After a relaxed morning sleeping in and enjoying pancakes and bacon, we packed up and hit the road. The kids rebelled against the pace, so we said we would take the scenic route. This turned out to be a terrific idea.
We went from rt 12 to rt 24 which took us past Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Grand Staircase Escalante, the aptly named Hell's Backbone, and through Capitol Reef. Mom has been hunting for that sign of hipster eating, the elusive kombucha, but despaired of finding any in the empty landscape. Suddenly, at 12:30 in Escalante a mirage appeared...an organic grocery, The Merc. It proved to be an oasis of organic picnic food and mom had her choice of kombucha flavors. Capital Reef was also unexpected. We passed by the orchards of Fruita, which were fruiting, but didn't have time to stop, though we made time for the petroglyphs. We hit a peak of 9400 feet and had to stop because a cowboy on horse back and 2 dogs were driving a herd of cattle across the road. Jeremiah, the wildlife spotter, saw 5 deer, but it was elk we were after. We left disappointed on that score, but saw dozens of prairie dogs later to make up for it.
Even after Capitol Reef, the drive was stunning. We listened to Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian as we drove, and unexpectedly, the kids loved it, though it was depressing. We stopped at a store looking for dinner fixings, but walked out with 4 stickers that Ellie bought for us. Hers was "Spicy". Leslie's was "Girly." Phil's was "Muy caliente." Jeremiah's was "Cupid." Fitting. The machine knew us. We made it to Moab by dinner, and at 100 degrees, decided to try the local cuisine instead of building a fire. The Spoke had food for everyone: mac and cheese, ribs, fish tacos, and beet, goat cheese, and spinach salad. You guess who got what. Tummies full, we are ready to pitch our tents.
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