We managed to get up and out around our "normal" time, and were on the road towards Glenwood Springs, CO after a slight detour for aloe and to Barnes and Noble for EK and coffee for me. Heading north, we got to watch trees disappear into desert once again as we entered into reservation territory. Right around noon, we stopped in Tuba City, only to find that we had finally switched over to Mountain Time. We stopped at a Shell, and then for some Taco Bell, as that was unfortunately the most palatable, cheap, and quick option for food. Then? Then we hauled ass across the rest of Arizona, and back into Utah.
On the positive side, it wasn't long before the scenery decided to once again become pretty much incredible as we drove through the initial parts of Monument Valley. The rock formations were really astounding...kind of like being in a strange mirror-verse of the Grand Canyon. It's hard to believe that wind was the primary shaping agent for these outcroppings. Just flat, boring land, and then suddenly a giant pillar of rock, or an arch, or some other unfathomable shape. Not long after, we hit Utah, and got to drive past "the Valley of the Gods" and then through a little town called Mexican Hat, named, we discovered, after a rock formation close by. Slowly but surely, we inched our way through Utah to hit Hwy 191, and we began the careful climb upwards, and into these really astounding and unexpected green valleys like Blanding, Utah, Monticello, and Moab before passing by the Arches National Park until we finally hooked back up with good old I-70, heading east, this time.
After what seemed like an age, we finally hit the Colorado border, and then Grand Junction not too long after that. Glenwood Springs, our final destination, was another hour and a half or so, and we rolled into town around 8 and some change. We decided to change up our travel plans a little bit, and spend an extra night in Glenwood Springs. The Glenwood Spring Hostel is fortunately in the off season at the moment, so getting a private room for two nights wasn't an issue, and we found ourselves tucked up in the upstairs of a house behind the main hostel house, and the only other occupants of the house.
Settled and pretty damn hungry, we decided to finally find food. EK used her cell phone magic to find us the Glenwood Canyon Brewpub, which sounded pretty excellent. That is, right up until the point at where we got there, and realized that we were an hour late for last call, due to
their yearly floor cleaning! Great luck. Instead, we decided to say the hell with it, and went across the street to The Pullman, which was highly rated, but kind of pricey, apparently. After all, our food expenditures for the day had consisted of Taco Bell, so splurging a bit didn't seem harmful.
To say that we were pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. The meals weren't cheap, but they were on par cost wise with something that you'd find at Longhorn, or similar, and for that money, you got dishes like the hangar steak that EK got, with marrow butter and duckfat potatoes. Or you get what I got--the most tender lamb shoulder I've ever tasted with a few roasted potatoes, kalamata olives and chickpeas, and dandelion greens. The portions were just enough, but not huge--a nice change, to be sure. I also grabbed a blackberry soda from the Rocky Mountain Soda Co, which was very, very tasty. For a meal that ended up being a second choice, I couldn't have been happier with the results. Would do again.
We headed back to our hostel, cracked open one of the Lumberyards for EK, and another English cider for me, and relaxed until it was time to pass out.
Day 13:
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