Observations

Observations from/about the trip.

• Susie and I both still enjoy road trips.  We like to observe the countryside as we drive by.  (And I still stop for the occasional roadside historical marker.)  Probably not as pleasant as taking the train across the west and observing the landscape from the observation or dining car, but the trains only go where the trains go.......
• And I don't think we are candidates for an RV, at least not any more.  The campgrounds seemed nice enough, but you still had the bathhouses to contend with.  (Although there is a lot to be said for staying in the park.)  We saw lots of them - a lot of them seemed to be rentals - seem to be families.  It would be an ideal area to tour in an RV if you liked to camp.  But we enjoyed our motel rooms, even the more spartan ones......
• I still like the driving, although it was a little harder this time.  My eyes were very tired at the end of each day.  (The car and the driver's assist features, especially "adaptive cruise control" help a lot.  I turned it on as we went through Denver in heavy traffic, and just got behind a box truck for about 30 minutes.)  And I have to admit, since I've been driving the Leaf for a couple of years, I had range anxiety, even with the normal, gas powered Rogue.  Once the "Miles to empty" got below 100, I started to panic.....  And as a side note, we saw more Teslas that I thought possible.  These areas are very remote, and I think you had to do a lot of pre-planning before driving an electric car out there.  We did see one Tesla plugged into an outlet on an electrical pole at the Capital Reef resort - I don't think it was an official charging station......
• We did plan the trip with two days at each stop.  Which broke up the driving and reduced the frequency of packing/unpacking....
• We did realize early on how much easier cruises are - just get on and unpack once, wander around the ship to figure out where everything is and then just hang out.  You don't have to do anything, but if you do want to do something, there is usually something to do.  And the food is much, much better than the food we had on this trip (although, I have to confess that we really didn't spend any time looking for memorable restaurants).
• As far as the parks we visited, here is my take:
• Great Sand Dunes - a pleasant surprise in a couple of ways.  It really is not built for large crowds (maybe 300 parking spaces total in the area accessible via paved roads).   But it is popular because the creek is fun for little kids and older kids like to play in the dunes (climbing up and sliding down).  I think we may have been there when it is most crowded - the creek is running and it's not too hot yet (the surface of the dunes can get up to 120 degrees in the summer).
• Mesa Verde - It is built for large volumes, but we really didn't see them when we were there - lots of empty parking spots in every area.  There really is not much to do there, other than the ranger-led tours, which are well worth it, but there are only 3 or 4 available.  Almost all of the cliff dwellings are off limits, so there is not even a lot of hiking to do.  Geographically, I was surprised by the distance between the different venues and the time it took to drive to them.  (The Visitor Center is actually located outside the park on the main road and you can reserve your tour tickets there.  We were told it was a 90 minute drive to the Wetherill parking area for one of the tours.)  And I was quite surprised when we climbed up about 1500 feet at the very entrance of the park up to the mesa.  Should have known, but just didn't realize.
• Canyonlands - Very interesting geographically (confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers) and geologically and very scenic.  But not a lot to do, but drive and look around.  I was also a little surprised by how far off the beaten track it was - the two sections were both about a 40 mile drive off the main road.  There were some backcountry trails with camping sites, but you had to bring all your water.
• Arches - This one felt very crowded.  It took us 30 minutes just to get through the entry gates (at 9 in the morning).  The hike we took was nice, but crowded.  And water was always an issue - the only water fountain at the trail head was a slow stream, so there was a long line of people trying to get water before they hiked.  Again, there were a few day hikes, but not many, and almost all of them seemed pretty crowded.  Nice rock formations, but.....
• Capital Reef - Again, not a lot to do here.  The old homestead in Fruita was interesting (and we finally saw some trees - we felt very tree deprived after a few days of looking at lots of rocks).  
• Bryce Canyon - Definitely the most impressive of this trip.  Stunning scenery (and trees, even some bristlecone pines).  It is definitely built for volume (they have a shuttle bus running from a parking area outside the park), but we were lucky to stay in the park where it was pretty empty in the evening and the morning.  If going, I highly recommend trying to stay in the park.
• Great Basin - Kind of a strange park.  It seems that is started out as the Lehman's Caves tourist attraction, and then someone realized they ought to add Wheeler Peak (with the groves of bristlecone pines) and make it a park.   It is very unique for that area (Wheeler Peak is over 13,000 feet, so there are streams draining the mountain and trees at the higher elevations).  And there were some 4 wheel drive roads - one along one of the streams with a number of campgrounds which we did think about driving if we had stayed another day.  But not much else to do - definitely not built for volume, but not sure they will ever see much.  It really is far from everything else.

And then the towns we visited:

• Fort Garland - not much there (population 400??) - more of a crossroads at this point.  Would probably try to find a place in Alamosa if we went back.
• Alamosa - seemed to have a lot more going on (population 10,000)
• Pagosa Springs - would definitely go back if we were in the area.  Kind of regret not finding out about the bluegrass festival.  Could have added a day just to see it...
• Moab - we knew it was a tourist town, catering to National Park visitors, but also 4WD enthusiasts and mountain bikers.  Lots of stuff going on, bordering on being too crowded.
• Torrey, Utah - another very small crossroads (population 200).  But it had a couple of interesting old motel/restaurant places.  It was really the only place to stop near Capital Reef.  And it was the starting point for the drive down Utah 12, which was worth a trip....
• Bryce, Utah - there is a fairly large community just outside the park boundaries at Bryce Canyon - 4 or 5 hotels and one or two campgrounds.  And the park shuttle and parking lot are here.  They have also built a multi-use trail that runs all the way into the park to the main attractions.  If possible, I think staying in the park is worth the money.....
• Baker, Nevada - there is almost nothing here.  The Hidden Canyon Ranch we stayed at was probably the best place to stay near the park (within 20 miles), but it was 6 miles off the main road.  After that, there are few choices.
• Glenwood Springs - would definitely go back there.  It felt comfortable and was very nice.  It was very walkable and there seemed to be a lot of things do (besides the hot springs).  Not sure we would spend the money again to stay at the Glenwood Hot Springs Resort, but it was convenient.....

And the two national monuments:

• Canyons of the Ancients - the visitor center/museum is definitely worth a stop, probably before a visit to Mesa Verde.  The rest of the park is huge, with a few things to see, but it seems devoted mostly to archeological research.
• Grand Staircase-Escalante - Not a lot to do here without a 4 wheel drive.  Again, not much water, although the Escalante River flows through the park, when it is running....  But the drive along Utah 12 is worth it.

And then my final observation.

As I drove through the southwest, I did think about the movie, "National Lampoon's Vacation" with the Griswolds and the "Family Truckster".  Might be worth a watch before you embark on such a trip.  Also, I was kind of amazed by the Mormon influence in this area (I know I shouldn't have been surprised - this is Utah, after all).  Both Capital Reef and Bryce Canyon (and Zion, I think) were settled by the Mormons under the direction of the church.  And most small towns we passed through were established the same way.  Anyway, one of my siblings suggested listening to the soundtrack to the "Book of Mormon" before or during the trip to get a "perspective" of the Mormon church.  Anyway, worth a thought.......