Road trip recap, part 2

Picking up with my last post, day 3 concluded with about 6 or 7 hours of tearing down I-15 through Utah. We spent the night in a shady, and extremely hot hotel room in Price, Utah. Things didn't improve much the next morning when we drove around for 30 minutes looking for a cup of coffee. No dice in this small town. I'm going to reveal our stereotypical Seattle coffee snobbery here when I say that in a moment of desperation we pulled into the McDonald's drive-through lane to procure said cup of coffee. If we would have gone with the straight drip coffee, I'm sure it would have been fine, but, being that it was 100 degrees out, we opted for the iced coffee instead. Big mistake. Our iced "coffees" were literally white with cream (as in not even remotely lightly tan colored), and we had specifically asked them to go easy on the cream. So we had about one sip each and then tossed them in the nearest trash. But I digress...

The rest of the day in eastern Utah was splendid. First we checked out Canyonlands National Park, which is essentially like the Grand Canyon, except that there is no one there, and there are no guard rails. So you can wander right up to the edge of these plunging red rock canyons and peer down to your potential death several thousand feet below. Amazing. We took some great pictures there, but both J and I started to get that nervous roller coaster feeling in our stomach any time we looked over the edge, so we didn't get too close. It was also about 105 degrees there in the blazing sun, so short half mile excursions out of our air conditioned car left us sweating like we'd just run a marathon and panting for water.

Next up was Arches National Park, which is just 30 miles down the road from Canyonlands. I had expected to like Arches better, and although the huge red rock formations were extremely cool, I think Canyonlands won out for the sheer drama of the scenery. However, we checked out some of the famous arches and took a bunch of shots and I'm very happy to have had the opportunity to see both parks.

Back in our car and relishing in the blissful AC, we drove through Moab, Utah, where we stopped at a cafe for an ice cream (me) and an iced coffee (J) that was called "Wake'n'Bake." Classy. And kind of unexpected for Utah. Moving on...

We spent that night in Durango, Colorado, which is a fun little western town. It definitely has relaxed, outdoorsy ski town vibe and, more importantly, it offers an array of dining choices, which we were extremely excited about. After several days of Subway and other quick, side of the road food, we were in the mood for something different and made a b-line for the Durango's Indian restaurant. It did not disappoint.

We finished off our stint in Colorado the next morning with a trip to Mesa Verde National Park, which is home to a collection of Native American dwellings that were built into the sides of cliffs around 1200 AD. They are really well preserved, and you can actually walk through some of them. A very cool and unique experience.

Next up is Santa Fe, Roswell, Carlsbad Caverns, and then, finally, the great state of Texas.