Thursday, September 22, 2011

Ogden UT to Grand Junction CO

368 miles

When we were walking up to our room last night — to dump our stuff before rushing to get dinner before the restaurant closed — we heard a train with whistles etc.  “Cool, trains!”, we said.  At midnight, with the window wide open, it felt like a train was going by on the porch.  Around 2:39 am (who’s counting?), three whizzed by within a matter of minutes.  Bob started making up conversations:  “Oh look!  A motel!  (blowwww the whistleeeeeeeeeeeee)” “The back of the motel, yeah, that will be quieter…”   The next train at 4:56 woke us up for good so we turned on the news and started the up and out process.  Went over to Jeremiah’s for breakfast :  Bob’s usual egg, hash browns, bacon, OJ; I got to have a buffalo burger patty (I KNOW!!) and tomatoes with loads of green Tabasco.  It was delicious.  The only downside was the coffee which was thin and sad.  I had a few sips to be polite because the waiter accommodated my weird breakfast order.

We were on the road by 7:30, clear bright blue skies and 57*.  We picked our way through Ogden to the I-84 East towards Cheyenne – the start of our day’s route — and we didn’t see ONE coffee/espresso place in 20 minutes.  Not. One.  So the takeaway: Ogden could use a well-stocked bar and a java house.

The rest of the day was perfection.  For those who care about the route (Michael: it would be a fantastic motorcycle trip): I-84 to I-80 to Evanston/Ft. Bridger WY; 414 to UT 43 then 44 to Flaming Gorge then 191 to Vernal UT to 40/64 to Rangely CO to 139 to I-70 to Grand Junction.  Even the interstates were gorgeous.  The details and side trips….

From Ogden east on I-84 was spectacular.  It was only about 38-40* and we drove through this gorge of green and rocky hillsides for about ½ hour and then it opened up to meticulous farms and ranches in beautiful flat lands with the hills rising up behind them.  Then it opened up again into semi-flatlands.   Then we went up again into WY.   We stopped at the Ft Bridger Truck Stop for gas etc.  OMG.  The best gas station+ ever!  Immaculately clean bathrooms, laundry facilities, showers, chapel on Sundays “for Christian Truckers”, every single accessory for iPods, Blackberries, every sort of snack food, basic clothing, basic dishes, book, DVDs…  it was like a major department store that only stocked the absolute emergency necessities and they knew exactly what those were.  Amazing.
We went another few miles to Ft. Bridger, a historic site/outdoor museum that was originally (1843) a re-provisioning post for the emigrants on their way West, then a Mormon outpost, then an Army post…. It is fascinating to see some original buildings and some recreations of structures that had burned down or been destroyed in the progression of the site.  There is a marker where the California, Oregon, Mormon and the Pony Express Trails all met and crossed that gave us goose bumps.  There are original wagons (HOW did they make that journey??? So feeble looking) and still remnants of the original trails.  We spent about an hour there and could have spent far longer.

Headed off on the most beautiful road; luscious green and wide open spaces; some trees up high in the hills just starting to turn yellow/gold.  Flaming Gorge was amazing!  All pastel pinks and orange towering cliffs.  We put the top down around noon and it was all even better.

We stopped at a restaurant in Vernal – actually did a U-turn to return to it when Bob noticed the parking lot packed with cars – 2 miles before the adorable town of Vernal.  Don Pedro’s.  It was terrific.  Bob: the only thing I have ever seen him order in a Mexican restaurant – 2 chicken enchiladas w/ red sauce, rice no beans; Me: two chicken tacos al carbon w/ rice and guacamole.  Delicious!  I normally never order guacamole (because I am a snob about it; I like my own) but Bob said why not? And he was right.  It was fresh and very very good.

I took over the driving from there and had a beautiful stretch all the way to Grand Junction.  We stopped once at a rest stop (Canyon Pintado) along Rte 139 that turned out to be a trailhead for a 4-mi hike up into the hillside where they have found Petroglyphs, dinosaur remains and all manner of historic stuff.  We will be back to take that hike.  Speaking of dinosaurs:  loads of dinosaur sites and monuments and museums.  Vernal has a lovely little downtown Main Street with flower baskets at the base of every street light and vibrant looking businesses and several large (LARGE) dinosaurs outside motels and shops.  It works somehow!

The drive from Vernal to Grand Junction was beautiful.  There were lots of up and down in elevation, changing scenery and foliage.  Once again there were hardly any other cars on the road.

We arrived in Grand Junction at 4:55 and another very nice Best Western room.  We had dinner at Hereford’s, recommended by the hotel.  The full name is Hereford’s, A Steak and Sushi Restaurant.   YES!!!  My dream restaurant!!  We went over after catching up on email and showers.  I had a REAL dirty martini with Absolut Pepper because they were having a special with Absolut.  It was actually a superb martini and I might order them with Absolut pepper from now on.  Bob got his Chivas and all memories of Utah’s crappy drinks were gone.  We ended up splitting only a California roll even though the menu had some delicious sounding specialty rolls (because I am a snob about fresh fish also and we are in Grand Junction…..).  Bob had a rib eye, baked potato and salad and I had a sirloin, sautéed mushrooms and salad.  We each had a glass of a Zin we never heard of called Zen o Zin (I think?) that was very good and surprise! It is a brand new bottling by Ravenswood.  ?? What??   I will be looking for it when we get home.

The restaurant was wonderful.  I regretted not having more sushi once I observed the (all Japanese) sushi chefs doing their thing.  It all looked very fresh and beautiful.  Hereford’s.  A great idea in dining!

Crashed when we got to the room.  How is driving so exhausting??

Here is a photo of one of the original buildings at Fr Bridger when it was an Army post and a view of Flaming Gorge.