Michigan 2021 | FindPenguins

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Michigan 2021 Traveler
1
Into Moab
October 19, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 52 °F
Continued our drive to Moab, Utah. Since we missed getting into Arches on the way out to Michigan we really wanted try to and get into the park on this trip. And it looks like the weather is going to cooperate! Forcast shows sunshine with partial clouds, low 60s.

About an hour from Moab stopped at a scenic pull out that had a little interpretive walk that we could take. "Walk thru Time", a short walk through some ravines that had been explored and excavated for fossils. Felt good to be out walking and just enjoying the scenery. Ate some lunch in the RV and started looking for housing options in Moab.

Called ahead to get an RV park and was surprised to find that some were full, and pretty expensive here. Up in the $70 range. I am getting so gun shy trying to pick these parks online... the pictures are often a little misleading, and the reviews vary widely!

Anyway ended up at Canyonland RV Resort with out realizing that I had picked one right in the middle of town. But as I figured that out, the clerk had already indicated that if we stayed 2 nights we would get the 3rd night free! So we stayed with the reservation. As it turns out, the park is tight, but trees petty mature, and it's kind of nice to know we can walk for dinner or a coffee. Think we will be fine here, and we are at the back of the park. Laundry and restrooms clean.

Got in early, about 3, and since we will be here a couple of days, I got all caught up on laundry. Should be okay until we get to Mendocino. Actually made a meatloaf and baked potatoes for dinner!Read more
TravelerI'm thinking that if the RV parks have visitors, you should make sure to get to the park early enough to get in this time! Maybe catch sunrise at the park?
10/20/21Reply
TravelerSunrise??!! Geez Kristi… what about a gorgeous sunset with the blazing colors? 🌄😁 But it sounds as if your spot in town could be convenient, like you said a walk to coffee or a meal. Grocery store… all the amenities nearby….
10/21/21Reply
Traveler & the hint of a thumb to come! 😂
10/21/21Reply
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Michigan 2021 Traveler
1
Arches Natl Park
October 20, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 46 °F
What a great park! We loved our day, the weather was perfect, mid 60s, bright blue sky, perfect backdrop to the canyon colors!

Got into the park at 8 am, a pretty early start for us. We decided to drive all the way through to the end of the road and work our way forward. It's about 30 miles into the park and the road ends at Devils Garden. Got a parking spot and hiked back to see Landscape arch, one of the world's longest arch spans. See a couple of other Arches on the hike out. About a 2 mile plus hike. Pretty good number of people visiting, we were never alone in our walk. I really liked this arch the best because of the long, long arch, awesome.

Just kept working our way out of the park stopping at almost every arch turn out. Skyline arch, Sand Dune arch, Delicate arch, Panorama point, Balanced rock, Garden of Eden, Double arch, North and South Window arch, Parade of Elephants, Turret arch, Courthouse towers, and Park Avenue. Everyone is entirely different and all require a short hike or more. I have a thousand arch pictures, just like all my glacier shots, you can never take too many. Anywhere from up close to far away. Sunlight was great so we had lots of color in the stone and plateau, and we had a wonderful view of the snow covered LaSal mountains in the distance.

Can't imagine what this park is like in the summer....a couple of times we had to be patient in finding a parking place. And this is practically the end of October. But more importantly how great the temperature is for hiking and viewing the park right now. Trying to imagine 85 or 90 degree day with that full intense sun. Wow!

End of the day we finished at the visitor center and were disappointed to find the exhibits area closed, and only the gift shop remained open. Not sure if it was due to Covid, or staff shortages. But interesting to see that the gift shops are almost never closed!

Back to the RV with a breif stop at the state owned liquor store! Our typical jug bottle of Woodbridge is $16 out here. Ouch! Still tastes good...Read more
TravelerSounds like a perfect day! I loved Landscape Arch too - well actually all of them are terrific! Did you hike to Delicate Arch, and was it crowded too?
10/21/21Reply
TravelerI did the shorter overlook hike, wanted to make sure we saw most of the park. with all the short hikes still got in 20,000 steps, which is typically just under 10 miles for me.
10/22/21Reply
TravelerGreat choice....it sounds like you did get to a lot of arches
10/22/21Reply
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Michigan 2021 Traveler
1
Canyonlands Natl Park
October 21, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 50 °F
Another great park! Definitely different from Arches, but a lot of the same colors!

Actually started our day at Dead Horse State Park, which is on the way into Canyonland. Nice state park, lots of bikers here. Campgrounds and yurts. The primary overlook gives you a view of a big bend in the Colorado River. This is a great warm up for some of the views we got at Canyonland.

Got to Canyonland and started at the Island in the Sky visitor center, exhibit and movie were closed again. But we did get the rental CD to listen to as we drove through the park. There is hiking here, but you experience most of this park in the overlooks. Unless of course you want to hike down a canyon wall and back up.... Since Kristi and Steve aren't with us we just did the overlooks!

They were all great and the CD gave us a little background about each. Enjoyed our lunch at Mesa Arch, which is their iconic arch picture you often see. Lots of visitors. We did save the best for last, Grand View. It is a big view of the canyon, specifically the Colorado River. This stop does have a mile long rim walk that you can make that gets you to the end of the plateau of this "island in the sky". It is the end of the plateau because it is at the confluence of the Colorado and the Green River. The walk doesn't allow you a view of the confluence just a merging of the canyons formed on either side of the plateau. Just fabulous views!

Back to the RV later than we expected, showers and leftovers for dinner. But only after Auggie got some of his walk time!Read more
Traveler I love this picture! 😄
10/25/21Reply
TravelerGreat pictures! & I really like the views here too!!
10/25/21Reply
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Michigan 2021 Traveler
I-70 out of Moab
October 22, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 61 °F
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Moab, and the weather could not have been better for our visit. Wish we had one more day, because we never spent anytime in the town even though we were parked at an RV location that was well placed for walking on foot to explore. Hope to be back again some day.

Got started pretty early about 8 or 8:30, which is good for us. Quick stop at Starbucks at the grocery store right next to the campground. Normally like going to local shops, but in our RV with the jeep, easier to get into a grocery store parking lot!

This part of I-70 is still scenic, but much more high plateau/ desert (dry) looking than the portion we drove coming into Moab. Left 70 as it starts dropping south and drove 50 heading west into Nevada. Really spent the whole day driving and stopped at the state line.

Our hope was to stay close to Baker, Nevada (state line) and have a brief visit to Great Basin Natl Park. We found this nice cafe/store/casino/motel/RV park right on the state line. Very clean, pretty spartan, but they offered full hook ups, restrooms, showers and laundry room for $28 a night. We were happy to take it! We really like having electives power on these colder nights. The RV heater is sort of noisy compared to our portable oil heater!Read more
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Michigan 2021 Traveler
Hwy 50, the loneliest hwy
October 23, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F
What better way to start the day then with a hot breakfast that some one else cooks and cleans up? We enjoyed walking over to the cafe and having breakfast served. Nice, clean and quiet. Remember we are out in the middle of nowhere!

We were going to head straight to Great Badsin to at least drive the park, but the website indicated about 50% of the drive was closed for the season, it didn't even get to the bristlecone pine grove. In addition it was a very gray, and wet looking morning, so we just headed on our way.

Filled up in Ely, has was over $4 a gallon, and out here your choices are 85, 88 or 91 octane. We were reluctant to buy the 85 for the RV, so we couldn't even go with the cheap stuff...

Lunch stop in Eureka at a little cafe in a much older building. Most all these little towns have been struggling to survive since the late 1800s, all mining and cattle back then. Not much else even now.

Evening stop in Cold Springs Station, old time pony express stop. Like the Border Inn from last night, it is a one stop shop. Cafe, bar, store, motel, and RV park with hook ups. They had about 15 sites, but they were all full. So they did let us park there and use the rest rooms for $10. It was just cold enough, low 40s, we used our little propane heater until we went to bed,

The power source for this stop was pretty much exclusively through solar panels and some generator power. But like so many of these spots, they usually end up being a junk site behind the building. If your car, tractor, trailer is no longer functioning, just park it here and leave.

But it was very quiet!Read more
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Michigan 2021 Traveler
Change in direction!
October 24, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F
Up bright and early, but Cold Springs Cafe did not seem to be open for breakfast yet, but found one up the road at Middlegate station. This station has the distinction of being housed in the original building. Which as actually kind of cool looking in a VERY rustic way. Plus this was the turn off for to a big change in direction.

We have been trying to track what sort of implications the "bomb cyclone" forecasted for northern California (and the Pacific northwest) would have on our travels. We were due to cross the Sierras via Donner Pass on Hwy 80 and just felt very reluctant to do so with heavy rain and or snow anticipated. Plus then we were to continue on across Northern California to Mendocino, again in primarily very rainy conditions. SO we opted out for the southern solution, had south and over Tehachapi.

Kind of disappointed, or trip is coming to end sooner then expected. From Tehachapi we will just head up that scenic Hwy 99 drive from Bakersfield to Fresno.

Oh well, back in the the long drive south in Navada, down to Bishop on 395. Wow, talk about desolate. It makes Hwy 50 ( the loneliest road) seem like a tourist stop drive. There is nothing out here, besides brown hills and plains. Some cattle, and of course an occasional deserted and crumbling shack or two. But still the road conditions were very good. And we certainly did not have much traffic to deal with!

It was interesting to drive Hwy 6 out of Nevada along the White Nountains which we always view from 395. Finally 6 and 395 merge at Bishop. Clouds too low to see either mammoth (or Mt Whitney) down in Lone pine), but the valley drive along the white mountains was nice.

Bishop seemed really busy, so didn't stop there. Filled up in Independence at the casino and only paid $4.40 as opposed to $4.90s everywhere else. $200 is about what it takes to fill the tank, OUCH! So maybe heading home instead of Mendocino, then Fresno, isn't such a bad idea financially!

Pulled into Lone Pine for an overnight, Boulder Creek RV Resort. Nice park that had full hook ups, and I really wanted a nice park for a good shower! Got in a little early, we have been fighting windy conditions and just thought we were done for the day. Hoping it will let up tomorrow, but does not look promising. But at least it is not buckets of rain or snow!Read more
TravelerI think you mean Mt Whitney....not McKinley! But they are both monsters...
10/25/21Reply
Travelerooops!
10/25/21Reply
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Michigan 2021 Traveler
Ending trip
October 27, 2021 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 52 °F
Last footprint to close trip
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Trip end
October 27, 2021