Today's plan
read:
Thursday see Dinosaur and Stay 8-25 in Motel 6 Pocatello, ID (3 rooms);Directions to Dinosaur:NorthEast on 191/40 for 14 miles, then Left on 149, (later turns toward right and is co-named Quarry Entrance Road) then left into park.Tour of the Tilted Rocks is an 10 mile (one-way) auto tour route along Cub Creek Road, starting at the Quarry Visitor Center north of Jensen, Utah. Guidebooks are available for a small fee at either visitor center, or at a self-service post near the monument's entrance station. Features along the route include petroglyph and pictograph panels, Josie Bassett's cabin built in 1913, and fantastic views of geologic layers. A short spur road takes you to the Split Mountain Boat Launch where you can see the Green River leaving Split Mountain Canyon or watch river rafters arriving after a several day journey through the monument. Wildlife may occasionally be seen, including mule deer, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and many bird species.The last two miles of the route are unpaved but well maintained
Leave Dinosaur,(Directions)Optional: Exit 332; go west on 1700 S/127/Antelope Island Rd. to antelope Island.(directions) to Motel 6.
Memory serves as
follows:
After a decent breakfast we went to the grocery store next
door for water (we drank a case every day, besides what we could get free),
then backtracked a little to get to Dinosaur National Monument.
It was free
admission for all, being the centennial of the National Park system. More
crowded than it might otherwise have been, but tolerable. There were also
Rangers about to answer questions, and a demo of a bird of prey, and a sun-spotting
telescope (but was too cloudy to use). The quarry was about how I remembered it
from 25 years ago. The children were impressed, but not terribly interested. We
stayed long enough for some of them to fill out junior ranger activity books so
they could get a prize when we left. Then we started on the self-driving tour,
but pretty much only stopped at the petroglyphs before heading for a picnic
site.
The school buses were just leaving, so we had a quiet lunch.
Then, oh, joy! the boys got to climb a mountain. But we did have to call them
back on account of the thunderstorms approaching. Back in the gift shop we
collected the Jr badges, and bought a few souvenirs.
Back on the road, through Salt Lake City, which was a
nightmare for traffic, and where we stopped for some real food - Cracker
Barrel. We hadn't eaten there for several years, and it wasn't bad, but noisy,
slow, and expensive (compared to picnics, anyway!). I bought a "yes and
know" book in the gift shop - I loved those things as a child! After all
the fighting of the road to get across town, we decided to skip Antelope Island
and get on with it.
It was late, as usual, when we arrived at Motel 6. Check in
was the fastest and friendliest so far, and our 3 rooms were next to each
other, on the ground floor, and near the pool. Unexpected bonus: free wi-fi. We
didn't expect much out of the rooms, so weren't disappointed. Again, we were
too tired to bother about swimming. I think I did some laundry that night...
No; they had laundry, but I had done mine the night before. Yep, our rooms at
Days Inn weren't on the ground floor, but there was a laundry room next door to
my bedroom. Those "commercial" washers they have at hotels hold about
a third of a load, and take FOREVER to dry. But I survived.
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