More from Utah...

I got some beautiful Fall color going through the mountains.

  

This is our little convoy at a rest stop.

  

This our group:  Lyn, Pam, Ralph, Tom, Dennis, BJ & Don.  Linda is the camera person.

 The last couple of posts were about Arches National Park, but now,  we've moved on to Canyonlands National Park, which is very close to Arches.  Moab, Utah has a lot of parkland of various kinds, both state and federal.

Canyonlands is a huge park, 527 square miles.  Arches is notable for the above ground rock formations and Canyonlands has some of those, too.

But it's main claim to fame is the canyons, hence the name.

Arches...part 2

Some more pictures of the Arches...

Next stop, Canyonlands National Park...

Arches National Park...part 1

This was the first time at Arches for all of us, so we were lucky to find one of the very few picnic tables in the shade for our lunch.  This was good since the temperature was in the high 80's.

 We drove to each scenic spot, then did short hikes.

There are more than 2000 arches in the park.

 The arches and other openings are formed by eroded sandstone.

 

Some places you need a park service guide to reach.

Tom found some native wildlife:

 

River trip, part 2 ... the show

They drove pickup trucks loaded with huge floodlights up the road at the base of the cliff on one side of the canyon as a narration with music played.

It told the story of the development of the land over millions of years with light and shadow.

They crossed a bridge and continued the story down the other side of the canyon to tell the story of the people who have lived here.

Then they turned off the lights and we drifted down the river with lovely music as we contemplated the universe.

River trip, part 1

Now we are in Moab, Utah.  Ralph, Pam, Lyn and Dennis went off on an all day adventure; river rafting and  hill/rock climbing in a hummer.  I thought that was probably a bit too much adventure for me and so did BJ, so Tom and I, with BJ and Don decided to have dinner and a boat trip on the river with a light show.  They do a great cowboy dinner. all cooked in Dutch Ovens, after which we boarded a flat boat for the trip.

Our narrator was a cowboy too.

Under the bridge and up the canyon we go, right a sunset.











Another beautiful sunset...

 and a full moon with scattered clouds... 

led to a fantastic show created with light and shadow, backed with music as we floated back down the river.

The Rocket Garden

On our way back t o the campground we stopped at ATK, a rocket development company, to see the Rocket Garden.  That is exactly what it is; paths wind through examples of all the different rockets, motors and stuff built here.

This is an actual solid rocket booster from a space shuttle.  It is huge!  I could see the O rings that they has so much trouble with.

 

 








 This is the separation motor that fits in the end of the   solid rocket motor.

Another of the big rockets, taken from the base looking up.

We are sitting under the middle set of braces to give you a sense of perspective.

The Golden Spike

We've made it to Ogden, Utah and hoped to be free of smoke; no such luck as you can see from the haze in the background.

We are at the Golden Spike National Historic Site.  The Transcontinental Railroad was completed here and they do a reenactment of the ceremony to drive the final spikes.  They used a special Laurelwood tie and 4 spikes of gold, silver and copper from the 2 railroads and the State of California and the Nevada Territory.  The tie is one of 4 reproductions of the original which is under glass in the museum building.

The Jupiter and the 119 are exact replicas to within 1 inch.  The are painted according to a description found in a late 19th century journal.  They are Victorian era, so they are very ornate.

This is the Jupiter doing a blowdown to get rid of sediment in the boiler.  The Jupiter is a wood fired steam engine.

 Above is the fireman and below is the engineer.

Tom above, Linda below with the Jupiter

Some of the reenactors.

 The 119 was a coal fired steam engine. 

The reenactment lasts about 30 minutes or so and they often have people from the audience play a part.  Some of us with cameras with members of the press.  Tom was a Bishop from the local Morman Church with some of his wives (a couple of the women in our group were sitting with him).

The 2 presidents of the railroads with their gold spikes, they set them in pre-drilled holes. Eventually they have the fireman come out to drive the spikes, but carefully, because after all they are gold and silver.

 As it was done, the telegrapher sent the first live message back east to tell everyone in the country the deed was done.

The volunteers posed for pictures and the locomotives stayed on display all day.  They do another reenactment in the afternoon, but not another arrival of the engines.