Standing on the Corner...

Good things don't last forever (darn it!) and our campground in the Coconino National Forest was closing for the season in just a few days.  We decided that the Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona was to be our next adventure.  Also on Route 66 in Winslow was architect and designer, Mary Colter's masterpiece, La Posada, the "Last Great Railroad Hotel."

Meteor Crater, about 20 miles west of Winslow

La Posada means the resting place and it was the last and most elegant of the great Fred Harvey Hotels built by the Santa Fe Railroad.  Mary Colter designed the hotel as a fabulous Spanish hacienda and it was the only project for which she was able to design the buildings, decorate the interiors, plan the gardens and oversee construction.  Although Mary Colter is most famous for her magnificent buildings at the Grand Canyon, La Posada was her favorite.

Place mat designed by Mary Colter for the dining room at La Posada

But time was not kind to La Posada.  People stopped riding trains, planes flew farther and faster and Route 66 was bypassed and abandoned.  La Posada was closed in 1958 and gutted and turned into offices by the railroad.  Then the hotel was scheduled to be torn down - a beautiful American building and piece of history in ruins.  Fortunately it was bought in 1997 and is slowly being returned to its former glory.  Each year a few more rooms or a new garden is restored. 

David and I dined in La Posada's elegant restaurant, The Turquoise Room.  Our meal was beautifully presented and featured local and organic ingredients.  David had prime rib with fresh vegetables (which he actually ate!) and a potato.  I had the chipolte rubbed smoked chicken with tomatillo sauce, black beans, tamale and fresh vegetables.  The food was as tasty as it was pretty.

It was good to see La Posada, Route 66 and Historic Downtown Winslow being restored and rediscovered.

Signature Soup - Black Bean & Corn Chowder with Chipolte Sauce

 

Our entrees - Yum!

Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona

Looking through the maples at the canyon walls

Our time in Oak Creek Canyon and the Coconino National Forest was magical. Maybe it was the peace and beauty of the canyon or maybe our chakras were all out of whack and being near Sedona did the trick - whatever the reason - we felt wonderful!  We stayed in Pine Flat Campground in the national forest. The water at the campground was ice cold and tasted heavenly.  A nearby spring was the source and people from all around the area made trips to the spring to get the water.  So, I guess it could have been the water...

West Fork of Oak Creek

 

We hiked in the canyon most days and in the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness around Sedona a few times.  Neither David nor I had ever been to Sedona so it was fun to see this 'woo woo' place that we had heard about for years.  The red rock scenery was amazing but what a touristy and pricey town.  I had a $2 apple and a small one at that.  It was organic and it tasted great, but needless to say, I didn't buy a dozen.  Bring lots of money with you if you come to Sedona.  But the air, water and scenery are free in Oak Creek Canyon. 

Crossing Oak Creek

More Maples

 

 

Hiking near Sedona

 

Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness

 

 

 

Lake Havasu City to Flagstaff, AZ



Oak Creek Canyon near Flagstaff, AZ





After spending time in Lake Havasu City and the Phoenix area, it would have been easy to forget that we were well into fall.  But when we looked at the weather to see about going back to Utah, it was getting below freezing most nights.  Northern Arizona was still pretty moderate, so we decided to play it safe and not go back to Utah. 

We had stayed a few nights in Oak Creek Canyon near Flagstaff on our way down from Utah.  It is a beautiful canyon that extends along Arizona Highway Alt. 89 from Flagstaff to Sedona.  So we were happy to go back and spend more time hiking the canyon and visiting Flagstaff and Sedona.

Leaves in West Fork of Oak Creek

 

The weather was absolutely perfect and the maples in the canyon were in full color.  We hiked several trails but the West Fork Trail was the most beautiful.  It followed the west fork of Oak Creek for about 3.3 miles winding through a narrow canyon and crossing the creek 17 times. So that was a total of 6.6 miles and 34 creek crossings.  Good thing the boots were well waterproofed!

 

 

 

 

 

  

Visiting Friends, Family, Zombieland and London Bridge

London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona

Even when doing your best to live free and easy, life is seldom without problems.  We have done well this summer and had no issues at all with our car or RV.  But a couple of times during the last few months, the LP Gas detector alarm in our RV went off (usually between midnight and 3 am in the morning!).  The last couple of weeks this has happened more frequently. After being loudly jarred out of bed three times one night in Torrey, it was time to make sure we did not have a gas leak. 

We decided to head for St. George, Utah as we have good friends that live there and we were referred to a place in St. George to diagnose our RV.  Reluctantly we left the Torrey area, hoping to come right back and spend more time visiting Bryce Canyon and other parks in the area.

We spent three nice days visiting our friends, Carla and Jerry, who had met us earlier in the summer when we were in Florence, Oregon.  But alas our RV did not get fixed.  We took it to three different places and got a different answer each time as to the problem.  (Our RV is new and made in Canada and not every repair center is familiar with its particularities.)  David got on the computer and found a dealer/service center for our RV in Mesa, Arizona, part of the huge Phoenix metroplex.  So temporarily, we gave up our plans of spending more time in Utah’s parks and headed for the Phoenix area.

As I have mentioned before, both of us have gotten pretty spoiled to cool weather and it was still 95 degrees in the Phoenix area.  But on the good side, I have a cousin that lives in Scottsdale, so off we went to get our RV fixed and to visit family. 

Since we wanted to stay near the RV repair place in Mesa, we found a commercial campground nearby. The place was strangely vacant when we arrived. Except for the staff at the check in desk, there was no one to be seen. No one in the pool or at the golf course and though there were many RVs about, no one seemed to be at home. But after all, it was 95 degrees, so we didn't think too much about it.

We were meeting my cousin, Penny and some friends for dinner so we left fairly quickly to drive to Scottsdale. When we returned later that night the true nature of our situation became clear.  Maybe we were just hot and disoriented or maybe we really did step into the ‘Twighlight Zone.'   It was dark and the moon was rising.  Very slowly the residents emerged from their RVs and Park Homes.  They were pale and some were dressed in pajamas or house robes.   They sat in lawn chairs under their awnings staring at books.  They didn’t look up or say hi.  It was very, very scary.  Our fears were confirmed -- we were camping in Zombieland!

David and I got up early the next morning and took our RV to the shop. We didn't have a gas leak, which was a relief.  With everything checked out and ready to go, we left 'Zombieland' and drove three hours to Lake Havasu City, Arizona to visit my aunt Vicki.  London Bridge fell down and moved to Lake Havasu City about 35 years ago.  We had fun with my aunt acting as tour guide and we spent the night at a very non zombie-like campground on the shores of Lake Havasu.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

"Adventure is not in the guidebook,

beauty is not on the map. 

Seek and ye shall find."  

On the Loose by Terry and Renny Russell

 

 Calf Creek Lower Falls Trail, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Some of the places we have travelled this summer and fall have been planned but many more have just been found.  And that was the case with Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM).  As we were enjoying the Dixie National Forest we noticed that the GSENM was just a little farther south and we wanted to explore it.  What a treat!  An amazingly unspoiled and remote 1.9 million acres of America's public lands, the GSENM was the last place in the continental United States to be mapped.  I did not know that...  At the visitor center we learned that and many other interesting things about the geology, biology and history of the area.

The National Monument was established in 1996 and is one of the nation's newest conservation initiatives managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The Grand Staircase is a series of massive geological steps that descend toward the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The five cliff formations -- Pink, Gray, White, Vermilion and Chocolate -- are classic examples of biological diversity, spanning five different life zones. GSENM is a fantastic outdoor laboratory and much scientific research is being conducted here. David and I had fun indulging our 'inner scientist' at the exhibits in the visitor center.



Red rocks and pink, white and chocolate cliffs 

Streaked cliffs on the Calf Creek Lower Falls Trail

 

We drove through much of the monument on Scenic Byway 12 and stopped to hike one of the monument's more scenic trails, the Calf Creek Lower Falls Trail. The hike wound through a labyrinth canyon with multi-hued cliffs on both sides.  After 3 miles of stark beauty, the trail ended at one of the prettiest waterfalls I have seen. 

We had wanted a little warmer weather and for this hike we got it. David likes his weather 'just right' and this was a little too warm for him.  But once the trail left the desert for the cool moisture of the canyon we perked up, Maya included. When we arrived at the waterfall, it was body and soul refreshing!

 

Lower Calf Creek Falls

 

Aspens & The Dixie National Forest

Maya admiring David in his fashionable orange vest.

Elk hunting season started the previous weekend while we were in Vernal and we avoided hiking that first weekend.  But we knew we couldn't stay off the trails for the whole hunting season and it was so beautiful in Torrey that we had to see the fall color. We put on our new orange vests and headed out to hike part of the Great Western Trail from the Fish Creek Trailhead in the Dixie National Forest. 

Much of the Great Western Trail in Utah is accessible to horses, mountain bikes and ATVs as well as hikers.  We were a little concerned that being multi-accessible would attract more hunters. So we started our hike late in the morning to be safer and kept Maya close on her leash. We saw a few hunter's camps but didn't see or hear any hunting activity.  The day was excellent and the aspens were shining!

View from the Great Western Trail in the Dixie National Forest

Butter yellow aspen on Great Western Trail

Aspens turning gold and red

 

 

 

 

Torrey, Utah -- Red Rocks, More Aspens & Cafe Diablo

Sunrise on red rocks at our campground in Torrey, Utah

Several years ago David, his brother, Jim, and I spent a few days seeing the parks in southern Utah.  In Torrey we discovered this great little restaurant, Café Diablo, and we always promised ourselves to go back if we ever got the chance.  Well, Torrey was a mere four hours south and a little west of Vernal and we were headed south anyway, so how could we resist?

We found a great campsite at an RV park just outside of Torrey with beautiful red rock views out our RV window.  Torrey is a scenic little town with cottonwood lined streets and a population of about 500.  Capitol Reef National Park is just a few miles to the east, the Fishlake National Forest is to the northwest and the Dixie National Forest and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument are south of town.  So Torrey is in the middle of a huge recreation area.  We thought we had seen some nice fall color since Yellowstone but in and around Torrey, we hit the jackpot!  The aspens were at their peak while we were visiting.

Orange and gold aspens in the Dixie National Forest

Of course we were anxious to see if the food at Café Diablo was as good as we remembered, so we dined there our first day in town.  I ordered the citrus salad and David ordered the crown ribs for us to share.  The food was as well presented, as wonderful and as ample as we remembered. So we were really glad that we shared the main course. Now we had a little room left for desert. We shared the “bomb,” a very dense chocolate mouse with the house-made vanilla bean ice cream.  As our RV park was only a half mile away, we made a note to ourselves to walk next time we dined.

Crown Ribs with smoked chipotle rub

We stayed a total of four days in Torrey and I am not too ashamed to say we ate one meal at Café Diablo each of those days – two dinners and two lunches.  Torta al Carbon (a flank steak sandwich), Smoked Chicken Sopas, and Tenderloin with a cashew sauce were among the dishes we tried.  Everything was amazing.  But we never did walk to and from the restaurant...  

The "Stacker"

A dense chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and vanilla bean ice cream

Wall decor at Cafe Diablo