Grand Junction to CO Monument to Cedar City, UT

Again, ignore the posting dates. It is Tuesday - I promise! ;-)
Day 9, Tuesday
Grand Junction, CO --> Colorado Monument --> Cedar City, UT
Warning: This is a long post; 335 miles and we stopped twice for sight-seeing.


Colorado National Monument is a smaller colorful canyon compared to canyons in the Rockies. But it is more accessible for viewing up-close. This place is very well maintained. Good roads (except where half the road eroded away and left only one lane). Nice Visitor Center.

















Nice road.



Balancing rock?


Heading for the CO/UT border...


75. Colorado too. Yes!



But I... can't... drive... seventy-fiiive...


And now we are in Utah!













Major thunder storm. We only caught about 5 minutes of it. There was some very cool lightning too, but my finger wasn't quite quick enough on the camera button.



OMG! Three Thousand miles already?



Cedar City, UT - Shakespeare Festival country.


We decided to check out Cedar Breaks National Monument, another cool canyon, just outside the city. My dad has been here before with Carly and Molly.


Nice windy road. Although, most of the turns were very tight, so mostly lower speeds. One turn was probably more than 300 degrees, slightly banked toward the inside. But there was a cliff on the outside - we were climbing to over 10,000 feet.



There were a few straight aways at lower elevation.















That's 10,350 feet above sea level. I didn't really notice the thin air, but then, we didn't do any hiking up here.



Seriously deep.












Our overnight stop in Cedar City landed us at 6000 feet.



3,110 miles to Cedar City.



We had dinner at this cool house converted into a restaurant called Garden House. Or, was it Housegarden?...


Tomorrow, we head back to Vegas to drop off Dad at home.

Ciao!
Jeff
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