Utah

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Grand Lake, Colorado with Zeb the Duck and Channel the Bear

We love visiting Grand Lake, Colorado.   I, Zeb the Duck, and my friend Chanel the Bear, took our moms to Grand Lake.

Entering Grand Lake, Colorado

Let’s visit my favorite store, Quackers.

Quackers in Grand Lake, Colorado

This store in Grand Lake features rubber ducks!   Yes, an entire store dedicated to me and my duck relatives.

Giant duck in Quackers

Meet my largest relative.   Chanel and I invited some friends to pose with us.   As great as ducks are, we also enjoy the fudge.

We love fudge

And there is more.   Roasted nuts.

Yum. Roasting nuts taste good and smell delicious

Of course some came home with us.   While rubber ducks are the stars of this store, Martin the Moose is pretty great also.

Martin the Moose on skis

Remember we are in the Colorado mountains.   Moose do live here.   However, Martin is the only moose I ever saw wearing skis.   We purchased new family members.

Purchased at Quackers

And some fudge and roasted nuts.    Then headed out for lunch.

Lunch at The Sagebrush

Today our choice is The Sagebrush.   Here are some new friends.

New friends at The Sagebrush

Aren’t we an attractive bunch of friends?  Our table has a complimentary bucket of peanuts.

Peanuts and cow tablecloths here

We are to toss the peanut shells on the floor.   That is the sign of a fun place to eat.   Notice the cow pattern table cover?   Our lunch was delicious and the portions were large.   A good place to eat when you are in Grand Lake.  Now to the adjoining bar.

Old West bar here

Looks like it is from an old Western movie.   We enjoy the hats and license plates as part of the rustic decor.   Our next stop is Studio 8369, an art studio in town.

Studio 8369 in Grand Lake, Colorado

The 8369 refers to the elevation of the town of Grand Lake.  That is about 2550 meters above sea level.   The Rocky Mountains in Colorado are rather high.   Inside Studio 8369 we admire the Gourd Art.

Gourd Art by Ivy Howard

This is by Ivy Howard of Grand Lake, Colorado.   Surrounded by the Rocky Mountains, Studio 8369 has some beautiful photography.

Stunning photography here

You would love this place.   A couple weeks later mom and I returned to Grand Lake.   This time there was more snow.   A few miles from Grand Lake is Lake Granby.

Lake Granby with low clouds

We loved the partially frozen lake and the low clouds.   Driving through town, past Quackers, we went to Grand Lake.   Grand Lake is the largest and deepest natural lake in Colorado.   It is also part of the headwaters for the mighty Colorado River.   Remember the Colorado River heads southwest and continues to carve the Grand Canyon.

Rent boats here in the summer

In the summer tourists can rent boats to explore and enjoy the lake.   Now snowy and frozen, we enjoy a winter landscape.   Back into town, near Quackers, we spotted these snowmobiles, or snow machines.

Snow machines today, mom?

Mom said we were not renting them today, but we had to try them for size.   These are big.   The employees at Spirit Lake Lodge rent these machines.   They were very nice to us, the Colorado Traveling Ducks.  A drive into Rocky Mountain National Park was next.

Rocky Mountain National Park, West Entrance

Grand Lake is at the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.   The road had been cleared.

Driving in Rocky Mountain National Park

Isn’t this a beautiful winter drive?  However the road is only cleared for part of the park.   This road ascends to over 12,000 feet (3657 m) and is closed during the snowy winter months.   We did enjoy many beautiful winter scenes.

One of many spectacular views in the national park

As you know, we love our mountains.   Both in the summer and in the winter.   We hope you explore a little and enjoy our mountains during the winter, or explore your part of the world and enjoy all the seasons.   It is a new year, so enjoy and discover new things and places.   And tell us about your adventures.

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Aliens in California, Giant Watermelon in Utah with Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck

Arriving in Baker, California we see the world’s tallest thermometer.

World’s tallest thermometer in Baker, California

This thermometer is 134 feet tall and was turned on October 9, 1992.     Our moms are still looking on Roadside America, so we will be seeing the unusual in Baker.   This is really unusual!

Fresh Alien Jerky

Aliens in the California desert?   Yes indeed.   Across from the thermometer we wander around Alien Fresh Jerky.

Alien Fresh Jerky

This sign also has a thermometer just under the pictures.   Temperatures in the desert are of interest to tourists.   We see aliens.

Aliens drive cars??

They are driving, here, in our desert?   Yes they are.   And here is the vehicle they drive.

Alien vehicle

Very futuristic, we ducks think.   Inside this store, we saw and sampled many types of jerky.   There are many varieties for humans to enjoy.   Also lots of other snacks and beverages, and a huge souvenir selection.   Alien t-shirts anyone?  There are plans to open a 3 story saucer shaped motel here also.   When it is completed, it will be advertised as “Gateway to Area 51.”   Area 51 is in Nevada, and regular people are not allowed there.   Rumors are plentiful of aliens in the area?   If humans aren’t allowed somewhere, they seem to have great imaginations for the reason.   We ducks won’t express our opinion, but if the area is ever open to the public, we will be there.   Humans like to eat, Roadside America had information on the Mad Greek Cafe, and here we are.

Mad Greek Cafe

Here is Hercules.

Inside Mad Greek Cafe

Inside, this restaurant looks like Greece.   Or so our moms say.   We ducks have not been to Greece, but our moms visited before we ducks were part of the family.   Outside is the hot desert, but inside we gaze at this cool looking harbor.

Great picture. A beautiful Greek harbor in the California desert.

There are Greek columns and statues in abundance here.

Statues inside Mad Greek Cafe

We really like this place, and the food was delicious and the prices were reasonable.   Next time we are here in the desert around Baker, California, we will enjoy another meal at the Mad Greek Cafe.   Baker is on Interstate 15, the main road from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Nevada.   Back on the highway, we soon enter Nevada.

Entering Nevada by Hoover Dam and Lake Mead

Right on the state border is Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. We will join those other humans and take a look.   When the Hoover Dam was built, it was the highest dam in the world.   Not now, though.   Lake Mead is the biggest reservoir in the United States.

Lake Mead is formed by Hoover Dam

This is what we saw from the walkway.   This dam provides electricity for Las Vegas, Nevada.   As you can guess, Las Vegas really needs a lot of electricity.   We drove through Las Vegas, but did not stop.   That will be a destination for another time.   Leaving Nevada, we drove through a small part of Arizona, and then to Utah.   In Green River, Utah, we stopped to see the world’s largest watermelon slice.

Largest watermelon slice. Green River, Utah

This watermelon slice was built in the 1950’s for Green River’s Watermelon Days Festival.   For protection, it is under a roof.   We ducks are learning to love Roadside America.   We stop to see so many things we would miss, if moms didn’t look at http://www.RoadsideAmerica.com   When you are driving, stop to see unusual things.   We think you will enjoy it as much as we do.

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Zeb and Soapy Love Utah’s Flaming Gorge Dam

Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck are enjoying northeast Utah.   Today mom is driving to Flaming Gorge Recreational Area.

Approaching Flaming Gorge Recreational Area. We will cross that bridge soon.

Approaching Flaming Gorge Recreational Area. We will cross that bridge soon.

Before we cross that beautiful metal bridge, we must gaze at the Green River.

Beautiful Green River

Beautiful Green River

Naturally, our first stop is the Visitor’s Center.

Visitor's Center with Frances Turbine Wheel

Visitor’s Center with Frances Turbine Wheel

What are we sitting on here?   This sign explains it very well.

We sat on this turbine. It was really used for 42 years

We sat on this turbine. It was really used for 42 years

This is exciting.   Our resting place was really used here for 42 years.   The reservoir is used for many types of recreation for humans.

Recreational area in reservoir

Recreational area in reservoir

On the right is a fishing pier.   On the left, a boat dock.   And, straight ahead is Osprey Island.   Many Osprey birds live on the island.   They build nests from sticks and the nests may be used for decades.   Each year a little is added to the nest, and many nests have a circumference exceeding 5 feet.   The Osprey is a large bird, with a wingspan often reaching six feet.   The Osprey hunts by flying over the reservoir looking for fish just below the surface.   When it spots a fish, the Osprey pulls into a brief stall, flaps its wings a few times and plummets–feet first–into the water, often disappearing below the surface.   If the dive is successful, the Osprey emerges with a wriggling trout or salmon ensnared in its long curving talons.  While boats are plentiful on the reservoir, they must be careful not to get too close to the dam.

Boaters should not get too close to dam

Boaters should not get too close to dam

This is the dam.

We can drive over the daml

We can drive over the dam

We drive over the dam and head to the river.   If you want to launch your boat in the river, you drive to the river, but must park up here.

Park up here, but launch boats down there by river

Park up here, but launch boats down there by river

The river is way down there.   If you drive to the river with your boat, after launching, you must take vehicle back up to the top for parking.

Looking up canyon wall to parking area

Looking up canyon wall to parking area

Humans usually will drive but then must use the Foot Trail between the vehicle and the river.

Foot Trail between river and parking

Foot Trail between river and parking

Down by the river, we had a great view of the dam.   The dam is 455 feet, or 140 meters above the river channel.   The cement extends below the river bottom for another 47 feet, or 14 meters, where it is anchored in bedrock.     One million cubic yards, 765,000 cubic meters, of concrete was used to build the dam and power plant.   We admired the boats on the river and watched the fisherman standing in the river.

Boats and fisherman in river

Boats and fisherman in river

This is a beautiful place and humans are having fun.   It is time for us to leave now, but one last glimpse of the Green River as we leave Utah’s Flaming Gorge Recreational Area.

Leaving Flaming Gorge Recreational Area.

Leaving Flaming Gorge Recreational Area.

This is another place we would be happy to visit again.

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Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck Discover Eastern Utah is a Geological Treasure

Eastern Utah features diverse geological and historical landscape.

Welcome to Eastern Utah

Welcome to Eastern Utah

We have to show you what we discovered driving in eastern Utah.   We thought these rock formations were pretty.

All formed by wind and water

All formed by wind and water

There are many deer here.

We love to see deer

We love to see deer

We saw several, but we loved each one.   This part of eastern Utah has a really ancient history.   150 million years ago, dinosaurs roamed.  We saw the bones from over 500 dinosaurs that died 149 million years ago.   Further signs told us more:   95 million years ago shallow seas covered Utah.   65 million years ago all dinosaurs became extinct.  45-65 million years ago the Rocky Mountains rise up.   It is those magnificent Rocky Mountains we admire every day.   Then 5 million years ago the Green and Yampa Rivers cut canyons here.   4 million years ago the earliest human ancestors are in Africa.   50,000 years ago we have the earliest evidence of Big Horn Sheep in Utah.   And they are still here.  16,000 years ago the most recent ice age was world wide.   1,000 years ago the Fremont People lived in Eastern Utah.   Remember these petroglyphs they left from previous post?

Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs

1909 dinosaur fossils were discovered in this area.   We wanted you to see all that has happened here to form this unusual landscape.  In 1776 a group of 10 explorers tried to find a land route between present day Santa Fe, New Mexico and Monterey, California.   During this expedition, these explorers passed through this land also.   Remember that this same year, 1776, our forefathers were writing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

Early explorers were here

Early explorers were here

This expedition was led by two priests, Father Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Father Silvestre Velez de Escalante.  Utah had dinosaurs, was underwater, survived the emergence of the Rocky Mountains, and even white explorers 100 years before Utah gained statehood.   That is a lot of changes for our duck minds to absorb.    Mammals and dinosaurs first appeared here, in the Chinle Formation.

Dinosaurs and mammals here

Dinosaurs and mammals here

Love this area.

So many uses and changes over the last 150 million years

So many uses and changes over the last 150 million years

In this Humbug Formation, once there was a tropical sea.

Humburg Formaton. Deposits of a Tropical Sea Really?

Humbug Formaton. Deposits of a Tropical Sea Really?

And at the Stump Formation, giant marine reptiles once swam.

Stump Formation. Where Giant Marine Reptiles Swam. Are you sure?

Stump Formation. Where Giant Marine Reptiles Swam. Are you sure?

There sure in no water here now for any swimming.   What a huge change occurred here.   Giant stegosaurus dinosaurs once wandered here.

Morrison Formation. Stegosaurus Wandered Here

Morrison Formation. Stegosaurus Wandered Here

Wait, mom!   Stegosaurus once wandered here and they had huge feet.

Stegosaurus here? Let's get out of here

Stegosaurus here? Let’s get out of here

Do you think they will come back?   We are so small they would not see us.   Are they really gone?  Really extinct?   Remember we watched the movie Jurassic Park.   We, Zeb and Soapy, hope you visit eastern Utah and see this amazing landscape and visualize all the changes that have taken place here.

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Zeb and Soapy See Ancient Bones at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah

Zeb and Soapy Smith Duck saw so many bones today.   So many big bones!   We drove from Colorado to Jensen, Utah.

Jensen, Utah Welcome Center

Jensen, Utah Welcome Center

After the Visitor’s Center, armed with new maps and information, we drove to Utah’s Dinosaur National Monument.   This National Monument was established in 1915.   We will see real dinosaur bones today.

Dinosaur National Monument in Utah

Dinosaur National Monument in Utah

We met a new friend at Dinosaur National Monument Visitor’s Center.

Zeb and Soapy watched by dinosaur

Zeb and Soapy watched by dinosaur

He is looking at us in a fun way, mom.   Inside we learned that people have been living here along the Green and Yampa Rivers for over 10,000 years.   The Fremont people lived here 1,000 years ago and left petroglyphs on rocks.   Mom said we will see some before we leave Utah’s Dinosaur Monument.   First we visited the Quarry Exhibit Hall.

Quarry Exhibit Hall

Quarry Exhibit Hall

One side of this exhibit hall is an actual wall of the quarry.   We can sit on these real dinosaur bones still in the quarry wall.

Bones still in the earth

Bones still in the earth

The signs tell us that these dinosaur bones are 149 million years old.    That is really old!    We are on the case of one of the best preserved skulls ever discovered.   The large allosaurus skull, discovered here in 1924, has thin, delicate bones and amazingly is not crushed.

A real dinosaur skull. Allosaurus

A real dinosaur skull. Allosaurus

This original fossil is from the Morrison Formation of the late Jurassic Period.   The allosaurus was the dominant predator of the Jurassic Period.   This massive thigh bone is a convenient resting place for small yellow ducks.

Massive thigh bone of Camarasaurus

Massive thigh bone of Camarasaurus

This adult right thigh bone is an original Camarasaurus Femur, also from the Morrison Formation of the Jurassic Period.   The Camarasaurus was the most common dinosaur in the quarry and this femur is also 149 million years old.   This sign lists the dinosaur remains found in this quarry.

Bones of these dinosaurs are here

Bones of these dinosaurs are here

Quite a variety of dinosaurs lived and roamed here millions of years ago.   The quarry still has many bones in the dirt.

Still in the quarry wall

Still in the quarry wall

We, The Colorado Traveling Ducks, are amazed by the variety of these bones.

Bones still in quarry wall

Bones still in quarry wall

Zeb and Soapy wanted to know why so many dinosaur bones are in this area.   Information from The US National Park Service tells us this story.   “Dinosaur National Monument includes one of the Earth’s richest known dinosaur fossil beds.   These remains are from the Jurassic period 150 million years ago.   During a drought, many dinosaurs died near a river’s edge.   When rains returned, floodwaters carried the jumbled bones of over 500 dinosaurs, representing ten species, here.   Ancient river sediments, now called Morrison sandstone, entombed the dinosaur bones.   Minerals then filled the bones (though some organic material survived) and cast them in stone.   Erosion eventually exposed the fossils.   In 1909 Earl Douglass, of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum, declared this site ‘the best-looking dinosaur prospect I have ever found.'”      We drove through the national monument, stopping to see petroglyphs from the Fremont People.   Let’s go to the cave and look.

Let's go to the cave

Let’s go to the cave

This carvings in the wall are about 1,000 years old.

Petroglyphs

Petroglyphs

Aren’t they great?

1,000 years old and great condition

1,000 years old and great condition

These are not in the cave, but on a rock near the entrance.

Outside cave

Outside cave

There is so much to see and learn here and the hiking trails are great and well marked.   We hope you visit Dinosaur National Monument or any of the more than 400 parks in the US National Park System.   2016 is the 100th anniversary of the US National Park Service.   We love visiting these parks and think you would also enjoy them.

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Utah. We are in Utah

In the car and driving west on I-70 from Denver.   We are in Utah.

We are in Utah

We are in Utah

There is a lot of big empty space here.   You know about The Great Salt Lake and Park City, former host of Winter Olympics.   You probably also know about Salt Lake City, with Temple Square, the Mormon Tabernacle and the famous choir.    But that is not the Utah we will show you today.    Our first stop is Green River, Utah.

Green River, Utah

Green River, Utah

These sculptures explain the history of Utah.    I-70 enters Utah mid way between north and south.   On I-70 we will travel south west to I-15 and then into Arizona.   Rock formations like these dominate the landscape near Green River.

Green River landscape

Green River landscape

The highway takes us to the San Rafael Reef, a great rock wall formation.

San Rafael Reef

San Rafael Reef

We will cross the San Rafael Swell.   This is a large anticline where the earth’s crust has been heaved from below to form a great dome of rock layers.

San Rafael Swell

San Rafael Swell

Erosion has sliced and sculpted steeply tilted layers of hard sandstone.    A few miles further and another 1,000 feet in altitude, we stop to view Black Dragon Canyon.

Black Dragon Canyon

Black Dragon Canyon

Some of this sedimentary rock was deposited over 250 million years ago.   Continuing southwest on I-70, we admire the mountains, and the cows.

Contented cows

Contented cows

This photo shows several layers of what we see.

Variety of landscape and rock formations

Variety of landscape and rock formations

The grass, the trees, desert looking mountains and snow capped mountains.   There is so much beauty in the untouched landscape.   Leaving Green River, we saw a couple signs advising us that there were no services for 103 miles.   We have a full gas tank and many bottles of water.   This rugged land of canyons and badlands allowed outlaws such as Butch Cassidy, Elza Lay, Flat Nose George, Kid Curry, Joe Walker and others to elude the lawman.

Perfect for outlaws

Perfect for outlaws

We are fascinated by the changing rocks and colors.

Love the red

Love the red

Red here.   Almost looks like they were carved.   Now white rocks.

Love the white

Love the white

The minerals in the rock determine the color of the rocks and mountains.   These mountains with red and white made us smile.

Various colors on same mountain. Minerals give color to rocks

Various colors on same mountain. Minerals give color to rocks

Utah also has 5 national parks, so plan to stay here awhile to enjoy many wonders.   We will be back to Utah again.   It seems that mom is trying to get somewhere else on this trip, too.