Mount St. Helens, WA

Mount St. Helens

Note the lush new growth in the valley below the mountain.

With more rain falling, the weather wasn't perfect today, but we took up a ride up to the end of Hwy 504, ending up at Johnston Ridge Observatory.  This visitor's center does honor the federal pass, so we saved $16 in entrance fees.  They gave us each a band to wear around our wrist showing that we had paid.  Those were amusing because they each said "Youth $2".  We felt very youthful!

Mount St. Helens under a cloud

Johnston Ridge offers a great 16-minute movie.  When the movie ends, the screen goes up, the curtains open, and there it is...Mount St. Helens.  Somehow, each of the three times we've been there, it's cloudy and/or rainy, but when the curtain goes up, there's still a good view of the mountain.  We walked on the short but steep Eruption Trail, where it was windy and cold, but on the way back to the parking lot, we went on a different part of the trail which went past a memorial to all the people that died as a result of the eruption.  That trail was more protected, so it was much warmer there.  We ate our lunch in the car in the parking lot because it started to rain again.

The sun started to come out, but the cloud didn't lift in time to get a good picture of the mountain.

This is a picture of Spirit Lake and the Windy Ridge area located on the northeast side of Mount St. Helens.  The road from where we were does not go to this area.  You can drive there by going all the way around and coming in from another road.  Yet the lake is only 3.5 miles away.  We visited this section a few years ago, and it's worth the trip, because you see more of the devastation from that area plus more new tree growth. 

After visiting Johnston Ridge Observatory, we drove to Coldwater Lake and took a walk along the paved "Birth of a Lake Trail".  It started raining again shortly after we began the walk, so we got soaked.  It's a beautiful walk, though, with several places to built to enjoy the view the lake. 

Our first view of Coldwater Lake from the trail.

Coldwater Lake just as it's starting to rain again.

This view from Hoffstadt Bluffs shows the Toutle River and its surrounding mud flats created by the ashes from the volcano eruption.  After the eruption the North Toutle River was log-jammed with trees that had been felled by the volcano.  Helicopter rides over the area are available here.

This was our view as we drove back down the mountain.  The trees have been replanted and things are looking very green and healthy. 

Silver Lake Near Mount St. Helens, WA

Site #7 at Silver Cove RV Resort near Mount St. Helens, WA

Memorial Day weekend traditionally kicks off the summer camping season.  We hadn't made plans to go camping this weekend because we just got home from our big 6-week trip a week ago.  Besides that, the forecast was for more rain.  But today we decided that we wanted to camp for a couple of days, so we headed for someplace not too far from home, Mt. St. Helens.  We were able to get a reservation at Silver Cove RV Resort near Castle Rock, WA.  This park is near the Silver Lake Visitor's Center, the first Mount St. Helen's visitor center that you come to on Highway 504 off of I-5.  This was the first visitor center built after the mountain erupted on May 18, 1980. 

This visitor center is now owned and run by Washington State Parks and our national park pass did not work here.  The cost is reasonable, $3 per adult, but we have been here several times in the past, so we didn't pay to go inside.  We stopped here on our way to the RV park to see if we needed a parking pass, but we didn't.  It was late afternoon before we came back to take a walk, and the visitor's center was closed by then.  We were still able to walk on the easy, 1-mile wetlands and boardwalk path near the visitor's center.  The water here is filled with fronds and lily pads.

                          

Click on this picture of Silver Lake to enlarge it. 

You can just barely see Silver Cove RV Resort in the background.

               Pretty flowers along the walk.

Perspective

On Friday I had to go for a diabetic eye screening at Kaiser.  My eyesight hasn't changed much which is good news.  The bad news is that I have the beginnings of a cataract and some swelling which indicates the beginning of glaucoma.  The eye doctor assured me that neither are worth worrying about right now, but they will keep tabs on me and recheck my eyes next year.  I go back in a week or two to get a screening test of my peripheral vision.  That test will either confirm the findings or show that the previous tests were faulty.  It's hard not to worry about how these eye problems might affect me.  I enjoy reading and I enjoy using the computer and I enjoy watching TV.  And I like the independence that driving gives me.  I've always said that I would rather lose my hearing than my eyesight.  I'll just have to wait and see what happens.  Evidently, in my case, neither problem is related to diabetes.

This afternoon we went to a barbecue birthday party for our friend, Jeff, who suffers from a glioblastoma brain tumor.  He's lasted this long but things don't look good for the future.  It puts things into perspective for me.  Here I am whining about possible future eye problems, and this young man (age 46) is about to lose his battle with cancer.  He will leave behind his wife and three young children.  He is a believer, which makes things easier, but still heart-wrenching for those who love him.  So it's all a matter of perspective and I am thankful that my problems are small ones in comparison!

4/3/10--Woodland, WA Tulip Festival

National Park Reflections

Sorry I can't post a picture of sunshine and blue skies, but I can't because it's still raining here.  Not a good way to kick off the Memorial weekend camping season!

All seven of the national parks we visited were different from each other, even though all had the common theme of rock formations.  Our favorite park of the seven was Zion.  Is that because it was the first park we visited?  Is it because we had five days there?  Is it because we went on several walks there and pretty much explored all that we were capable of exploring?  I don't know.  All of those things could have biased us.  Generally, the more time we spend in a park, the more we like it.

Because of logistics, we were only able to spend a day at Bryce, Capitol Reef, Mesa Verde, and each part of Canyonlands.  Our time at the Grand Canyon was cut short because of Dave's problem with the altitude.  We both had a hard time walking there because of the thin air. 

Mesa Verde was the highest altitude park we visited, yet we were able to climb in and out of the cliff dwellings.  We were determined to do that, but it pretty much wiped us out for the rest of the day.  We didn't go on any walks at Bryce, but we got in and out of the car many times and walked to the overlooks.  That was tiring because Bryce, also, was at a high altitude.  Zion was the smallest of the parks that we visited, which gave it a more intimate feeling and gave us a sense of "knowing" the park.  The trees at Zion were in bloom and the greenery against the rocks gave it a special look that most of the other parks didn't have.

The Grand Canyon had the worst signs, especially directing us to Trailer Village.  Mesa Verde had the best signs.  The signs at Zion were also excellent.  Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, and Mesa Verde were the only parks where food was available in the park.  Grand Canyon was the only park where we were able to camp inside the park and have full hookups, cell service, and satellite reception. 

Zion and Grand Canyon both had excellent shuttle services which we took advantage of.   The Grand Canyon was the park that surprised me the most, because I didn't know there were so many trees there!  The trees never show up in anyone's pictures.  Also, the magnitude of the Grand Canyon just can't be experienced except in person. 

My final picture of wildflowers at Capitol Reef National Park. 

Capitol Reef had the best wildflowers, maybe because it was the last park we visited so it was later in the season.  Since we went on a long walk there it was easy to take pictures of the flowers.  Notice the dry soil in all the wildflower pictures.  I wish we could send them some of our rain!

Arizona Reflections

Arizona is a big state, and we didn't see nearly as much of it as we did Utah.  That being said, I will comment on what we saw.  We were not impressed with Arizona's roads.  The ones we were on were in pretty bad shape.  We were very unimpressed that Arizona has closed so many rest areas.  I know they have to do what they have to do because of economics, but it's too bad they couldn't work out something else.  Utah has worked out a deal with private businesses to act as rest areas and that system seems to work.  I know that on the stretch of I-40 that we were on (from Kingman to Williams) there weren't many businesses, so maybe that wouldn't work.  Idaho and Oregon had the best rest areas!

The presence of Native Americans trying to peddle goods at every corner and at every turnoff was annoying to us.  We saw this once in Utah on I-70 and the very next rest area/view point had a big sign saying "no soliciting" and we never saw it again.  I know they have to make a living and I give them credit for being enterprising, but this peddling was something we weren't familiar with or comfortable with.  In fact, it made us decide to skip stopping in Monument Valley other than what we saw from the highway and from our quick stop at Gouldings.  By the way, the road to Gouldings was the worst road we were on during our entire trip except for a couple of the gravel roads in Utah. 

It was disappointing that the Four Corners Monument was closed while we were there.  We drove in, didn't have to pay the $5, which was good since there was nothing to see except for booths selling stuff.  We won't hurry back to that area.  That part was officially in New Mexico so I won't blame Arizona for that!

In my opinion, Arizona is unfairly being boycotted by California for trying to crack down on illegals.  This boycott is ridiculous!  Maybe we should all boycott California?  Boycotts generally don't work anyway.  Arizona is doing the best it can and is trying to solve an unsolvable problem. 

Since Arizona is not on daylight-saving's time, sunrise came very early at 5:30 am and sunset came very early at 7:15 pm.  Our first night in Arizona was at the Grand Canyon and we wanted to go take our first look at the canyon, but we couldn't see much because it was already dark!  Cell phones are smart because they (eventually) automatically adjust themselves to the local time, but going from Utah to Las Vegas to Arizona and then back to Utah meant that we kept having to adjust our clocks and we never did understand when the network TV shows were on, so we finally gave up on watching network TV.  At one point we were still in Utah, but Dave's cell phone said we were on Central Time.  Huh??

The people we met in Arizona were friendly and very nice!  It seemed like another laid-back area, at least compared to here in Washington state and definitely laid-back compared to California where we lived for 17 years and where Dave lived his whole life until we moved to Washington. 

Wildflowers at Capital Reef National Park

Utah Reflections

It's raining here in Vancouver, WA again today.  The rain has really been getting me down since we got home.  I was so used to no rain in Arizona and Utah.  We exercised inside today and I'm glad we have that option, but it's not as satisfying or refreshing as being able to exercise outdoors.

Speaking of Utah, I was impressed with the wide, spacious streets of the towns that we visited.  I understand they were planned that way in order for buggies and wagons to be able to turn around on the streets.  The first town where I noticed the wide streets was Nephi.  We went for a bike ride there and we were able to ride on the main street because it was so wide.  Then I noticed the same thing in St. George, Hurricane, Bluff, Moab, Richfield, and Brigham City.  To me, it felt midwestern because that's the way my hometown of Osage, Iowa was laid out, even though it wasn't settled by Mormons.  It definitely made me nostalgic!

The other thing that reminded me of growing up in the midwest was that many businesses and restaurants were closed on Sunday in Utah.  Even the RV park office in St. George was closed on Sunday.  This used to be common when I was young, but gradually that custom has gone by the wayside, and we just expect that places will be open on Sunday. 

I also noticed the lack of litter and graffiti in those towns.  I'm sure the cities have their share of crime and drugs, etc., but it wasn't evident.  Theologically, I don't believe what the Mormons believe, but I do think they know how to run their cities and their states. 

Wildflowers at Capitol Reef National Park

Words of Inspiration

Today there is no traveling to write about.  No trips to a national park.  No RV news at all.  Not even any more oddities to tell about.  I met with my friends for our usual Tuesday afternoon chat and it was great to reconnect with them after our travels.  I will leave you with a short but sweet inspiration from St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430):

"For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.”

Wildflowers at Capitol Reef National Park

                           

Oddities

We see some odd things when we travel, but this was the oddest thing we came across during our recent trip.  We went to an RV supply store in St. George, Utah, to buy some light bulbs.  In a rack near the checkout counter, they had a few brochures about things to do in the area.  We were surprised when we saw the title of one of the tours:  "The Polygamy Experience".  The small print added more information: "Tour the World's Largest Polygamist Colony".  I know we were in Utah, but really, I didn't know the polygamist area was even open for tours!  What a find!

To take this tour, which left St. George at 10:30 am, you were advised to dress for light walking and to come with questions.  The tour would be of the Colorado City, AZ polygamist compound which has been in the news recently with the arrest of leader Warren Jeffs.  The tour offered a chance to "experience a day in the FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) life with former FLDS members who were born and raised in the Creek.  Stories of growing up in this unique religion, a picnic set in the beautiful Vermillion Cliffs of southern Utah and northern Arizona, and intimate view of markets, parks and cemeteries, frame the previously closed community with detail and respect." 

Who could pass up this opportunity?  And for ONLY $69.95 each!  What a deal!  We passed up this wonderful opportunity, but if you are interested, here's the website for the tour: The Polygamy Experience

Warren Jeffs

If this guy gets out of jail and comes asking to marry your daughter, you might want to say "NO"!

Getting Back to the Chores

I spent an exciting day cleaning the house.  It didn't get a good cleaning before we left on our trip, so it needed to be cleaned.  Now we get to enjoy the fruits of my labor until it gets messed up again.  That is one nice thing about the motorhome, it still needs to be cleaned, but it only takes about 10 minutes to clean it, the inside anyway--the outside is another story. 

One nice thing about being home is being able to park in the garage which is attached to the house.  Since it has been raining ever since we got home, it's nice not to get wet getting to the car.  Another thing that is nice is getting back to my full-sized washer and dryer.  I absolutely loved have the Splendide unit in the motorhome as we never had to go out to do laundry during our trip.  But we kept that little machine going!  I still haven't quite figured out how to get the clothes to come out unwrinkled, especially jeans and slacks.  I've tried everything from different settings to washing just one pair at a time, but it seems that some fabrics wrinkle more than others.  Yet I can wash those same fabrics at home and they don't come out wrinkled.  What am I doing wrong?

One of the things I had to do when I got home was go to the Kaiser lab and get a Pro-Time test.  Ever since my heart valve replacement surgery last year, I have been on Coumadin blood thinner medication and will have to take it the rest of my life because they don't want to take a chance that blood clots will develop.  It's not a problem to take the medication, and it's one of the Walmart $4 drugs, so it's not expensive.  But I have to have my levels checked every 4 weeks or so to make sure that I'm taking the correct amount to keep my blood thin enough.  I was able to put off the lab work for 6 weeks in order to take the trip.  I could have had it checked along the way, but that means filling out paperwork, finding a different lab, paying for the lab work, etc.  No thanks!  But it does mean that we will be limited to trips of six weeks or less unless I get the lab work thing all figured out.  I don't want to drive to Alaska unless we can take three months or so and do it right, so we'll have to put that trip off for now. 

Dave is going to try and figure out his sleeping at high altitude problem.  Jerry suggested trying a CPAP machine and mask, someone else suggested using oxygen at night.  He will talk to his VA doctor and try to figure something out.  In the meantime, we'll stay at lower elevations. 

The Grand Circle trip that we just completed was originally planned to be a trip to Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore.  Somehow it morphed into a trip to St. George, Las Vegas, and the Grand Circle.  That turned out to be providential, because Dave might have had a very hard time enduring the high elevation of Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area.  Things always work out for a reason, we just don't always know the reason!

      Wildflowers at Capitol Reef National Park

A Few Reflections

First of all, thank you all for the welcome home greetings!  It's been fun to have "followers" along for the journey.  I hope my blog will continue to interest you even when we are not traveling.  For the next few days, I may be writing about some reflections about the trip.

This noon we took our son, Tim, and his wife, Kiersten, out for lunch at a place of their choice.  We had our mail forwarded to their address while we were gone.  They choose Chang's, which turned out to be out of business, so we ended up at BJ's at Jantzen Beach in Portland.  We had a good lunch and a good visit. 

Not raining at the moment, but about to start again.

We hope to see our younger son, Jonathan, one of these days before he starts at the Washington State Patrol Academy in July.  He has one final step left in the hiring process, a physical exam this week.  Since we don't have grandchildren yet, we didn't have to miss anything on that front while we were traveling. 

Some thoughts about our trip:  For being non-gamblers, we spend a fair amount of time at casinos!  We like to check out the casino food, and of course, in Las Vegas, casinos are part of the whole experience.  Many casinos now have RV parks, and the quality of those parks varies as much as the food does.  Usually we are pleased with casino RV parks and they are usually reasonably priced, not counting what we spend eating at the restaurants!

I was always happy to see a Walmart.  I shop at Walmart at home, too, since there is one 1 1/2 miles from our house.  When we are traveling, Walmart is a welcome sight because I know I can usually find familiar brands and items there.  Now that most Walmarts are super-stores, it's truly one-stop shopping without having to hunt all over town for each item I need.  I also look for Safeway stores, but we didn't find many of those this trip.  I don't mind shopping at local grocery stores, but it's frustrating when I can't find the brand or item I'm looking for.  Grocery shopping is a necessary evil when traveling and I don't want to spend all my time tracking down food.  I like to experience local color and local stores, but not at the expensive of other sightseeing.

Chain stores that we are familiar with, like Les Schwab, are nice to find in other areas.  Getting repairs done while on the road is always a hassle, but it's nice when you somewhat trust the store.  Other places, like Kirby's Automotive in Prescott Valley, treated us right even though we weren't repeat customers. 

I always worry that I will run out of books to read on trips.  I loaded the motorhome with paperback books and didn't have time to read most of them!  I spent so much time loading pictures and blogging that I didn't have much time left over to read.  Also, when I'm in a new area, I like to read all about the area so that we don't miss anything.  That doesn't leave much time for escapism-type of reading.  I don't want to escape from the journey, I want to experience everything I can.  Now we need to take a "vegging" type of trip, just to relax!

As we traveled, a few new followers began reading our blog.  We don't know these people, and they don't know us.  But they are fellow travelers, most of them full-time RVers.  We very much enjoyed their comments and their interest in our blogs.  It made us aware that what we wrote about was of interest to others, either because they want to visit those areas someday, or because they already visited or lived in those areas.  I, also, am very interested when people blog about places that I've been or lived.  It makes us feel like we have a lot in common with each other. 

A side note to Ali:  We would love to meet you when you are in Portland--maybe take you out for lunch or dinner?  Click on my profile to get my email address.   If others are going to be in our area, we would love to meet you, too!

Back Home Again

Parked at home in our back yard

Yes, we made it home safely!  We ran into more and more rain as we went west on I-84.  It's cold and rainy here in Vancouver, Washington tonight.  After unloading the motorhome and going for a quick dinner run to Panda Express, we watched the remaining two episodes of Amazing Race which were waiting for us on our Tivo at home.  Rats, the cowboys came in second. :-(

A view of our back yard before it started raining again.

Our drive today took about five hours and I was able to take a few pictures of the scenic Columbia River gorge along I-84 westbound.

As we we went further west on I-84, we got back into the area of evergreen trees.  I missed these trees while we were in Utah and Arizona!

A final view of the Columbia River and the evergreen trees.

Be sure to read Dave's summary of our trip!  Click here to read it.

Oregon Trail Interpretive Center at Baker City, Oregon

We ended up where we spent the first night of this journey, in Pendleton, Oregon, at Wildhorse Casino RV Park.  This is a great RV park and for $26.75 per night (after the Good Sam discount) we have a 50 amp site, good free wifi, good satellite signal with local channels, and good Verizon cell signal.  The park has a shuttle to the casino or we can walk and get a little exercise.  This park offers us each a $2 coupon off the breakfast menu, or a continental breakfast of a bottle of juice and a Danish.  What a deal!  Did I mention that there is also a championship 18-hole golf course here? 

We are planning on eating dinner at the casino's buffet restaurant tonight--our last dinner out to celebrate the end of a successful, fun, safe trip.  Of course we are looking forward to getting home, but it's sad to have to end our time on the road.

It's breezy here at the park, and we had a lot of wind during the drive today, as well as rain and (gasp!) snow.  Yes, that's snow on our windshield and along the side of the road.  Welcome to Oregon!  This was when we were crossing the Blue Mountains on I-84 west between Baker City and La Grande, OR.

We planned today's leg of the journey so that we could stop in Baker City, OR, at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.  This is a fabulous place, and yes, it was open today and is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's.  Even better, we got in free by using our Federal Interagency Passes, which saved us $16.  Click here to read more about the interpretive center.

As the brochure says, this interpretive center presents America's frontier heritage as told through the lives of pioneers, mountain men, exploreres, miners, and Native Americans.  The natural history and geology of eastern Oregon are also displayed.  The Center includes 500 acres of indoor and outdoor facilities and exhibits.  You can hike to the Oregen Trail ruts carved by pioneer wagons, or view them through the picture windows. 

We last visited this museum 15 years ago and we loved it then, too.  We hoped it hadn't gone downhill since then, and we were happy that it was still the wonderful museum that we remembered.  It's a great place to take children as there are many interactive parts of the museum.  But it's very interesting for adults, also.  Tableaus of each phase of the Oregon Trail experience are presented, with audio an audio story of each scene.  It's very well done.  I could have stayed at the museum all day!

One of the most touching scenes shows a mother lamenting the death of her child along the trail.

We have visited the Interpretive Center at Oregon City, OR, and believe me, the Baker City Interpretive Center is far superior and is worth the drive east to Baker City.  Don't miss this museum!

From Brigham City, Utah to Caldwell, Idaho

I-84 Westbound in Idaho

After yesterday's rain, today was sunny and warm.  We left Brigham City a little before 9 am and arrived in Caldwell, Idaho, at 4:20 pm.  On the way, we stopped in Glenns Ferry, Idaho to tour an Oregon Trail Museum, but alas, the museum was closed on Wednesdays, so we didn't get to tour it.  It was located at Three Islands State Park, which offered water and electric hookups and looked like a great park for camping.  It was a beautiful setting right on the Snake River.  Sprinklers were running which kept the park green. 

Glenns Ferry, Idaho

Oregon Trail pioneers knew this spot well. It was one of the most famous river crossings on the historic trail. Pioneer travelers used the three-island crossing until 1869, when Gus Glenn constructed a ferry about two miles upstream. Click here for more information about this museum and the state park.

The Snake River in Glenns Ferry, Idaho. 

The Glenns Ferry water tower was located near the Snake River.

Tonight we are staying at Ambassador RV Park in Caldwell, Idaho.  It's a great new park with wide gravel sites which each have a concrete patio and a patch of grass at each site.  The streets of the park are wide and made for big rigs.  The park has a heated swimming pool and spa, playground, exercise room, and a lounge area where they offer free coffee and muffins in the morning.  Free Tengo wifi internet is included in the price.  We paid $31 after the Good Sam discount. 

Site 106--Home sweet home for tonight.

Tires!

Do you remember when I posted about going to Prescott Valley, AZ, to get an alignment for the motorhome?  We knew that both front tires were worn because of being out of alignment, probably since we got this new motorhome in October, 2009.  Dave didn't discover the problem with the tires until we were half done with our trip.  The alignment folks told him that the tires would need to be replaced soon, but we hoped we could finish the trip and get home before that happened.

This afternoon when we stopped for gas just north of Ogden, Utah, Dave noticed that one of the tires was even more worn and was getting hot.  So we quickly found a Les Schwab Tire Center nearby and got the tires replaced.  These tires are BIG and EXPENSIVE!  But it was a necessary evil and we were very lucky that we didn't have a breakdown by the side of the road.  The Les Schwab store had to get the tires from their warehouse in Salt Lake City and then install them, which took 2 1/2 hours altogether, which could have been a lot worse.  Thank you, Dave Ramsey, for your advice about having an emergency fund and about being debt-free!

We were soon on our way, as planned, to spend the night at Golden Spike RV Park in Brigham City, Utah, just eighteen miles away.  We had called for reservations when we found out about the delay, so they had our spot waiting for us.  Check-in was friendly and easy, and the price was right at $30 for the night.  Wifi is working a bit slower than we would like, but it's adequate.  We have 50 amp power, so I have a load of laundry going.  And, oh yes, just to welcome us on our journey back to the northwest, it's raining and has been raining off and on all day. 

Before we left the Richfield, Utah, KOA this morning I took a picture of the lovely lilacs that were along the entryway and throughout this park.  Lilacs are my favorite flower.  What a wonderful fragrance!

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

During our visit to Capitol Reef National Park today, I took over 270 pictures.  I choose a few to share with you.  The drive to the park was about 80 miles each way, and we went on three hikes in the park, so we were tired when we got back to Richfield around 7 pm.

Chimney Rock near the west entrance of the park on Hwy 24.

View of a canyon from Goosenecks Point trail.

View from Sunset Point trail.

An interesting set of branches at the picnic area in the historic Fruita district of the park.

Fruita picnic area. 

The trees and greenery were a nice contrast to all the red and white sandstone rocks.

Fascinating 3 layers of rock.

Most rock at Capitol Reef is sedimentary, meaning it was formed in layers from loose materials like mud and sand.  In the hill pictured above, the bottom layer is thin beds of reddish-brown rock known as shale which were formed from silt and clay that came to rest in lagoons, mud flats, and coastal flood plains.

The gray band of rock just above the reddish shale is a greenish-gray shale that was once volcanic ash. Its one part of the Chinle, a complex, 700-foot thick formation that is rich in petrified wood. The Chinle ascends to the base of the reddish wall.

View as we drove the dirt Capitol Gorge road.

Capitol Gorge hiking trail.

We drove to the end of the Capitol Gorge road, which is at the end of the park's scenic drive, then went on a 2.5 mile hike along the bottom of the gorge.

Along the hike we saw petroglyphs.

Dave and I are intrigued by the holes in the rocks.

We also saw the Pioneer Register, where pioneers carved their names and the date into the rock wall.  Now there is a $250 fine if you do any carving!

After the long hike in the Capitol Gorge, we drove to the east side of the park and saw yet more impressive rock views.

This concludes our Grand Circle tour of national parks.  All seven parks were so different, yet similar in that they all contained mammoth rocks.  We saw very little wildlife in these parks, but we learned a lot about geology and the Colorado plateau.  It has truly been a trip of a lifetime!

Tomorrow we will drive to Brigham City, Utah, on our way north and west back to Vancouver, Washington.