Summer ‘24 Week 4

Week 4 of our 8-week summer 2024 road trip is over, and it was a week full of beautiful scenery, fun outdoor activities, good food, and nice RV parks. This week featured two key destinations for this trip, Moab, Utah, and Ouray, Colorado.

For our stay in Moab, I choose the Portal RV Resort and it was a great choice. We had one of the “Premium” sites, which was very a large concrete pad which included a shaded pergola with lights, a bench, and a picnic table. The park is super clean, has two swimming pools, nice bathrooms/showers, two dog parks, and water features such as a pond and fountains. The surrounding scenery is very nice, and it’s close to the shops and restaurants in town (as well as Arches National Park). Of course it was hot (as expected), but with two working air conditioners, we managed to keep the RV relatively cool.

Our site at the Portal RV Resort in Moab, UT

Our stay in Moab was originally going to be 3 nights, but we arrived one day late due to our unexpected stop in Provo, UT, last week to get our bedroom air conditioner replaced. We arrived to the RV park and setup everything, and then at 5pm, we chose to do our drive through Arches NP (after the timed reservations system ended for the day). We figured we only needed a couple hours to see the park, since we’d been there before, and because we had our dog with us, which limited where we could go in the park. We mostly enjoyed the views from inside the air-conditioned truck, and got out a few times to take pictures.

It was hot at Arches, but we managed to stop and take a few pictures along the way.

After Arches, we found a nice restaurant in Moab, with shaded outdoor seating. And, then in the evening, I took a fun bike ride on the Moab paved bike trail system, through Lion Park, and up the canyon along the Colorado River. About a mile up the canyon, I found some cooler weather, and really enjoyed the remainder of that ride.

Riding my bike along the Colorado River in Moab, UT

Bike trail along the Colorado river in Moab, UT

The next day, we started with a 3 mile hike in Dead Horse Point State Park, along the east and west rim trails. That was a great, well marked, dog-friendly hike, with amazing views of the deep canyons below, and of the Colorado River. Then we drove to Canyonlands National Park, and toured it in a similar fashion to how we saw Arches NP the day before (also not our first time there). Honestly, I think Dead Horse Point State Park has better views of canyons below than Canyonlands does, and it has much friendlier dog policies.

That evening, we drove over to Lion Park, and Andrea and Rosie joined me on a walk up the canyon along the river I had ridden my bike near the previous evening.

Getting a bit too close to the edge, in order to take a good picture (Andrea was not happy). Dead Horse Point State Park

It was worth it. Dead Horse Point State Park, near Moab, UT

Inside Canyonlands National Park. The third national park we’ve visited on this trip.

On our last morning in Moab, we went to the Jailhouse Cafe, and had a yummy breakfast. Highly recommended. And then, we were done with Moab for this trip.

Our next stop was Ouray, CO. I choose Ouray Riverside Resort, and though it’s basically just a big gravel parking lot, with not much space between sites (at least in our section of the park), the surrounding views are spectacular and make it all worth it. Our site was one of the “riverside”, sites, with easy access to the 2-mile riverside loop trail right behind our RV (perfect for evening dog walks). The resort is at 7700’ elevation, and is located in a narrow canyon, with red rocky walls towering thousands of feet up on both sides of the canyon. The town of Ouray is cute, with lots of shops and restaurants catering to the many tourists and outdoor adventurers that come to Ouray. And the weather, while warmer during the day that we were expecting, was still cooler than Moab by a lot, and it cooled down nicely at night.

Our RV site in Ouray Riverside Resort. Ouray, CO

A view of our RV across the river at Ouray Riverside Resort.

The day after our first night in Ouray, we drove 45 miles to Telluride (a town we’d visited and enjoyed previously). We started our day in Telluride by hiking the Bridal Veil Trail, which is a 3 mile roundtrip hike that takes you up the mountainside, going between 8700 ft elevation and about 9600 ft. On the trail, there are three beautiful waterfalls to visit (two with nice clear ponds below them to cool off in). It’s a lot of climbing up rocky sections, and over a few boulders, but Andrea, Rosie, and I managed the trail without any serious issues. After the hike, we ate at one of the many dog-friendly restaurants in Telluride, then we took the free gondola ride up to the Mountain Village and back down. Then before we left Telluride, we did some schmoozing in the shops along the main road in town. When we got back to the RV park, we had a nice dinner at “The Smokehouse” restaurant at the resort, and then I did the 2-mile riverside loop trail again with Rosie. The food from The Smokehouse is really delicious.

A view of Telluride from near the top of the Bridal Veil Trail.

One of the beautiful waterfalls on the Bridal Veil Trail. Telluride, CO

Rosie riding the gondola up the mountain from Telluride, CO

The next day, we drove the “Million Dollar Highway” between Ouray and Silverton and back (technically Andrea drove it, I got to be the passenger). Andrea did a great job driving, and I enjoyed the scenery immensely, while also hanging on for dear life when in the outer lane on some of the more windy, cliff sections of the road (with no shoulder or guardrail to keep us from plummeting down if something went wrong). We enjoyed our time in Silverton visiting their tourist shops, and getting a snack at their yummy Funnel Cake shop. We had lunch in Ouray after we got back from Silverton, then spent the afternoon and evening relaxing around the RV, and walking the river trail again.

From the river trail behind the RV park. Ouray, CO

Rosie and I enjoying one of our walks along the river trail in Ouray, CO.

One interesting thing was how many Renegade Verona RVs there were at our RV park in Ouray. We rarely get to see other Verona RVs on our road trips. Here, I counted 5 Verona RVs at the park on the last night we were there. We got to meet a nice couple from Texas (Barbara and Millton), who had the same floorplan model Verona we have, but two years newer (2024 model), and we enjoyed talking to them, and getting to see all the changes in their newer model coach. That gave us some ideas for potential futures modifications that we’d like to do to ours.

Overall, week 4 was really enjoyable, and our time in Moab and Ouray did not disappoint. We are now at the half way point of this trip. Next, we’re on to Palisade, CO, then up I-70 to further destinations. I’ll update you all next week. Thank for following along on our journey.

Summer ‘24 Week 5

Summer ‘24 Week 3