Through Winter Parks (4/4)

Through Winter Parks (4/4)
December 30 - 31, 2000
Moab, whirlpool, Arches National Park, momentarily levitating Hippo and a loong way home.



	Arches NP: rock formation "Fiery Hell"

We drove a long way, to a town named Moab. It's location is special by being set between two National parks - Arches and Canyonlands. The whole place thrives on gatherings and events. We hoped that nothing was happening right then and hence we would find a room at a hotel.

Lured by a sign declaring a "hot tub" on Sleep Inn, we rented a room. Sid promised me a great pub by a brewery. It was not far from the hotel - the name is Moab Brewery and they make several kinds of beer there.

Most famous is probably the Dead Horse (after a nearby park). The brewery's tagline is "you can't beat a Dead Horse".

Black Raven Stout looked more interesting, just as Scorpion Tail Ale did. They were out of Raven, so we ordered a Dead Horse and a Scorpion, which sports the subtitle "a beer that bites". I must agree. Compared to the Scorpion, Dead Horse tasted like a chamomile tea.



	Arches NP: Navajo Arch

After a dinner, one Horse and two Scorpions, we rolled back to our hotel and went straight for the hot tub. We did not last long, as it was hot and located indoors, so it got pretty steamy in there soon. But we were glad even for that, relaxing our muscles still stiff from Angels Landing Trail.

Being true Internet Professionals, we drag a computer on all our trips, so we fired it up that night and browsed through digital pictures from our Mavica and wrote a piece of this journal. At quarter to midnight, we felt sleepy, but we were not meant to rest. Somebody went to the hot tub and our room was separated from it by only a thin wall. We heard every word and every splash, echoed and reverberated by the hollow walls of the bath room. After ten minutes I ran out to the front desk and asked a receptionist for help. The door to the hot tub said it was open between 8 am and 10 p.m., I wanted her to ask those people to leave.

We crawled back to our bed, it was quiet for a while, but then the guys started talking again. The receptionist did not ask them to leave, only to be quiet. They were indeed, not shouting, not laughing, but thanks to a miserable acoustics in the tub room anything they said was too loud.

This time Sid ran out and ordered peace. Silence at last. Relieved, we laid down again and fell asleep.



	Arches NP: Wall Arch

At five thirty a.m. I was suddenly torpedoed out of my bed. A spring coil mattress transfers every movement of your partner into rocking you. Rocking in a case your partner is not a Hippo. Imagine getting emitted out by behemoth weight... :-) Before I stopped bouncing up and down like on a tarpaulin, Sid marched resolutely to the door. You certainly know why... another unfortunate couple took a bath in the hot tub.

This time he could not find the woman who was supposed to be at the reception (she went home or slept somewhere), so he had to kick those people out himself. Eventually he affixed a sign on the tub room door asking other guests to postpone their splashing till 8 am.

When we were leaving, we tried to complain, but I'm not sure it had any effect. In any case we learned a lesson. It pays to watch where your room is and not to expect decency and common sense from other guests, nor any competence of hotel personnel.



	A small half-circle shadow in the middle is cast by "Delicate Arch"

At Arches NP, your bad mood won't last for long, especially for such sillines like someone's night bathing habits. I was expecting Arches to be monumental, but it is just a pleasant heap of rocks somehow reminiscent of Joshua Tree. Only some snow was spread around here and bushes and trees grew where cacti would in California. There are cacti as well at Arches, naturally, but they're not so cumulative. Beside that, there are strange cryptobiotic crusts growing in the earth - a symbiosis of lichen, algae, fungi and cyanobacteria. They're very sensitive to disturbance, so it is allowed to walk only on trails or slickrock.



	A view from our frosty picnic spot

A real winter cold ruled outside. Refrozen snow, icy wind, and chilling sun. Still we ate our breakfast out on a bench, with a view to Balanced Rock and snow tipped La Sal Mountains in the distance. Finally we conquered Kren's ham and finished up our pickles. We were ready to consummate more park attractions.

Sid planned a hike through Devil's Garden, mostly because you can get up between the rocks to the top and then walk the apices back till you can see a great valley.



	Three woman friends simply stop for a little chitchat and they immediately get accused of gossiping... Three Gossips

We dithered around the rocks, looking for a route up. A few spots looked promising, rocks curved up gently from the ground and you could walk up quite high, but we always got into a situation where we would have to climb, and there was always some catch in there. Either a fall would mean flying all the way to the "floor", or the only hold was a cracking, eroded layback ready to give way, or there simply was no hold at all. It looked like we were pathetically losing.

So we went to see Partition Arch and discovered a route there that seemed like walking all the way to the top.



	Devil and his Garden

Sid did not hesitate and started up. I was squealing below for the route began with a rather tall step I could not get across (I am, after all, quite a bit shorter than he). Sid turned around -- he should not have done that. He stepped on an frozen puddle, so I was presented with a view to a levitating Hippo, hooves up to the sky. Unfortunately, it did not stay that way. Rock shook under a thunderous landing and Sid started to wail. A closer look revealed that he saved our camera, his head, arms and ribs, but his left ankle was sort of twisted a little.

Luckily he managed to stand on it and walk down to the parking lot. It took us a whole eternity, we were being passed by ladies in high heel shoes (very appropriate to hike in ice and snow) and daddies with children on their backs. Well, still better than me having to carry Sid on my back. Either way, our trip was over.



	My husband is a cripple

Originally we wanted to stop at California hot springs near Mono Lake, and wallow there on New Year's Eve, but Sid's foot got swollen and hurt badly, he could walk only slowly and on level ground, so we gave it up.

We had one more dinner at Dead Horse, bought an elastic sock for his foot, and started biting off pieces of the thousand miles that separated us from our home.



	No hiking under the longest Landscape Arch, don't even think about going on top of it

There's something charming about a night drive through the desert. This part of Utah is practically devoid of people, you have to fill up your gas tank at every opportunity as the next one may be unpleasantly far. You drive seemingly from nowhere to nowhere, straight ahead, no lights anywhere, not a sound anywhere, just stars above. Once there was a light before us. After ten minutes it did not get any closer, we started betting on what it might be, thinking about Hotel California, and we kept going till -- alas, it was just a car in the opposite direction.

At eleven p.m. we reached Ely, NV. Hundred miles to next town, we decided to drive no further and got ourselves a room at "Jailhouse" motel. Front desk was inside a casino, so I finally saw a gambling place. If you imagine casinos being luxurious rooms, with silently whispering roulette, quiet bubbling of champagne, and muffled steps of elegant, formally clad ladies and gentlemen, just forget it. This casino was a dark dump filled with row upon row of slot machines, attended by figures right out of Czech bar fourth grade -- unshaven chaps in jeans and peroxide broads that always look somewhat ruffled - no matter when or where.



	Watch this road closely. This is how they all look, in Nevada.

Our little room was in the "cage" #263 (Jailhouse motel was built at the location of former real jail, of which there are only a fire bell and one door with bars left). We were worried how it was going to be, sleeping next to a casino, but gamblers must be actually quiet, orderly people.



	California sunset

Morning saw us continue through Eureka, NV. This small town claims to be the loneliest spot in the whole United States. We stopped only to mutually trade - a wheel for a warm blanket. Not that our wagon would not have heating, but we found that the driver prefers lower temperature so (s)he does not fall asleep, while the passenger keeps freezing. Too bad there was nobody with us. I wished we had a picture of Sid, asleep in a tilted down seat, covered with a fuzzy blanket, hat on his face, and pink furry legs sticking out from under his head (Madeleine enriched our hippo collection by a medium sized, pink, soft, stuffed, flat one). But I had to drive. Fortunately Sid could alternate in driving, for he crippled only his left foot, which he needs for clutch, while most of our way we could drive on cruise control (car keeps its speed) without stepping on anything (most comfortable, if I had to step on gas all day, I'd be pretty stiff).

In Auburn, CA, Sid complained that we did not have any good sunset on this trip. Remedy came within a few minutes.

We got back home around nine p.m., surprised how warm our Valley felt. Before we finished dragging all the stuff from the car, unpacking and taking showers, it was midnight already, a new millennium. But would you not agree that the only thing we could toast, was to our health??? :-)

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