We got off to another predictably slow start, barely making it out of the RV park by 9:00. Although all three of us managed to shower before we left, and I learned that in seven minutes (the length of the timer on the shower) I can shampoo and wash my kid, myself, and shave exactly ONE leg.
We stopped for coffee in La Verkin, UT at a place called River Rock Roasting Company for some of the best coffee I’ve had since leaving San Diego and my beloved Bird Rock Coffee. Their bagel sandwiches were also kick-ass (I mean, with Sriracha mayo, I’m not sure anything could taste bad), and I left about $40 poorer after two drinks, two sandwiches, a souvenir camp mug and a pound of coffee to get us through the next several camp mornings. All 1000% worth it.
On the 15 in Utah. We'll just take the right lane.
There was another entrance to Zion right off the 15, to a section called the Kolob Canyons. Because we were driving right by there we planned to stop and it was worth it 10x over, and more reason to love Zion. We could drive all the way in, and stopped at the very top for some photos.
The lens isn't dirty -- there was a smoky haze in the canyons.
At the top!
I was hoping for a Target somewhere between La Verkin and the Colorado border, but had to settle with a WalMart Supercenter in Richfield, UT. Matt went to get gas while SB and I went inside to do some shopping for food and random toiletries. The second we walked in, it was obvious that we stuck out like the sorest of sore thumbs. Everyone’s head was on a swivel. I interrupted several neighbor reunions that only happen in small towns at WalMart’s cold in their tracks in my attempts to shop.
On top of being obvious because we were the only people in the store that no one else knew personally, we physically looked different than every other person in the store. I don’t know how to describe it, but rural towns tend to produce people who have a certain physical look (and I’m not just speaking about weight, because it’s not just that), and we were just very obviously out of place. BUT I was able to ignore all awkwardness because they had bags of Guittard and Ghirardelli baking chips in more varieties than I have ever seen for only $2.88 a bag. TWO EIGHTY-EIGHT!!! That’s cheaper than the crappy Market Pantry chocolate chips I usually pity purchase for myself. I bought four, including my absolute favorite, the Ghirardelli white chocolate. AND they had the Baked Tostitos chips. Everyone knows I have an obsession with Baked Lays (all flavors) and used to also buy the Baked Tostitos, but lately have not been able to find the damn Baked Tostitos anywhere. Apparently I was just living in too large of a city, because they were here, and if you’re wondering, I only bought one bag of those, because I also had to buy plain and barbecue flavored Baked Lays.
After all of our stupid snacks, I also bought a bunch of vegetables to grill for dinner that night, fruit and two bags of ice for less than $40. I cannot condone shopping at WalMart for any reason but I do concede that they have cheap chocolate and chips.
We made it into Colorado and both lamented the loss of the Utah scenery.
Our original plan before our Flagstaff delay was to stay at a hotel in Fruita. Once we were delayed, we decided (“we”) to cancel that reservation and stay at a campsite at Colorado National Monument, which is just outside Fruita. At the time (sitting at the Goodyear shop in Flagstaff) it seemed like an agreeable decision, as we would recoup some of the money we had to spend on a hotel in Flagstaff, and it looked like a pretty site.
Had to take a picture of this, too, as it's my maiden name.
Our original plan before our Flagstaff delay was to stay at a hotel in Fruita. Once we were delayed, we decided (“we”) to cancel that reservation and stay at a campsite at Colorado National Monument, which is just outside Fruita. At the time (sitting at the Goodyear shop in Flagstaff) it seemed like an agreeable decision, as we would recoup some of the money we had to spend on a hotel in Flagstaff, and it looked like a pretty site.
Except when we got there, I realized that it was really high up. The higher elevations had not been sitting well with me, making me feel pretty disgusting. The thought of camping at 6,000 feet again was downright depressing and I may have started to get a tiny bit upset about it. In addition to the mountain sickness, I have a very real fear of heights. To get up to the campsite, we had to drive four miles of severe switchbacks with absolutely no guard rails. It was not getting any better.
The campsite was pretty, and was perched way up high, giving a “beautiful, unobstructed” view of the valley below (read: a nauseating sheer drop off the side of a mountain). We got to our assigned site, and I decided to just suck it up and continue to sip water and try not to vomit. We threw Ralph’s blanket down on the ground to give him a cleaner place to sleep, and not two minutes after we had put the blanket down it was swarming with ants.
OF COURSE I took a photo of it.
Ants are on my Top-5 list of Bugs I Cannot. This particular campsite was teeming with them. Matt agreed that it was pretty disgusting and I announced that we could stay here, but I would not be exiting the van under any circumstances, and they better not get inside the van, either.
He took SB down to the bathroom while I went for a walk around looking at the other sites. I found another empty one around the corner that did not seem to share the same ant problem as the first one. The camp host wasn’t at his site, so we called down to the ranger station and they said it shouldn’t be a problem to switch sites, and just let the host know when he returned. So we switched to the low-ant site and it was a good decision.
Yeah that's the valley down there in the distance that we drove up from.
We made grilled vegetables and rolled them up in the last of our Pancho’s tortillas (SNIFF. TEAR.) Then SB had a spectacular melt down, and I was sure some neighboring camp site was going to call the Colorado CPS.
I was in the bathroom after we had put her to bed and a woman and her adult daughter were in there as well in matching muu-muus. They were recounting facts from that evening’s 7:30 ranger presentation up the road, and we had the requisite “brushing your teeth in front of strangers is weird” conversation. Then something enormous landed on my face and I jumped and whacked the older woman in the arm and immediately apologized and pointed out the half-moth, half-bird creature that had landed on me (that thankfully was still in the bathroom to serve as my defense for acting psychotic) but she wasn’t as understanding as I thought she was going to be about it, which goes against everything I have ever thought about people who wear muu-muus.
I wanted to tell Matt this story, but this is what I came back to:
I wanted to tell Matt this story, but this is what I came back to:
There were only three creepy bugs that Matt had to kill in the van before we officially went to bed. When we entered the park earlier that night, the ranger at the fee booth told us there was going to be a meteor shower that evening, but staying up that late and/or wandering around outside in the pitch black wasn’t appealing. I’m sure it was cool looking to whoever stayed up for it.
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