Last night was our final evening in Kayenta with Brent and Pam, and we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Painted Pony, a very fine restaurant in St George. We were all so stuffed that we decided we would imitate whales in the pool for one last swim. The pool temperature was 90 F and perfect for noodling around. I’m partial to the purple noodle, of course.

Packed up and ready to go

One last look at the red cliffs of Kayenta

This morning we headed out for the next leg of our trip, with the route to Bishop, CA, taking us through Death Valley. The temperatures in Death Valley in recent days have threatened to break records, although a check of the predicted temperature was only 111 F. Doesn’t sound so bad after reports of temperatures in the upper 120’s.

We got a very early start and had a fine drive to Las Vegas with the top down. At 7 am, the temperature was extremely comfortable. As we approached Las Vegas though, we once again saw threatening dark clouds and lightening in our near future and decided to put the top up. How nice to have the top fixed! No annoying duct tape flapping!

Macho Mike with Holster Man Purse

Pahrump, Nevada, was our last chance to play the slots. We had to gas up, so I gathered four quarters with the intention of playing one of the ever-present slots in the gas station, but it was video poker only, and I decided I’d rather hit the road. So we passed up the chance to claim a fortune in Pahrump.

The clouds never left us as we entered Death Valley and we enjoyed the cool air and the desolate sights. The colors of the rocks were so beautiful- these pictures don’t quite capture it, of course, but we do have a lovely picture of Mike with his cowboy man purse.

A sampling of German tourists

As expected, everyone around us at the view sites and visitor center were German. We’ve had that happen at Bryce in the past, too. Even at our lunch stop, nearly all the other customers were German. I was amused watching one table eat their burgers with knives and forks.

We had rain sprinkles on us the entire drive in Death Valley, and the temperature at the visitor center was only 100 F. Phffft. That’s nothing. We just spent several days in St George in temperatures around 110 F! We’re so tough.

Typical view in Death Valley

Watch out!

Made me think of chocolate marble ice cream

Beautiful Death Valley

Here is the story of Lovely Rita. Back in 2005, our family all met at Brent and Pam’s in Utah for Christmas. Mike and I had our 25^th wedding anniversary that same December, so we arranged to take a short cruise out of Long Beach, CA, before renting a car and meeting the rest of the family in Las Vegas as they all arrived by plane, and then driving to Kayenta from there.

Rita sneaking into the carry-on

Prior to the trip, we had spotted Rita in a La Conner gallery in the fall and knew that Rita had to become part of Brent and Pam’s poolside life. But we had to get her to Utah. Now Rita may be a lovely lady, but she’s really not very svelte. In fact, she’s made of concrete and weighs, um, a considerable amount. We felt the only way to get her to Utah was to have her accompany us to Long Beach, join us on our cruise, and then enjoy the ride to Kayenta in Utah.

Rita and the towel bunny partying in the room

So we carefully bundled Rita in our carry-on luggage. Rita, however, caused quite a stir in security at SeaTac. In fact, they were not completely fooled by her alluring looks and suspected that she was the bomb, er, could BE a bomb. So she was swab tested for explosives (she passed), then scrutinized thoroughly by a supervisor, then very grudgingly allowed to join us on the plane. Phew!

Rita enjoying the pool hijinks

Rita lazing on the deck

Surprise! It’s Rita!

Rita had a very nice time on the cruise. She was really a very good traveler- no seasickness, no whining, and she’s very neat. She did so enjoy shipboard life.

She was lovingly welcomed into Brent and Pam’s life at the Christmas festivities that year, and has enjoyed a full life in the sun and fun of Kayenta.

Rita, pre-makeover

Rita, all dolled up

But life was starting to get just a wee bit drab, and it was decided that she needed a makeover. Pam and Tami were happy to indulge her desire to be the life of the party, and we are sharing the results with all of you. Party on, Rita!

While running errands around St George, we parked the car at one point and walked around several blocks to hit a number of stores. The temperature was somewhere around 109°F. It felt very warm, but it’s a dry heat, you know. Actually, it is not oppressive, but you quickly realize that you have a very dry mouth. It is so dry and hot that you are never aware of sweating, your clothes are perfectly dry, but you are constantly very thirsty. A number of shops have misters that spray down from the eaves in front of their shops. Those are heavenly. There was also another shop with a big cooler of cold drinks out front, $1 each, and you put your dollar in the can on the cooler. We bought a couple of waters and guzzled them, but were thirsty again in about two blocks!

One other interesting thing about most Utah towns is the width of the streets. Brigham Young declared when Salt Lake City was being built that the streets must be wide enough “for a team of four oxen and a covered wagon to turn around.” They are certainly wide enough in St George, Ogden, and Cedar City for an M to do a U-turn with plenty of room to spare. I swear you could play a soccer game crosswise in the streets. Crossing even a residential street on foot can seem like an endless trek.Throw in the heat and you practically need a water bottle to make it all the way across.

Yesterday we made a trip into town to get the convertible top on the M repaired.  There is an old slit in the canvas from some vandalism years ago.  For driving around town we have just covered it with black duct tape, but we discovered that at highway speed (especially when you get down here in the land of 80 mile per hour speed limits), the tape pretty quickly starts lifting up, then making loud flapping noises, and finally peels off completely (and presumably attaches itself to the windshield of the car behind us).  We found a shop that was able to glue on a patch that while not pretty, should get us home better than any homemade fix we might have come up with.

While we were waiting for the repair to be made, we made our usual pilgrimage to the place we believe to be the best food in St. George, not to mention our favorite taqueria anywhere – Irmita’s.

When we first discovered Irmita’s years ago it was in a little shack on the side of the road.  The next time we went looking for it, the shack had lost out to some new development, but  they had found some space in a gas station.  On this trip we discovered they had found a new slightly-better-than-the-shack location in downtown St. George.

From prior experience we knew that their pork is incredible.  Pulled and then fried.  Tami went for the quesadilla, while Mike went for the mulita.  Both were as good as we remembered.  The pinto beans on the side are also the best we’ve had.

Just to make you drool, here are a couple of pictures:

Oh, and Mike was thrilled to have real hot sauce, unlike anything on offer in Seattle anywhere!

We will make a point of stopping at Irmita’s anytime we find ourselves near St. George.  We just wish there was some way to get them up to the Northwest. (Sorry Keenan, it wouldn’t travel well.)

Monday we decided to drive up to Cedar City’s annual Shakespeare festival.  They actually have a lot more than Shakespeare – we elected to go see Anything Goes, a classic Cole Porter musical.  It was quite fun, with lots of slapstick and wonderful old Cole Porter music.  There seem to be a number of quality theater productions in Utah, possibly because it is just too hot to do anything outdoors in the summer (I heard it hit 109 here yesterday).

While there we ran into Gordon Warren, who used to teach drama, speech, etc. at Issaquah High School when Mike went there.  Since Mike did a fair bit of theater at IHS, they had a good time talking about the old days.  Gordon moved down to St. George because he loves the heat, and keeps busy in his retirement rock climbing, mountain biking, etc.

While in Cedar City we found the one and only winery in Utah!  (Keenan, are you surprised?)  As there is not yet a great deal of wine grape growing in Utah, the IG Winery also buys grapes from Washington, Oregon, and California.  I get the impression they contract out some of the winemaking in those other areas as well.  The wines we tasted were quite good.  We especially liked a Temperanillo made from Sonoma Valley grapes.

We bought a mixed case to be shipped home, but they called us the next day to ask if it was OK with us if they held off shipping until there is some cooler weather.  Not only would shipping in the heat be potentially bad for the wine, they have had problems in the current heat with UPS having to return shipments because of corks popping.  We don’t mind waiting for better shipping weather.  It’s not like we don’t have any wine at home!

Finally, Mike got to hit up his favorite Western wear shop, where he bought a hip holster purse, complete with thigh strap.  He’s manly now!

Pounding rain on the patio

We woke to the sound of rain and were treated to a few tremendous flashes of lightening and powerful claps of thunder. We actually really enjoyed it; a real thunderstorm in the desert is quite the event. It didn’t last long, as usual, and soon the sun was out.

Rainbow over Kayenta

All that rain meant that the humidity was way up, so we opted for air conditioned – first Costco (one of the better things to do in St. George) ad then Mike finally got to see The Lone Ranger. Johnny Depp and cowboys! What could be better! While it didn’t get great reviews, we had fun watching it and left the theater humming the William Tell Overture.

It was a nice, relaxing day after covering over 1000 miles in the previous three days, so we will share pictures of this beautiful area for most of this post. Enjoy!

Red cliffs

Storm clouds leaving

The oasis

Sunset in the desert

After a full breakfast in the hotel, we took a quick tour around some of Ogden, which is where Tami’s parents were from. The skies were grey, but we put the top down anyway since at 9:30 am it was already nice and warm. Pointing the car south, we headed past Salt Lake City and were amazed at how far the suburban sprawl continued south. Soon we were beyond civilization and what few exits there were had signs that said “No Services”. The speed limit is 80, though, so we were clicking off the miles at a great clip.

Lunch stops are always highly anticipated, so it was a real question where we would eat with so few places available. We took our chances on Fillmore, UT, and cruised up and down the main street. Talk about sleepy towns. The only place that seemed to have any life to it was the Car Hop Café on the edge of town, so we pulled in and found ourselves in a classic old burger joint that seemed to be the center of social life in Fillmore. The food did not disappoint, nor did Tami’s piña colada milkshake. We were well fortified for the push into St. George.

The view from Brent and Pam’s front door

Ready to relax!

The red cliffs of Kayenta

Once again, dark skies were looming all around. We thought we had finally dodged the last of them when one more squall loomed in front of us and we suddenly found ourselves in a full downpour of big fat raindrops that briefly turned to hail. It did not last long, and we really didn’t get very wet, but a few hailstones down the back of the shirt do have a way of cooling down a person.

Within 30 miles of St. George, the temperature rose noticeably and we were glad for the breeze that 80+ mph brings. We were soon seeing the familiar red cliffs of southern Utah and knew we were close. Soon we were pulling into Kayenta and enjoying the red cliffs that surround Brent and Pam’s oasis in the desert. It was wonderful to catch up on their recent trip to Europe and relate tales of our recent adventures, followed by a delicious dinner and relaxing evening.

After getting up to a wonderful breakfast of huckleberry pancakes (Tami had great fun

Beautiful huckleberries

picking huckleberry’s the day before, though she was disappointed she couldn’t pick them ALL), we left early for a LONG day of driving.

With Peggy and the dusty M

It was hard to say goodbye to Peggy and Don, but we had to press on down the road in our now very dusty M. It was approximately 600 miles from Peggy’s place in Idaho to Ogden, Utah, with the first half of the drive on minor side highways.

Tami was frustrated with the slow drivers on the back roads, but the slower speeds did get our gas mileage up to 30 miles per gallon, compared to the 21 we averaged later on the freeway. The gradually  winding descent out of the Idaho mountains was quite glorious in the M, however, with the curves all perfectly banked and the grade just right so very little braking was required.

We were puzzled, however, how they make water run uphill in Idaho. As we drove along the Salmon River, we felt that we were descending down the canyon, yet the river seemed to be flowing up the canyon. We even saw many rafters heading up the river. How does that work???

We intended to lunch in McCall, Idaho, a sleepy little town on a lake that Tami remembered from her childhood.  Apparently there was an old lodge there that she and her sister ran wild in.  Well, McCall is sleepy no longer.  The area reminded us most of North Lake Tahoe.  It is an outdoor and water sports mecca, with all the tourist traps, crowds, and traffic jams that implies.  We gave up even looking for parking and drove straight through and out the other side.

We did finally find lunch at a smaller town down the road called Cascade.  And we got lucky, finding a wonderful road side BBQ pit, the Redneck Diner, with tables on the lawn, smoker on the deck, and some of the best ribs we’ve had in quite a while.  We left there happy.

The Redneck Diner

After we made it to Boise, we put the top down (it’s generally too cold in the mornings), and got on the freeway headed East.  At the same time, we kept a worried eye on the sky as the cloud bank ahead of us was very dark.  We did get under some clouds which provided some cool relief, but the darkness continued to stay ahead of us.  We chased the rain for over a hundred miles before catching a few minutes worth.

A hastily taken picture of looming storm clouds

Outside our hotel, looking down 25th St

We did confirm that if you drive fast enough in a convertible when it is raining, you don’t really get wet. It was only after we had gassed up and turned south towards Utah that we finally caught up with serious rain and saw lightening in the distance, so we had to put the top up.  It got quite wet and stormy then, with lightening all around us.  We managed to get through the storm a bit before Ogden.

In Ogden we checked into the classic old hotel in the middle of town, the Ben Lomond.  For dinner we headed out into the old red light district, 25^th Street, now turned into the night life center, and had dinner at a brewery and restaurant called Roosters.  After a day on the road our eyes were bigger than our stomachs and we ordered more yummies than we could really handle. Back in our room, we just managed to catch the highlights of the day’s stage of the Tour de France before collapsing in bed.

Well, we hit the road this morning.  We are calling this trip the Drying Out the M Tour because the M Roadster got a bit damp last winter when one of the windows was left open (Seattle is not known for its dry winter weather), to the extent that it developed a fine interior carpet of mold.  There’s nothing like opening your car door to find that you have new grey fuzzy seat covers. Wait a minute, we don’t have seat covers! We had it treated with ozone to kill the mold, but still thought a couple of weeks of hot dry Southwest weather might help as well.

We seemed to beat the holiday traffic out of town and enjoyed smooth sailing over Snoqualmie Pass and on to Pullman and beyond.  It was a gorgeous day, the kind of day we usually just dream about in the Northwest – blue sky and temps climbing through the 70’s into the 80’s as the day progressed.  Coming into the Palouse (area of Eastern Washington around Pullman) the hills were covered in shimmering green and gold wheat that was blowing in grand waves in the wind.

We stopped in the small town of Colfax for lunch at a local drive-in.  As we waited for our order we puzzled over the line on the receipt that showed a 10%, $1 discount marked SNRD.  We had no idea what a snerd might be.  Then suddenly we realized that the VERY young man at the cash register had just given us a SENIOR DISCOUNT without even asking our age (I won’t mention which one of us had placed the order).  I guess there is no hiding it any more.

A bit past Pullman and into Idaho we pushed on to the summer cabin of our friend Peggy who teaches at Washington State University in Pullman. She and her friend Don are mushers who have both completed multiple races in Alaska, Washington, and Montana. Peggy has a kennel of 18 Siberian Huskies and Don has a kennel of 18 Samoyeds. Their dogs are all highly trained athletes and also wonderful, sweet doggies. It was fun to see the Siberian’s colorful beach umbrellas to keep them cool in the sun.

I wish we didn’t have to leave.  Her place is a Sunset Magazine picture – a small rustic, timber frame cabin on 20 acres with a fish filled pond out front.  There’s a path that goes completely around the lake with huckleberry bushes in large sections along the way. I can’t even describe how wonderful this place is and only hope the pictures we took begin to convey some sense of it.