Thanks for carrying on in the comments section of last night's Bryce Canyon post. I've got lots of new photographs to upload and tweak, but I'm going to take the next hour or so to read the internet in my usual morning way and see if I can come up with something worth talking about.
ADDED: "Capitol Reef encompasses the Waterpocket Fold, a warp in the earth's crust that is 65 million years old."
It is the largest exposed monocline in North America. In this fold, newer and older layers of earth folded over each other in an S-shape. This warp, probably caused by the same colliding continental plates that created the Rocky Mountains, has weathered and eroded over millennia to expose layers of rock and fossils. The park is filled with brilliantly colored sandstone cliffs, gleaming white domes, and contrasting layers of stone and earth.
The area was named for a line of white domes and cliffs of Navajo Sandstone, each of which looks somewhat like the United States Capitol building, that run from the Fremont River to Pleasant Creek on the Waterpocket Fold.
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Is it technically a "record" or a very impressive 13-year streak?
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/malik-obama-shares-photo-brother-baracks-kenya-certificate-birth/
Capitol Reef is probably the least appreciated of the five southern Utah parks. But it's got some great stuff, mostly off pavement.
Capitol Reef offers some really nice hikes without the crowds and some excellent petroglyphs. It's an underappreciated park because it's too close to Zion, Bryce, and Arches.
"It's an underappreciated park because it's too close to Zion, Bryce, and Arches."
But if you are driving between Bryce and Arches and take the scenic route, you drive right through it. You can't help seeing it. I'm surprised people don't see it. But your phone app won't send you down Routes 12 and 24. It will get you right up to I-70. You have to realize it's worth it to get on 12. Some amazing segments, notable Hogsback Road.
Whew.
Don't miss Goblin Valley State Park, and if you are going to Moab for a visit to Arches and Canyonlands, Dead Horse State Park has a spectacular vista overlooking the Colorado River.
I note that John C. Fremont, of immense fame in the history of California, also has a River named for him in Utah. But he was appointed the Governor of Arizona Territory at the end of his interesting life saga that included being the First abolitionist Republican candidate for President.
See, this is what the streak gets you, there you are driving around in the middle of nowhere, enjoying the scenery, and hundreds of people around the country wonder where are they, and are they OK?
And we never doubted you.
I wondered about that myself around noon today. By early afternoon, I felt sure you would post today.
Thanks for keeping your streak alive!
Ann, I appreciate (and envy) your travel posting, and love the photographs you've shared. Glad you and Meade are having such a wonderful time together. I've never bothered to keep a bucket list, but after your recent posts, I might have to start.
@Althouse: I hope you continue to blog as much and as long as you want, but you needn't feel the need to continue your streak (or record) forever. For example, Cal Ripken, the Orioles' great shortstop, played in every game for 17 years, 2,632 games, until he voluntarily ended his streak by taking a day off in 1998. Nobody thought any less of him. He played for about two years more and retired at about the age of 40.
Obviously you haven't yet reached the point where daily blogging interferes with your enjoyment of life, but when the day comes that I go to Althouse.com and find that you haven't posted that day, I will miss you, but so long as you are healthy and enjoying yourself, I'll be happy for you.
I'll second the recommendation for Dead Horse Point State Park -- and if you go there, you may as well spend an extra hour or so to drive out onto the "Island In the Sky" section of Canyonlands National Park. It's really about the only part of Canyonlands you can see from a passenger car -- but that doesn't mean it isn't worth seeing. Indescribably large vistas.
I wonder if you and Meade checked out the human history of Capital Reef. It was a Mormon community, economically marginal in the extreme, that was taken over by the Park Service, with many years of advance notice, but finally evacuated in 1969 (I recall) and the road to it was paved a few years later. It has audio displays, the words and voices of the last residents describing life there. It looks like they just left, with shovels leaning against the barns, trucks in the shelters.
And you could take a day off. I would understand.
I was worried. I admit that. Glad to have your posts.
Wisconsin plays Indiana in the Big Ten tournament tomorrow night at 5:30 Central. Don't rush yourselves; this isn't the Indiana of past years and if you miss it you won't miss much.
Safe driving to you.
I am really glad to see you are having a good time. Isn't retirement wonderful? And I thought you had said before on this blog that you don't like to travel.
Devil's Garden in Arches is worth the hike. Also,on you're way back to Denver, The Grind in Glenwood Springs is good.
The drive between Flagstaff and Moab is my all time fave. In either direction.
Thirteen years, rain or shine, sickness or health, happy or sad, angry, disgusted, dpressed, euphoric, single, married. Never missed a day.
"Take a day off,it's O.K."
Ha ha, ha !
The drive between Flagstaff and Moab is my all time fave. In either direction.
Your head doesn't swivel?
We were worried. Relieved to know everything's okay.
Welcome to town! Arches can be a zoo - early risers are rewarded with great light and fewer crowds.
"The drive between Flagstaff and Moab is my all time fave. In either direction."
For me, have driven that stretch way too much. She was living in PHX and I in Dillon, CO, an hour west of Denver on I-25. For years, it seemed like I would drive it once a month or so both ways. I did pretty much every other route imaginable, but that was the fast one. It was my preferred route, even if starting/ending in Golden, CO. Going south, I would typically stop for donuts at the City Market in Moab, then lunch at the Burger King with the Code Talker exhibit in Kayenta, AZ, just south of Monument Valley. It went fast because I pretty much had it memorized - from Flagg north, it was Tuba City, Kayenta, Monument Valley, Mexican Hat, Bluff, Blanding (rest stop), Monticello, Moab, then I-70 at Crescent Junction, and speed control pegged at 84 all the way to the CO border. Worst part of the trip is across the Navajo Res (huge and desolate), from Flagstaff to Kayenta, though I am often pretty tired by the tine I am hitting Monticello.
With her along, it is different. On my own, I would stop in Moab (donuts), Blanding (rest stop), Kayenta (double Whopper), then at Safeway N of Flaggstaff for gas going south. With her along, my schedule is shot to hell. She can't make it to Blanding without a couple of bathroom breaks, and, the gas stations between there are a bit sketchy. I used to go for Fruita or Grand Junction going north, but last couple times, we ended up stopping in Moab for the night. The problem there is that off season, it is very reasonable, but there are times when Moab gets quite expensive for hotel rooms. Still, I like the town much more now that I have to stop there, than when I used to rush through.
I will admit going through withdrawal yesterday. I would refresh the page every couple of hours, and the Bryce Canyon entry would still be at the top. Maybe there was a glitch, so I would refresh again. Nope, still no post today. Pathetic (me, not Ann).
Good timing. I was just about to pay the ransom demand.
Makes me wish I had studied geology. There's still time to dabble though.
When you didn't blog until the evening, I, and I'm sure others worried about the two of you being in a car accident.
I think that you should just take a day off. Hell, take a week off without cell service and recharge. We'll be here when you get back.
I think it was Jim Fixx or one of those other 70's era running gurus who said, 'if you've run every day for the last year, take a day off." It's been 13 years, you've earned it.
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