Hello!
It's TUESDAY already, and we've been home three days! I wanted anyone who might be wondering to know that we arrived home safely about 9:30 am on Sunday. (Yes, we were on the road at 5:25 am.)
It was SO nice to actually be able to "get away" from home. It has improved my mental health and frustration status immeasurably!
I wanted to thank everyone who joined us, and hopefully we'll be able to get out again soon! My feet are always itchy!
Love always,
m
xxx
Hello!
Have to admit that it has been a long day! Up around 5:30 am but we decided we wanted to watch the Tour de France stage until the end ... so didn't get out of Richfield until 9:30 -- and for some reason, today just seemed like a very long travel day! We headed south on 89 until Kanab, and then headed due east to get to Lake Powell and Page, AZ. From there it was about two additional hours to Flagstaff.
We always forget that Flag is hours away from the northern state border. We reached Flagstaff about 3:45 pm and the traffic (of course it's a Saturday and I think one of the first weekends of NAU) was terrible! Checked into the DoubleTree in Flag, and up to room 440. As we were pulling into our parking spot, my comment basically indicated that our food options were 1) delivery pizza, or 2) hotel restaurants! Fortunately, R agreed with me, and we had a great meal at Sakura, which is in the DoubleTree hotel. Our plan for tomorrow is up early and on the road and heading home; hope to be there by 11-12 pm.
So ... here are some photos that R took as we traveled south -- some are from Utah and the rest are in Northern Arizona. Thanks to everybody who has followed us on our latest adventure! Will post from home tomorrow!
 |
| Figuring it is blue sky above and fire air below; Quite a difference! |
Much love,
m
xxx
Hello!
Up this morning around 5, and decided that rather than wait until the end of Stage 13 of the Tour de France, we would head out about 7, the time it seems to get light in Wyoming. Packed up everything (where does all the “stuff” come from?? Although we have added a few bottles of wine, several rolls of paper towels, a small container of dishwashing liquid, Bounce, Tide Pods (BIG plastic container), Shout …). Well, it comes from somewhere…
Got on the road early, but didn’t go too far! We were about 20 miles away from Thayne – just passing through Afton, actually, when our tire pressure indicator light went on!!!!!! (When we picked up Allez we weren’t sure exactly what “extras” he had, and apparently tire pressure was one of the options – so, we found out first-hand this morning that we DO have an indicator – and it was ON! Figuring that we needed the tires checked, we turned around and came upon a Chevron garage which, unfortunately, didn’t open until 8. (It was about 7:30 am) So … waited a bit, and a lovely gal came to open things up, and she was sure that when the “guys” got there, they could help. The really good thing was that she had a nice warm seating area, with snacks and drinks available. She and I were talking while R and owner looked over the car. Well, turns out that all the tires were at their proper pressure, and looked fine! As my new friend said, sometimes when the weather gets COLD (which it was, at 25 degrees!) sometimes the tire pressure light just comes on – and so, back into the car we went – and sure enough! About two miles down the road, the pressure light went OUT, and we were fine! Incredible!! But that’s certainly something to get the old heart pumping…
R had made ham and swiss sandwiches on bagels and we ate them as we drove for a late breakfast, and they were great! The route ran right down the state boundary, so we actually wove back and forth between Wyoming and Idaho and then Wyoming and Utah and did some pretty flat out driving to get to Richfield, which is about two hours south of SLC. Pulled into town around 2:30 pm and checked into our old but nicely kept up Hampton Inn. Richfield is a very nice community – neat houses and yards and seemingly lots of amenities. We watched the first men’s U.S. Open semifinal (Zverev vs. Carreno Busta) and I napped, until our restaurant of choice – Steve’s Steakhouse– opened at 5 pm.
Glad we arrived about 5-ish, as by the time we finished dinner and exited, there were quite a lot of people waiting to get in! Guess we picked the best place in town! Lovely hostess – young gal who enjoyed baseball and was an Atlanta Braves fan (?) and we got a lovely table by the window. It was obvious from the crowd outside that they had taken out entire rows of tables, so there was quite a lot of room all around us. We both started with lovely salads with their homemade blue cheese dressing – perfect way to begin! Then, we both ordered their 8-oz.filet mignons cooked rare (fabulously cooked!) along with baked potatoes. R also had quite a mound of broccoli on his plate, and an order of mushrooms for us to share. Everything was really, really good!
And, for a finale, they had 3-layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting served with ice cream and a freshly sliced strawberry. Wow! I did the best I could, but I couldn’t quite finish the cake…need to get walking again soon to make those calories go away…now back in our room with the second men’s semifinal match on TV. (Have to say that the U.S. Open looks so odd with no people there! I remember the year we attended, there was so much going on everywhere! A few nights ago, the camera caught two very large racoons walk through the greeting area – I guess they had tickets – was it because they were masked already??)
So – ready for bed! Tomorrow we head straight for Arizona – Richfield to Kanab to Page to Flagstaff. We’ve had such an enjoyable trip, but we are both ready to come home!
Lots of love,
m
xxx
Hello!
Up this morning about 6 to watch the Tour de France. Interesting stage, with a 22-year-old Swiss rider, Marc Hirschi, winning the stage in a runaway! So often on relatively flat stages, it comes down to the sprinters hurrying across the line in a bunch. Today, Hirschi just rode away from the entire peloton with no one to catch him at all!
 |
| This is ice after the sprinkler! |
 |
| Some beautiful colors in the leaves |
We decided last night that rather than drive back up to Jackson, we would instead head to Fossil Butte National Monument outside of Kemmerer, Wyoming. Now, let me only say, that we went to Kemmerer somewhere in the early 2000’s to look for fish fossils – and found some! We spent a fairly long day sitting on the ground with a hammer, gloves and chisel splitting open oil shale rocks. R was better at it than I was, but we had an interesting time, to say the least. We stayed then at a brand-new Best Western, and the best restaurant in town was – truly – the Pizza Hut. So … flash forward quite a few years, and we decided to see what was new at Fossil Butte. Millions of years ago, a large body of water covered much of Wyoming, and certainly the southwestern corner. When it evaporated, it was found to contain two things of interest 1) coal, and 2) fossils!
The visitor center was open, and has an amazing collection of fossils that had been discovered on their grounds as well as casts of fossils discovered elsewhere in the area. The ranger on duty was tremendously helpful and interested in fossils of all kinds. (He actually showed us a book that we have since found on-line and ordered, about fossils in Wyoming. The book store was out of it, but we were able to go through his copy of the book – and it was great!). And now, thanks to Abe Books, is on its way to us!
Fortunately, there weren’t many people visiting the monument today, so we were able to take our time and go through their exhibits. Truly, merits a visit, so we’re thinking of Dinosaur National Monument as well as Flaming Gorge sometime in the future.
 |
| Cabins next to ours |
 |
| Having a late lunch on the porch! |
By this time, it was lunchtime, so we decided to go in to Kemmerer to see if it had improved at all in the years since our first visit. Well, to be truthful here … it hadn’t. (Note: The only two people we know of who ever came out of Kemmerer were J.C. Penney, and the Store No. 1 museum is still there, and Dr. Jerry Buss, late owner of the L.A. Lakers.) I found it, especially today with some snow still on the ground, to be so incredibly depressing, I just couldn’t stand it! We did find “our” old Pizza Hut, but even that didn’t look inviting. We decided that discretion was the better part of valor – and that we needed to put pedal to the metal and get back to Thayne and civilization! So, we did.
As it turns out, right across the street from our Cabin, there is a really excellent market that has its own deli and some really great things that we hadn’t expected to find in Wyoming outside of the major cities! (Of which Kemmerer isn’t one.) Robert offered to make his famous ham and swiss cheese with spicy mustard on a bagel sandwich, so that has sustained us through today! Back to the Cabin about 3, and now waiting for the U.S. Open tennis as well as the NFL Opening Night with the Chiefs vs. Houston!
Tomorrow we turn the nose of Allez-leigh-Bleu (our “new” Subaru) back south, and will make our way to Richfield, UT and then Flagstaff on Saturday night. Home Sunday!
Lots of love,
m
xxx
Up this morning about 6 am, and fortunately, R bought the NBC-SN Gold package which enables us to watch the Tour de France via computer each morning! Down for breakfast about 7:30 am so we could get something to eat and still watch the end of the race. Quite a finish, actually; very fun to watch! Today, we both had o.j. and side orders of wonderful bacon and breakfast potatoes – but these folks are very plentiful when it comes to servings! I couldn’t eat six big slices of bacon, no matter how good they were!
Finally, the race ended about 9:30 am and we gathered up everything and, with great regret, left our lovely hotel. Truly, we will be back there one day for sure! Just have to remember rooms 414 or 416!
Unlike yesterday, the wind wasn’t blowing at all, which made getting everything loaded back into the car pretty easy. It was, however, only 33 degrees…We headed out of Idaho Falls and toward Rexburg and then over the mountains via Driggs.
Some wonderful scenery, as we headed into Wyoming, just before Jackson. It was interesting that there was actually snow BELOW us on the mountains! Definitely leftover from yesterday; glad we weren’t driving here then! We had thought we would have lunch in Jackson, which we did last summer with the Lowders, but when we got to the Jackson turn-off, neither of us was particularly hungry … so we pushed on toward Thayne.
Arrived at Cabin Creek Inn about 1:30 pm and in minutes we were in Cabin #14, which is lovely!
Unlike last time we stayed, where we basically had a nice bedroom with a couch and a bathroom, this cabin is larger – it has a nice kitchen area and kitchen table (great for doing take-out!) with a lovely plaid couch. Then comes the large bathroom with tub and shower, and then the bedroom – complete with built-in electric fireplace! Fortunately, the heating system works well and while it may be cold outside, it’s nice and warm inside! We got everything unloaded and settled in.
About 4:30 pm we decided that we should try to find food … it’s a bit difficult here as it seems that for some reason, several of the restaurants in town are closed. We drove to Dad’s Bar and Steakhouse, but they don’t do food until 5 pm. However, right down the block (main street) was a BBQ place which was open. R ordered their ribs with beans, and I got their pulled pork sandwich and cole slaw. A few minutes later we were back at our cabin and, thanks to traveling with our large and over-stuffed picnic basket, it was no problem putting dinner together. R had received some BBQ sauce for his ribs that he didn’t want, which really saved my pulled pork sandwich! (I always just eat the pork and leave the buns behind; fewer calories and definitely easier to keep your shirt clean!)
 |
| View from our side window! |
Now, we’re enjoying a red Portuguese blended wine with a 90 score from Wine Enthusiast, before watching tonight’s U.S. Open (so much easier to watch without Djokavic) matches!
Not sure what’s on our agenda for tomorrow, but we’re thinking possibly the Fossil Butte National Monument that we visited years ago when we were looking for fossils in Kemmerer, WY. There, the best place in town happened to be the Pizza Hut … we remember that trip well!
More later!
Much love,
m
xxx
