FRIDAY NOV. 16/07
Another big bright sunny Utah morning so we were glad when the sun came up over the east canyon rim & began to un-thaw our water line. Took some pictures on our morning dog walk around the KOA campground & will post them in the album.
Headed out in the car around 10:30 motoring east on highway 12, one of America's top scenic bi-ways. And it sure lives up to it's top billing too. We went all the way to Boulder which was about 60 miles. This road is nothing short of exciting with it's tight curves, steep grades, & long gentle rolling straightaways on the canyon floor. This road will test your driving skills if you let it. Glad we didn't come this way with the motorhome but it is do-able. Just that the steep grades would be hard on the engine, transmission, & brakes, for sure.
The scenery is never ending & around every corner is a new vista. Just west of Boulder there are a couple of 14% grades, a really narrow stretch of road atop a ridge with steep drop-offs on both sides with no guardrails. One mistake & you become a permanent smudge on the valley floor far below. Boulder is a smattering of buildings scattered willy nilly alongside the road. There really isn't a central part to it & we had hadn't realized we were in Boulder until we had gone through it & didn't see any more buildings. Made a U turn, came back, & yup there were were the buildings again so we figured we was in Boulder alright. Anasazi State Park is here. A very quaint little place in the middle of nowhere. Neat-O & would be an interesting area to spend some time.
Headed west out of Boulder & started our twisting & winding road back to Cannonville. Kept thinking to myself how great it would be to have my motorcycle here. What great country this is for a bike. Sure wished all this wasn't so far away from Ontario, Canada.
Stopped at a really picturesque place along the way called the Calf Creek Recreational Area. "Wow", was this place ever nice. Hidden away in a steep canyon with Calf Creek flowing through it. It's a camping site with room for RV's under 25 feet but I'm sure our 33 footer would easily fit in here. Check the web album for some pictures I took here.
Not long after leaving here we came across a second little gem. Rounding a curve we noticed some kind of building on the hillside to the right. Sign said Kiva Koffee House. Slowed down & turned into the driveway. Sign said closed but the gate was open so drove in & parked. "Wow" again!! What a super neat-O place this was & it's too bad we missed out because they closed Oct 29 for the season. Again, check our web album for the photos I took here. Looked it up on the internet when we got home so here's some information about it....http://www.kivakoffeehouse.com/about.htm
Made it back to Cannonville around 3 & spent the rest of the day relaxing & soaking up some sun. We sure
do love Utah because just when you think it can't get any better.........it does!!
Another big bright sunny Utah morning so we were glad when the sun came up over the east canyon rim & began to un-thaw our water line. Took some pictures on our morning dog walk around the KOA campground & will post them in the album.
Headed out in the car around 10:30 motoring east on highway 12, one of America's top scenic bi-ways. And it sure lives up to it's top billing too. We went all the way to Boulder which was about 60 miles. This road is nothing short of exciting with it's tight curves, steep grades, & long gentle rolling straightaways on the canyon floor. This road will test your driving skills if you let it. Glad we didn't come this way with the motorhome but it is do-able. Just that the steep grades would be hard on the engine, transmission, & brakes, for sure.
The scenery is never ending & around every corner is a new vista. Just west of Boulder there are a couple of 14% grades, a really narrow stretch of road atop a ridge with steep drop-offs on both sides with no guardrails. One mistake & you become a permanent smudge on the valley floor far below. Boulder is a smattering of buildings scattered willy nilly alongside the road. There really isn't a central part to it & we had hadn't realized we were in Boulder until we had gone through it & didn't see any more buildings. Made a U turn, came back, & yup there were were the buildings again so we figured we was in Boulder alright. Anasazi State Park is here. A very quaint little place in the middle of nowhere. Neat-O & would be an interesting area to spend some time.
Headed west out of Boulder & started our twisting & winding road back to Cannonville. Kept thinking to myself how great it would be to have my motorcycle here. What great country this is for a bike. Sure wished all this wasn't so far away from Ontario, Canada.
Stopped at a really picturesque place along the way called the Calf Creek Recreational Area. "Wow", was this place ever nice. Hidden away in a steep canyon with Calf Creek flowing through it. It's a camping site with room for RV's under 25 feet but I'm sure our 33 footer would easily fit in here. Check the web album for some pictures I took here.
Not long after leaving here we came across a second little gem. Rounding a curve we noticed some kind of building on the hillside to the right. Sign said Kiva Koffee House. Slowed down & turned into the driveway. Sign said closed but the gate was open so drove in & parked. "Wow" again!! What a super neat-O place this was & it's too bad we missed out because they closed Oct 29 for the season. Again, check our web album for the photos I took here. Looked it up on the internet when we got home so here's some information about it....http://www.kivakoffeehouse.com/about.htm
Made it back to Cannonville around 3 & spent the rest of the day relaxing & soaking up some sun. We sure
do love Utah because just when you think it can't get any better.........it does!!
Some incredible landscaping in those slot canyons, nice pics Al !!!
ReplyDeleteThe hermit
I'm hopng this gets attached to the post/thread about the Kiva Koffeehouse in Utah. We were there last October 7, 2009, and the service was eseentially non-existent. They ignored my wife and I, at the counter, no less, for almost 10 minutes and didn't even acknowledge us. We finally shrugged and walked out and continued on to Bryce. I've never been treated as invisible but that's what it amounted to. Very disappointing. We did like the area scenery and the architecture of the Koffeehouse itself, but the service experience was shockingly poor. BTW, we're from Grimsby, Ontario and travel in a class B Roadtrek. I must admit, there are times I wish we could afford to travel in a class A, but driving through the Grand Escalante, on the same road you described as something that could make you "a smudge on the canyon floor below", isn't one of them. Nice website. Mike.
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