Day 15: Capitol Reef (#7)

Day 15: Capitol Reef (#7)

He was certainly in a confused state. I used to go and visit him in Callan Park. They were really - to me they were the best poets those two writing in those days but it wasn't very encouraging because, well, they weren't getting far were they?
Robert Adamson

Pics: Sunrise in Boulder, Capitol Reef NP, THB staying off drugs at U-pick in CR NP, local rodeo in Boulder, the best doubleheader we’ve attended in years

Book review: Love and Summer, William Trevor, Kindle edition. Not Trevor’s finest effort, another fable of small town life and motivations set in late 1940s Ireland (could just have well been 1880s) where one of the main characters is a senile old man (I came to skip his long blatherings, never a good sign) who, sure enough, plays a pivotal part in swinging the story in the last 20 pages. Not recommended.

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

• Breakfast at the Backbone: Awesome, dude! Smashed potato pancakes and egg, blue corn pancakes, lousy French press coffee, $30
• THB buys his first cookie of trip (other than for desert at Silver Jack, those were really ice cream sandwiches, something entirely different), at Backbone, GOOD IDEA! $2.50
• High mountain autumn is happening and aspen are turning colors in huge quantities making hour each way drive to/from CR NP over the top pretty (and, we do it again in 2 days)
• Capitol Reef small and exquisite (even has a U-pick apples spot in the park, see pic), with maybe the best scenic drive we’ve taken (so far) in a NP; add this park to your itinerary
• Two more hot and dusty and interesting hikes, totaling around 6 miles, including one from parking lot to parking lot (see DB pointing at the turn around point: cars…who knew)
• Picnic of leftover chicken and beef posole, cookie (cookie the best!), sitting on a blanket at a pullout off the scenic drive
• Return to Boulder Mtn Lodge in time for cow roundup (rent and watch Sweetgrass!), see pics
• Dinner at the Backbone: meatloaf, trout, salads, leftover wine, fudge sundae on top of meringue, $100

Why DB is a great travel companion:
1. She upgrades our headwear and now we are wearing lightweight neck covers sewn on to lightweight hats (See prior posts on THB’s interest in spending money on such frivolity, no matter how much a functional upgrade), see pics for new hats
2. She doesn’t mind when I want to do an excursion to see the water tanks, see the pic of her lifting her arms up in jubilation (she’s small, look closely) while I scamper and climb over rocks in 85 degree heat and she waits in the shade
3. She let me go first on the Calf Creek hike, so I was the one that almost stepped on a four foot snake (hike still great)…she swears it was a rattler
4. She figures out the optimum routes, making sure we see beauty while minimizing the driving