Sunday. We’re within a couple hundred miles of Canyonlands National Park, so we were
going to go there for the weekend, but then we decided to go to Capitol Reef
National Monument, because we haven’t been there in several years and we
always like it. Then we got to thinking that it was a four-hour drive to
Capitol Reef, and Moab is only an hour and a half away, so we’d just go to
Moab and hang out there. Got to be lots of four-wheel-drive roads to check
out from Moab. Then, since it was such a nice morning, I decided to go for
a run while we thought about it some more. Then I went to the Park office
to sign up for one more night here, while Judy made lunch. We took a nice
drive up north, in the Jeep, along some roads we’ve never traveled before,
to Rangely. From there it was only twenty miles more to the town of
Dinosaur. From there it was only twenty miles more to the Dinosaur quarry
at the National Monument. It was a good sightseeing trip. It was a very
steep winding road over Douglas Pass. It would be a very slow trip in the
motorhome. The rest of it was 65mph through brown dirt clay rolling hill
brushy desert canyon country. Desolate. Spectacular. We need to spend a
lot more time at Dinosaur National Monument. While we were at the visitor center in the town of Dinosaur, we had to get
the binoculars out to check out some birds in the surrounding trees.
Robins, starlings, house finches, goldfinches, brewers blackbirds, and
cassin’s finches. Cassin’s finches! A new bird for us. One more for our
list. We started this trip with 292 on the life list. No new ones since
the Texas trip in January. Now we’re at 293. The drive to 300 continues.
We’re counting on getting some black swifts in Ouray, when we get down to
Southwestern Colorado. Tomorrow. For tomorrow’s adventure, I think I hear a lawn chair calling.
We’re right next to the canyons of the Colorado National Monument. Maybe
we’ll wander up there and see if the white-throated swifts are in town.