16 Sep 19

Dawn comes early in the desert, so we were on the road, after a quick breakfast of a cinnamon bun and an orange, just after 08:00.  We stopped at every view point along the way, took in the orientation movie at the Visitor Center, drove down the scenic drive to the Grand Wash, stopping to check out Cassidy’s (as in Butch) Arch and petroglyphs and the tanks and more petroglyphs. We finally started south at about 14:00, having found no place for a bite of lunch within the park; we drove south on 35 miles of unpaved road through the most incredible scenery (geologic and geographic bliss) along the Waterpocket Fold, all the way to the ferry at the north end of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (aka, Lake Powell), only to find out that the last ferry had run at 15:00 (we showed up about 16:35). So, we had to back-track 60 miles north to find a route out to the SE to Farmington, NM. We actually drove 280 miles without seeing a single place to get ANYTHING to eat, other than 7-Eleven type snacks, and not very many gas stations. We finally pulled into Farmington at about 20:30, both starving, although we did eat an entire container of peanuts and a couple of power bars. I could not pass up a Taco Bell, which was the best fare on offer at that time of night; a quick taco to hold us over until breakfast. We finally found the Casa Blanca Inn & Suites at 21:00. After a quick shower and a night cap, it was time for bed. LONG day, but what scenery; words cannot properly describe all we saw today. Gotta go back this way, for sure.