It’s day 28 and we’re in Moab for another night. The is the only real motel we’ve stayed in this entire trip, Expedition Lodge, and it’s fine. It’s given us a little taste of the stays that the Route 66 folks probably had most. As a motel, the place is two stories only, every room has a door that opens to the outside, and there’s no elevator. That’s the most significant inconvenience to us since we travel with so much luggage. I did take a picture of the outside (seen below) but didn’t take any on the inside. The inside had been redone with colors from the 60’s. Forest green tub and toilet, lime green microwave and refrigerator. You get the picture.
I got my laundry done today. Even though there’s only one of each machine, they were available and easy to use. It’s always good to have clean underwear (I know I really shouldn’t use it here, but ‘laugh-out-loud’). We ate takeout from a great Thai place last night, Thai Bella. The food was good and Thai level hot. I was careful to order my food ‘mild’ but Dan was crying and sucking down milk and rice the whole time we ate.
By early afternoon it was time to go to Canyonlands National Park. It continues to be interesting to me that two such different landscapes and experiences can be so relatively close together. What I mean is that Arches park has over 2000 arches, as well as a geologically interesting landscape. Canyonlands, on the other hand, is only known for one arch, but would be reminiscent of the Grand Canyon to anyone that has been there or seen pictures. The park is one-quarter the size of Grand Canyon National Park (520 square miles compared to 1900 square miles) but is huge none-the-less. There are five areas to investigate in the park: Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze, Horseshoe Canyon Unit, and The Rivers.
We had time and energy to include Island in the Sky only. We hiked Mesa Arch trail and Grand View Point trail. Mesa Arch trail takes you to one of the spectacular sites, including the only large arch in Canyonlands.
Grand View Point trail is an out and back trail that follows the edge of the canyon cliff where, of course, the views are grand. There were a few other people on the trail, but it wasn’t busy. We stopped a couple of times and tried to make our own mark on the landscape…to no avail (joking, we would never).
Canyonlands was also caused by erosion from Colorado and the Green Rivers (and other geological and environmental erosion happenings). There are many geological similarities to Grand Canyon, but I preferred to simply enjoy another amazing natural environment rather than decide which one was better, etc. I loved visiting this park because of the close-up views we experienced without being on either a bus or in a cue to get access to the sites. I’ve included some of the other views on the Grand View Point trial below.
At the end of the day I would say that this stay was one of our favorites because of the parks we visited. Thanks for following and commenting! Coming up, day 29. Travel day and visit to Colorado National Monument.
