Rocky Mountains

Map Route

Sunday morning we left Moab, feeling a little like we were saying goodbye to home again since we had set up a sort of home base there for the last couple of days. The drive to Colorado was beautiful especially in the transition from desert sand to pines and aspens. If I wasn't homesick by now, Colorado definitely made it worse. We followed the highway along the Colorado river, through red canyons and the growing greener foliage. In Grand Junction we met up with an IG friend, Josh, and grabbed coffee downtown. He let us know about the Walmart down the street, which made us happier than it should have. After driving through small towns for the last week where there was only convenience stores we had become desperate for cheap supplies. At Walmart we picked up a new ice chest that would stay cold longer and actually had a drainage plug. (Thanks nick for picking out the last one :)  ) we also needed a blanket for Nick as he forgot his bedding. It was a good thing we got a blanket because Colorado sure does get cold at night. We then met back up with Josh who took us to "Moon Rock" a huge cliff top that overlooks Grand Junction. We watched the sunset, the city lights flicker on, and eventually the stars popped out. We sat on the rock talking about our adventures to come but mainly just sat in silence. The only noise was crickets. When it was time to go we accidently wandered off the path and spent a couple minutes retracing our steps to get back to the car. Natalie was a real champ and drove till 3am to get us to Georgetown, CO. We slept in the visitor center parking lot.



The sunset over Grand Junction at Moon Rock

Josh, Alicia, Natalie, and Nick at Moon Rock

As it turned out we had picked a great place to stay since the visitor center offered free coffee and hot chocolate in the morning, after staying up so late we needed it. We then drove to the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park. The drive there is amazing to say the least. The road meanders up the mountains through little towns and closed ski resorts. By the time we got to Winter Park, CO it had started raining and the wind had picked up. We stopped for soup to warm up then continued to climb in elevation. At the visitors center in the park, a ranger let us know about a short hike to a waterfall just outside the park. We backtracked and hiked to Adam's falls. It was a narrow waterfall that ran along the mountain side with the water carving its way through the rocks and aspens. Once back inside the park we stopped at Coyote Valley, a short hike between the Colorado river and a mountain side. Throughout the park were large valleys with herds of Elk grazing. We drove through the park all the way to the 12,000 ft elevation peak. The mountain tops still had snow and the air was freezing. After snapping a few pics of the scenic view overlooking the valley we headed down the mountain and to Denver. Along the way we sold our old cooler on craigslist. We need all the room we can get in this small camper. In Denver we grabbed pizza and then found a parking lot to park for the night. We were going to try some Rocky Mountain Oysters but we got into Denver too late on a Monday night. Thank god ;)

Alicia at the peak in Rocky Mt Park

A small lake in Rocky Mt Nat'l Park

Natalie and Alicia at Rocky Mt Nat'l Park

In the morning we left Denver and headed south. We did a drive through of the Garden of the Gods, then took a scenic loop on hwy 24. We tried to drive up Pikes Peak but they wanted $12 a person, apparently America isn't the land of the free but the land of ripoffs. We're finding out quickly that everywhere wants to charge you for nature. To heal our broken hearts from missing out on Pikes Peak we stopped for local handmade ice cream- I got Rocky Road for Colorado :) Continuing down the highway we stopped at Florrisant Fossil Park and got to see petrified redwoods. It's amazing how huge the tree stumps are and how well they had been preserved. We drove towards Sand Dunes Nat'l Park but it had gotten late so we picked up a movie and found a campsite in Alamosa, CO to settle in for the night.

Natalie at Garden of the Gods




Alicia with a petrified redwood at Florrisant Fossil Park



Natalie channeling a Flamingo

Nick riding a Pelican



Alicia taming the giant chicken













This morning we got up and enjoyed well water showers ( the ones that smell like rotten eggs from the sulphur). At Sand Dunes Nat'l Park we played in the warm stream of water trickling through the sand. We were told that the park is the highest elevation beach in the world. After running around the dunes, we left the park and drove 4 miles down a gravel road to get to Zapata Falls. The creaking of the motor home was really annoying as we hit bump after bump. The falls definitely made the drive worth it. We hiked to the falls, from looking at the river it seemed to be a small waterfall running over larger rocks, but we went further upstream to get a better look. We had to traverse along rocks to avoid our shoes from getting wet. At the top of the river was a cave that we had to wade in the water to get to. We took our shoes off and balanced on rock tops to avoid the freezing water. Once inside the cave you could see a larger waterfall that ran down a crack in the rock. It was quite an amazing view. During the winter the waterfall freezes over and from pictures looks even more enchanting. We scrambled back across the rocks to continue on our drive. We made it into New Mexico and our first stop was at the Rio Grande Gorge,  canyon that's carved out by the Rio Grande River. We were able to walk across a bridge to look straight down over the river. We watched the sky start to turn pink from the sun setting and drove into Taos for the night. Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe.



Nick and Natalie playing in the stream at the Dunes

Natalie and Alicia on the Dunes

Alicia and Nick at Zapata Falls

Our feet over the Rio Grande River

Quote:
     " For all its material advantages the sedentary life has left us edgy, unfulfilled. Even after 400 generations in villiages and cities, we haven't forgotten. The open road still softly calls, like a nearly forgotten song of childhood." ~Carl Sagan

Desert Solitaire

Yesterday we were back at Arches Nat'l Park, this time we went out to the Windows Arches, Turret Arch and Double Arch. The Windows are two Arches, a north and a south one. The Double Arch, as in the name is two Arches joining each other. We hiked around the sandstone for the afternoon then made our way back into Moab. The other day we got coupons for a free piece of petrified dinosaur bone from Lin Ottinger's Rock Shop. So we stopped in on the rock shop to see what the store had to offer us. There are tons of rocks and gems that fill the inside and outside patio of the store. When we entered the store Lin was working there. He is an older man who goes around Utah and finds dinosaur bones. He found a full skeleton and donated it to BYU. He told us all about his findings and that because of his advances in paleontology there has been a dinosaur named after him.We looked around the shop for about an hour, collected our free dinosaur bones then went to dinner. We went to the Moab Brewery for dinner and drinks. The place had amazing service and the food and beer was delicious. After sneaking some showers at a RV camp we settled in for the night in some parking lot.



Double Arch

Natalie getting some shade at Arches

Today we woke early and went back to Arches, the rangers working the gate have come to recognize us. We took a 2 mile hike at Park Ave trail and saw Court House Towers and Sheep Rock (which actually looks like a sheep) We left Arches early and picked up some more groceries then drove to Canyonlands Nat'l Park. Our first stop outside the park was Newspaper Rock- which is covered in ancient petroglyphs. Once inside the park we made two short hikes at Roadside Ruins, which has a small structure that once held grains for the natives, and to Cave Springs a hike that runs under the alcoves of the canyons, the same alcoves that protected the cowboys that used to run cattle. Our hike led us up a couple wooden ladders to the top of the cliff and along the rim. When we were done hiking for the day we drove the motor home down a gravel road to Elephant Hill where we cooked dinner and talked to the passing hikers. A hiker came off the trail and asked if we could give him a ride. He had just hiked 10 miles through the canyons, and had been in desolation for 3 days. We had extra food and offered him dinner and refilled his water. We all ate and learned of each others adventures. When we were done with dinner we made our way to the camp with our new friend. At camp we said goodbye and we went to see a ranger talk about the plant life in Canyonlands. The talk was very interesting and we learned about how the plants had survived the harsh conditions of drought and monsoons.We drove back to Moab where we will be staying for the night, tomorrow we plan on heading towards Colorado.



Petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock



Natalie hanging out in a hole at Park Ave trail- Arches

Quote:
     "The most dangerous risk of all- the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself freedom to do it later."

Canyon Lands

Map Route

Finally some WiFi! What an adventure it has been so far. We left for our trip Friday the 13th for good luck. We planned to leave at 9am but pulled out around 4pm due to a series of wait I need this and we have to run this errand, and don't forget grocery shopping.  After following the Strawberry Moon to Lancaster, CA we settled in at Natalie's sister's house. The next day we woke with anticipation for the journey to come. With a short stop to get our stereo fixed so we could have tunes, we were on the road.

Our first pic with the Dolphin at Hoover Dam

We made a short drive to Las Vegas, NV to stay with some friends. Neither Natalie nor Nick had been before so we experienced a night on the town at the new strip. The next day we walked down the old Las Vegas strip then headed out to the Hoover Dam. It was crazy to see that such a large structure had been constructed in the 1930's. We were then on our way to Flagstaff, AZ. On the drive we decided to change our destination and to just drive straight through the night to the Grand Canyon. We planned to sleep in the Dolphin at some parking lot, then wake up to see the beautiful canyon.  (a side note: the only AC our motor home has is in the driving area, we are slowly adapting to the hot box. No AC-> more sweat:  awesomeness + limited showers =  we've officially become dirty hippies) On the drive out there we saw tons of elk lurking by the road in the dark. Luckily Natalie was driving, her safe driving and keen eye prevented us from killing an elk and stopping our trip early. About 2am we came upon a car that had hit an elk, the car and the animal were destroyed. Pieces of elk were strewn across the highway and the front end of the car was smashed in badly. We stopped to check on the passengers, turns out they were from Sacramento, they were ok, definitely shook up. No one had cell service so we told them we would drive into the town about 10 miles up the road and send someone out to help them. We got to the town and everything was closed, we stopped at a hotel, knowing someone would be working the front desk. The lady said it was very common and called the police to head out to the crash. We got to sleep around 3 am.

A desert flower over the Grand Canyon

After hours of running around the Grand Canyon we made our way north east through the Painted Desert. We couldn't see much because there was a huge sand storm. The wind was blowing our little motor home all over the road and creating a clouded view of the canyons. Our trip led us to the Dinosaur Tracks, where Leonna, a local native, showed us the prints all over the sandstone rocks. We left quickly to avoid the sand blasts that exfoliated our skin and continued north to the Navajo Nat'l Monument- where the Anasazi had built their homes into the walls of the canyons. We were able to see the structures from a view point and imagined life thousands of years ago. Our day wasn't over just yet, we drove to Monument Valley to see buttes, spires, and pinnacles that shaped the American ideal of the wild west. Monument Valley is where many John Wayne films were located. We stayed the night in Mexican Hat, UT at a boat ramp; a secluded area next to the San Juan river. (on our drive through Indian reservations we stopped at a market to get some food, outside the store a man was selling weed out of a box, probably the strangest thing we've seen so far.)



Navajo Nat'l Monument- Ancient ruins built into the canyon wall.                       Natalie checking out some Dino tracks

The next day we drove to Bluff, UT and checked out the Bluff Fort, a replicated community from the Mormon settlers. We played dress up in children's western clothes and rode on wooden horses, as well as dressed up in pioneer clothes and got to sit in an old wagon. We were in tears from laughing at how silly we are. Our next stop was Hovenweep Nat'l Monument, a short hike on canyon ridges to see some native ruins, and towers that were built on the canyon cliffs. We continued east to Four Corners. We stood where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona all meet in one place and you can have your body in 4 states at once. Leaving Four Corners we drove south back to Arizona to Canyon de Chelle. We camped in Chinle and planned a day of canyon dwelling.

Our feet at 4 corners- New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado.





In the old wagon at Bluff Fort



In Canyon de Chelle we drove to various overlooks; canyon tops that plunge down to the lush green plains that are inhabited by natives. At White House overlook we hiked to the base and got an up close view of ruins built into a large crevice in the canyon wall. With our 2.5 mile hike out of the way we departed Arizona and made our way back into Utah. Our destination is Moab to see Arches Nat'l Park. We picked up provisions in Blanding, UT and had a picnic at the Edge of the Cedars State Park. We made it to Moab at night fall and were drawn into a campground by the hot tub and swimming pool. Some full pressured showers made us feel like we had made a great investment.



Hiking down to White House.

At White House

We woke today in Moab and spent the day at Arches Nat'l Park. We drove as deep into the park as we could and worked our way back to the entrance. Turns out they're doing construction this week so the Devil's Canyon is inaccessible. We're pretty bummed about missing some arches but made the most of it by hiking all of the other trails. We hiked to Broken Arch and Sand Dune Arch, these were short hikes with a lot of people running around. After a nap that was interrupted by children crying we drove to Delicate Arch, a 3 mile hike that was very steep and super hot. We finally made our way to the very top and after waiting for all of the other tourists, we were able to get some pictures. We enjoyed some snacks and the view then climbed back down. Before heading out we stopped at a couple overlooks then pulled off on a dirt road for dinner. We had finally found a secluded place where we could BBQ, relax, and enjoy the sunset over the valley and Balanced Rock. Tomorrow we will be back at Arches to see more that the park has to offer.





Tiny me and Nick in Delicate Arch

Sunset at Arches Nat'l Park







Quote:
      "I always wonder why birds stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on earth, then I ask myself the same question." ~Harun Yahya

The Dolphin Pod

My name is Alicia and I am going on the adventure of a lifetime with my friends, Natalie and Nick. We are driving across the United States for the summer in my renovated RV, an '89 Toyota Dolphin, hence the name Dolphin Pod. We have quit our jobs and packed our bags for 2 months on the road. We will be departing from Northern California on Friday, June 13th and will be hitting select destinations to the east coast and back with our final destination at Burning Man. The countdown begins: 12 days.

                                               Here's our baby, hopefully she makes it :)

And here is our tentative route

We have no real time schedule or specific dates of where we need to be. We are just kinda winging it.

For this trip we have a set a few rules:

• Only #1
• You must journal every day
• Don't throw up in the sink or shower
• When in doubt use the weirdo gauge
• and Natalie don't try to bring your entire closet