Sightseeing in Salt Lake City

Another sunny day in Salt Lake City and we took advantage of it. We left Tinker in his crate in the trailer while we drove into Salt Lake City. We first stopped at Wal-Mart to get a couple of things we had forgotten on our earlier shopping trip.

We parked at the same parking lot where I parked yesterday when I visited the Family History Library and then walked over to the Church History Museum - which is next to the Library. We took photos in front of the Library and the History Museum.

Mike was so impressed (& so was I) with the building the Museum was in, that he changed his mind about visiting the Museum.

We stopped first in the Museum's Gift Shop and I bought a couple of Christmas ornaments and a post card. Then we walked around the ground floor of the Museum with displays of the beginnings of Mormonism. It was really interesting to see all of the artifacts on display and that they had survived all this time.

We then walked across the street to the Tabernacle and as we were walking around towards the front entrance, we could hear the organ. There are daily organ recitals at noon and we were in time to go into the Tabernacle and listen to the recital - beautiful. 

We then walked around the Temple Square taking photos 

Arches National Park

We got up this morning at 6:00 and left the campground at 7:00 to go to Arches National Park.

We arrived at the entrance to Arches National Park about 7:20 and drove all the way through the park to Devil's Garden Campground and took a few photos there.

Then we drove back through the park and stopped at Skyline Arch and walked out to the arch. We forgot to take the tripod, so this is what happens when you try to take a selfie with a camera and you can't see where the lens is focusing.

Fortunately a couple stopped by on their way back to their car, and took our photo.

We continued on until we reached the Sand Arch and we walked out on the trailhead to view the arch. This time we brought the tripod. Tinker would have loved walking out there because the sand

Drive along Colorado River & on the La Sal Loop Road

We spent the morning here at the trailer and then had an early lunch. We left the campground at 12:30 and drove into Moab to get to UT-128 that parallels the Colorado River.

We saw several campgrounds (no hookups) along the banks of the Colorado River.

The scenery through the canyon was spectacular.

We drove out to look at Fisher Towers.

After seeing Fisher Towers, we retraced our drive on UT-128 to the entrance to La Sal Loop Road. La Sal Loop Road is a 50 mile narrow winding road through the Manti-La Sal National Forest.

The road winds out to the Castle Valley

and then up through the mountains and I do mean UP,

and UP

and UP.

And who would think to find

Four Corners Monument

We had planned on driving out to the Four Corners Monument and then on up to Mesa Verde today. But we checked Mesa Verde's website last night and found out most of it isn't open yet and won't be until mid-April.

We left the campground and went north on US-163 passing by the Valley of the Gods

to US-162 at the town of Bluff and saw this historic fort

then south and entered Colorado on CO-41

to US-160 west to the Four Corners Monument - a trip of 96 miles.

The entrance fee for Four Corners Monument was $5 a person. Behind us you can see the booths that the Navajo set up their pottery, jewelry, woven goods and other items to sell.  We bought a Navajo

Goosenecks State Park, Moki Dugway and Valley of the Gods

Friday we drove north to the town of Mexican Hat and saw the rock formation the town is named for.

Then we continued out to Goosenecks State Park which is 31 miles from the campground. The San Juan flows through a deep canyon called a gooseneck. There are 8 designated campsites here with no hookups and cost $10 a night. There are no services there, so you have to bring in your own water. We paid the day use fee of $5 to look around and take photos.

Then we drove out US-261 to Moki Dugway which is a steep gravel narrow road 1200 feet up Cedar Mesa. Mike had a great time - Sue kept her eyes closed the whole 3 mile trip. 

Mike wanted to turn around and go back down, but we kept going north on US-261.

Then we went East on UT-95 to US-191 and then south to US-163 and the east entrance to the Valley of the Gods. There is a 17 mile unpaved road through the Valley of the Gods. 

We saw several RVs and tent campers on our drive. The valley is under the Bureau of Land Management,

Monument Valley Drive

We left the campground yesterday morning at 9:00 to take a drive through Monument Valley. We stopped at Goulding's Gas Station to get gas and paid $3.39 a gallon. 

We got to the Kiosk at the entrance at 9:30 and paid the $20 entrance fee. We drove up to the Visitor Center and started on the 17 mile loop drive. 

I think I'll just let our photos describe our drive. We paid $20, but our photos and memories are priceless.

We met Steve and Joyce from Ontario at John Ford's Point and exchanged taking photos. They were interested in the type of trailer we had because they are eventually going to buy one.

I think one of our favorite stops was at Artist Point. I told Mike that the view made me wish I could paint.

After our drive through Monument Valley, we stopped at Goulding's Lodge and had lunch at

Our Second Shuttle Ride through Zion National Park

We got up this morning at 7:00 and it was 42° and the wind chill was 40°, but it was sunny. We left the trailer a little before 8:00 to drive to the Visitor Center to take a Shuttle out through the park. We put Tinker in his crate before we left. He doesn't bark when we leave him in the trailer in the crate.

There were a lot of cars already in the parking lot, but we were lucky and found a parking spot fairly close to where the Shuttles pick up passengers. A shuttle left just as we got to the pickup point, but another shuttle came right behind the one leaving. We got in the second shuttle car, since most of the people waiting in line had gotten on the first car. 

Mike opened one of the windows (they only open about 3 inches) and took photos as we rode along on the shuttle. We got off the shuttle at some of the stops, but didn't do any hiking. We saw a lot more of the mountains and rock formations today than we saw last Friday when it was raining and foggy. 

I think I'll just let the photos we took today to describe our shuttle trip today.

Day Trip to Bryce Canyon National Park

After breakfast this morning, we put Tinker in the car along with his pillow (from an old sofa), blankie, favorite toy Bear and a bag with his bowls, food for lunch, treats and water. Then we left the campground at 9:00 and headed east on UT-9 through Zion National Park. 

We drove through the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel which is 1.1 miles long. It is currently closed to RVs because a rock slide on the west side of the tunnel took out part of the road.

At Mount Carmel Junction we got onto US-89 North and drove for 43 miles. US-89 went through a valley where all you saw were snow-covered fields

and later on the scenery changed completely.

Then we got onto UT-12 for 14 miles. We turned south from UT-12 onto UT-63 South to the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park.

We were able to drive out to mile 6 on the park road. They had had 2-3 feet of snow and were working to

Sightseeing in St. Augustine - Castillo de San Marcos & more

We left the campground on Anastasia Island this morning about 10:30 and drove over to St. Augustine. We parked the car at the Old Town Trolley lot on N. Ponce de Leon Blvd. We had bought tickets for the Trolley for 2 days and yesterday we rode it around St. Augustine checking out the different sights. Today we will be getting off of the trolley to visit some of the sights that we saw yesterday. We got our tickets for today and it wasn't too long before the next trolley picked us up.

We had planned our day so that we would arrive at the stop nearest Meehan's Irish Pub so we could have lunch there. Mike ordered the Reuben Roll (corned beef and sauerkraut in a spring roll wrapper, deep fried with Kerrygold cheese sauce & Thousand Island). I ordered the Reuben sandwich (corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese on marbled rye). It would have been nice to have a couple of beers with lunch, but since we had a lot of walking to do this afternoon we opted to have sweet tea. We had both been looking forward to eating at Meehan's and we weren't disappointed - I could go again!

Then we walked across the street from Meehan's to go visit the Castillo de San Marcos. 

We spotted this RV from Europe in the parking lot and had to take a photo or two.

The entrance fee for Castillo de San Marcos is $15 for adults, but with our Senior Passes it was free. The Castillo de San Marcos is the only 17th century military construction in existence and is the oldest masonry fortress in the U.S. The building of the Castillo was started in 1672 and completed by 1695. It is built of coquina which is a type of limestone made from seashell fragments that solidified over time.

We explored the different exhibits in the lower part of the Castillo; soldiers' quarters,

a storeroom,

and British soldiers' quarters where 2 men shared

St. Augustine Trolley Tour

We got a up earlier than usual and after walking Tinker, feeding him and having our coffee, we drove into St. Augustine to go on the Trolley Tour. We crossed the Bridge of Lions a little after 9:00.

We parked at the parking garage at the Visitor Information Center for $3 for the day - that was the discounted price with our trolley tickets. Then we walked across the street to the Trolley Welcome Center in time for the 9:30 trolley. 

We passed by Flagler College where we saw a fence made from chains and spiked balls,

the Villa Zorayda Museum in a house built by the Boston Millionaire Franklin W. Smith in 1883 and was inspired by the 12th-century Moorish Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.

Then by the Lightner Museum in what was the Hotel Alcazar built by Henry Flagler in 1888 in the Spanish Renaissance Revival style,

the St. Augustine Distillery that is in the FP&L Ice Plant building built in 1907. The plant was the first in

Elliott Museum & Sikorsky X2 Helicopter

Earlier this month we had seen an article in our local newspaper about the Sikorsky X2, the world's fastest helicopter, being on display this week at the Elliott Museum in Stuart.

From Elliott Museum

The museum also has Leonardo daVinci's Machines in Motion on display and it has 40 operational actual-size working machines made from daVinci's drawings.

We left the house this morning at 9:30 and drove south on US-1 to Ft. Pierce to A1A and then south to the Elliott Museum on Hutchinson Island - a trip of 48 miles. We arrived at the Elliott Museum a little after 10:40 and paid $20 (senior rate for 2) admission.

Just inside the museum entrance was a display of bicycles and machines invented by Sterling Elliott (the museum is named for him and his son Harmon). Among many of Sterling Elliott's inventions was a bicycle designed for women and the egg carton just to name a few.

From Elliott Museum

Our next stop was at the Machines in Motion exhibit which is a traveling exhibit and has been at the Elliott Museum since March. It was great to see