May 11, 2015...on to Capitol Reef National Park...

We left the campground around 7:45 and headed toward Capitol Reef National Park.

Today the drive was about as pretty as you could hope for!

We drove through Aspen Groves that were massive. It made Aspen Groves we have seen in Colorado look tiny. Miles and miles. They hadn't  bloomed yet, but why are they so intriguing...I love love love their trunks!!!!

Boy would I LOVE to come back through this area in the fall!!! I can't imagine how gorgeous the drive would be with the trees turning all their glorious shades of gold!

We had read a lot about a restaurant called Hell's Backbone Grill.

We wondered where the name game from.

We figured that out when we drove through roads where it was a sheer drop off on both sides...kind of like a backbone! Talk about a white knuckle stretch of road, with switchbacks galore! Larry is such a great driver and did an amazing job pulling the trailer, which he continues to be amazed at how well little "Holly" pulls!

Beautiful, but we were quite thrilled to get through that part of the trip.

So back to the grill.

OH MY GOODNESS!

Hands down one of the best meals of the trip. Maybe the VERY best.

It was early so we opted for brunch and it was delicious!

Such a quaint little place, near Boulder, Utah.

I loved every detail of this place, and had it not been so far from where we were staying, we most certainly would have gone back for all of our eat-out meals. 

 What a cute little place!

 My honey...drinking some Joe out of some really cute pottery mugs.

 Check out the lights about his head...colanders over bulbs...adorable!!!

  Yum yum people!

I had the most tender and lightest blue corn pancakes with organic syrup &
fresh maple butter.

Larry had Fresh farm eggs, sage potato pancakes, bacon & fresh off the grill
homemade flour tortillas.

Yum doesn't really do this meal justice.

We CLEANED our plates for sure!

Look at that cute Casita waiting for us to eat our brunch...ain't she cute! :)

Then it was back on the road, more gorgeous trees, mountains and pretty scenery all the way into Torrey, Utah. Cute LITTLE town. We stayed at a nice little campground right outside of Torrey, so checked in and settled into our space. 

 Our little home away from home.

Then we stopped for some ice cream, and headed to  the Visitor's Bureau at Capitol Reef National Park to figure out what all we want to accomplish in the next few days! We watched the video about this area, got a few things for the kids and then took a scenic drive. 

We stopped at the Gifford Homestead area, an area this park is well known for and we quickly understood why! The orchards in this park are so beautiful, they grow so much fruit...peaches, apples, plums, pears, cherries and strawberries.
This area is like a little oasis in the middle of the big huge rocks!
The Gifford Homestead is an adorable little farm house where they sell fresh pies and cinnamon rolls daily, plus lots of cute gift items! We got a cinnamon roll and a peach pie. They are small pies, perfect for two! We also bought two little metal drinking glasses for the trailer and some apple honey butter. Yum. 

Larry checking out the blacksmith's shop

The Gifford Homestead

 Most of the gifts are made by locals ladies,
and had so many tempting items...but I resisted!

 We drove around some more, then decided to do an off road trail, which allowed us to see some amazing views and then decided to get out of the car where we did a hike for about 2 hours, which took us to some beautiful views of the canyons. 

 

 SO,  I am standing beside one of the canyon walls we hiked through, just trying to show how very tall the walls are! This was also called the "Narrows" hike and unlike the ones in Zion, they were dry and we were able to do this hike!

These layers upon layers of rock formations...and then the way the
wind and water form them into such facinating shapes and ridges. 

 Always amazes me, how wildflowers will just find a way to grow, this one just found a way to grow in the tiny hole in the rock.

 This is part of the off-road we drove, cliffs and canyons on both sides of the road.

 The crevices and holes in these rocks were so strange!!

 There are no words...so beautiful!

Panoramic view of the area we just finished hiking. 

Came back to the trailer and had dinner before trying to catch up on bookwork, load pxs, etc. Fun day. We also checked into a fly shop and found out a possible fishing place.
This is such a lovely place, in a very unexpected way. We thought this was going to be all orchards and yet, though there are tons of those, there are also just these massive mountains, canyon and once again so many views to take in! 
Another wonderful day and so thankful for our safety, health and this opportunity!