Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake

We were told that the best place to experience the Great Salt Lake was to drive north to a 7.5 mile causeway which would take us to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake. Antelope Island is a Utah State Park. Driving across the Causeway our 1st observation was that the air coming into the car didn't smell very good. Not sure if that's how a "dead" inland sea should smell or if the aroma was caused by the great number of sea birds living along the causeway. Once on the island we drove to the Visitors Center to learn what we could about the place. ( The island is about 15 miles long and there are a couple of mountains on the island over 5,ooo feet high. The Great Salt Lake is fed by 4 rivers and there is no outlet so evaporation leaves large concentrations of minerals-especially salt-5X that in our oceans! The island is NOT developed at all-there is a defunct ranch at the SE end of the island which represented 135 years of western ranching history. On the island are mule deer, big horn sheep, pronghorn antelope, coyotes, and over 500 bison.) As we were walking to the visitors center we were bombarded with "no see-ems" which were awfully pesky-they were even annoying Hank! On the way back to the car the wind kept some at bay, but not all. We drove along Bridger Bay to the Buffalo Grill where we enjoyed buffalo burgers for lunch. Then we walked down along Bridger Bay and waded in the lake-water was chilly so wading was all we did! Cleaned our feet and got back in the car to explore the rest of the island. Drove up to Buffalo Point Outlook and on the way back down spied a bison beside the road-of course we stopped for a photo. Then we drove along the eastern shore of the island to the old defunct sheep ranch. We walked through a small museum of farm implements, a sheep sheering barn, past a coral with about 20 horses, then toured the oldest Anglo built house in Utah-the ranch house on this ranch. Along the road back to the causeway we saw more bison, but none of the other animals purported to live on the island. We were there during mid-day when it was hot, but it was cloudy and showery off and on so we thought we might see some at least-only a few bison.

Now back in the camper the wind is so strong that the camper is shaking! Hank is napping-err I mean watching the evening news. We heard that the oil has hit Biloxi-they don't need that while they are still trying to recover from Katrina! Now to see if I can attach some photos of today's adventure... The photos of Hank and I are wading in Bridger Bay, and the other photo (trust me on this one!) is the south end of a northbound bison. This was pretty exciting as this is the 1st bison we'd ever seen in "the wild" and that bison couldn't have care less that we wanted a good view so we could get a photo! He ignored us and other cars also stopping for photos. I thought that these creatures traveled in herds, but the 4 or 5 that we saw were by themselves with no other bison is sight. The island is covered with low grasses, lots of sagebrush and other low growing weeds, but few trees. The mountains look rocky with no evidence of trees.

Cedar City, UT to Salt Lake City

We are so confused as to what time it is! AZ doesn't use Daylight Savings Time, so while they are on Mtn. Time it is 1 hour earlier in AZ. Then when you go into NV you're on Pacific Time, then back into AZ then into UT where they are on Mtn. Daylight Saving Time and we've change our clocks and watches so many time we're afraid of wearing them out!

But I digress...Today we drove North on I-15 through the Great Basin from south western Utah to Salt Lake City. Saw so many changes in topography-mtns. changed color as the miles progressed. In the 1st hour on the road we saw a tumbleweed blow across the road in front of us, we saw prairie dogs beside the highway, and snow on the peaks to the East-incredible! Am not sure what I expected to see along the way into Salt Lake City, but it sure isn't as I had imagined it! Huge mountians just to the east, flat as far as the eye could see to the west, and snow on the peaks to the North! Amazing! Presently we're getting ready to endure a thunder storm and the camper is shaking in the wind! We're in a huge KOA Resort just north of downton SLC -expect to stay here for a couple of days to explore the area. Am going to try to include photos I took from the car today...

Photos AZ to Utah

Williams, AZ to Cedar City, Utah

We re just south of Cedar City,UT and it is HOT-HOT-HOT-drove much of the day with temps. ranging from 83 (lowest) to 110 degrees while we drove through Los Vegas. We left Williams, AZ and drove west on I-40 into Nevada. Had wanted to see Hoover Dam, but construction near the dam prevented any vehicles hauling trailers from taking that route so we had to go farther west, then north in Nevada on US 95 into Vegas. We had climbed many steep grades, and the vehicle, while working ok, was complaining-so we found a shopping plaza(what else?) in Henderson and had our lunch in the camper then went into a Wal Mart for a few necessary items while we gave the car a rest. An hour later on the road again heading NE on I-15-the most fantastic scenery-then into the NW corner of AZ again before heading into Utah! We came upon a sign that indicated there were 7% grades ahead and we weren't sure if it was up or down but we were hoping for down. However, ahead of us were some pretty imposing mountains, but when we got there it was down for 11 miles-the most incredible scenery-will include some photos if I can. Today we've seen mountains of almost every color you can imagine-red, gray, green, brown, sand colored and where we are now is Red Ledge Campground.

Apologies-wi-fi problems

We spent the last 3 days in Sedona, AZ-absolutely breathtaking scenery! The campground where we were staying-only one in Sedona-was having wi-fi problems-and they told us daily that a repair person was going to attempt to fix it-never got fixed before we left this morning. We are now in the Canyon Campground 50 miles south of the Grand Canyon and plan to spend tomorrow exploring the South Rim. Am not going to try to get caught up until we have a better wi-fi connection. We couldn't get on the net inside the camper so came down near the office. We're sitting in the shade and it is actually chilly-and it's difficult to see. So I wouldn't forget everything, I wrote up some notes in Word and will try to copy and paste, but we'll see how successful I am at that. Yesterday, Hank did a great video with his camera, and in the process of importing it into the PC I lost it-felt terrible. I may locate it, but doubt it.

Carlsbad to Albuquerque

Left our campsite South of Carlsbad and drove about 10 miles North of the city and visited the Living Desert which is for beginners like us a great education about desert wildlife and vegetation. Went through a zoo of desert birds including the owls you see in one of the photos I'll attach, a Javelina (wild pig), a bear, wolves, elk, bison, deer, prairie dogs, snakes, and others along with nature walks with the vegetation-mostly cacti-labeled-then there was a whole building devoted to succulents of the world-some beautiful cacti,etc. We have a multitude of photos to show those who might have an interest. In all we spent about 2 hours seeing all the exhibits-mostly outdoors and by 11 am it was getting hot so we decided to get on the road in the air conditioned car and headed North for Roswell, NM. The only aliens we saw were inflatable ones on used car lots-we passed up a variety of UFO museums. Had a slight mishap with a low canopy over a gas bar and it broke the cover over the camper refrigerator-but the gas attendant told us about an RV repair shop a couple of miles away and we got a new cover and Hank installed it in just a few minutes. From there we headed West up into the high desert-past and through some incredibly high mountains-I always pictured NM as being very flat. Beautiful, but barren lands-not many towns-and eventually we came upon the Valley of Fire-5 miles or so of black rock outcroppings in every direction as far as we could see which we stopped to examine. The rocks beside the road looked very porous-have to Google that and see what I can learn! Eventually we made our way to I-25 about 80 mi. South of Albuquerque-made it to the city just in time for rush hour, but made our turn onto I-40 West with no trouble. We had found The Enchanted Trails Campground in our Passport America directory and had no trouble locating the campground itself. It turns out that this campground was originally Hill Top Trading Post on Route 66! Hank has always wanted to drive on what's left of rte 66-tonight he got his wish. We drove the 15 miles to the Route 66 Casino so we could have dinner in their buffet. Casino didn't interest us at all-too smokey and too noisy-but the buffet was inexpensive and very good!

Now settling in for the night we've enjoyed a beautiful desert sunset. Heading West into Arizona tomorrow. Apologies-for whatever reason am unable to attach photos tonight.

Carlsbad Caverns, NM

We spent the majority of the day driving to and enjoying Carlsbad Caverns which is about 30 mi. SW of the city of Carlsbad-then up a narrow winding 7 mile road up into the Guadalupe Mtns. Much to Hank's frustration they were paving that road and we had to wait about 15 min. in a line of cars, buses and large RV's to go up the mountain. The entrance to the caverns is in a small valley in the midst of the mountains. The top left photo shows the huge dark gaping entrance and to get down into the caverns-nearly 1,000 ft deep we walked down paved walkways which were incredibly steep. The right photo shows some of the rock just as we entered that huge gaping hole in the ground. We were warned that it was a very strenuous walk and that there is an elevator which would take us down into the caverns in a minute and that anyone with heart problems, leg problems, etc. should do that. Every evening at dusk millions of bats fly out of the mouth of the cave and I guess it must be quite a spectacle. (There is seating just above the opening where we could have gone to watch the exodus, but we were just too tired to make the trip back up there tonight.) I have a serious problem with heights and was a bit nervous at the beginning of the descent. However, once we got past the light from the opening, the lighting was kept "cave-like" and if I couldn't see a huge drop off the side of the walkway it was fine with me. Prior to our entering the cave we had rented audio gadgets which gave us commentary at various points-50 of them-along the way-so our tour was self-guided. We met a lady going about our speed who was by herself and asked if she could walk with us-she is from Port St Lucie, FL and her husband was meeting her at the bottom of the descent. Had a good time sharing experiences along the way. We saw all kinds of stalagmites and tites, and flowstone, and drapery, and soda straw formations-and water pools so clear it was unbelievable. Most of the formations were made 200 million years ago, but in some areas some of the formations are being added to as water seeps through rock and down through the layers of whatever is in its path mixes with minerals which give the formations some color. Eventually we made it down to what is called the "Big Room"-takes and hour and a half to walk all the way around it-incredible sights. There is even a snack bar, restrooms and gift shop outside the big room-750' below the surface of the ground! We had some nourishment then did the walk around the perimeter of the room-more incredible formations. And this room is 100' high in places! Very hard to be able to describe it! The temperature in the caverns remains at 56 degrees year 'round and we had been warned to bring sweater or jacket and glad we did. When we finally came up -via the elevator-out of the caverns the outside temperature was nearly 100 with a hot wind blowing. Of course we had to explore to bookstore and gift shop and purchased a DVD so any of our readers will be able to get an idea of what we experienced!

Eventually made our way back to our campground just south of Carlsbad City-fixed some supper then did a week's worth of wash. We live such an exciting life, right? Not quite sure from where the next piece of the blog will be sent from as we're not sure exactly where we're headed tomorrow!