We were headed to Salt Lake City, where my friend Roma and her parents were welcoming us with real beds and all the parental amenities. We also had to pick up Mary at the airport at noon and drop Laura off at 7 pm.
We had a good "pull" getting over Cabbage Hill the second time. By the way, the innocuous sounding Cabbage Hill, is in fact part of the Blue Mountains and notorious for causing breakdowns. It isn't so much the total elevation, its the length of the pull. We were told by locals they get lots of accidental tourists. In fact, the grade is tough enough that each year several RVs are destroyed by overheating to the point of catching fire and being lost. Which sounds awful, but seems like a ok outcome compared to in the winter when people die in accidents on the road. Yikes.
So, we drove as far into Idaho as we could and spent the night at a very fancy KOA. Yes, there are fancy KOAs. This one was had granite counters in the bathroom and was spotless. We were only there for about 8 hours though as we were hot to get on the road.
Roma went to the airport and claimed Mary and took her to a nice lunch so we were not stressed about missing our noon deadline. We all go back many years and trips so this was cool for everyone. Once we rolled into town we got to thinking about the fact that we had booked a campground- but were not planning to stay in the trailer that night. So, we thought- What the Hell- let's park her at Wally World again. Lock up and head to Roma's. So, we have now indebted ourslves to the hospitality of WalMart twice. What does it all mean? I'm a little confused by it- guess I can't slam WalMart anymore. Anyhoo, thanks, Sam!
We went to the impeccably maintained and large scaled botanical garden's at Thanksgiving Point. Turns out we were a week early for the farmer's market.
The plants were great but the whole place felt a little cold and impersonal. It was scaled for giants. Big formal gardens, highly planned but even the supposed whimsical touches, like a metal sculpture elsewhere in the park, felt obligatory. They boast the largest man-made waterfall in the world ot country or something, which about sums it up. I think you can have a nice garden without a big ole fake waterfall. But, the companionship was wonderful and the plants were cool. Lilac does not grow in Texas!
We had to take Laura to the airport, being unable to convince her to abandon her family and run away with us for 10 more days. Sad. She is so much fun- and so awesome to have around. Boo.
To cheer up we had a foodie dinner at a restaurant next to a book store. Sigh. Real food. Wine. Local beers (Tiff was quite pleased!). The Oasis. I recommend!
And staying with Roma was sa-weet. We did laundry, relaxed, showered, relaxed. We also woke up to the smell of amazing breakfast: Roma's mom rocks. Eggs, tofu sun dried tomato "sausage" and homemade muffins. Yum!
All too soon we had to hit the path again. Took us about 5 hours to get to Moab. We are relieved to finally be dry- the trailer is drying out, my sinuses are on the mend and after driving through the hot we were delighted that the fantastic campground here has a pool, which we jumped into after we unhitched, hooked up, and had a beer. Pool. So. Good. Cool. Ahhh.
The girls are off mountain biking and I'm joining them in a minute for a river trip. It feels like Summer vacaction in a way I have not tapped into since about age 10. Life is very, very good:)
I'll figure out pictures later... by for now, 2 national parks- The Arches and Canyonland, call...