Arizona and Utah

It's Flagstaff, Arizona.  I'll be up here for maybe 6 weeks and so far, I've not been back to the Grand Canyon yet but have made my way up to the Arches National Park and Monument Valley in Utah.

As I was headed north into Utah, I looked back in my rear view mirror and noticed something familiar with the view.  Pulling over and getting out, I recognized this spot where Forrest Gump stopped running.  I'd always wanted to see this spot.

 

It seemed you could drive forever on this road without seeing anyone for miles but kept on plugging away toward Moab, Utah.  

Knowing there was about to be a full moon and an eclipse that weekend, I went directly on to the Arches National Park hoping to find a great spot for the moon shots. 

Being several hours prior to sunset, i visited lots of the turn outs with dozens of arches

As sundown approached, the formations began to glow, bringing out incredible desert colors.

As I was headed back to a spot I wanted to photograph the full moon, I turned through a canyon and was face to face with a full moon.

It really was an inconvenient place to stop for a photo so took a quick shot and moved on to one of the turn outs I had mentally reserved.  Others who had seen the large moon rising were stopping and a crowd formed snapping photos with iPhone and iPads too.  I probably took a dozen myself.

Realizing I had failed to nail down a hotel for the night and had no cell phone coverage, I went back to Moab where I was turned down at 3 places.  The nice lady at the Hampton told me there was absolutely nothing to be had for a room but gave me the number of a lodge 20 miles up the Colorado River.  I got the last room.  The next morning, before sunrise, I got up and rode down a couple of miles along the river to witness another Blood Moon eclipse.  Gosh it was cold out there.

There was a lot of prophetic stories about this Blood Moon/Eclipse so I found it just a little spooky out there by myself watching it.

After checking out of my room I went back to The Arches National Park to see a few things I missed the afternoon before.  My pedometer on my handy dandy Samsung phone told me I walked 4.7 miles through that dust place in a pair of Justins.  I really needed a more appropriate set of hiking boots.

Arches after arches. Since I may never get back there, I mistakenly thought I had to see them all but after a while, one decides that if you've seen one, you've seen them all.

So, after woofing down a hamburger in Moab, I headed south toward Monument Valley, passing by my Forrest Gump site.  Monument Valley is run by the Navajo Nation and so my good ole National Park card was no use there.

By the end of the day, I  was tired, dusty and felt like the desert around me.  Headed back south, I stopped off at a lesser tourist area and checked into a mom and pop motel and was glad to get it.