Sunday, July 25th

All we plan to do today is drive to Vernal, Utah, with some photo ops at Flaming Gorge, so we have a leisurely morning at our B&B, Chambers House. We are able to catch up on our blogs, exchange photos and chat with the manager, Ashli. Her husband and two teen-age boys are working with here and her husband is an amazing artist! He is Portuguese and designs the most incredible tile work for bathrooms and kitchens. I’ve never seen anything as creative and imaginative as the photos in his portfolio! (The nose-holder isn't his! It's in the bathroom we are sharing and is supposed to remind people to use the exhaust fan! Funny what people put on their walls!)

Ashli is pretty incredible, herself. Breakfast consists of French toast, bacon, scrambled eggs, home-fried potatoes, juice, coffee and fresh fruit! We could have fed an army! We also discussed raising children, our own childhoods and her philosophy of live and loving. It was a great morning.

While Ashli was preparing our sumptuous feast we chatted with the other guests. They are the ones who were attending a wedding last night. It turns out that two of the guys are first cousins and have a real estate firm in Chicago. The one wife who is up and ready to go is a physical therapist. The best part was when the car pulled away and had to return because they had forgotten one of the other wives! We tried really hard not to laugh!

About ten fifteen or so we finally backed up our computers and hit the road for Vernal. Driving along US 191 we see a sign for The Oregon Trail. We’ve been suckered before by signs that told us the trail was there but didn’t show us anything. But hope springs eternal and we stop. Oh Wow! You can really still see the ruts from the wagon wheels! I’ve never been much of a history buff – but this is the real thing! You can reach out and touch it! Amazing!

You sure can tell that we’re not in Kansas anymore! Or Yellowstone/Grand Teton. More and more nothing as far as you can see! We’re so desperate that I start taking pictures of things that are probably cell phone towers! Earlier in the day we had seen a convention of pronghorns – at least nine of them all clumped together. But now, nothing!

Bill ha suggested that we see Flaming Gorge and we always take his advice! He’s never led us astray before, so we ignore the US 191 signs and take WY 530 which looks like it passes much closer to the gorge and should be beautiful. There’s some pretty stuff, but nothing exciting. Until…

Further south I start to get excited! There are signs posted along the road that say things like, “Jurassic Morrison Formation; Graveyard of the Dinosaurs” or “Jurrasic Curtis Formation; Home of Fossilized Squid”! Marilyn is not quite as impressed as I am! But even she perks up when we start to see incredible red rocks! The first pull out that allows us to really see Flaming Gorge takes our breath away! We turn east and skirt the sound end of the gorge and take the road to the Red Canyon Visitors’ Center. This is a double surprise! The center has a glass wall that provides an incredible view of the gorge. That would have been enough. But the grounds are home to a herd of at least thirty big horn ewes and lambs! They are right by the roadside and don’t give two hoots about us stopping to take pictures! A couple of them are wearing radio collars, so the park service must be keeping pretty good track of them.

The sheep are a giant eating machine! Heads down and packed together, they move through the grassland. The lambs are adorable and at one point there are six of them all huddled together under a tree. Everyone just seems intent on eating as much as possible, as though there might not be grass tomorrow!

Marilyn shoots some video of a small stand of quaking aspen. She is planning to use some of her clips as part of her morning news show.

We had so much breakfast, that we aren’t hungry for lunch until nearly three! We make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the parking lot of the visitors’ center!

When we just can’t take any more sheep photos we move on to the Flaming Gorge Dam to see what wonders there are to see there. We have a fun chat with one of the rangers who is a Harry Potter fan and can’t wait to bring his wife to the new exhibit at Universal. He recommends a series called Fable Haven and I suggest he might like Philip Pullman and George R. R. Martin. The best part about the dam is that they have parking spaces reserved for senior citizens! I sit in mine!

Other than the gorgeous red rocks, a dam is a dam. We do waste a good bit of time taking pictures of the great big birds which we are sure must be ospey. The photos, however, reveal red heads – BUZZARDS! There is a sheriff sitting in his car and he must have thought we were nuts!

In the Ashley National Forest we find the Firefighters Memorial Campground and go searching for the memorial so we can take a picture for our firefighter buddy, Tom. Bear in mind that we’ve been driving five hours now and have another one to go. When we get to the back of the campground and find that there is a trail to the memorial we say, “Sorry, Tom, the sign will have to do!”

As we’re leaving a deer gives us a quizzical stare!

We stop for expensive gas and equally expensive sodas and begin the last hour’s drive to Vernal. It is only about thirty miles, but there are ten switchbacks in a nine mile stretch! And a five to eight-percent grade! There are runaway truck ramps all along the way! Our poor little Versa has her hands full, so to speak!

We catch one or two last glimpses of the gorge. Then we are in the town of Vernal, Utah and find our Rodeway Inn. It is not the most wonderful place we’ve stayed; but the sheets are clean, the beds are comfy and we are oh, so ready for them. We don’t even feel like going out for dinner; but snack on graham crackers and peanut butter and cheese! Time for a nightcap and bed!