Ivan rented a Rhino (2 seater 4X4) for half the day.  We were given a few trail maps.  We drove out towards Dixie National Forest.  It’s really pretty there. 

We drove through the forest.  Ivan loves to drive fast.  It was a bit bumpy, but lots of fun!  We were the only people riding out there.  It got muddy in some areas too.  I got to drive the Rhino.  It’s a little hard since I’m short.  But, I put my heavy jacket behind me so I could reach the pedals better.  I had so much fun driving. 

Video of me driving the Rhino:

Ivan was informed by the guy at Kanyon ATV that some people got stuck up a mountain.  We kept trying to go up a mountain, but we didn’t think that was the place where everybody got stuck.  Ivan spent probably 30 minutes trying to get up the snowy mountain.  It seems we kept getting stuck in a wedge.  After trying several times, we gave up.

It’s great fun riding mini ATVs in the desert.  We want to come back some time in the near future.  Hopefully, they’ll be a lot more people riding their ATVs next time.

I drove us towards Las Vegas.  It took us 3 hours to arrive.  Ivan booked the Imperial Palace for the night.

I pulled into Valet.  Ivan got out with his backpacks since there was a line for Valet.  He started headed towards the entrance.  The Valet guy approached me and asked if I was a guest.  I said yes.  He wanted to see my room key.  I said I’m checking in.  He said give me your confirmation number.  We never write down our confirmation numbers because they can always look you up by name.  I pointed at Ivan and said We’re checking im, he has bags.  Jeez, I was going to give this dude a piece of my mind if he didn’t let me park.  I was going to say to him, I drove 3 hours from Panguitch, Utah and I can’t even park at Valet because I don’t have a confirmation number.  Give me a break!

We chilled in the room.

We walked to the Paris.  We were going to see the Anthony Cools hypnosis show.  I was so hungry at this point.  We got crepes for dinner.  I had mushrooms with cheese and Ivan got a dessert berry crepe.

We sat down at Anthony Cools show.  Ivan went up to get hypnotized. Anthony picked him and he was part of the show.  It was hilarious because every time the song Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash was played, Ivan thought that his ass was on fire.  So, he was rubbing his bottom (butt) all across the floor.  It was a very funny show.

We walked around the Strip.  We checked out Aria and Crystals at the City Center.  We didn’t really see anything new.  The casino there is still dark and uninviting. 

Ivan and I went back to the hotel and got some much needed rest. 

It seems that almost every city or town, you’ll see the same places like Denny’s, McDonald’s, Burger King and Auto Zone.  On this road trip, we’ve tried to see unique things.  It’s great to see the museums, but we usually tire of that.  So, we visit places that are cool and a bit different.  It’s great to explore the city to see what you can find.  Visitors Centers are great to get brochures on cities you’ll are visiting.  It’s been a great road trip.  I think one of the best part has been the couchsurfers.  They have showed us great attractions and fun times.  It’s amazing to see that kindness still exists in people.  I’m so glad I got to meet up with my friend Roscoe.  It was great to finally meet my online friend after all these years.  He was so sweet to us in San Antonio.  

Thanks so much for reading our road trip blog!  I hope you enjoyed it.  We had an awesome time!

We drove to Escalante Staircase – stopping at Kiva Coffeehouse.  Ivan had a tasty egg salad sandwich with soup.  I had a Southwestern Huevos Rancheros.  They didn’t tell me that the tortillas weren’t available.  We found out when we got the bill since they didn’t charge us for it.  It was a good meal.

We drove to Bryce Canyon National Park.  We were taking a horse ride with Canyon Trail Rides.  It was $25 entrance fee for the park.  Canyon Trail Rides failed to mention this when Ivan booked the horse ride.

Ivan and I got two horses that were friends.  I had a hairy horse named Newt who looked like a llama. 

Ivan’s horse was named Rob.

It’s really scary going down into Bryce Canyon.  The horses seem to go near the edge and you think you could fall at any moment.  The views of the canyon are just gorgeous.  Wow, it’s really amazing! 

We were in a group of 9 people.  My horse was going really slow.  I think Newt was kind of old because he had gray hair.  In the middle of the ride, he started going faster.  I think he might have taken an energy drink when I wasn’t looking.  The 2 hour horse ride was lots of fun.  I can’t believe there’s still snow up there.  I guess it’s not hot enough to melt it all.

Here’s a video I made while on the horse in Bryce Canyon:

We started driving towards Panguitch City. 

We checked in to the Purple Sage Motel in Panguitch.  It’s #1 on Tripadvisor.  The lady at the front desk was a little weird and wasn’t too friendly.  The room was nice and it smelled good.

We chilled in the hotel for awhile.

We went to dinner at Cowboy’s Smokehouse Cafe.  Our waitress was very friendly.  Ivan and I got smoked trout with crackers and a spicy spread for a starter.  Then, we had a nice 1/2 chicken dinner with their homemade spicy bbq sauce.  For dessert, we got the delicious apple cobbler.

We walked around town to get some exercise.  Then, we arrived back to the hotel.  We watched an episode of Spooks before sleepy time.

We drove to Arches National Park.  We love the drive through this awesome national park.  At first the weather looked nice.  But, then it started sprinkling and then it stopped.  Then, it was sunny and then back to overcast.

We went to the Garden of Eden and took more pictures.  We love the gorgeous views!

We started driving towards Boulder, Utah at 12 pm. 

We stopped at Tamarisk Restaurant in Green River, Utah.  Ivan and I each had a lovely grilled chicken sandwich.  We had one trip to go to the salad bar.  The salad was really good too.

I started driving at 1:45 pm.  We drove through Highway 24 which has beautiful red rocks and mountains.  Then, we connected to the Highway 12 where it goes up to 9500 feet.  It was snowing up there.  The temperature was 36° F.

We checked in to Pole’s Place.  Unfortunately, the hotel doesn’t have internet access.  We put our backpacks in the room.

We drove down the street to a restaurant that has wi-fi.  We used it for awhile.  Then, we went back to the hotel to take showers.

Ivan drove us to Hell’s Backbone Grill.  Ivan read lots of good things about this place. 

We order a few small plates: Backbone organic salad with trout, goat cheese fondue with crackers, pesto farfalle pasta and pumpkin & apple soup.  The soup could have been a little hotter.  The fondue was delicious.  I wish we got two portions of it!  The pesto pasta was cold and tasted great.  The organic salad was rather plain and barely came with any trout.  We had a tasty meal here.

We went back to the hotel.  The internet at the hotel is really buggy.  Ivan had to ask the front desk if they could re-set the router.  It kept giving saying Limited or No Connectivity. 

We watched a few episode of the great show Spooks and then off to sleep.

We drove to Arches National Park.  It’s a park filled with beautiful things like petrified dunes and huge red rocks.  It’s quite a beautiful place.  The weather was overcast.

We checked out the Balanced Rock first.  I don’t know how the rock stays up there.

We started driving more and went to the Viewpoint for the Delicate Arch.  The arch itself is far away, but we were still able to zoom to get a picture. 

if you want to see the Delicate Arch, It’s 3 miles round trip.  Ivan and I didn’t feel like hiking, so we decided to skip it. 

Driving through the National Park offers such beautiful views.  It’s a must have if you’re ever in Moab.  The sun came out and it was getting a little hot.

Big Dave and Lil’ Dave (the monkeys traveling with us) loved the park as well. 

They thought it was a perfect opportunity to take some pictures.

We drove to The Windows Section. 

We saw Turrent Arch and took lots of pictures there.  It was quite nice sitting under the huge arch.

We drove to Garden of Eden next.  There’s a rock that I thought looked like a penis. 

The Garden of Eden has multiple rock formations.  It’s really cool that they’re all grouped together like a garden.

We drove back to the exit.  We really love driving through this gorgeous national park.   We spent 3 hours there.  The entrance fee is $10 fee good for 7 days.

We went back to the hotel to use the internet.

We drove to Buck’s Grill House for dinner.  Ivan read good things about it on the internet.  We ordered the eggplant pesto dip for a starter.  It was horrible – it didn’t taste like eggplant or pesto.  It just tasted like some cold mush which could have been anything.  Ivan complained about it and the waiter took it away.  He said sorry for that, would you like something else?  Ivan thought that the soup of the day, which was butternut squash, sounded better.  We got the soup and it was just okay. 

We got a smoked catfish cake which was alright.  Our main dish was a game hen with spices on top of a southwestern risotto.  The chicken meat didn’t have any flavor.  The risotto was plain.  We didn’t have a good meal.  It sucks to have a bad meal, but I guess they can’t all be good.

We went back to the hotel.  We watched Family Guy and Spooks on the laptop before going to sleep.

We started driving again at 1:30 pm.  I worked on the blog while Ivan drove. 

We listened to music on my iPod like Fiona Apple, Moby, Jay-Z and Queen.

We took the Scenic Byway on Highway 6 which took us through the ghost town of Cisco.  Then, we went on the Highway 125 through a beautiful canyon. 

We checked in to the River Canyon Lodge in Moab, Utah at 4 pm.  The weather was quite warm at 76° F.

We chilled in the room for awhile.

We walked to Main Street for dinner.  We checked out a few menus.  Most restaurants in Moab are a little pricey.  We decided to go to Miguel’s Baja Grill.

Ivan had the tasty chicken fajita.  I had the M.O.A.B. with chicken which stands for Mother of All Burritos.  It’s supposed to be really big, but it wasn’t really that big.  I finished all of the delicious burrito.  We each had a nice glass of Spanish red wine.

We walked back to the hotel.  We watched an episode of Spooks on the computer and then off to bed.

We drove to the bottom of the cable cars for Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park.  We went on a cable car and it took us up to the park.  It turns out a lot of things were closed like the big swing, maze, and mechanical bull. 

We arrived at the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Parks.  There wasn’t that many people there.  I checked out the gift shop.  I found some souvenirs that I could get for my nieces and nephews.

We went on the 1:30 pm cave tour.  Our guide was a lady named Mary.  She took us down to the first cave.  When it was first discovered, the people would go down in their Sunday best through a hole and climb down.  Good thing we didn’t have to do that!  We entered through a door.  The cave was alright inside.  There was only small stalactites growing.  During World War I, the cave was shut down.  But, it wasn’t closed off.  People took formations and a lot of air got inside. 

Ivan was in charge of closing the doors.  It’s essential to keep out air so that the cave can grow.  We came to a door that took us outside.  There was a beautiful view of the town and the mountains.

We walked back through the cave to the entrance.  A long time ago, a man was allowed to explore the cave with permission from the owners.  He discovered a new cave below.  He didn’t tell the owners.  He did offer to buy it from them and they agreed.

We went to the lower cave. It was beautiful down there.  There’s lots of stalagmites and stalactites. 

There were a few formations and things that look like bacon on the wall.  The best part was a room at the bottom. 

It had many formations and stalactites.  We walked back up.  We saw the heart of the cave which actually looks like a human heart. 

Next, we went on the flying coaster.  We each had our own cart.  You get to control how fast you go.  It’s a lot of fun! 

Next, we checked out the laser tag.  It’s a lot of fun running around and shooting people.  We jumped in a game that was already  in play, so we only played for 2 minutes.  We started another game.  There’s lots of places to hide behind walls or a bar area.   

I was a bit hot from the laser tag since I played with my coat on.  We decided to check out the 4D theatre.  We saw the mine ride.  It’s cool in the 4D theatre since air and water are blown in your face and the seats move and vibrate.  We stayed in the theatre to watch a story about turtles.  Then, we watched snow ride.  It takes you on a ride through the snow.

We stopped at the restaurant to have some hot tea.  Ivan had Englsh Breakfast and I had Cinammon Apple Spice.

We went on the flying coaster.  We thought it would be cool to ride on one cart together. 

We were told that it goes faster with two people.  It was really fast.  Ivan drove and I enjoyed the ride.  We liked it so much, we went on it again!  This time I took a video. 

Check out the flying coaster:

I bought souvenirs in the store.  We drove back to the hotel and relaxed.

We drove to JH Chen Asian Bistro for dinner.  The restaurant serves Chinese and Japanese dishes.  Ivan and I started off with a great vegetable tofu soup.  Then, we shared the Singapore rice noodles with chicken and eggplant with shrimp and chicken.  The eggplant dish was delicious!  

We walked to the Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co.  We each had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.  I noticed the San Antonio Spurs were playing the Denver Nuggets on the tv.  It made me think of my friend Roscoe.  We chatted for awhile and then drove back to the hotel.

We stopped at Vail, Colorado for lunch at 1:20 pm.  We walked to Up the Creek.  We sat down inside the restaurant right by the window.  There’s a nice view of the creek.  Ivan had a vegetarian sandwich with french onion soup.  I had a tasty grilled chicken sandwich with avocado.

I popped inside a few souvenir shops.  I found a souvenir for my dad there. 

I started driving.  We passed through the beautiful Glenwood Canyon. There’s huge rocks all around the highway that are covered with snow.  How amazing!  A few weeks ago, rocks that were 1 mile long fell from Glenwood Canyon.  So, I was a bit anxious to get out of the area.  I didn’t want any rocks to fall on us.  That would be scary!  We passed a place called No Name. 

I guess nobody showed up to the meeting when they wanted to pick a name.  So, No Name was written down.

We arrived at the hotel at 4:12 pm.  We checked in to the Frontier Lodge.  We used the internet and watched tv.

Ivan drove to Rib City Grill.  Ivan and I shared the tasty catfish dinner special which came with two sides of salad and corn.

We got two big pieces of fried catfish filets.  We also got the 1/2 chicken meal with coleslaw and applesauce.  It was good food.

Ivan drove us to the Glenwood Hot Springs.  We got changed into our swimsuits and then went outside.  We passed the therapy pool.  We weren’t sure what that meant.  So, we walked into the other pool.  It wasn’t that hot.  So, we went inside the therapy pool.  It was really hot in there.  The other pool is just a regular swimming pool and it’s much bigger.  Unfortunately, there was no places to sit, except for the steps. There were no free floaties to use.  I did float around on my back for awhile since the water has salt in it, it makes you float.  I like chilling in the hot water, but I can’t stay in too long since I start sweating. We stayed for an hour and then drove back to the hotel.

Ivan drove us to the Village at Winter Park Resort.  We walked to the Ski School.  We printed out our vouchers.

We needed to rent clothes.  So, we went to the shop there.  Ivan got  a jacket and pants.  I just needed pants.  We rented them and then went back to the Ski School.  We got our boots, skis and poles.

We went outside at 9:30 am for our ski lesson.  I used to ski years ago.  I wasn’t that good, but able to go down the hills.  There was 7 people in our group.  Our guide Bruce was teaching us how to ski.  At first we were on the hills that weren’t that steep.

We moved to another area where you can take a magic carpet up to get to the top.  The magic carpet is like a moving escalator.  Our teacher was teaching us how to turn.

I was doing alright turning and going zig zag down the hill.  I started doing the wedge (snow plowing) and the teacher said it’s fine that I’m  doing that.  You’re just anxious he said, but we don’t teach that – instead we teach you to turn.  Ivan was doing alright.

We went up the Gemini ski lift.  At one point, I started going really fast and fell flat on my face.  I started crying and said I didn’t want to do it anymore.  My ankles and feet hurt.  It took me forever to put my boots back on. 

We came down the mountain and I was way too tired.  So, I sat down on the bench while the rest of the group went back up.  Everybody came down.

We had to go down another hill to head back for lunch.  I thought I could make it down.  It was a little steep.  I wanted to turn, but my ankles hurt so much.  The ski instructor wanted me to grab on to the poles and he would help me down.  But, I thought I could just ski down.  So, I kept skiing down and then snow plowing so I would stop.  Ivan suggested that I walk down.  I thought that might be embarrassing.  But, after awhile my ankles and thighs hurt really bad – so I thought I should walk down.  I started walking down.  Ivan and Bruce skiied down.  Bruce, the ski instructor, took my poles down.  A few minutes later, a guy who carries people to the lift came.  I got on and he drove me down the hill.  Bruce had told the guy to retrieve me.  Ivan and Bruce were waiting for me at the bottom.  

I was so knackered.  We went to the food court for lunch.  Ivan and I each had a noodle bowl soup with chicken. 

I returned my ski equipment and the pants I rented. 

Ivan went out to finish his lesson.  He went on a higher ski run. 

It’s really beautiful up there.  I drove back to the hotel.  I used the internet and took a nap.  I wasn’t feeling so good.  I had a big headache.

I picked up Ivan from The Village at 4 pm.  He was so red since we forgot to put on suntan lotion.  He went on a really steep mountain and went down.  He definitely has learned to ski better.

We chilled in the hotel and used the internet.

Ivan and I decided to have sushi for dinner.  We went to The Sushi Bar.  We shared the spiked miso soup and glazed edamame for a starter.  Edamame always reminds me of my sister-in-law since she likes it.  The glazed edamame is covered in soy sauce and sesame seeds.  They were really messy to eat, but they tasted good.  We got two sushi rolls: The Hula and The Rainbow.  The sushi rolls were really big.  The sushi rolls were very original and tasted great.  We really love eating sushi! 

We went back to the hotel.  We were so tired.  We watched an episode of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em and then went to sleep early.

We left the house about 11:30 am.  We drove to downtown.  Ivan went to the post office.  He had to pick up his package.  He lost his laptop cord and the owner in Lamar sent it to him. 

We had lunch at Subway.

Ivan started driving to Winter Park, Colorado. 

It was really beautiful views while driving.  We arrived there at 1:30 pm.  I didn’t want the altitude sickness to affect me.  I hypnotized myself so I wouldn’t feel sick from the elevation.  A little while later, I did feel better.

Ivan wanted to go tubing.  But, it was only 6 seconds down the hill and then 5 minutes up the escalator.  It wasn’t really worth it for $16 an hour.

Ivan thought we should book snowmobiling instead.  He called a place and booked it for 3:30 pm.

We went to the Village located in the Winter Park Resort.  It’s free parking for short term parking which is 45 minutes or less.  We went to Back Bowl Soup.  Ivan and I shared the cheese and broccoli soup.  The soup place only had two soups for the day.  That’s very strange since it’s a soup restaurant.

We drove to Grand Adventures.  We were going snowmobiling.  Ivan and I would be on one snowmobile.  We had to get our helmets first.  Then, it was time to get our boots and suit.

Then, we got on our snowmobiles.  The guide told us how to drive the snowmobile.  I was going to drive.  But, then the guide talked about how somebody crashed into one of the buildings when he revved to start going – it got me scared.  I crashed a motorbike in Bali last year, so now I get scared driving certain things that I could crash.  So, I told Ivan he could drive.  Ivan loves driving anything fast.

It was really beautiful going up the mountain in the snowmobile.  It was really cold.  We had on gloves but they’re not that thick.  Ivan’s hands got warmed up from the hand warmer on the handle bars and his feet were being warmed as well.  I was freezing. 

We got to the top of the mountain and it was snowing up there.  It was cold especially since it was a little windy as well.   It was a beautiful view up there.

I put my hands on the handlebar to try to warm them up.  I didn’t think it was warm.  Our guide said I could wear his spare gloves.  They were nice and warm since they were gloves meant for skiing.

Towards the end, we were driving through trees.  Ivan was going  slower since it was really close to the trees.  I would have been driving slow as well.  Ivan didn’t want to run into a branch or a tree.  We had a fun time snowmobiling.

Here’s a video of us snowmobiling – turn down the sound, it doesn’t sound that good:

We started driving towards the couchsurfer’s apartment.  Jeff gave us the address and the number to his roommate.  He would be busy all day, but his roommate would be home.  We couldn’t find the address he gave us.  We drove everywhere and asked people where if they knew where it was.  Ivan wrote a message to him.  We weren’t sure if he would get it, since he was out of his house. 

We decided to get some dinner.  We drove to Star of India.  We shared chicken tikka, chicken kedai and garlic naan.  It was really good food.

The couchsurfer Jeff didn’t respond to Ivan’s message.  Ivan booked the Beaver Village Lodge nearby online.

We drove to the Beaver Village Lodge.  The front desk was closed, so Ivan had to find the caretaker.  We got checked in.

We put our backpacks in the room.  We used the internet for a short while.  We put on our swimsuits and then went to the hot tub.  I was so glad that the hot tub was indoors.  It was really hot in there.  Somebody put bubble bath in the hot tub, so there was lots of big bubbles on the water.

We used the internet for awhile.  We watched something on the laptop Then, we decided we should sleep since we had to wake up early tomorrow morning.

We took the gondola in Breckenridge.  It took us to the base of the mountain. 

It was snowing.  We had a late lunch at Sevens.  Ivan and I shared the vegetable chili and chicken udon noodle bowl.  Ivan figured out that I had altitude sickness.  That’s why I had headaches and thought that everything was too bright.

We drove back into town.  We looked for gloves and souvenirs.  We found some gloves that would keep us warm, but they weren’t waterproof.  We bought two cupcakes at Rocky Mountain Cupcakes. We got a Strawberry cupcake for Ivan and me and Black and White for Jim.  The cupcakes are good, but are expensive at $3 each.

We drove to Frisco.  We were taking a dinner sleigh ride with TwoBelowZero.  We got into our sleigh.  It was cold and snowing outside.  Our guide was named Jason.  The mules who were pulling our sleigh were named Jan and Judy.   Our guide put a blanket on us to keep us warm. 

It took a few minutes to arrive at the tent.  Here, we would have dinner and see a show.

Ivan’s last name was listed on one of the tables.  We were seated with a family of 5 from Florida and a couple who lived in Colorado.  The table had water and hot chocolate.  A man from Nashville welcomed  us. We drank the tasty warm hot chocolate to warm our bones.  Then our guides served the adults peppermint schnapps.  It was like drinking a peppermint candy cane with alcohol added.

We got a chicken cheese enchilada soup for a starter.  It was so very tasty!

Our main dish was a double chicken for me and Ivan got a vegetarian lasagna.  I wasn’t that hungry so I didn’t eat everything.  It did taste good though.

Our dessert came next.  It was apple crumble pie with whipped cream on top.  Ivan and I both took off the cream.  The apple crumble pie was delicious!

Our entertainment was the Nashville guy.  He sang many songs like Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond.  He was a good singer.

We had a great time on our first sleigh ride.  Everybody jumped back on the sleigh.  We were taken back to the main building.

Ivan and I drove back to the house.  We talked to Jim about our sleigh ride.  We gave him the cupcake and he said  thanks.  We watched tv with Jim for awhile.  Then, it was off to bed.