Heading West to Heber City, Utah

Goodbye Palisade, loved our Visit!

Well, the time had come to say goodbye to the plateaus of Colorado and the beautiful Book Cliffs.  We have loved our stay here but would have loved it more if we could have visited the wineries!  That was such a cruel joke to be surrounded by so many vineyards and not do any tasting tours.  We will be back, Palisade, to taste your fruits of the vine!

As we continue our journey in Utah, we will be heading north into the Wasatch Mountains area of the Rockies.  Our destination is about an hour southeast of Salt Lake City at River's Edge at Deer Park in Heber City, Utah.  Once again, the 5-hour drive was just amazing.  The view out my window was always changing and scenic.

 
River's Edge at Deer Creek

Heber City is located in Summit County and is 45 miles SE of Salt Lake City.  Come to find out, Summit County is one of the wealthiest counties in the United States.  You can find tons of things to do here such as skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, hiking, boating, and horseback riding without all of the crowds.  Park City, which is located 20 miles north of Heber City, is the site of numerous concerts and festivals, including the world-famous Sundance Film Festival.

This area is known as the Wasatch Back which is also part of the Rocky Mountains.  Wasatch is a Ute Indian word that means "mountain pass" or "low pass over high range."

River's Edge at Deer Creek RV Park, unknown to me when I booked the site, is at the base of Jordanelle Reservoir and Dam.  It was just a little unsettling for me that the dam towered 235 feet above the park!  Thankfully, all was well during our stay.

The big tan wall in the background is the Jordanelle Dam

The 152,570-acre reservoir

  

Antelope Island State Park

Since Dennis has the Monday off due to Memorial Day, we decided to drive up to Antelope Island located on the other side of Salt Lake City.  This ended up being over a 2-hour drive for us but we thought it was worth the trip.

Antelope Island got its name back in the 1800's from the Indians who would hunt antelope on the island.  However, today this 42 square mile island is the home to bison, sheep, porcupine, badgers, coyotes, bobcats, and panghorn, but no antelopes.

The 7-mile Causeway over to the Island

The Great Salt Lake

Bison roaming around as far as you can see

After a 2-mile hike and seeing tons of bison, we found this small sandwich shop open at the beach area and decided to grab a bite to eat before headed back to the 5th wheel.  D got a bison burger and I got my trusted grilled cheese.

If you are in the Salt Lake City area,, this state park is definitely worth your time to visit.  Along with wild animal sightings and the beaches, it also offers camping and hiking trails.

Loveland Living Planet Aquarium

On Friday we headed out to Draper, Utah to visit The Loveland Aquarium.   Being from Georgia - who boasts of having the largest aquarium in the world at 550,000 square feet - it's always nice to visit others and compare.  I do have to admit right of the bat, I happen to prefer the Tennessee Aquarium to the Georgia Aquarium.

The Loveland Aquarium, located in Draper is about 20 south of Salt Lake City,  is 136,000 square feet, and opened to the public on March 24, 2014.   Our ticket time was for 4:45 PM which gave us plenty of time to get there after D got off work.  We found the aquarium easy to get around and plenty of helpful employees to answer all our questions.  Since they were limiting the amount of people due to Covid-19, we were able to spend as much time viewing all of the animals and fish.

I think the most interesting thing I saw was the electric eel.  They had a live meter that would emanate sound whenever he was active.  Scary and awesome at the same time!  The eel was huge!  It was easily 8 feet long and 65 pounds.

Clouded leopard in the Asia Exhibit

 Heading to the Gentoo penguins in the Antarctic Adventure Exhibit

 Moray Electric Eel in the South America Exhibit

40 foot Ocean Explorer Tunnel

All aboard the Heber Valley Railroad

On Saturday we decided to take a train ride on the historic Heber Valley Railroad. The site boasted of spectacular views of Heber Valley and the shoreline of the Deer Creek Reservoir.

The ride also included a very quick train robbery when it stopped at the Soldier Hollow platform about midway of the trip.
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All in all, the trip was 2 hours and can't say it was totally worth it but hey... when in Rome.

After a fun-filled week of exploring, Sunday has come and it's time to pack up and move on.  Today we head to Rexburg, Idaho to check out Yellowstone National Park among other places.

Colorado National Monument and the Book Cliffs

Palisade, CO

When we only stay in a city for one week, it gives us just one full day of sightseeing.  Otherwise, during the weekdays, we have to wait til D gets off work at 2pm (MT) to venture out.  So in this city, we decided to spend that one day visiting the national park of Colorado National Monument located in the nearby city of Grand Junction.  It ended up being less than 30 miles away from our park.

 

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As you can see from the pictures, this is a beautiful park.   The park is in the desert plateau of Colorado which also stretches into northwestern New Mexico, southern and eastern Utah,  and northern Arizona.  The park has a wide range of wildlife, including red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, desert bighorn sheep, and coyotes.  But the only wildlife we saw were the bighorn sheep that were blocking the road for a bit. 

The Book Cliffs

Just Crazy!

Hiking trail near Mount Garfield

Garfield Mount, Palisade Colorado

Dennis in front of Mount Garfield

On the drive to and from Colorado Monument Park are endless views of the Book Cliffs.  The cliffs are a series of desert mountains that stretch over 200 miles in Colorado and into eastern Utah.  They are so named because of the sandstone cliffs that cap many of them which appear similar to a shelf of books.  I personally did not see the resemblance.  But regardless they are a site to behold. 

The first photo is of folks hiking up the steep rim of the cliffs in Palisade.  Crazy!!  The last two pictures are of Garfield Mount which is the high point of the Book Cliffs, north of Grand Junction, Colorado.  The mountain was named after President James Garfield a year after Garfield's death.

Our next destination: Heber City, Utah

Moving over to Colorado's Wine Country!

Palisade, Colorado

Palisade Base Camp! Not only is this park located right on the Colorado River with views of huge cliffs but it is also slap-dab in the middle of peach orchards and wine vineyards.  The aroma of the peach trees blooming filled the air with soft honey and almonds day and night.  Our next visit here, I hope to plan it during harvest time.  Yum!

View looking over a wine vineyard

View of Clark Peach Orchard

Our New Traveling Buddy, Clark the Moose!

Meet Clark! Ain't he cute?

On our way here from Colorado Springs, we stopped in this very, very, very small town in the middle of nowhere in order to switch over to our auxiliary fuel tank and believe it or not there was a small shop OPEN!   They had tons of these wood carvings out front so I walked down to look at them while D was dealing with the truck.   I know weight is n issue in RV but I just had to have him.  So each time we move to the next city, we strap Clark in the back seat and he has now become our official travel companion.

From Snow Capped Mountains to Desert Mountain Cliffs

I think both areas hold their own kind of beauty.  This was definitely a 4-hour trip worth taking.

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We also passed through the ski cities of Breckenridge and Vail.

Lucky for us, it is not ski season and we had smooth sailing through both of the towns. 

Our next outing is to Colorado National Park!