80s to 50s in One Day

It's funny how the weather can change overnight. When the sun is shining and the temperature is in the 80s, not even the weather report can convince me that it will change. Yesterday we left Moab and headed south to 211 - the road into the Needles section of Canyonlands NP. We drove about three miles west and parked on a lovely piece of BLM land. Amazingly, we not only have phone service, but Verizon Broadband. I'm happy.

When we arrived, it was pretty cloudy, but we headed into the park for a recon. It's about 30 miles to the park boundary, but the route goes through some lovely canyon country on the way. I thought it was just a mixture of BLM and state land, but it actually has a name - Canyon Rims Recreation Area. Cool.

We stopped at Newspaper Rock, a petroglyph panel listed as a National Historic Site. Although there is no way of dating rock art, it is believed to contain etchings from 2000 years ago, as well as more modern times. I tend to be skeptical of rock art, but that figure at the top of the picture does look like an alien.


Inside the park, we stopped at the visitors center and some viewpoints.


Here's Ron at he end of the road. (When did I start believing the theory that every picture has to have a person in it?)


Today we were hoping to do a nice hike among those needle-like rocks, but we woke up to wind/clouds/rain and a 30 degree drop in temperature. Here's a lovely shot out the window. See what a nice view we have? (Hey, I couldn't open the window - it would let the cold in!)


Since neither of us like the smell of the catalytic heater and the furnace takes a lot of power (which is not being replenished with the lack of sun,) this is how Ron dressed for the day indoors. He's even wearing what I call his 'Cookie Monster' slippers.


And of course turnabout is fair play. He took this picture of me looking my best.