Rocky Mountain National Park-Week One

Phaedra here from Estes Park, Colorado. We arrived here on Wednesday, the 23rd of July. It was a long trip from Moab but beautiful through the canyons heading towards Denver. Dad found a shortcut from the interstate north to Estes Park. It might have been shorter but it took forever. It was worth it when he saw a black bear as we entered the city limits. WOW!!!!! As you can see here, I'm teaching Zoe to kick back and relax. I can get her to do almost anything I want - she's such a wuss!


The campground is nice with open spaces. It borders the national park and is only 2 miles from the town. The folks have traveled into the park every day and have seen lots of wildlife. This picture of a herd of more than 70 elk was taken up near the top of Trail Ridge Road which is the highest continuously paved road in the United States. It is open from late May until November of Early December. Sometimes in the winter the wind blows at more than 200 miles an hour. I'm sure glad I won't be there this winter!

One day we got to travel up the Trail Ridge Road with them. The views of the mountains were fantastic. Everywhere we looked, there were the most beautiful views. They saw snow fields, but we were not allowed to play in them. One day they went up to the top alone - 12, 080 feet above sea level where the air is really thin and went on a Tundra Hike with a ranger. They were looking for ptarmigan but didn't see any. What they did see were lots of wildflowers. Can you imagine, spending 2 hours in the thin air looking at little trees and different flowers that all look the same to me? They both seemed to enjoy it, though, and took lots of pictures of them. Walking up hill, however, seemed to be difficult. I don't think I would have had any trouble doing the hike. I am really such an athlete - you wouldn't believe it. Mom thinks I'm amazing and Dad just rolls his eyes. Zoe and I really like to wrestle and run, and the thin air is just fine for us!

Would you go out at 7AM and look for birds? Maybe I would if I could chase them. Dad was able to get Mom out of bed early enough to meet a ranger at 7AM at Upper Beaver Meadows. They were so excited when they came back after the 3 hour hike. It was only supposed to be an hour and a half, but everyone was enjoying it so much that the ranger just kept on going. There was a professional wildlife photographer along to learn about the different birds in the area so mom was in awe. He didn't have a camera with him. That was funny. Anyway, they learned lots of other things to go and see where it's good to take pictures and that was good, I guess. They thought so, anyway. They saw Red Crossbills, Red Nape Sapsuckers, Mountain Bluebirds, Violet-Green Swallows, Barn Swallows and their babies, a Red Tailed Hawk, and other birds that I can't remember and really don't know why they care about them. Mom lists all of the birds she sees on this website and gets so excited about them that sometimes I think she's losing it. Now, I could understand it if she were seeing dogs...but birds???

The only bad thing so far is that they have been going out to restaurants and not taking us. It doesn't seem fair, does it? We have to stay home and they go out but come back with NO doggie bags. Something has got to change. One place that they went to, The Baldpate Inn, had hummingbird feeders hanging outside their tableside window. They said that at one time there were 8 Hummingbirds taking turns feeding at the window. They, also, talked about the photography and key collections there at the inn. There were pictures of FDR and Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and tons of other people who had been there. One key collection was donated by the kids of a couple who collected a room key from every hotel and resort they visited over the course of their 50 year marriage. The keys came from places like Europe, the Carribean, Hawaii, the South Pacific, and around the US. Mom said that if the hotel clerk was a man when they were checking out, the wife went up and asked to keep the key and if it was a woman clerk, the husband went up to work the magic. She also said there were over a hundred keys just from them. There must have been millions of keys to hear them talk about it. Ho-hum!

Speaking of dining out, one day right next to the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, a herd of 30 elk decided to dine on the Aspen Trees right next to the center. It looked so funny seeing 7 elk rumps invading a cordoned off section of the visitor center eating the trees. There were babies and moms and they stopped traffic for at least a half hour. Mom has thousands of pictures of elk now. You all are in trouble when they get home and you have to sit through borrrrring pictures of her wildlife endeavors. Not me!!!

Mom says I need to stop so I don't bore you. Zoe has to write next week and I am sure she can't do as good a job as I have done. She is getting better, though. I kind of like having her for my new sister.

So long from your gal pal, Phaedra. Happy wags!

Arches

Zoe here !!!
The rest of the time we were in Moab, Mom and Dad spent it at Arches National Park. It's quite a spread out park with a 17 mile drive through the park and a couple of 5 mile side roads to tour.
There are arches and red hoodoos plus huge cliffs all made of sandstone everywhere. The majesty of the park was similar to that of Zion though it was more spread out Mom and Dad said.

They did lots of hiking everyday. With temperatures close to 100, they tried to get up early to hike. "Course, those of you who know Mom really well know that Dad had his work cut out for him in a big way. Early, buy the way, meant getting up around 8-9 and off by 11:00 if he was lucky. she says she wants to get up early, but somehow crankiness gets the best of her she, also, says! The first day, they hiked to Landscape Arch, which is the widest arch in the park, plus other arches along the way. With Mom taking pictures, they sure took their time getting back.

The next day they saw the Delicate Arch which is the most well known arch. They only hiked up 1/2 mile to view it as the hike to the actual arch is 3 miles with steep trails and narrow ledges, Dad's favorite.

A favorite hike for them was at the Windows area which was a couple of miles viewing 5 different arches. After hiking up to the North Window Arch and viewing the landscape behind, they realized why it was called Window. They were able to see both Window Arches at the same time and ended by hiking to the Double Arch. They came home very excited.


Landscape itself throughout the park was beautiful! We know that first hand because they let us ride with them one evening after it cooled down to 88. After spending most of the time in the camper, it was nice to get out. We saw things like The Three Gossips and the Balanced Rock.




Everyone is looking forward to Wednesday because it's on to Rocky Moutain National Park and cool. We aren't looking forward to the 400 mile drive however. Phaedra will send more later during our 2 weeks in the Rockies. I hope it snows!

Oh, yeah, Phaedra had a bath today and she thinks she's "all that!" I'm still so much cuter even if I am sometimes called a monster dog. Maybe I'm a little devilish, too. We do have a very bad table that makes me want to bite it. Mom spanked the bad, bad table today. Perhaps I won't go near it for a while. It looked scary when the table was punished! I sure don't want that to happen to me. I'm really glad that I picked this family to grow up in, though. They love me so much and I love all 3 of them plus my friends Parker, Anne, and Dov. I wish they were back with me here!

It's Z saying adios, y'all!

Canyonlands

Phaedra here. We arrived in a neat town called Moab in Utah. Mom and Dad must really like it since they go to town every day. Every restaurant has veggies for Mom. It's a small town right in a really hot valley.

We were allowed to go to Canyonlands National Park which is located about 35 miles from Moab. It is similar to the Grand Canyon but smaller. Since Zoe and I went along with them, they were unable to do much hiking because pets could not go on trails. We were able to stop at overlooks throughout the park. Two rivers have formed these canyons, the Green River and the Colorado River. We drove about 40 miles throughout the park, stopping often and looking down into the canyons.

We spent about 4 hours in the park and stopped to see more petroglyphs on the way back to the campground.

For the rest of the time here in Moab, the folks will be visiting Arches National Park.

More Rocks--Capitol Reef

Zoe here: When I heard that we were going to a place called Capitol Reef, I said to Phaedra, "If you push me under the water again, you'll be sorry!" Well, where is the water? I've heard of the reef offshore from Cancun, the Great Barrier Reef, but there isn't any water here. Shouldn't Capitol Reef have water? Just rocks, rocks, and more rocks from horizon to horizon. We do have a really nice yard to play in that looks out over great big cliffs. I guess in the old days, these hundred mile long rock walls made it hard to get across just like an ocean reef. That's what the book says, anyway! No, I didn't read it, I heard it from my dad telling my mom why it's called Capitol Reef.

The folks were gone lots of mornings here. They said something about hiking when it wasn't so hot. They would come back in the afternoon and collapse. They, also, were always looking at the sky and murmuring about Flash Floods, whoever he is?? They loved this long road called Scenic Drive which was a 10 mile scenic road that ended in a 3 mile long, narrow dirt road which had all these signs saying road impassable to all vehicles when it rains. This was the Gorge Road. They went to the end and then hiked in for about a half hour until the sky got black and they decided to go back to the truck.

They also did a similar drive down another dirt road and did another hike of 3.5 miles to a place called "The Narrows". That was really cool.

There was this interesting writing on the canyon wall. It showed something called Petroglyphs. Those pictures looked like aliens to me. No one seems to be able to say what they mean, but they run across this big rock wall and look really cool, so my mom says! She loved the sheep and critters - not the aliens so much!

We only stayed there 3 nights then moved on to Moab.

Zoe, the wonder dog!

Hi From Virgin

"Zion Canyon is amazing and unbelievable," say Mom and Dad. To Zoe and me they just look like a bunch more rocks. The rocks are great big, though, and most of them are red.
What we like is that our campsite has grass and hummingbird wars. (You know who never gets to go much of anywhere with the folks.) Plus, the Virgin River runs right next to the campground and WE GOT TO GO SWIMMING in it. Finally, we have fun, too. Zoe didn't like how I pushed her under the water the first day, but then she decided if she wanted to be part of this family she better like water so she dived right in the next time we went. I loved it!!!


So, what have they done so far? Well, everyday they go up to the canyon via the canyon shuttle. Zion doesn't allow car traffic in the main scenic area so everyone parks at the Visitor Center or the little town at the gate, Springdale. Then they take free shuttles which Dad really thinks are cool with skylights that open. It does get hot in there, they complain. Hey, look, it's at least 102* every day and more sometimes so what can they expect in non-AC shuttles? I don't complain and I wear a beautiful fur coat every day - it's getting thinner, though, 'cause that Zoe jumps on me and pulls my hair!

Two times, Mom and Dad took a 10 mile bike ride down from the top at Temple of Sinewava to the very bottom. They really loved it - but don't let them brag about those 2 ten mile trips too much, especially since it was mostly down hill. Mom said she was going 26 miles an hour at one point and had to slow down to the car speed to make a curve. I am sure glad that she doesn't have a dog seat on the bike!

They actually go for walks without us! The audacity of it all. So far I've heard about the River Walk, Emerald Pools, Weeping Wall, Court of the Patriarchs, and a bunch of other places that I didn't get to see. At least I'm home in the nice, cool AC'd RV. They come back covered in red dust that rivals Zoe when we were at Monument Valley.

Mom had a birthday and they got to go for dinner at Zion Lodge. They said that every evening Mule Deer come out on the big, grassy lawn to graze and pose for pictures. They were there after the dinner and Mom was in Puppy Dog Heaven. She was really happy when she got back to see us, too.



We got to go on a road trip over the mountains to the other side of the park one evening. It was so cool. They had to stop traffic from the other side of the mile long, unlighted tunnel just so we could go through in the middle of the road. I still don't know why the folks got this monster truck that won't fit in places. They say they weren't the only reason that traffic was stopped, but I'm sure it was due to my presence. People like to pay attention to me, you know! And Zoe kept wanting to get out to see the erg rocks which are totally different from this side of the canyon. I think she really wanted to chase roadrunners - as if we saw any or she could catch one!

I think that they are having a really difficult time deciding which place they like the best so far. One thing they talked about (of course I listen!) is that they really feel a part of this place because it soars above them so high but is really narrow in the canyon part. Mom goes on about how "spiritual" a place this is and I just roll my eyes! I don't know what she is thinking anymore, but Dad just agrees with her! They're all rocks to me!

Sunday, we leave for Capitol Reef and then on to Moab after a couple of days. Going from hot to hotter, I hear. The campgrounds ought to advertise that "Hell is booked, but we've got heat too!" I think next time, we're going to lobby for a trip in the spring or fall instead of Summer in the Southwest!

"So long, pardners!" We all miss y'all.

Phaedra

Beep! Beep!

Mom and Dad saw their first roadrunner while here at Lake Powell. They said it was really fast. I could of caught it if they would have let me! I'm a lot faster then Phaedra.

Lake Powell is a man made lake that runs 140 miles through Utah into a little of Arizona. It serves a huge area. There was so much snow in the Utah mountains this year, the dam people said that Lake Powell is rising one foot A DAY! That is almost as tall as I am now.

The main problem we had was the heat. July 4th was 107.6 in the shade of our camper and 113 degrees in the sun on our picnic table. When the wind blew, it was hot air. (Dad knows a lot about that.) I had trouble when I had to go out to walk. I'd squat and have to keep changing which foot was on the ground - that's how hot is was for me!

The campground was lovely but very much a desert. There were jack rabbitts all over the place with the biggest ears you ever saw. The folks went on hikes early in the morning and spent the rest of the day at the resort pool or sleeping because the hike tuckered them out. Not me, I'm always ready to go!

They did go on a hike to get a great view of the Colorado River as it went around a bend. They also saw horny toads. I heard they are quite tasty and the babies are being born now. The only problem with them is that when they are swallowed they stick out their horns and get stuck in a dog's throat. Mom watched me like a hawk so I don't know that first hand!

They also visited the dam and had a
tour which they really enjoyed. The town of Page had a great fireworks show on the 4th.

It is onto Zion on the 5th. Hope
it cools down.

Zoe, the wonder dog/monster as Mom calls me.