June 30, 2015, Tuesday, Glenwood Springs, CO
Day 61

Today was a rarity for us.  A spa day devoted to relaxation.  We arrived at the Glenwood Hot Springs Spa of the Rockies about 10 am. Got a locker, changed into bathing suits and hit the pools.   Two pools filled with the natural hot spring water.  The natural mineral water comes out of the spring at 122 degrees and has a daily flow of 3,500,000 gallons.  The “therapy pool” is 104 degrees, 100 feet long, 91,000 gallons and has some seats along the side that have Jacuzzi-like bubbles.  The “large pool” is 90-93 degrees, 405 feet long and 1,071,000 gallons.   We alternated between the pools until about noon.  After lunch at the Spa’s Grill, we headed to the spa area for our “treatment”.  This began with a steam room.  My attendant set it for 10 minutes.  At 120 degrees I lasted approximately 60 seconds.  After a minute outside, I tried again.  30 seconds later and I was having Vegas flashbacks with 100% humidity. Next was the “Signature Mineral Wellness Bath”.  I entered the dimly lit room with a large white bathtub and soft music.  My choice of Almond (and other fancy stuff) oil is added to the hot bath as is several scoops of mineral crystals. On went the bubbles and in I went.  At first I wondered how I was going to last 30 minutes as the water was quite hot. After a minute or so I started to really enjoy the bubble massage.  At the side was a washcloth in cold water which I plopped onto my head several times.  Also at the side was a glass of cold water with lemon.  When the time passed and the bubbles went off, I was sorry it had ended.  However, I was looking forward to the next stage.  Meeting up with Rosemary in the Serenity Room in our robes, we were served cold tea and a snack.  Next stage was the “Signature Foot Ritual”.  Turkish salts with essence of eucalyptus, basil and lavender massaged into our feet and lower legs.  A foot soak in Kerstin Florian FuB Balm rich in pine and rosemary while Neroli Water from the bitter orange was misted over our heads.  (Sorry folks, I can’t make this stuff up).  Next up was our 90 minute couples Swedish Massage.  Rosemary had masseur Mike, I had masseuse Lindsey.  The oil we selected was vanilla, blood orange and sweet almond. Rosemary claims to have fallen asleep for a few minutes.  If it had gone much longer, I think I may have also. Total relaxation. We managed to walk back to the serenity room where we were served hot tea and sat as we tried to wake up. Not being in any hurry, we stayed there until about 5:30.  Then long showers in the locker room with fancy shampoo, conditioner and body wash followed by lotions. We headed downtown for supper at Smoke Modern Barbeque.  A great deal for 2 included 4 meats and 2 sides.  Rosemary was a good sport eating only about a third of the meal.  I polished off the rest downing it with a Demshitz Brown Ale from Bonfire Brewing of Eagle, CO. After dinner, back to the pools for more relaxation and more showering. We made it back to the coach at almost 9:30 pm.  Twelve hours of utter joy.  Going to sleep well tonight.  Who knew relaxation could be so exhausting.

June 29, 2015, Monday, Glenwood Springs, CO
Day 60

Slept until after 9 am, much later than usual.  Must have been all that wine, or maybe it’s all that heat. Easy 80 mile drive to Ami’s Acres Camping in Glenwood Springs. High temp only 96, hooray! Our lot has a big tree that shades the middle of the coach which is exactly where the front a/c is located.  We leave the coach with both a/c’s running. Headed downtown to the visitor info.  Ran an errand to get Rosemary’s glasses repaired and a replacement for my sunglasses case lost on the shuttle bus at Zion NP. Then visited the Glenwood Caverns.   Although a smaller caverns than we have experienced in the past, we could not resist the temp in the 50's. Rosemary even wanted to go in spite of the aerial tram ride up the mountain to get there. Supper at JH Chen Asian Bistro was very good. Walked entire downtown, mostly rolled up sidewalks.  Headed back to the coach to find 2 functioning a/c’s and a temp of 71, aah! Should have brought a shovel so we could take that tree with us. Got duct tape. Upcoming Eisenhower tunnel may be problematic though.

June 28, 2015, Sunday, Clifton, CO (Grand Junction)
Day 59

Easy 110 mile drive to RV Ranch at Grand Junction in Clifton, CO, between Grand Junction and Palisade.  High temp down to 102 today.  I am now a firm believer in global warming. Lost front a/c again.  I think that unit is a goner when I get back home.  After lunch, we go winery hopping.  Palisade is Colorado’s wine country. Visited 4 wineries and had complimentary tastings.  Bought 4 bottles to restock my supply as I was down to my last bottle.  One unique purchase was a white cabernet at Colterris Winery, surprising good.  Supper in downtown Grand Junction at Il Bistro Italiano where I had mussels in a tomato, garlic, white wine sauce over linguini.  Delicious.  Wore 2 napkins to avoid spatters successfully.  Came in handy when the waiter spilled the cheese into my lap.  Rosemary had a salad and margherita pizza. Afterward, we walked the entire downtown and found the sidewalks rolled up.  Somewhat surprising for a town of 60,000. Guess the heat kept them away!

June 27, 2015, Saturday, Moab, UT (Arches NP)
Day 58

The tourist info lady said the best time to visit Arches National Park is 6 to 10 am due to the heat. Well not being one to get up at 5 am, we set the alarm for 6:30.  At the park at 7:40 and start our visit. Many arches are only short hikes from the road.  First set are the North and South Windows and the Turret Arch. Look closely at the photo of the Turret Arch. That is not a bug in the opening but yours truly.  The next photo is me taking a picture of Rosemary (although I zoomed in on her) after she just took the “bug shot”. Arches was lots of fun, lots of climbing on relatively smooth rocks. By the time we hiked to the Pine Arch, temp was already triple digits and we had had enough.  Called it a day at 12:15 pm.  Back to the coach for lunch and both a/c’s still running and coach is cool. During lunch, lost the front a/c.  Went tot the lone optical place to fix the earpiece on Rosemary’s glasses but closed weekends.  Went to the 2 barber shops in town as it has been over 2 months since my last haircut, closed on weekends.  Hung out at the tourist info center to use wifi and upload photos.  Then to coffee shop for gelato and uploaded more photos. Supper at Singha Thai.  Back to coach in evening and temp is ok as we have a very shaded lot and back a/c did well.   Tomorrow we depart the desert and hopefully find cooler climes in Colorado.

June 26, 2015, Friday, Moab, UT
Day 57

We departed the campground in the morning and parked the coach and car at the Hickman Bridge parking lot for a trail of 1.8 miles (roundtrip) to a natural arch.  The trail was correctly rated moderate and although not easy, it was considerably easier than the .2 Capitol Gorge hike yesterday.  Although we started early, the temps were still quite hot.  The arch itself was cool as we stopped underneath it which was a breezy shaded spot. Back to the parking lot, attached the car and headed to Moab, about a 3 hour drive.  Moab high temp was 104.  Needless to say, we lost the front a/c on the way.  Checked into the Canyonlands RV Park in downtown Moab.  Supper at the Moab Brewery was 3 fish tacos.  Rosmary had salmon.  After sampling 3 different beers, I ordered a Raven Stout which really hit the spot with the tacos and the heat. The brewery also makes its own gelato. Unfortunately, they were out of bourbon and rootbeer flavors so we had to settle for coconut sorbet.  After supper, grocery shopping at City Market, our first real grocery since Flagstaff.

June 25, 2015, Thursday, Torrey, UT (Capitol Reef NP)
Day 56

We departed Bryce Canyon City and headed east on Highway 12, one of the top ten scenic byways in the U.S., for a 110 mile trip to Torrey for our base to see the Capitol Reef National Park.  The drive took 3 hours and 15 minutes.  Talk about scenic, and harrowing.  Along the way was a portion along the crest of a mountain with barely enough room for the 2 lane road and substantial drop offs on each side.  The white knuckles I experienced brought back memories of Mount Washington last year. Rosemary was near tears. The ride also passed a 9600 foot summit. The coach spent significant time coughing and wheezing while climbing up hill and it refreshed my memory of our Camp Freightliner instructor’s warning that the chassis does not perform well above 7000 feet.  We finally made it to Torrey and checked into Wonderland RV Park. About 4 pm, we drove the car to the NP. Visited the Gifford House (an original house in the former Mormon settlement of Fruita) and bought 2 ice creams for $1 each to eat on the spot and  a strawberry rhubarb pie for later.  Then headed along the scenic drive in the park (8 miles paved) to the end (5 miles unpaved) to the Capitol Gorge hike.  The 1 mile (one way) hike was rated easy to see the “tanks” which are pools of water in the rocks for which the water cannot escape by flow.  After we walked along a dry riverbed about .8 miles we came to a sign that said tanks .2 miles and an arrow pointing up.  We began a climb up the rocky cliff looking for the cairns (small piles of rocks marking the trail).  After awhile, we began debating whether to continue since the climb was in no way “easy” and even required all fours in spots.  We pushed on with the encouragement of other (much younger) hikers.  We finally see a “tank” and it has maybe 5 gallons of water.  A little further and we see a sizeable tank and take a photo and a rest.  We proceed down and all of the rocks seem to look alike.  Could not find one cairn and tried a couple wrong paths (which lead to a cliff) until we found the right trail.  Back to the car. This 2 mile hike took almost 2 hours.

June 23 & 24, 2015, Tuesday-Wednesday, Bryce Canyon City, UT (Bryce Canyon NP)
Day 54 & 55

Slept late, easy drive to Bryce Canyon City and checked into Ruby’s Inn RV Park & Campground for 2 nights at elevation 7600.  After lunch took the shuttle bus into Bryce Canyon National Park.  If the Grand Canyon was “Wow!”, this park is Wow Wow!  Incredible colors and “hoodoo” formations. These formations are not formed by any river but by a freeze thaw cycle.  This unique area has 200 days per year of freezing temps at night and above freezing temps by day so that the water in the rocks freezes and thaws creating cracking and eroding. The white layer is limestone, the red is sandstone and the ugly cement gray is manganese.  The limestone and sandstone are the softer layers which results in some columns with the manganese still intact on top and the softer layers eroding underneath. The park consists of 10 “amphitheaters” of hoodoos over about 18 miles.  The best part is there are numerous hiking trails which take you from the rim down to the canyon floor to walk among the hoodoos. We viewed the Bryce, Inspiration, Sunset and Sunrise Points and then walked the Navajo Loop, a trail of about 1.3 miles. The walk was incredible.  This park should be on everyone’s bucket list. We returned to the coach finally after 8 pm.  The next day we took the free Rainbow Bus Tour (3.5 hours and reservations required).  The tour takes you to along the entire 18 mile road with several stops at several points with the tour guide describing the geology and pointing out what we were looking at including views of the north rim of the Grand Canyon and other views of over 100 hundred miles.  We spent the afternoon at Mossy Cave and Waterfall, remembering to bring our water shoes this time for a wade down the river.  Supper was at the Bryce Canyon Lodge (built in 1924) was delicious.  After a bowl of Elk Chili, my main courses was birch black boneless short ribs, black bean risoto cake and green beans together with a Squatters Organic Amber Ale brewed in Utah.  Rosemary had salmon in a chili lime sauce, cilantro jasmine rice and green beans. Great meal, great park, great time.  Almost forgot, a/c’s working great and heater at night due to temps in the 50's.