Seeing Southern Utah

June 2, 2017 Teressa Jackson

I'm woefully behind on blogging again, and my travels have been jam packed with fun and adventure. Hopefully I can get caught up in the next few days. First up - my adventures across southern Utah.

On Mother's Day, I fittingly picked my lovely mother up from the Las Vegas airport. After grabbing some shuteye at a Vegas Airbnb, we took off across Utah. We couldn't help but stop at nearly every scenic viewpoint on the way, turning a 6-hour drive into a 9-hour one. We finally landed in Green River, Utah for the evening, and enjoyed a delicious meal at Tamarisk Restaurant along the river that evening.

The next morning, we were up and on the road bright and early again. We popped down to Moab, Utah, where we met up with my cousin Aaron and his wife Gina to tour Arches National Park. The park has over 2,000 natural arches slowly formed by the elements. It's a gorgeous landscape and it was also so nice to catch up with my cousin, who I hadn't seen in many years. After sharing lunch in downtown Moab, mom and I hit the back roads west.

I hadn't planned to stop in Goblin Valley State Park, but couldn't resist when I saw that we were somewhat close. This hoodoo-filled landscape is part of one of my favorite memories. As we walked to the edge of the depression that these formations call home, I hoped that I wouldn't be disappointed. Thankfully, this natural wonder was just as fantastic as I remembered it from when my father had brought my sister and me there over 25 years ago. I recall our 12 and 13-year-old selves filled with wonder, running around the valley with our imaginations going wild. I think it was an especially sweet experience because it was probably one of the last times my sister and I were more little girls than young women, free of all the pressures that inevitably descend upon one's teenage years.

Our travels continued through Utah's beautiful and formation-filled back roads to Capitol Reef National Park. I don't recall if I had ever been to this park before, but regardless, I gazed upon its beautiful formations in wonder and awe. I was also amazed that pioneers had the fortitude to establish the town of Fruita in the area. They planted orchards of fruit trees, built houses, and worked to make the harsh landscape a home. We spent the following day exploring the park, including adventuring down the bumpy and rugged Capitol Gorge Road.

After the morning at Capitol Reef, we went westward and upward to the town of Tropic, located just outside Bryce Canyon National Park. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and ascended further up to the park. The lodge was a perfect place to grab a filling dinner. I had intended for us to walk to the rim and peek at the canyon afterwards. Little did I know that we would be joined by a tiny snowstorm, not uncommon at 9,000 feet of elevation, even in mid-May. Not to be deterred, we adventured out anyway and enjoyed the canyon view in the waning light and drifting flurries.

Even though we had previewed Bryce Canyon in the snow the evening before, it was a completely different landscape the next morning. The salmon-covered hoodoos shone in the morning light, and my mother was as impressed as I had anticipated. I don't know how you could not be, as it's certainly one of the most spectacular places I've ever been. We rode the shuttle around the park's stops, ate lunch at the lodge, and then we were pleased to discover that the road leading to the highest points in the park had been opened so we explored those vistas, too.

The next morning, we were westward bound again. We made our way to Kanab, Utah, which is where many western films and television shows were filmed, including Gunsmoke, one of my mother's childhood favorites. Just outside Kanab, we spent the morning on a driving tour of Johnson Canyon Road. When we turned on the route, we found ourselves in the middle of a cattle drive, and had the interesting experience of driving through a mass of cows who weren't too happy to share the road. There were many interesting stops along the trail, including some pioneer billboards on the cliffs, the old Gunsmoke set, and lots of geological formations, including Johnson Canyon itself.

After we refueled the car and our bellies (mmm, Mexican food!), we decided that we would drive the highway through Zion National Park on our way to St. George, our next nightly stop. We wound our way through petrified sand dunes and my mother gasped in awe. I gasped in awe myself at the bighorn sheep that covered the landscape, as it was my first encounter with them and they were literally everywhere you looked. After taking more photos of them than I'd care to admit, we continued through the park. Unfortunately, we soon found ourselves stopped. Falling sand and rock had closed the route for an indefinite period of time!

We rerouted ourselves to St. George, instead traveling back through Kanab, then through Fredonia and Colorado City, Arizona. The Inn on the Cliff in St. George was a welcome oasis with a gorgeous view when we finally arrived, and we were more than happy to hop in the hot tub and relax. We enjoyed a peaceful dinner with a fantastic view at the inn's restaurant before turning in for the evening.

The next day, we closed the loop on our jaunt around southern Utah and returned to Las Vegas. I showed mom around Red Rock Canyon and we enjoyed one of our favorite cuisines - Indian food! As mom boarded her plane back to Indianapolis the following day, my car headed in a northwesterly direction...

From Birthplace to Alien Landing Space

November 2, 2016 Teressa Jackson

After staying the night at the inn at Indian Creek Village Winery in Ringwood, Oklahoma, I spent an hour or so back in Enid seeing the town. I visited St. Mary's hospital where I came into this world and snapped some photos of it and the downtown area. It seemed like a nice little city, very quiet on a Sunday morning. I enjoyed the touches of cowboy culture and the art deco architecture prevalent through downtown.

After filling up my tank, I headed off toward Amarillo, Texas, around a 4-hour drive. This drive was pretty mind numbing, with little to be seen of interest to me. The main themes of my day were roadkill (and oh, what a variety of roadkill!), cows, cotton fields, oil wells, and windmills. The landscape was mostly flat. It occasionally teased me and began to get interesting, only to flatten out into the doldrums again.

I drove into Amarillo and cruised around town a little bit and decided to find my hotel. I hate to be negative, but when I did, I was not very happy. Let's just say that the neighborhood was less than desirable. It was one of the sketchier hotels I would have ever stayed at if I hadn't decided to pack up my things and flee for my life after 15 minutes.

My perspective might have been colored by my hotel experience, but I didn't have such a great impression of the rest of Amarillo, either, so after I got up in the morning I immediately set off again. I did make a short stop at the Cadillac Ranch and really enjoyed the bright colors and juxtaposition of the vehicles in the landscape. Definitely a fun photo op!

After that, it was much of the same as the day before for another 3 1/2 hours. I arrived in Roswell, New Mexico early in the afternoon and rode down the main (only?) strip, amused at the many alien-themed touches the town had put into place. They obviously have both a sense of humor and a sense of identity.

I paid my five dollars and visited the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which was interesting, but a little low budget. It was still fun to have been there, and I learned a few things about the "incident" in 1947, including that they had taken whatever landed to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, which was very close to my paternal grandmother's house. I also walked around downtown and snapped some photos of the many shops, restaurants, and businesses that proudly displayed alien decor.

The next morning I was eager to hop in the car. I could see just the tiniest silhouette of mountains in the distance, and they were calling my name...

I sure am glad that they didn't keep me!

Homecoming

October 29, 2016 Teressa Jackson

Leaving Tahlequah, I headed west across Oklahoma. As I followed the sun, the ground flattened and the trees dispersed. Cows studded the landscape. The wind whipped, blowing bits of vegetation across the highway and stirring the water in ponds and lakes into choppy waves. I passed through Tulsa, dropped some quarters in a few toll booths, and began to near my destination.

I was a little nervous, and spent some time rehearsing what I would say. Surely a serial killer wouldn't greet me, but who would?

Just two left turns off the main highway through Enid, Oklahoma, and I was prepared to find out.

I walked up to the door at 2302 Kiowa Street and rang the doorbell. After waiting a few minutes, I started to feel sure that either no one was home, or the doorbell did not work. Should I knock? I decided to ring it one more time. A few moments later, I heard some rumblings from behind me in the carport, so I headed in that direction.

My family in front of the house in 1976, and me in the same spot in 2016

I greeted the gray-haired man who emerged, and said I was sorry to bother him, but that I wanted to see if it was ok for me to take a few photos outside his home. You see, my family lived in it for the first two years of my life and I had thought it would be fun to return for the first time in 38 years.

Mitch responded casually as if he had been half expecting me to arrive all day, and ushered me right into the house, immediately beginning a tour. He and his wife Pam had purchased the property from my parents in 1978 and even remembered their names. Over the years, they had made many improvements, alterations, and additions, and Mitch was eager to show them all to me. We walked into the family room (an addition) after a few moments of touring, and Pam greeted me in much the same way as Mitch, warm and friendly, and seemingly not terribly surprised.

We chatted for a while, and I snapped photos of the yard, the interior, and the exterior. I had showed them an old family photo taken in front of the house, and Mitch insisted on taking a photo of me to echo that one. I got the rundown of who still lived on the street from my parents' era, what houses were selling for in the area, and what had changed (or mostly hadn't) in Enid. They were incredibly kind, down-to-earth, and just plain nice people. I'm pretty sure they weren't serial killers. :-)

If they were, I got away.

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