Travel Days with a plan

Stops between Rockies and Yellowstone/Grand Teton NP

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

September 11^th, 2018

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” Albert Einstein

While traveling from The Rockies to the Yellowstone – Grand Teton area we made a few stops. The first was in Craig, Colorado, using it as a base for a one-day trip to Dinosaur National Monument, the other Heber City outside of Salt Lake City so we could visit the Young Living farm in Mona Utah.

More than Bones…Dinosaur NM

We made our plans to visit Dinosaur NM based on visitor center in Dinosaur Colorado but when we stopped we found that this area of the monument has canyon and river access and not where the bone quarry is, so we drove on to Jensen Utah and up to the Quarry visitor center. We did made a lunch stop in Dinosaur CO at the Bedrock Depot. Cute place, loved the coffee menu with things like Espressosaurus and Lattesaurus.

We got to the Quarry Exhibit and I quickly went through the hall and got Bella out of the truck while JoAnn took her time and enjoyed the wall of bones many were exposed but left where they had fallen, giving you a good overview of what the paleontologist work with during excavation.

After the hall we moved on to the Cub Creek Road auto tour, where we stopped the Swelter Shelter, a rock cave used by Native Americas as far back as 7000 years. A few petroglyphs, like pictographs only scratched or carved rather than painted and tend to withstand weathering over time. The petroglyphs we found farther down the road was the highlight of the visit! There are over 1000 petroglyphs in the monument, attributed to the Fremont people whom created them about one thousand years ago for a purpose yet to be understood by archeologist.

At the end of the road is the homestead of Josephine Bassett Morris. Josie was a pioneer woman who after her children were raised moved to the wilderness where she lived for 50 years in a nineteenth century lifestyle, most of it by herself. She died at age 89 in 1964 after an accident that broke her hip. She carved out a life in this rugged country where she had to fight for water rights of the spring on her homestead and was accused but acquitted of cattle rustling twice. The cabin below was built by Josie as part of her homestead.

Young Living, Mona Lavendar Farm

For the last two years JoAnn has been a distributor for Young Living Essential Oils. She went to the Mona Lavender Farm last summer but it was during convention and too many people to enjoy the trip. We decided to go back since we were in striking range. We took a tour of the distillery and a beautiful trip around the farm. The lavender fields had already been harvested in July but the goldenrod (rumored to be great in the bedroom), was in full bloom. It was so interesting to see the distillation process and learn about the harvesting and quality control of the products. Reminded us of some of the R&D processes we both worked on at Dow Chemical. JoAnn got to explain how GC’s worked to the group. We made a quick stop in the gift shop to pick up some lavender ice cream and extra products. Such a fun day and Jeff was a great sport. The horses in the stable belong to the founders of Young Living and are used in ceremonies and promotions. The European draft horse were the largest and most beautiful they also had lots of farm animals too for the kids.

Shameless plug with my personal experiences. Essential Oils have been a game changer in our life and health. We use them for sinus problems, sleep issues (snoring too), hormone and thyroid problems, sprains, cuts, you name it we have replaced most over the counter and prescription medications. They are so much safer and better for your overall health. Not all oils are the same though. There are so many that are not pure essential oils, so be careful what you use. If you are interested in the purest and highest quality oil, email or text Joann at josibley@gmail.comor 225-931-1054.

FOR DAWSON

Dawson we miss you so much and wanted to show you a few pics that we thought you might enjoy.

What we Learned:

* There is a lot more to see in Dinosaur NM than a day can do justice, more like a week to really see and experience.

* KOA RV parks are not as bad as we thought.

* You can run into neighbors anywhere…we met a young lady at the local farm supply who when seeing my LSU hat ask if I was from Louisiana. When I said yes but had lived below Houston for the last eight years she said she was from Lake Jackson… same town we lived in when we retired from Dow. Small world! *Recommendations from fellow RV’ers is sometimes the best source.

What's Next: We plan to head to Grand Teton National Park and then on to Yellowstone. We waited until after Labor Day so we wouldn’t have problems getting a spot at either place, or so we thought....