Forever West

Friday, September 24  -  Moab, Utah to Rock Springs, Wyoming

I am so in love with the West.  It is so stark, so powerful, so not New York. 

I think what attracts me to this part of the country is the early imprint of Michael Landon in his Bonanza days.

Oh, Little Joe!

We actually passed a sign for the town of Bonanza today but I resisted the urge to detour as I knew it just wouldn't be the same - and it turns out I was right.  It's largely a ghost town today, with a population of 14, of which, according to the latest census, 71.43% are White, 7.14% are Asian, and 21.43% are from two or more races, which, if you have a calculator handy, translates to 0.996 Asians, 10.0002 Whites, and 3.0002 mixed race inhabitants.

Another highlight of today's long drive was the town of Vernal, Utah, one of the few towns not settled by Mormons.  Its claim to fame is its proximity to some serious dinosaur remains - and they take their dinosaurs very seriously around here.

Here's a handy traveling tip:  don't ask the gas station attendant sitting in an enclosed booth reading People magazine for a lunch recommendation.  You'll end up driving to the outskirts of town for "the best Mexican food around" and hating yourself (and her) for the rest of the afternoon.

We started out in Utah, crossed the border to Colorado for a bit, then back to Utah before finally crossing into Wyoming.  Believe it or not, Australian Karen's route was indeed the fastest and turned out to be pretty damn spectacular too. 

It's weird but the minute you cross the state line the landscape changes.
Here's Utah:

Here's Colorado:

And here's Wyoming:

We climbed to almost 10,000 ft - twice!  And felt giddy from the spectacular scenery and the thinness of the air. And the thing is, once you get up to the top you don't descend right away.  Instead there are these incredible high plains that roll on an and on.

You really are "Home on the Range"

We did, however, eventually descend to our home on the range for the night - the only one in town and perhaps not one of the most scenic Trailer Parks we've stayed at so far, but it's nice they have signs up warning "No Fireworks!"

Tomorrow we head to the Grand Tetons and our one and only National Park stay, which means no internet (yikes!) and no cell phone service.  We're lucky the campground is still open as the Yellowstone ones are now closed - it's getting down to the 20s at night and the water pipes have been drained.  Can't wait!