Day 5 - Over the Mountains, Through the Desert

Today was pretty much an in-between travel day, as it took us most of the day to travel from Denver to Moab, Utah, just outside Arches National Park. Unlike Kansas and Colorado's front range, however, today's scenery was extraordinary and made picture perfect by a clear blue sky. No wonder that it took about 8.5 hours to make the 5.5-hour drive.

Our little Honda made it up the steep Rocky Mountain stretches of I-70, mostly in the slow lane, as we passed Breckenridge, Aspen and several of the other ski resorts. We took a pause to breathe in the vista of Dillon Reservoir near Silverthorne.

Phil at Silverthorne

Then we plunged downhill on the west side of the steepest mountains to Glenwood Canyon. If you Carolinians  are impressed by the Linville Viaduct on the Blue Ridge Parkway, you need to check out the interstate highway through Glenwood. It truly is an engineering marvel, and the scenery is quite something, too. Unfortunately, a Western Tanager, Red-shafted Northern Flicker and Plumbeous Vireo declined to get close enough for photos, but the first one certainly is a "wow" bird!

Glenwood Canyon

West of the canyon, the geography is high desert. We ate lunch and ran a couple of errands in Grand Junction. This is supposed to be a great retirement destination, but no thanks. We really did not see much here except mall sprawl. However, the roadside scenery was beautiful, complete with a Bald Eagle perched along the Colorado River and a statuesque Pronghorn Antelope. We finally made it to Utah for our third new life state, along with Missouri and Kansas.

 Welcome to Utah!

We arrived in Moab in time for a late afternoon swim at the motel, and then enjoyed a delicious dinner at the hilltop Sunset Grill thanks to our daughter Melissa's spot-on recommendation. Great trout and prime rib, plus a view of the red-rocked La Sal plateau. The view set the stage for our tour through Arches National Park in the morning.