We Found Spring in Arches and Canyonland National Parks 4-8-10

We left Denver on 3-31 with sunny mild temperatures headed into a wind storm and snow warnings for Wyoming as we headed to Salt Lake City for a family reunion with our kids. Brrrrr…we are trying to find spring. We are newbie RVers and unsure what all of this meant but quickly discovered that a big, square RV rig is a playtoy for these conditions. We thought that we were back on our boat being rocked by beam waves on the Gulf, 40-50 knot head seas in the Atlantic and waked by passing boats in Miami which were now huge tractor trailer trucks. Captain Bob “at the wheel” did a magnificent job maneuvering and we hunkered down in roadside trailer parks which rivaled our back country marinas in the “deliverance country” of Mississippi for ambience and comfort. My sister Joan is also a new RVer and has stayed in Wal-Mart parking lots at times like this, but in central Wyoming, there is not a big box store in sight.

We made it to Salt Lake City on Friday, 4/2 just in time for the Mormon convention. I have not seen that many white shirts and families with 6-8 children since the 1950s. Our son Brian lives here and goes to grad school at University of Utah and our daughter, Katie, flew in from Denver so missed our preceding paragraph adventure. We wanted spring but the kids were petitioning for more powder skiing and guess who won. While we walked around SLC with the Mormons who would not even let us into the Temple, the kids had a magnificent day of the finest powder skiing ever. We toasted our time together with a full-spread ham dinner and Easter egg hunt for money-filled eggs.

It is time for Mom and Dad to spread our wings and find spring and adventure. Arches and Canyonland National Parks are east of SLC so we headed out again to find them. The wind abated, the mountains rose and, with the backdrop of the Grand Canyon Suite, we found the beautiful canyons of Utah. We are originally from the east coast, have lived the past 33 years in Minnesota and were unprepared for the expansive, solitary beauty of the western landscape. It is absolutely breathtaking when you can see mountains 360 degrees and feel like you are touching heaven. It was also 65 degrees—winter’s gone!!!

Here we are in Arches National Park with our 32’ Jayco Greyhawk Class C Motorhome. It is quite comfortable and much bigger and with more creature comforts than our 32 foot boat, Baby Grand. We did not have reservations at Arches but lucked out due to a cancellation opening. Campground hosts, Dick and his wife, and Donnie and his wife, made us feel so welcomed and shared tips for full-time RVing. Here we are hiking to Landscape and Partition Arches as well as squeezing through the canyons in the Fiery Furnace. The hiker after me broke his ankle twisting through here and had to be evacuated out so be careful out there in canyonland. We have a Kymco 150 cc motorscooter that is so much fun to ride and now that I have my motorcycle license, maybe there is a tattoo in my future.

The fun and hiking continue at Canyonland National Park which is 30 miles up the road. It is a miniature Grand Canyon with beautiful vistas and spectacular scenery. Bob took my picture backed up to a cliff, urging me closer to the edge—if you don’t hear from me, you’ll know what happened.

Wait a Minute--that's not a boat???? 4-1-10

Baby Grand is still in her cocoon back in Lake Champlain but we moved to Denver last fall and fell in love with the West. Being flat-landers in Minnesota for the past
33 years, our necks are always cranked upwards and our mouths in full awe position as we take in the huge scope and scale of the spectacular Rocky Mountains. It's been a fun winter of skiing and snowshoeing in the mountains and very little winter in Denver until March.

We decided to go to the Denver RV show in January to check out RVs for the future. You guessed it--one thing led to another and we closed on a 31 GS Jayco "Grey Hawk" Class C motorhome on 2/15. Baby Grand does not know yet that there's been a whole big addition to the family so let's keep it a secret for now. We still plan on continuing the boating Great Circle Loop through the canals to the Great Lakes this summer but only going as far as Northport on Lake Michigan.

I realize that putting our Grey Hawk RV trip on our beloved Baby Grand blog is kind of like posting a picture of your mistress with the family photos. We are trying out another lifestyle and do feel a little unfaithful and who knows where all of this will lead—we sure don’t but we do love adventure.

We left Denver on 3/31 on our maiden RV voyage to do the Grand Circle (what is it about circles for us?) of national parks for a month. We have always wanted to travel the US by RV after reading John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and watching the PBS series on the national parks by Ken Burns. This trip we will be visiting Arches, Canyonland, Zion, Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde National Parks.

But first, we had to get out of Denver. During our first half hour, we rounded a corner right into a deep pothole which tilted the rig, then there was a big grinding noise in the back but we couldn't stop as we were hemmed in with traffic. Other cars kept waving to us which we thought was pretty cool until we realized they were telling us our motorcycle was tilting precariously. OK--we pull over finally, forget that we have an upward clearance of 11'3" and hit some tree tops. No damage to anything thankfully and it's good to get all your catastrophes over early in the trip.