Friday, July 23, 2010

Heading West

Monday morning we left Durango and headed for the OK RV Park http://www.okrvpark.com/ in Moab, Utah (Moab in the distance in the photo to the left). This is a PA park and we were given the PA rate of $19. as their busy season is actually not the scorching hot summer, but the cooler spring and fall when the jeeps, atvs, and other off road vehicles arrive to motate around the many dusty trails near Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. We were hot and tired by the time we arrived and the owner directed us to the BrewPub in town where we had a cold beer and a barbequed sandwich. Now that we were feeling so much better, we decided to drive through Arches NP which is only 5 minutes north of town. Allan's Golden Age Passport gave us free admission and we spent the next two hours driving and photographing as much as we could. This park is really for the serious hiker/walker as all of the famous arches are down trails. Everywhere you look are spires and formations in very red sandstone with beveled layers cut away by the wind and rain. Underneath the sandstone layer is an old salt bed layer and it is cut away easily by the wind leaving a hole underneath the harder sandstone. In the evening, when the sun is setting, all of the reddish rocks around Moab glow with a brilliant red, purple, or orange color. Quite spectacular. But the next morning we were off by 6:30 a.m. to Ogden, Utah. We stayed just off the freeway at the Century RV Park, no web site, but found on Google Maps and in the PA directory. No discount here, as this is their season with many seasonal perms in the park. We had dinner at the Olive Garden and went to bed early so that we could get up early for another long drive, this time to Meridian, Idaho. Meridian is just past Boise and we stayed at the Boise Meridian KOA. http://www.boisemeridiankoa.com/ Normally we do not use KOA as they are so expensive, but the person who answered the phone said that their rates had stayed the same as before they were KOA. This was another long day, but again with beautiful scenery. As you can see in the photo to the above right, at least we had a cloud cover for the day which made the drive more comfortable for all of us. Ned was up on his perch so he could see out of the window and Alice rode in her nest right behind Allan's seat. Both of them are looking at me to see if "we are there yet". On Thursday we drove from Meridian to Pendleton, Oregon where we stayed at the Wildhorse Casino and RV Park. http://www.wildhorseresort.com/ We were very glad to see the resort since just as we came over the hill from LaGrande, the wind picked up to gusts of 40-60 mph. We got set up and headed over to the casino for lunch, not expecting anything great, but it turned out to be one of the best meals we have had from a casino anywhere and one of the better meals we have had on the road. Everything was fresh, the salad bar was plentiful, the entrees included pork chops, really good fried chicken, swedish meatballs, chicken teriyaki, fresh sauteed vegetables, and beautiful desserts with the best custardy bread pudding I have had in ages. All this for $8.99. Plus they gave us coupons for free breakfast cold buffet, or discounted hot breakfast, which we had this morning and it also was terrific. Their RV Park (see above right) was beautiful and all the sites were well landscaped, FHU's, cable, and free wifi. There was a golf course available and a heated pool. A shuttle could pick you up to take you over to the casino to eat if you did not want to make the short walk. We would definitely stay there again. After breakfast we drove west along the Columbia Gorge to Tualatin where we are again staying at the RV Park of Portland. (See photo to left) http://www.rvparkofportland.com/ We will be here for two weeks this time, catching up on some ethnic restaurants, Powells Bookstore, Tualitin Concerts on the Commons, and visiting Gardens of note.

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