After that we drove on into the park with no real plan. We stopped and walked in to Sand Arch.
Sand Arch is a very small, low arch in a sand filled wide slot. Very neat and the children there were having a blast.
01-SEP-2012
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It was getting very hot by now so shade was popular.
We went to the end of the road to the Landscape Arch trail but we’ve been there, done that. We stopped at the Fiery Furnace overlook for that view.
Then we returned to the Wolfe Ranch to see the petroglyphs there.
Here’s the water that made living at Wolfe Ranch possible.
Water is everything here.
On the way back to town we decided to take a look at the pictographs near Courthouse Wash as you enter the town of Moab from Arches. We parked where the “Driving Rock Art Tour" pamphlet said. Threw some water in a backpack and started off down the bike trail. Our directions were vague enough that we turned up the wash rather that continue on the bike path.
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It wasn’t a bad hike, but it seemed that the rock art was taking longer than it should have to find. We have a “just around the next bend” attitude so we hiked in about a mile or so before giving up. The trail was getting pretty gnarly by then…pushing through tall sagebrush in a snaky looking area. It was in the upper 90s as we made our way back. We were startled by a mule deer and her twins at one point. We scared each other half to death!
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It was a lovely canyon in spite of not finding the rock art. Still it was hot, and Peter still wanted some time to peddle his rock art reproductions around Moab a bit. When we made it back to the parking lot, we read the placard and it seemed we’d been looking way too hard. As we dove back down the road into Moab, we saw the cliff on the left side of the road by the bike path and there was the pictograph. At this point we’d lost interest. Just too hot!
We went back to the room to freshen up before our much anticipated visit to the
Desert Bistro. Once again, it was a short walk, just a block beyond Red Rock Café. We arrived and were seated promptly. To Peter’s delight, the place was decorated featuring rock art paintings. They were on board built up with thick trowel strokes then the pictographs painted on that. Very Cool!
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We were attended to by Adeline who had a lovely French accent. It turns out that she is Quebecois and quite familiar with our area having attended school in Plattsburgh, NY.
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We both ordered a couple of margaritas…probably craving the salt after our hot hike. A lovely warm loaf of wheat bread with an olive oil dipping sauce with lavender seeds in it. Neat to bite into.
We ordered an appetizer of seasoned ground pork baked in a puff pastry and an awesome sauce
Adeline arrived when we’d finished and asked if we’d like to order “something else” to drink with dinner. Poor girl, I think she was afraid we were going to have margaritas with our entrees. We opted for a lovely Cab. Sauvignon from Paso Robles…a town we also love to visit.
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Peter ordered a medium rare gorgonzola encrusted beef tenderloin filet on top of a dollop of garlic mashed potatoes. It rested in a pool of rich roasted tomato demi-glace with crispy sautéed snap peas alongside. It was a beautiful large morsel done to a perfect med-rare. It has been on their menu forever and it is easy to taste why. Peter loved it and declared it one of the top ten filets he’s ever had.
Sharon opted for the seafood…pompano with a tomato-leek sauce . To top that off, there was a giant sautéed prawn, savory potato pancakes and asparagus . Sharon thought the best part was the pompano. The prawn seemed a little over-cooked but the flavor was excellent. Sharon gave it a big thumbs up.
After all that there were no thoughts of dessert. We were glad to stretch our legs a bit on the walk back to the motel. We made sure we were ready for a quick exit and had all but the coolers and morning necessities already in the car. Watched the tube briefly and fell asleep.