Moab Day 2

September 29, 2016  Moab Utah

Up and gone from camp by about 9.  It rained during the night and looked very cloudy and like it could rain again at any moment.  Weather said clearing by noon so we headed for a couple indoor activities.  First we drove along the Colorado about 15 miles north east of Moab to the Red Cliffs Lodge.  The facility is a very high end resort right on the Colorado with hotel rooms, cottages, and a nice restaurant.  It is also a working ranch.  The owner was very interested in the film industry – in particular the films made in the Moab and Monument Valley areas.  When he bought this ranch in the 90’s he included a museum to tell the story of the films.  There were memorabilia from many of the films, commercials, and TV shows – some from the 40’s and including much more recent ones. Playbills from all had been framed and most of them signed by the stars.  In addition he made a 30 minute film that included clips from films, comments from several of the stars, and narrative by 3 or 4 local individuals who had worked to scout locations, recruit and hire extras, and recruit the film industry to this area.  Moab was used because of the magnificent red cliffs, the Colorado River, and the many other local areas – canyons, plains, etc. that gave numerous locations for westerns, space films, and others.  The film says there were many lean years in this community before the tourist influx of the past 30 years or so.  The money from the films saved the Moab area in the 40’s and 50’s.  It was a very interesting museum – gave us ideas for several old movies to view.

Red Cliffs Lodge

One of Many Playbills

Stunt Dummy from "Thelma and Louise"

Along the Colorado

When we got back to Moab the skies looked like they were clearing so instead of going back to Moab for shopping we headed to Arches National Park.  We had visited twice before – once in the 80’s with the Holland family.  I remembered the location where the 4 boys climbed in the arches!  We also visited sometime later but all either of us remember is waiting in traffic while a car commercial was being filmed.  This time we really enjoyed the scenery – the overcast sky stayed but we were probably able to take better photos than during the bright sun of midday.  We particularly liked the double arch, the windows, and the fiery furnace. 

Long Line to enter Arches

Park Avenue

The Gossips

Balanced Rock

 We stopped for lunch looking out at some fantastic red rock scenery!   There were fascinating clouds rising from along the Colorado quite a few miles north – looked like smoke from a huge fire but we knew it was clouds over the river.

Lunch near Balanced Rock

Double Arch

Clouds over the Colorado

Fiery Furnace

When we finally arrived back in Moab we stopped at a City Market (Krogers) for a few groceries, bought gas, and then strolled along one block of shops looking at all the jewelry, crafts, painting, shirts and such.  Returned to the Canyonlands RV Park which has been a great location.  To get to stay a 3^rd night we had to swap sites but this one has much better internet.  

Quickly connected with my Kindle but when trying to connect with my computer to finally post the blog – somehow the Airplane Mode had been switched on so it could not or would not connect to the internet – after Ben and I both trying for 30 minutes Ben called Dell and was on the phone with them for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  They tried everything – Ben connected remotely with his computer – they downloaded drivers to his laptop – Ben put them on a jump drive and ran them on my computer….seems this is a common issue with Windows 10.  Still not working so we are trying some other things the technician suggested and in the mean time I may try to post from Ben’s computer….what a pain but also what technology can do remotely amazes me!