Our Jello plans for Tuesday were to drive on up to Blanding, UT, park the coach and do some more site seeing, however, Miss Serendipity had a lot to say about that.....but yet again I get ahead of myself.
The temps got down to the mid 20's Monday night, but with 30 amps we stayed pleasantly cozy in our coach. I was up around 7 am and trying to write my blog with very thin broadband.......there was a lot of "weeping and gnashing of teeth", but by 9 am the deed was done and we were unplugging and heading out for Blanding. As we rolled up US 163 we were captivated by the giant views, but there was no place on this narrow highway to pull over in our behemoth to take pictures. About 8 miles before Bluff, UT we hit a 10% downhill grade which took our breath away, and then just as quickly we were chugging back up a 10% grade in 2nd gear at about 21 mph. By the time we rolled into Bluff we were thinking we had to drive the VW back to take pictures after we got parked in Blanding, but then out of the corner of my eye I spied a funky little RV park called Cottonwood RV Park and decided on the spot we had driven the Newell as far as she was going to go this day.....a whopping 19 miles.
We pulled in, but no one was in the office so we followed the instructions on the sign and picked a spot, parked, hooked up and then headed out in the VW for a day that will go down in our memories as one of the most amazing days of serendipity we have ever experienced. We started back tracking along US 163 thinking we would just find a place to stop along the highway back towards Mexican Hat, take a few pix and head back to Bluff, but one thing led to another and before we knew it we had driven almost 6 miles on a dirt road to the Valley of the Gods and were just blown away by the scenery.
A closer view of Jack Rabbit Rock
Jack Rabbitt Rock in the back ground
Then as we were heading back to to US 163 we saw a sign for Goosenecks State Park......to think we almost passed this turn by. It was only 4 miles to the park so we both almost simultaneously said "why not!". Here is what we found.....
Edwin and Lydia in their 2004 Newell....
and their amazing view below
Literally Edwin and Lydia's view out their driver's side windows
You can camp here on this BLM land for 14 days at no charge over looking the San Juan River as it winds back and forth through this labyrinth of canyons! I still can't believe we almost bypassed this amazing place. We had taken dozens of pictures and were walking back to our car when I suggested we walk out to the area where we saw several BIG rigs parked along the canyon wall just to check it out for future reference......as we walked along I began to focus on one coach in particular, and then suddenly realized it was a Newell! Well, we had to walk over and meet these smart people. They are Edwin and Lydia from Holland. The spend 3 months at a time in this country touring in their Newell. Every three months they fly back to Holland for 3 months, and then back to the USA for 3 more months, and so it goes.
We spent almost an hour talking with them, and now even as I write I cannot believe we almost missed an opportunity to meet two such interesting people......if we had not made that right turn we would have been the poorer for it. After an hour we knew we had to get going and let our hosts get back to enjoying their view, so we exchanged contact information with them and headed back to Bluff just amazed at how this day had turned out..... and to think it wasn't over by a long shot!
Just before we arrived back in Bluff we saw a sign for "Sand Island", on the right again, so we hung a right hand turn to see what Miss Serendipity had in store for us......well we found out this is another National Forest campground where we could dry camp for $5 per night with our Golden Age pass. In addition, there are very old petroglyphs on the sandstone walls along the San Juan River.
From there is was just a mile or so into Bluff.....when we had arrived earlier that morning we had not really driven through town as Cottonwood RV Park is on the western edge of the town, so we took this time to drive to the eastern edge......along the way we saw a coffee shop that we thought we would return to in a few minutes, but that plan was short lived. After fueling up the VW one more time (still getting 30 mph!) we continued on to the east side of town and found this funky cafe called Twin Rocks Cafe.....how it got its name becomes immediately apparent......I'd hate to be in the restaurant when those twin rocks decide to fall.
We weren't sure we were going to eat there until we saw on their menu they served Wasatch Polygamy Porter, one of our favorites! Well, that sealed the deal and we grabbed an outdoor table and put in our order. We sat there just looking at each other and shaking our heads. We started out the day with a very vague plan.......the best kind on a day such as this turned out.....and were just blown away.
Those rocks hang right over the cafe!
We arrived home about 5 pm with smiles of self satisfaction that you couldn't have slapped off our faces if you tried. As the sun was setting I captured the two following pictures.....one from inside the coach and one from outside of the same view....this is what we have to put up with!
It was a grand day and we are profusely grateful to Miss Serendipity for giving us a wink and a nod Tuesday!
Thanks for stopping by!
What fun! Serendipity, indeed.
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