A Little Leaf Peeping, a Harvest Festival and Cassidy Arch

Growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast, we just never really get to enjoy 4 seasons. So heck yes! Fall is arriving here!!!  We heard the leaves were changing in the upper elevations, we could see them from a distance, so away we went for a little drive with new friends Pat and Barbara from Kentucky up to Fish Lake. We even included a short side trip to Cathedral Valley. I just love the way the Aspen trees quiver!

Quaking aspens!

Fish Lake

Saturday was the Harvest Homecoming Festival here at the park.  Such fun!  Great history! Great music!  Great exhibits!  Fascinating to learn the history of cow brands. Two fun things that evening.  First was a presentation by the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park Centennial Band. Wow!!!  Those rangers are really good!  The other was some good old fashioned barn dancing - you know where the fiddle plays and you have a "caller" telling you how to dance, swing your partner and move to the next partner.  The last time I remember doing that was in Jr. High PE class!  Now I can say I have danced with German and French folks, not to mention some of the local Utah folks.  Made for a great time. Wish everyone had a chance to experience a little bit of Americana!

Ron practicing his branding skills.

One of the bands playing.  When is the last time you heard the song "Mammies Little Baby Loves Shortening Shortening!"

The cowboy going over the history of brands.

Swing your partner dosie doe!

Ranger Chris and Christy explaining how to smoke your meats!

 

Ranger friends out of uniform!

Jazzie from the Jazz Band. She was GOOD!

And this ranger was one of the best jazz pianists and trumpet players!

And our last day of fun this time was a super long hike up to Cassidy Arch, across the Frying Pan trail down into Cohab Canyon and back to the campground.  About 8 miles give or take. I'm not as nimble as I used to be and I still have a problem at times with this altitude stuff.  Anything over 50' in elevation I feel.  But this hike allowed us to see and experience some of the remoteness of Capitol Reef. Such a beautiful area.  In these places it is so quiet that it can hurt your ears.  We feel so blessed to be able to experience this! My wish is that you all can experience this too!

Ron blazing the trail

Views from up high.

Is this some ancient dinosaur poop?

The road that leads to the trail head.

Looking at Cassidy Arch

Reminds me of orange sherbert.

Another view of Cassidy Arch.

Cassidy Arch

Last by not least, a thanks to all the swell campers we get to meet and mingle with.  First time we ever got to taste homemade rootbeer!  Yummy!  Let's see, a 10 gallon water jug, dry ice, sugar, root beer extract. Extraordinary results!!!

Slushy rootbeer!

Goblins and Canyonlands and Strait to Vegas!!

I have a picture I want to share before really getting into this post. On our way home from Bryce, we went back up Scenic Highway 12. You have probably forgotten, but I mentioned in a previous post that this was "Pucker Factor Extreme" when we came down this road pulling the big old fifth wheel.  So much more fun this time just being in the truck. Nothing like standing on the highway summit between Escalante and Boulder and looking down on either side at steep canyons.  And believe it or not, these folks don't have guard rails.  Really??!!

If you can't tell, you are looking way down on the left and right into canyons. There are no guard rails. Like, really????

Yep, that is where we are headed.

Lunch stop at Hell's Backbone. Really good!

OK, so it is days off. Actually 6 days off this time because our co-hosts are so kind!  Our time is getting close to being done here and there are a few places we still haven't been.  Goblin Valley State Park is one of them.  It's about an hour down the road from us. We gathered up the tent and away we went. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but oh my!  All of those rock formations really did resemble  goblins. Or at least mushrooms!  This place was discovered by Cowboys looking for lost cattle in the late 1920s.  It is pretty much awe inspiring. And this was the absolute best night for star gazing. Even saw shooting stars!

Goblins or mushrooms or just oversized turds??

Canyon behind our tent.

Is it a mushroom?  Maybe an alien......

Goblins everywhere!

Never thought you'd find me in a tent, in a desert, much less in sand. But it was great!

The next day we packed up and headed toward Canyonlands National Park.  Once again we have run into Lyndon B. Johnson.  On September 3, 1964, President Johnson signed the Wilderness Act.  Nine days later he signed the legislation establishing Canyonlands National Park.  We thank Stewart Udall for preventing a dam and a reservoir here as he saw the place as a National Park.  This place is just beautiful. Similar to the Grand Canyon, but on a different scale.  We toured the Island in the Sky area. Campground was already full, so decided to just make a long day of it.  The colorful landscape shows countless canyons, mesas and buttes by the Colorado River and its tributaries.  The Colorado and Green rivers divide the park.

Colorado River

Hey I know them!

Canyons everywhere!

Schafer Canyon and Mesa Arch were 2 of the prettiest views.  It would be fun to come back here with  a better off-road vehicle than this big old dually.  We will add that to our list of things to do whenever we get back to this area.

Want to do this drive next time!

Look at the view through the arch!

Now for the really fun part!  You ever heard of George Strait?  LOL!  Well, my niece had purchased tickets to his concert in Las Vegas and then ended up not being able to go.  Well, youngest daughter Amy saw an opportunity.  And of course since we haven't seen each other in 2 months, and it was her birthday, James' birthday and our 37th anniversary, we decided what the heck!  Got us a room at New York, New York and drove 6 hours to Vegas.  We had a blast!  Actually won a little money on the slots which was fun!  But the concert.  It.Was.The.Best.Concert.Ever.  He sang almost 3 hours.  Kacey Musgraves opened for him and she was good, too.  So much fun!

Amy and James, standing in line.

A little winning!

Outside our hotel.

A larger winning, at least for me.  Mind you, I didn't go over my $20 limit.

Oh, and another win, still on that $20.

Another view of hotel.

We ate Italian to celebrate Amy's birthday, James' birthday and our anniversary. This was my soup!

Love this view of our hotel.  Especially since today is September 11. We won't forget.

The highlight (after seeing kiddos) of the whole experience!

Oh, and another small win. This might be on my 2nd $20 bill.

Dean Dillon and George.  If you don't know, Dean has written more than 50 of George Strait's songs. They so compliment each other.

Happy birthday Amy and James!

What a typical George shot.

Oh and I can't forget.  The best thing about being a camp host......is the folks you meet. And sometimes it is the food they bring!  Meet Jerry and Peggy from Florida and look what they brought to share!

Awesome folks!  Jerry and Peggy from Florida. Check out that reflection on our windows.

And look what they brought to share with the camp hosts!

And meet Andre and Kim from Las Vegas.  They joined us for homemade pizza, along with our ranger friends.  Ron has nicknamed Michael "his son".  We also got to enjoy a double rainbow that evening.

Thanks for reading and keeping up with us!