tales from the Drivers' seat: Still in Utah

Another day another day trip to see more of southern Utah. This time was to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park where most of the sand is blown in from more red rocks. There is a pink hue to the sand but hard to photograph.

Most of the park was set aside for playing with 4 wheel rigs like the Oregon coast dunes but a small part was set aside for walking. There was a nice half mile loop, hard walking, but nice views with lots of descriptions of the plants there.

A minute after taking this shot about 10 buggies came roaring over the top of the dune. Looks like fun but sure breaks up the silence of the park.

Not sure how the Yucca plat continues to survive as it is buried completely under the sand except for it's flower.

Wow, yellow flowers growing out of the dunes. Must not need much water as there isn't much here.

The winds keep moving the sand over this dune so nothing is growing here.

Pink, green, yellow and blue add a unique color pallet to this photo combined with the slope of the dune caught Dick's eye.

On another day, a few miles down the road just outside of Kanab there is an old cave that was used in the late 1800's and early 1900's as a gathering and party place for the local kids. It was purchased by a Mormon family who cleaned it up and turned it into of all things a bar and dance hall in the 1950's.

After 25 years of drunks and fights the owners closed it down and turned it into a tourist spot with a museum and gift shop still operated by family members. The original owner had quite a collection of artifacts, native American, rocks, and dinasaur tracks he had collected all over the southwest.

The entrance was revamped with stone and glass with exterior walls to add some southwest charm to the exterior.

A closer look at the entrance shows the fine detail that was added to an old cave.

The cave is all natural except they added dirt and cement to give a level floor and painted the ceiling to cover the graffiti from years of abuse. We could only see 3 large rooms and not sure if there was more. Looking into one section of the museum with lots of Native artifacts.

And another day we drove the 80 miles to Cedar Breaks National Monument. It was over 10500' of elevation and what a welcome relief going from 105 to 65 deg. temperature, and yes, we brought our sweaters. The drive up there was beautiful and included checking out a private campground on the river. Driving from 4000' to over 10500' and back, we saw many different landscapes, all beautiful.

This area to us was a little like Brice Canyon but still very unique and beautiful. Did we mention that the white you see here is.... yes it's snow.

It's interesting how the forest comes right to the edge of the canyon.

We had a lovely lunch (packed earlier in the day) at the picnic area by the campground. We were able to take CC with us this time as it was cooler, and she enjoyed watching the wildlife (deer, squirrels) while we ate.