Majestic Utah
Updated: Oct 18
We are headed to our week-long vacation destination, followed by four days of exploring some of majestic Utah! I am going to start this by saying we had an expensive hard-learned lesson at our check-in at Westgate Park City. It wasn't the resort's fault; it was an eye-opening moment for us. However, that lesson was expensive but necessary. Let me explain. The only parking was in the parking garage. Our truck with truck camper was over the maximum height for the parking garage, so we had to pay $35 per day to park in a third-party parking area. This upset me, but it was wisdom we had to learn the hard way. We always need to take into consideration that we are considered a high-profile vehicle. Westgate was wonderful though. They arranged for the third-party parking for us, and gave us a complimentary room upgrade.
We spent the afternoon getting settled into room 3503A. We forgot several items, and it was a trek to get from our hotel room to our truck camper. The nearly 800 square foot room was huge compared to our truck camper!
Though, I must say, for two adults, we are extremely comfortable with the size of our truck camper. The open floor plan makes it comfy cozy without feeling cramped!
Displaying pics of our room so you can come along! The bathtub in our room was a deep exquisite soaker! There was a separate steam shower and double sinks. This all comes complete with 2 luxurious white robes, though we did not use them. We had an in-unit washer/dryer. The bedroom was furnished with a king bed and a television. We had a fully-furnished kitchen that included a huge island with seating. And the living area had an electric fireplace, a large screen television, plenty of seating, and a furnished outdoor balcony. More space than we will ever use. Simply said, we have come to realize during our journey that we prefer experiences over square footage.
We finally made dinner, watched some tv, took showers, and hit the hay! The next day we slept in after getting to bed so late.
First we explored the resort. It is so big that we got lost several times. 🙄 The resort is at the base of a mountain, where the mountain terrain begins to rise. Depending on where you want to go in the resort, you may take 1, 2, or even 3 elevators to get there. But we found the Fitness Center, Pool, Sauna & Steam Rooms, Game Room, and MarketPlace.
I took daily advantage of the Fitness Room! It was great to use the machines. After stretching, I used the treadmill, free weights, hip flexer, and butterfly. Then I went to the steam room, followed by the sauna. I used the pool and hot tub several times. The sconce lighting in the pool area transforms the space into a sanctuary. I sat on the pool deck with my feet dangling in the water, watching the reflections across the pool as I would watch a campfire or the waves of the ocean. Mesmerized and in total bliss. 😌
We always went for a walk or hiked a nearby trail. When we walked out the rear of our resort, we were in Canyons Village. Canyons Village is an upscale alpine base area. It is one of the two main entries to the largest ski resort in the United States. Here you can get lodging, obtain ski tickets and rentals, and board the gondola. With hotels, shops, restaurants, and rentals, it is a self-continaed ski-in/ski-out bonanza! Many of the shops and restaurants were closed as we were there in the off season, but we still enjoyed exploring the village!
On another occasion we went for a walk along the outskirts of Canyons Village and came upon a MOOSE!!! Omg.....So cute! I love moose, so this was over-the-top exciting for me! Pics below!
One day we took the resort's shuttle into Park City. It was fun to go in the shops, talk to locals, and see the landscape and vibe of Park City.
Downtown Park City is surrounded by houses that sit higher than the city. The climbing stairs to go up to these houses astounded us. Residents of Park City must be in very good shape!
We went into Burns 1876. It is the oldest family-owned western-wear saddle shop in America. It was founded in 1876 in Salina, Utah. Park City is one of the storefront locations. Have you watched the television series Yellowstone? Well, after the costume designer visited Burns Saddlery, they became a primary outfitter for the series!
Since we don't have an oven in our truck camper, we took full advantage of having an oven! One thing we have missed being on the road without an oven is baked potatoes! So we made sure to have them several nights. 😉😋 We may also have been guilty of baking fresh chocolate chip cookies. 🍪☺️😋
At one point we went down to the MarketPlace. We were making a dip and were thinking of buying a can of Rotelle, but a small can was $4.99!!! Wow! Sticker shock! No thank you. I will just add some of our tomatoes, onions, chilis, and sriracha instead!
Since we had a full kitchen, we moved our camper refrigerator and freezer items to the room's refrigerator in order to defrost the camper's freezer. This we do biannually. If we do it frequently, and there is little ice build-up, then we found that putting "Hot Hands" hand warmers in the freezer does the trick. But we prefer to just tackle it biannually or when we can transfer our refrigerator and freezer items, as in this case.
In addition to exploring on foot, we used this week to catch up on some things and also to relax.
We took advantage of the big screen television, watching shows like:
Animals in Africa, Horizon-The American Saga, and The Agency.
We took time toward the end of our stay to plan out the next week on the road. We had an appointment in Golden, Colorado the following week, so that would leave us about 4 days to explore some of Utah.
We took 15S in Utah. We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. We took a short paved path to the base of the 607-foot waterfall. A perfect area to see the waterfall or have a picnic! There is also a 15-mile paved trail for walking and biking. Ugh....I do miss my bike. I used my birthday money one year from John's grandparents (fondly called Tut & Boo) to buy my bike. Not only do I love my purple bike, but it is very sentimental to me.
We continued on 15S and drove through Fillmore, Utah. Interesting facts we learned along the way. Fillmore was named in honor of U.S. President Millard Fillmore, who signed the act creating the Utah Territory. Fillmore was the Capitol of Utah prior to the seat of government moving to Salt Lake City in 1856. Only one out of four of the Capitol building wings was completed in Fillmore and only one complete session was held in 1855 prior to the move. Why was it moved? Fillmore is at the geographical center of the territory; however, due in part to funding, political tensions, and a lack of population and housing, the legislature passed a resolution to move the seat of government to Salt Lake City in 1856. The original building still stands in Fillmore as Utah's oldest existing government structure and is preserved as the Territorial Statehouse State Park Museum.
We took Route 59 through Hurricane and Apple Valley and County Highway 237, dipping briefly into Arizona in the Vermillion Cliffs, and then connecting to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes area.
Since we were approaching late afternoon, we stopped for groceries and then headed to our first stopover - Old Highway 89 Dispersed Camping. This is BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land that is free to stay for a maximum of 14 days. BLM land is typically primitive camping with no water, no electricity, no hookups, and no trash disposal. Pack It In, Pack It Out. Leave No Trace. This is how we camp a majority of the time. Our unit is self-contained with solar panels and lithium batteries. We carry water with us wherever we go. There were three other camping units when we arrived. We chose a location (left below), took a walk, made dinner, and watched the sunset out our camper door (right below).
The next morning we packed away our coffeemaker, put the camper in the down position, and headed out for more adventure. We stopped at a rock shop and bought our now son-in-law a goldstone, a piece of petrified wood, a meteriorite, and a treasure box to gift them in. This is Christmas shopping at it's best! We buy our Christmas gifts when we see them at any time of year. 😉
We took 89N to Scenic Byway Route 12. We hiked trails in the hoodoos just outside Panguitch. The hike was a lot of fun. If you asked me my favorite adventure on this journey thus far, hiking in the hoodoos would be at the top. I love the landscape, the color, and the vibe.
We continued on Scenic Byway 12 and went through two natural tunnel arches in Hatch, through Bryce Canyon, through the Dixie National Forest. We pulled over several times in Escalante to take in the beautiful scenery. We went over Boulder Mountain (11,313 ft in elevation). We went through the town of Boulder and through Capitol Reed National Park, including Teasdale. We got on Route 24 when we got to Torrey. We went to a market in Hanksville and split a chocolate ice cream sandwich, which tasted so good! 😋
We then headed south on Route 95. It was a straight road after driving curvy roads all day! Then appeared a big lighted caution sign. We thought it was going to say "Rough Road" or "Road Construction," but instead it said "Cows on Highway." And, indeed, we did have a mother and a calf on the highway up ahead! See video.
We arrived at Sandthrax Dispersed Camping in North Wash canyon country (left below). We enjoyed the view from our camper door and window (right below). This is a BLM site (free) that lies right at the mouth of Sandthrax Canyon. This area serves as a premier base camp for canyoneers and desert overlanders in the region as it provides access to slots like Leprechaun, Blarney, and Hogwarts canyons. But, we were just parking for the night! For those who do not know, canyoneering can be non-technical and technical. Non-technical involves hiking and scrambling through narrow slots, like the slot canyons. While it may require squeezing through tight spaces 😬 or scaling small boulders, 😳 it does not require specialized ropes or climbing gear. Technical, on the other hand, is canyoneers who travel through rugged gorges by walking, scrambling, climbing, jumping, swimming, and rapelling down waterfalls and sheer rock faces. 😱 This requires specialized ropes, anchor systems, harnesses, and helmets to safely descend vertical drops and high cliffs. No thank you. We love to hike, but not rapell by any means. Just here to park for the night!
The following day we drove through Glen Canyon Recreation Area. It encompasses over 1.25 million acres that stretches hundreds of miles from Lees Ferry in Arizona to southern Utah. We stopped many times, awed by the scenery.
We took Route 191N and stopped in Moab to walk the town. We went in various shops and ended with a chocolate milkshake and a rootbeer float. 😋 Moab is a haven for Jeep owners. Jeeps dominate the local roads, and it feels like the unofficial Jeep capital of the world. The town is absolutely crawling with Jeeps! And Jeeps are quirky, duck-loving, adventure-seeking machines, so you’ve been warned! Lol 🤣 It’s a Jeep thing.
We settled down for the night at Westwater Mesa. The free BLM land sits in a high desert area known as the Utah Rims. After a long walk, we made dinner and hunkered down for the night.
The following day we crossed the state line into Colorado, but that is another post altogether!
Please join us next week as our adventure continues!
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