Drove I-15 north in Nevada into Utah, stopping for the night at a casino campground in Mesquite on the Utah/Nevada boundary. Very tight spaces, but we had electric and everything we needed, but never did go into the casino - my Dad would be disappointed as he loved the casinos.
Next day, we stopped in St. George in southern Utah for lunch. St. George is called Dixie as it has beautiful mild winters - it was close to 70 when we were there. We wanted to try an an In-n-Out Burger fast food restaurant because we had seen many of them in California, always with huge lines. Their burgers were good - meat itself similar to a McD patty, had a special sauce, fresh tomato, slice of onion and a real piece of lettuce (as opposed to shredded lettuce). Fries probably not as good as McD's, but were fine. The place was amazing - packed with people waiting in line inside and car lines around the building and clogging the main arteries in the shopping plaza. None of the large number of employees looked fazed at all, so apparently, it was business as usual. When I ordered, I was customer #81 and then I heard them calling #48. It was a bit of a wait, so the In-n-Out name as a description of how quickly you would get lunch, not so much. Gave me a chance to people watch both customers and employees - my favorite was the girl loading freshly peeled potatoes (very large) one at a time onto a machine, then she pulled this huge lever down, and voila! all sliced into french fries that went into a sink of cold water where the next guy down scooped them out with a basket and put them into the oil. Definitely had the air of a 'happening.'
We had stayed in St. George about 10 years ago and we hardly recognized the town because it had grown so much. Headed out on I-15 north that is considered a scenic highway. Just about a dozen miles north of St. George, the green was gone and we were into normal winter dead grass territory, but going through the mountains was beautiful. I-70 east was next up and we followed it through some absolutely fantastic scenery in river gorges. A beautiful drive and our roadside photos:
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| Our first glimpse of snow-covered mountains |
We stopped for the night in a small state park in Green River, Utah and had the place to ourselves. The town is next to the Green River that flows south and joins with the Colorado River down in Canyonlands. It was hard to be on the interstates and pass the exits that said Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Grand Staircase/Escalante - all some of my favorite places we have ever visited, but we are beginning to run short on time. If you are interested in our trip there, I had an old website where I blogged about the area here:
http://www.pittsstop.yolasite.com/utah---moab.phps (At the bottom of the page, just click next to see the different Utah parks)
My favorite place to visit, but I could never live here - gotta have my lush, green landscape.
