Cappucino for breakfast this morning was from a cart in the midst of Vernal owned and run by a lesbian who has moved back from Hillcrest, San Diego to help take care of her aging parents.Her cart was right across the street from another coffee cart and both are doing well in LDS territory. (She told us because of the oil and mineral exploration only 60% were LDS.)
We headed into the Uintas this morning, Friday, climbing and climbing from a late spring into an early spring into the end of winter. By the time we reached Wolf Creek Pass on Route 35 it was about 47F and there were banks of snow everywhere. The views up there are magnificent, at about 9500 feet in altitude, but the air is thin and judgment sometimes wavers.
At least it did for John: seeing a patch of snow, with tire tracks through it, but a clear parking lot on the other side, he took the car into the snow, expecting to move right through. 10 seconds later both driving wheels at the front of the car were lifted off the pavement by frozen snow and ice. Fortunately it was possible to make a cellphone call although the signals were iffy. Two hours later we were back on the road after a 10 second tow from the local AAA. Of course, two hours in the high Unitas can be a wonderful experience. The views are incredible, the clouds scudder across the sky and the atmosphere is blue with sky, the earth green with pine and silver with aspen. The clarity even allows you to see rain in the distance on the alpine mountains more than 50 miles away.
From there we visited daughter Anne's favorite summer place, her mother's family's ranch, a special place for her that Ben had never visited and I had not seen in 30 years. It has changed but the old buildings retain their aura of another age. The river gurgles in the background and the flowery meadow with horses running through it gives way to benches alive with sagebrush surrounded by snow capped peaks. A real trip.
We made a quick visit to the High Mountain Drug and coffee shop next door (which Ben feels will not survive long). I must admit, I must ask for penance, "forgive me daughter, for I have sinned, not eating Hi Mountain drug ice cream."
2 comments:
It's hard for anything to really compete with the Hi Mountain Drug, especially right next door - did you get the Giant Ice Cream Cones, or was it too cold? Did you see any jackalopes? And isn't all of the development going on on the south end of the valley awful?
Actually the coffee shop competed only because we didn't want ice cream...and breaking the 11th commandment that "thou shalt not go to Kamas and not have Hi Mountain ice cream," we sinned. We didn't see any jackalopes...and the development, yech...it's awful. So much like the worst of California.
John
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