Good morning to all! Hope your weekend was a fine one – mine sure was! 
Working in the vacation planning business, it’s an awful lot of fun for me to play tourist 
myself, and I got the opportunity to do just that this past weekend in spectacular Moab, Utah! It was my first visit to this incredible area, and I can’t wait to go back.
I left Lake Powell at about 10.00 AM Saturday morning, hoping to arrive in Moab in time to poke around Arches National Park before turning in. People who’d been there put the drive time at about 5 hours, and what a stunning drive it was! From Page, Arizona, you hop on Highway 98 through the Navajo Indian Reservation, then take Highway 160 to Kayenta. In Kayenta, you then head North on Highway 163, which takes you through Monument Valley, Mexican Hat, then Highway 191 through Bluff, Blanding, etc..
It was about in Mexican Hat where I started kicking myself for not leaving earlier. There are so many state parks, recreation areas, etc. to see along this route, I wish I’d had time to stop at them all. There’s the Goosenecks of the San Juan, Newspaper 
Rock, Recapture Recreation Area… just to name a few. The views of the La Sal Mountains and the Western Rockies were also just spectacular. Like I said, I want to go back!
The drive to Moab went perfectly … until about 10 miles South of town. There, I was held up in a monster traffic jam for about 2 hours. Highway 191 is a 2-lane road for most of the way. There are a few stretches with passing lanes, but for the most part, it’s a pretty narrow… not the sort of road well-suited to big rigs, but that doesn’t stop a ton of ‘em from travelling on it. It turned out that a truck hauling hay had spilled its load on a particularly narrow section of the road with a rather awkward turn. Traffic must have been at a standstill for 10 miles. I recall the driver of the truck passing us as he was being towed off the highway, with a rather sheepish look on his face as if to say ”I’m sorry!” I was glad I’d bought a nice warm coat as the temperature was rapidly dropping as dusk approached. The overnight low predicted for that night was 5 below zero! Thankfully, things broke loose just as the sun went down and I arrived at my hotel, the Red Cliffs Lodge, at about 6.30 PM. 
It’s funny, I began my day’s journey near the Colorado River, and that’s where it would end as well! The Red Cliffs Lodge is situated in an area known as “Castle Valley,” a long canyon carved by the Colorado River out of deep red sandstone. One of my co-workers jokes that the place “looks like Monument Valley and Zion had a baby.” The road leading to the lodge, Scenic Byway 128, is a beautiful but windy country road, which, like Grand Canyon West, lacks guardrails. By the time I drove to my hotel, it was dark, so I couldn’t see how close to the river it was. The next day, driving back to town in daylight, I realized that one wrong move and I would have gone “into the drink!”
My room at the Red Cliffs was a very comfortable “mini-suite,” with a king sized bed, kitchenette, and a porch that overlooked the Colorado River, which flowed about 15 feet out my back door! Getting into the thing was a bit of a bear – the key card had to be pushed in “just right” for the door to open, but that was a minor inconvenience in an otherwise wonderful stay. But anyway, even though it was dark by the time I checked in, the moon was nearly full that evening, and it illuminated things just enough for me to see that the Colorado River was full of ice – yeah…. ICE…. Big chunks of it. I was blown away, I had never seen ice on the river before. Had it formed on the river’s journey through Utah, or were these chunks of melted snow from the river’s headwaters in Colorado? I still don’t know…
By the time I got to Red Cliffs, all I wanted to do was get something to eat and crash, so I proceeded to the restaurant after getting settled in at my room. The restaurant is a very cozy room with a big Christmas tree by the front window, and most tables have a view of the river. I had the place almost to myself that evening and ordered a chicken alfredo pasta dish (I know – bad for you!) and a glass of Chenin Blanc, which is made on-site at the Castle Creek Winery. They serve the wine in HUGE glasses, and I remember thinking this was a device to get a patron to drink more, but upon my return, a better informed friend says that larger glasses allow the wine to breathe better. Silly me!
My dinner came with a generously sized sourdough roll and a nice big green salad, which was delicious topped with one of the two home-made salad dressings supplied at every table. I chose the green sesame poppyseed dressing, they also had a raspberry vinaigrette. They ought to bottle that stuff and sell it. The pasta was also tasty and there was a lot of it, and I’m sure it didn’t do my arteries any good! The service provided by waitress Laveane was prompt, efficient and courteous. Another visitor says that the flan desert is wonderful, but I was stuffed after dinner and decided to take a pass. I relaxed a bit over the last few sips of the Chenin Blanc and called it an evening. There would be plenty of excitement in store the next day!
After a fairly good night’s rest (the heater in the room worked a bit too well, but better that than the 
alternative) and a cup of some of the in-room coffee, I headed back to Moab to join some fellow conference attendees for a Hummer Tour with the Moab Adventure Center. I actually got there a bit early, so I asked the saleslady at the Adventure Center (who, by coincidence, had also worked at the Bright Angel Transportation Desk at the Grand Canyon!) where one could get a decent cup of coffee. Upon her recommendation, I walk down to Mondo Cafe near Eddie McStiff’s and enjoy a hot latte while reading the local free paper, “The Canyon Country Zephyr.”
Afterwards, the rest of the group gathers at the Adventure Center. We pile into two Hummers and head up to a ridgeline that overlooks the town. Today’s adventure would take us on a trail known as “Hell’s Revenge” – and they mean it! In Moab, “fins” are not appendages on fish, nor are they those pointy doo-dads they used to put on old cars. In Moab, “fins” are slabs of sandstone that have been worn down by wind, water and time until only a long, tall, narrow chunk of rock remains. I and three other ladies sat in what’s known as the “whoop-dee-doo” seat, in other words, the very back row, so we can see REAL good – maybe too good! Our guide, Jason, inches our tour vehicle up the backside of one of these “fins,” which is maybe fifteen feet wide and a couple of stories tall. The gal sitting on my left clutched my arm the whole time, but these vehicles crawled over this terrain like it was nothing, and our guide knew how to handle them properly. Oh, it was bumpy in some places, but what a view! We stopped at one particular spot that overlooked the canyon where the Red Cliffs Lodge was situated; at another, you could see all the way over to Arches National Park and the La Sal Mountains. 
The scenery in the Moab area is very similar to what we have out here (though not in the least bit repetitive or redundant!); one similarity I noticed as we got more into the slickrock area was the tendency for rain and snow to form pools in various “pockets” of sandstone. We came across one of these pools on our tour. The pools in the deeper recesses can stand for long periods of time, long enough to where they form their own little “micro-environments,” with frogs, reeds, grasses, even brine shrimp taking up residence in them until it gets too hot. Desert bighorn sheep frequently feed on the grasses according to Jason. Like this area, cryptobiotic soil is present in the Moab area, so one must be careful where one steps (or drives) – a slight trampling can undo hundreds of years of growth.
After two fun-filled hours, we head back to the Moab Adventure Center, where we bid our guides “adieu” and tell them to look us up if they’re ever in our various towns. By this time, most of us are hungry, so we carpool a short distance down the street to the Moab Brewery for lunch. This friendly, casual hang-out serves a hodge-podge of Southwestern, American and Mexican entrees along with their own signature beers brewed on-site (as you may have guessed, Moab doesn’t fit a lot of “Utah stereotypes”). I had spinach manicotti, another gal had fish tacos, another member of the group had a burger, and various meal salads were tried. The menu had quite a variety, and everybody enjoyed what they had. I have to give the staff kudos too ’cause we had a large group who all wanted separate checks, and they didn’t quibble for a second about it.
After lunch, some of the group headed back to the hotel for a board meeting; I ended up tagging along with four other women for some more exploring. Our first stop was Dead Horse State Park. Here, the 
Colorado River can be seen winding and meandering from a rock promontory 2,000 above. Legend has it that a herd of “broomtail” mustangs died of thirst and starvation on this ledge, even though the gate of their corral was left open so they could easily find their way down to the river. Another interesting “factoid” about this area is that it frequently passes for the Grand Canyon on film. Thelma and Louise took their infamous “last ride” from somewhere around here (it is documented and discussed at the Red Cliffs Lodge’s wonderful movie museum). John Ford must have made at least a dozen movies in the area. Come here, and you’ll easily see why.
As we left Dead Horse, the sun was starting to dip down on the horizon. We only had a brief window of opportunity to see what we could of Arches, and we were determined to make the most of it, so off we went. We got as far as the section known as “The Windows” when the sunlight began to fade. We wouldn’t make it as far as Delicate Arch (the park’s most famous feature) this time around, but that didn’t matter in the least. What we saw in that short amount of time was profoundly beautiful. Arches is named for, 
well, arches, but I never imagined that there could be so many of them in such a small area - Big ones, little ones, double ones, even some seemingly as small as a pinprick hole. By the light of a full moon, it was every bit as amazing as I had imagined. It had taken me 20 years to visit this part of the Southwest, and I concluded without hesitation that it was well worth the wait.
Both at Dead Horse and Arches, we practically had the place all to ourselves. Like the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, etc., December is considered Moab’s “off-season.” It’s really cold there, and it does snow, but as long as you’re prepared (with coats, gloves, etc.), you can still have a wonderful visit during wintertime. Plus we got killer rates on our rooms at Red Cliffs. We left Arches and headed back to Red Cliffs, where we had a few minutes to “freshen up” before going in to dinner, a buffet this time around, which consisted of chicken, prime rib, salmon, salad, veggies, etc. and a nice light raspberry sorbet for desert. On this night, I enjoyed a glass of the Castle Creek Winery’s Merlot.
I left the Red Cliffs at about 1:00 PM the next day after our meetings. My time in Moab was definitely too short, but rewarding nonetheless. Next time will try to bring the hubby and dog when the weather’s a tad warmer, maybe in the spring or fall. On the way back, I’d intended to get some shots of the back side of Monument Valley and such, only there was a haze over the area that day that washed all the color out – dang it! 
That’ll teach me to get the shot while the light’s right in the future.
If you ever go to Moab, the Red Cliffs Lodge is certainly an excellent choice for your lodging. If you prefer someplace that’s more centrally located, you’ll also find many fine chain and independent hotels in the town of Moab, along with an excellent selection of restaurants, shops and activities. The Moab Adventure Center can hook you up with all kinds of fun tours, from the Hummer trip that we took, all the way up to multi-day white water rafting trips.
The main gateway cities to the area are Salt Lake City (SLC) and Denver (DEN), which are about 3.5 hours and 6 hours from Moab respectively. Las Vegas (LAS) and Phoenix (PHX) are a bit further away, anywhere from 7 to 9 hours. You can also fly into Moab (CNY) from Salt Lake City on America West. United, America West and Skywest also fly into Grand Junction, Colorado (GJT), which is about a 2 hour drive from Moab.
’til next time, Happy Travels! ~Alley Kaye
P.S. My visit to Moab was for the purpose of attending the quarterly meeting of the Grand Circle Association, an organization that GrandCanyon.com belongs to. Like GrandCanyon.com, the Grand Circle Association dispenses travel planning information for the Southwestern U.S. with a “twist:” instead of focusing on one particular area (or the Southwest as a whole), the Grand Circle Association markets and represents the area surrounding the Four Corners. The Grand Circle Association also publish a free travel planner, which I highly recommend all visitors to the area order as it can help you get more out of your vacation than you dreamed possible. Get yours at www.grandcircle.org
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