The long way to Arizona, Part 1

The day after Memorial Day we began the long way to Arizona.  We drove up Spanish Fork Canyon, past Strawberry Reservoir, on past Starvation Reservoir, and then through Duchesne to the Utahn Cemetery.  We wanted to check out a couple of things.  Number one, had the iris bulbs we planted made it through winter? And number two, had the weed killer worked?

The answer to both was "Yes."  Glen cleared off the dead weeds and I gave the iris plants some water and told them it would be okay to bloom next year.

Utahn Cemetery is basically a sand hill so had to share this little survivor.

I am proud of this man who is trying to watch over this sacred space.

Before leaving Duchesne we took a couple of photos.  I hoped to read this later.

Unfortunately even with a close up I could not make out the words.

This is one of the first homes built in the area and it sits along with the above monument on the lawn near the new high school.

We drove on east through Roosevelt and on to Vernal.  I was excited to see this small temple which was a precursor to the Provo City Center Temple.  It, too, began as a tabernacle but was then remodeled into a temple for the members in this northeast corner of Utah.  In this photo the temple is facing east.

I loved the red brickwork.  This photo was taken from the south.

And this is a view of the temple facing west.

After getting gas and food we headed for Jensen, Utah.  It is a small farming community near the Dinosaur National Monument.  It is beautiful farm land with a great source for water.  This picture is not a lake but the flowing Green River.  It explained all of the green fields surrounding us.

The highway heads north out of the crossroad that is Jensen and runs along the Green River.

The sun shines on the Dinosaur National Monument in the distance on a beautiful day.

The rock formations seemed to have emerged from the earth at a slant.

In no time at all, we were at the visitor center.

After viewing the film we jumped aboard the trolley taking us up the hill to the viewing center.

In the early 1900's, this hill had been slowly chipped away as dinosaur bones were extracted and then shipped to museums around the United States.

Now it is possible to see them in the uncovered hillside.

There was a section where one was allowed to touch them.

It was fascinating to see and read about the discoveries made here.

It was and is a gigantic dinosaur graveyard.

We drove east and came upon the Green River where it is joined by the Yampa River.

There were beautiful camping sites and rafting is popular.  Jensen had several raft outfitting business.  On our way out of the National Monument area we saw a beautiful ranch set up that had been in place for over a hundred years.  Beautiful country!