Dinosaur National Monument
We ended up staying the night in a clean but expensive Motel 6 ($20 for the dogs?!?!) in Vernal, UT. Given that we only slept there, the rate ended up being about $12/hr, gads. We grabbed breakfast at Betty's Cafe in Vernal, and then it was off the back roads to the western entrance. We were not too shocked to find out that the visitor's center (where all the dinosaur bones are) was closed for renovations, and didn't have time to take the tour bus that would take you to a few remaining ruins that were otherwise inaccessible. Instead we opted for the driving tour into the valley, and saw some neat petroglyphs, played a bit in the Escalante River, and got to see Josie Bassett's cabin.
The petroglyphs were really cool and I was surprised at how accessible they were - you could literally touch them, although you're not supposed to (and we didn't). It is amazing to think that this was someone's idea of killing time a few thousand years ago...
The displays put up by the monument staff depicted Josie as a kindly, friendly homesteader who led a docile life amidst the serenity of the mountains east of Vernal (in the park). However, Lori and I did some research on the ride back (thanks iPad!) and found that Josie had a serious wild side. It appears that Josie was a longtime gal pal of Butch Cassidy and his outlaw gang, who frequently stopped by for what we can only assume were bootie calls (outlaw-style). Josie also made a living selling moonshine during Prohibition and did home deliveries. While even the historical record maintains she was a sweet person and did many kind things for others, she definitely had a wild side!
On the way back we swung by Flaming Gorge to check this huge lake out, as we'd heard it was a mini Lake Powell of sorts. This "swing by" actually added quite a few more miles to our trip, but meant we wouldn't have to spend the whole drive home going over territory we'd seen 100 times already (I-70 from Fruita back home). We clipped the southeastern edge of the lake on our route home and got to see the huge dam at the base, but the lake itself was more open here so we didn't get to see the big canyons we'd heard about. Still, as you can see the lake was definitely beautiful!
After that, it was a mad dash home - about 6 hours of bolting north to Rock Springs, then east on I-80 through Wyoming, from Rock Springs to Cheyenne, then south to Denver, putting the last 400 miles down on the odometer. Our travel buddies were pretty exhausted as well but appear to have enjoyed the 900-mile ride. Great trip!
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