Five National Parks in Five Days (Day One)
I have been planning to visit the three national parks I hadn’t visited in Colorado since my last trip to the southwestern United States in 2022. Since there are only about 650 miles from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Great Sand Dunes National Park–the closest I am likely to come in the foreseeable future, I decided that the opportunity should not be passed up. This would, of course, mean adding it and the other two parks in Colorado to my trip. Then, I had the chance to finally get to Isle Royale in Michigan and to Wind Cave national, which I didn’t know existed when I visited Hot Springs, South Dakota, in 2018. The boat trip to Isle Royale had to be scheduled in advance, so I would have to go from Tulsa to Copper Harbor, Michigan (Mapquest mapped that as 2,670 miles) in five days. Could I pull it off? Day…
Rocky Mountain Rendez-vous
We got off to an early start in the hope of seeing some Utah before leaving the state. Since we were already so close to the Great Salt Lake, we decided to pay it a visit. The gift shop was just opening when we arrived, and the lake area was pretty much occupied only by flying insects–lots of flying insects that made us decide not to get out and explore. It was impossible to tell whether the intense aroma was coming from the water or from nearby industry. The salesperson in the gift shop (the building with the golden domes on top) had time to give us lots of information about the lake since we were her first customers for the day. Time was short since we wanted to be in Las Vegas before very late due a very early start on Wednesday. So, we drove into Salt Lake…
A “Rest” Day
With all that’s planned during this week, we decided to get into Salt Lake City and relax and prep. Took plenty of pictures along the way, though, of the look of the Rockies in Wyoming and Utah. First time either of us have visited Utah, so we’re looking forward to see as much of it as we can. One thing that I continue to notice is that, while we are still journeying through the Rocky Mountains, the look of the terrain changes. The color and structure of the rocks look different in Utah from Wyoming and from Colorado.