Driving Day...and Family Reunion!

Estes Park, CO

We had a relaxing morning as we enjoyed breakfast out on the restaurant balcony of our hotel. Then the girls and mom walked down the street to do a little souvenir shopping in Moab. Leah bought a charm of Delicate Arch, and Chloe a little metal sculpture of a gecko, since she had enjoyed seeing them and counting them throughout the parks. Since she couldn't find a t-shirt she liked in town, we headed back to Arches Visitor center (since Tom had the car all packed up for us), to get her a "Utah Rocks!" shirt just like mom's. When we got there we talked Tom into getting one too (in blue rather than yellow), and then realized Leah was the only one left out, so we got her one too. We were now all set for a Utah family photo shoot!

We left the Moab area, and rather than take the usual route (up Hwy 191) up to I-70, we took 128, the scenic byway. It followed the Colorado River through a gorge, and winded through beautiful southwest scenery, much of which has been used as backdrops for films and TV commercials. To get a better idea of how the scenery was used in film, we stopped at the Film Museum located in the Red Cliffs Lodge (a gorgeous place!). The museum was small, but cool, and interesting. We continued along the road, stopping for a photo shoot with the famous Fisher Towers behind us and the Colorado River at our side. Though it was hot, and tricky to use a rock as a tripod, we managed to get a couple of nice shots in a little 5-minute stop.

From there, we headed on up the road, stopping again to take some pictures in the ghost town, Cisco. We reached I-70 about 2 hours after we left Moab, and were on our way out of Utah and across Colorado. After a stop for lunch at Subway in Grand Junction, Colorado, a couple other rest and gas stops, a few thundershowers, and some winding roads our GPS took us on, we ended up at Estes Park, and found Seth waiting for us at the YMCA! It was so nice to see him again, and to catch up on each others' summers. We checked into our room and then headed out to Smokin' Dave's Barbecue. It was okay, but not as good as we remembered it being 2 years ago. We are now ready to enjoy a little relaxation, as we enter the last 4 days of our trip!