satisfy their pasty cravings, Lehto’s.
We could smell the deliciousness as soon as we drove up! Mike was kind enough to take a shot of our first ever pasty experience…
All I can say if YUUUUMMMMMMY! It was so filling, we didn’t even have dinner that night.
With our bellies beyond full, we headed back to Bambi Lake in a bit of a food coma. But, dang, it was worth it! The setting sun provided us with a perfect ending to our day trip…
Before I got sidetracked, you may remember, we were having fun in Kentucky. I had written about mines and an abandon town, I had also written about a cave, a quarry and a new friend. What I hadn’t gotten around to sharing was the actual reason we went to Kentucky int he first place. A few years ago, I read a post from Justin and Stacy over at Opting Out of Normal. They have an entire series about finding “hidden gems” in their travels called “Off The Beaten Path“. When I read their post Off the Beaten Path in Kentucky. Our Top 5 Hidden Gems! I knew we’d have to go someday.
Well, someday finally rolled around. Their post says this hidden gem can be found at Grayson Lake. Hmmm, where? Grayson Lake is a 1500 acre lake with several boat launches. We drove to the Clifty Creek boat launch where we found a fairly busy launch and several friendly locals willing to share the mysterious location…
When I asked how “exactly” to get to the falls, no one could quite give me an answer but most peoples’ directions included things like “after you pass the big rock, you will see a cliff with a dead tree on top, go left there and you can’t miss it” or “paddle for about and hour and a half and take the waterway to your left, it’ll be right in front of you.” Ooooo-K. Easy-peasy. A few days later, we returned to the launch ready to find that waterfall!
It was a beautiful day and the paddling was easy and smooth. Clifty Creek is nestled in between wonderful sandstone cliffs which loom above you. Years of water and weather have carved them into some fascinating patterns…
Sometimes, we actively paddled, while other times, we just floated along and took in all the scenery…
There were several waterfalls along the way, but none of them were the one we came find…
One thing I began to realize is the fact that there are LOTS of “cliffs with a dead tree on top”! How would I know the right one when I saw it?
Is it this one?Or maybe this one?
And, hey folks, they are ALL “big rocks”! I was beginning to think we would never find this hidden gem. Occasionally, we would pass another watercraft and every time I asked if we were heading the right direction, they would say yes. Ok, keep paddling. We rounded a small bend in the creek, we finally saw THE big rock…
A bit further and we came to an area where we could choose left or right. Everyone had said take the left, so we did. As I neared the what seemed to be a dead end, I began to hear what I was sure was a thundering waterfall, but where was it? When another kayaker seemed to appear out of nowhere, I knew what we had to do.
Watch what happens when you paddle into a “dead end”
I was astounded! This is what we came to find!! Grotto Falls! There wasn’t much room in the grotto. I doubt you could fit more than a couple kayaks in at a time. I paddled the kayak in a 360 to film the entire grotto…
Wow, just wow!
Not wanting to hog the grotto, we paddled back out to make room for others to enjoy the falls. I managed to get turned around quick enough to get a picture of Steve reappearing…
It had definitely been worth the paddle! Thank you to Opting Out of Normal for writing about this hidden gem! You were right on the money!
A few weeks ago, I received an email asking me to write a review blog in exchange for trying a newly launched RV storage utility bag, made by HumanFriendly, based in California. What I asked myself is whether or not this would solve a current problem we have. I decided to go ahead and give it a try. Here’s what I decided…
The Problem…
Piles of hoses, cables and extension cords! To get to the 50′ 30a electrical cord, I first have to move my water hoses and extension cords. And heaven forbid I need to get to those heavy duty jumper cables on the bottom!
We received a 3 pack of the utility bags. The bottom half of the bag is made from a durable polyester fabric while the top is mesh with a drawstring. They measure 16X16X10. The inside is lined with a waterproof coating. They also come with a nicely sized rubber tag, color coded for easy identification.
Do they workfor water hoses?
70′ of water hoses
Do they work for electrical cables?
One 50′ 30a cord, one 50′ heavy duty extension cord, one 50′ regular extension cord and one 30a adapter!
Do they work for sewer hoses?
One sewer hose with adapter
The Solution
The bottom line
The bags appear to be well designed and built. I think they should last for a long time. And I do think they solved our problem. I can also think of uses for them in a stick and brick house. RVers might be the only ones toting around a sewer hose, but almost every household has electrical cords and water hoses.
The Bonus!
I was told in the email that I could host a giveaway. If you would like to try a set of these bags, leave a note in the comment section and on November 2nd, I will pick one winner at random from the comments.
We are an Amazon affiliate. Wee make a small percentage on qualifying purchases. To get your RV storage utility bag, made by HumanFriendly, click here.
We all travel different roads and the path isn’t always clear or easy.
2020 found us hunkering down in Florida while we waited for travel restrictions to end and for RV parks to re-open. We were (and are still) lucky to be able to park Waldo at Daddy’s house. We had friends who were on the road and unable to find places to stay. The uncertainty of the future weighed on everyone.
I spent my time finding projects around the house. I remove the 1970’s wallpaper from a bathroom at Daddy’s…
I refinished a cast iron patio set our neighbor gave us…
We were in Florida long enough for me to watch the life cycle of the Echo Moth…
While I busied myself with these things, I just couldn’t find the motivation to keep writing blog posts. I marveled at how some bloggers were able to stay relevant, how they dug into the past, dreamed about the future or adapted to a changing world. In August last year, we began traveling again. I was able to motivate myself to write a couple posts, but I was still having trouble between wanting to spent more of my time enjoying our travels and not spending the time and effort it takes to write a good post. I didn’t stop taking pictures, but I did stop doing any editing. All pictures, the good, the bad, and the ugly went into a properly labeled folder with the intention to review them later. Most still sit in those folders today.
We rounded out 2020 with another fabulous season selling Christmas trees followed by New Year’s fireworks. Things were looking up. After a pretty sedate 2020 (with no campground jobs), our bank account was finally looking like it would survive. THEN along came 2021.
Steve has been doing some work for a company in South Bend, IN. Most of it is consulting, but in late March we began a month long journey to South Bend. Our plan was for Steve to spend 10 days working in South Bend then to head west to visit a friend in Utah before heading back to Florida for 4th of July firework sales. One of our first stops was in Alabama. We spent a relaxing week at a COE park, everything was lovely until…
So….that wasn’t fun! But, hey, bad weather can strike anywhere. By mid April, we were in a state park in Indiana. Our last stop before heading to South Bend. I had never given any thought to when it stops snowing in Indiana but…
What makes this unbearable for me is this is when Waldo’s furnace decided to quit!
The outside temperature is on top, but the more disturbing number is the inside temp on the bottom. No thanks!! Steve was able to diagnose the problem and we had the part shipped to South Bend. In the meantime, he bought a space heater so I wouldn’t freeze to death. As soon as we were settled into our spot in South Bend, Steve repaired the furnace and we spent the next 10 days in relative comfort. That is until the refrigerator went the way of the furnace. Yeah, I know, Waldo is 21 years old, these things are bound to happen. Well crap!! Since we have a portable fridge/freezer in Waldo’s basement, we decided to hold off on rushing to do any repairs. He did spend a lot of time narrowing down the possible causes. They ranged from minor, relatively inexpensive to major and downright costly!
We left South Bend on May 1st, I was so glad to be heading towards someplace fun! I had our entire trip to Utah planned out and reservations made. If it sounds like this is when I started truly having fun, you’d be wrong…
Yep, that’s Waldo broken down on the side of the road. I won’t go into all the details but to make a long story short, Waldo needed a new motor. Out with the old…
In with the new…
It took 15 days for the Cat dealer to replace the motor. The final bill was more than $10,000 OVER what they told us to begin with. I was sick. We had a “rainy day fund” but this wasn’t rain, this was a deluge. Thankfully, my dad was able to loan us enough money to cover the bill. There’s way more to the story and some day, if you want to hear it, I’ll write about it.
Two weeks behind schedule we began our journey west, finally! We had a great time taking in the natural beauty of Utah and spent a rejuvenating week with a friend we hadn’t seen in nearly 3 years.
We made it back to Florida the first week of June, just in time to get ready for 4th of July fireworks again. Oh yeah, what about that fridge?
We had our choice of buying a new one or replacing the cooling unit. After the repair bill at the Cat dealer, we chose to replace the cooling unit!! I’m happy to report it is working great!
This post isn’t what I normally write about, but it is exactly what real life is like. There are a lot of bumpy roads, but thankfully there are more smooth ones! I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to telling you about our adventures. I’ve always tried to stay fairly current in reference to our location but I think it’s time I get back to editing my pictures and show you more of our wonderful smooth roads! If you want to know where we currently are, follow TheWanderingRVer on Facebook or Instagram.
Thank you for allowing me to vent. I hope all of your roads are smooth.
The Wandering RVer 