As we left Grand Junction we reflected on the art we had seen and Southwestern influence that seemed to us
visible in many of the pieces. There is no doubt that the climate, the vegetation, the animals and, particularly, the Native Americans in this
area have played a tremendous role in the art, architecture and lifestyle we have found here. One of the paintings we saw in Grand Junction was particularly poignant in that it not only portrayed the things we just mentioned but the landscape these three friends we passing through seemed to have changed very little since their time. We continued west
on I-70 and before long we crossed back into Utah. In the distance on
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| Colorado River and Mountains
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both sides of the car we could see lofty mountain peaks but the road itself enjoyed a stretch of remarkably flat land known as the Colorada Plateaus. There are two segments of this prarie and they would obviously have been a tremendous boon to early travelers in the area. Just past the tiny
community of Brendel we turned abruptly south on US-191 and made our way toward the entrance to Arches National Monument, paralleling part of the approximately 32,000
miles of the Union Pacific Railroad. This part was pretty far south of Promintory, Utah, the site where the
famous "Golden Spike" was driven. The area through which we were now traveling increasingly displayed the huge, unusual rock formations so often seen in movies and post-cards. Their beauty is really breathtaking and we took tons of pictures which we don't have space for here. But - one picture we will add is one you should be familiar with. See if you can identify it! Fortunately for us there are 'rest areas' along US-191 and we took advantage of one. As we pulled in we
noticed we were also near a boat landing on the Colorado River where rafters enter and leave the river on day-long rafting excursions. We saw a number of rafts filled with folks and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves - although - their navigation skills seemed a bit rusty. Near a section of craggy peaks known, oddly, as "Three Penguins" we said goodbye to the railroad
and made our way toward the entrance to Arches National Monument. Although we had thought that the scenery was spectacular for miles, as
we entered the park it became clear that we were in a really special place. The stratified colors of the rocks ranged from almost stark white through beige and yellow to pink, orange, red, burgundy and black. The shapes that rose on every side were mysterious and beautiful. We learned that many of them were referred to as "Hoodoos." In ancient times the Native American residents of the area believed that individuals who did
not live a good life were destined to be turned to stone. They were
doomed to stand for eternity brooding over the land in which they could no longer reside and forbidden from entering the after life.
We even stopped occasionally to take a closer look at some of the flowers that seemed to have
taken root in almost unbelievably
arid surroundings. Many of the formations we saw around us evoked images of huge animals and
we thought we could identify elephants, birds, groups of people conversing, dinosaurs, the Sphinx and wandering giants.
I'm going to try to let some of these amazing pictures do the talking for themselves. They can do a much better job than I can.
Our visit to Arches was quite 'spiritual' in that it is difficult to be in surroundings such as this without feeling the power of forces beyond
ourselves. But, as with all good things, our visit had to come to an end some time. We reluctantly saddled up and hit the road out of the park.
It was time to prepare for our evening stop and we were approaching a place we had been looking forward to - Moab, Utah. Amazingly, when we arrived there was a huge festival underway with music, art, crafts, food and much more. We even met people from South Carolina!!! And the bands playing were straight out of the 60's. In fact, we felt like the entire community was a 'throwback' to an earlier time and we really enjoyed it!!! Since this post is way overdue (due to the fact that we had to
go out of town for a while) so we'll close for now and get it out there for you to
see. Oh - remember that I asked if you could recognize one of the earlier photos???? Well - back up there at the top there is one with a caption - "Colorado River and Mountains." If you haven't recognized it yet ... it's the picture at the top of our blog!!! We really liked it and wanted to share it with everyone. See ya.
visible in many of the pieces. There is no doubt that the climate, the vegetation, the animals and, particularly, the Native Americans in this 
area have played a tremendous role in the art, architecture and lifestyle we have found here. One of the paintings we saw in Grand Junction was particularly poignant in that it not only portrayed the things we just mentioned but the landscape these three friends we passing through seemed to have changed very little since their time. We continued west
on I-70 and before long we crossed back into Utah. In the distance on 
community of Brendel we turned abruptly south on US-191 and made our way toward the entrance to Arches National Monument, paralleling part of the approximately 32,000 
miles of the Union Pacific Railroad. This part was pretty far south of Promintory, Utah, the site where the 
famous "Golden Spike" was driven. The area through which we were now traveling increasingly displayed the huge, unusual rock formations so often seen in movies and post-cards. Their beauty is really breathtaking and we took tons of pictures which we don't have space for here. But - one picture we will add is one you should be familiar with. See if you can identify it! Fortunately for us there are 'rest areas' along US-191 and we took advantage of one. As we pulled in we 
noticed we were also near a boat landing on the Colorado River where rafters enter and leave the river on day-long rafting excursions. We saw a number of rafts filled with folks and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves - although - their navigation skills seemed a bit rusty. Near a section of craggy peaks known, oddly, as "Three Penguins" we said goodbye to the railroad 
and made our way toward the entrance to Arches National Monument. Although we had thought that the scenery was spectacular for miles, as
we entered the park it became clear that we were in a really special place. The stratified colors of the rocks ranged from almost stark white through beige and yellow to pink, orange, red, burgundy and black. The shapes that rose on every side were mysterious and beautiful. We learned that many of them were referred to as "Hoodoos." In ancient times the Native American residents of the area believed that individuals who did 
not live a good life were destined to be turned to stone. They were
doomed to stand for eternity brooding over the land in which they could no longer reside and forbidden from entering the after life. We even stopped occasionally to take a closer look at some of the flowers that seemed to have 
taken root in almost unbelievably 
arid surroundings. Many of the formations we saw around us evoked images of huge animals and 
we thought we could identify elephants, birds, groups of people conversing, dinosaurs, the Sphinx and wandering giants. 
I'm going to try to let some of these amazing pictures do the talking for themselves. They can do a much better job than I can.
ourselves. But, as with all good things, our visit had to come to an end some time. We reluctantly saddled up and hit the road out of the park.
It was time to prepare for our evening stop and we were approaching a place we had been looking forward to - Moab, Utah. Amazingly, when we arrived there was a huge festival underway with music, art, crafts, food and much more. We even met people from South Carolina!!! And the bands playing were straight out of the 60's. In fact, we felt like the entire community was a 'throwback' to an earlier time and we really enjoyed it!!! Since this post is way overdue (due to the fact that we had to 
go out of town for a while) so we'll close for now and get it out there for you to
see. Oh - remember that I asked if you could recognize one of the earlier photos???? Well - back up there at the top there is one with a caption - "Colorado River and Mountains." If you haven't recognized it yet ... it's the picture at the top of our blog!!! We really liked it and wanted to share it with everyone. See ya.
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