On Saturday morning, we awoke at a relatively decent time and plotted out our route for the day.  I was pretty set on seeing Cedar Breaks National Monument as it was described as a “must-see” and a smaller version of Bryce Canyon.  I knew we wouldn’t have enough time to go to Bryce so I figured that would be a great substitute.  I also plotted out some geocaches we could grab along the way.  For breakfast we stopped a local diner and had delicious omelets.  I had the crab/swiss/avocado one and Chuck had the same thing minus the crab.  After filling up we headed out on a beautiful scenic by-way and eventually came to Cedar Breaks.

Doesn’t it look like another planet?  It reminded me a bit of the Badlands in SD.

Chuck and I took a brief walk above the Breaks.  There really wasn’t a way to get down into them.  Along this walk we saw beautfiul wildflowers.  He took a great picture of a Columbine.

Once we had enjoyed all the beauty, we proceeded to hit the road again.  We drove and drove and drove and drove.  Now my idea of a fun time is driving to a place.  I’m all for enjoying the journey, but I like to know that we’re headed somewhere and will eventually reach that destination — not so much with Chuck.  He likes to drive — and drive and drive and drive.  This is our first real vacation together since the honeymoon, and we are still learning a lot about each other.  I learned that Chuck is completely content driving on a beautiful scenic highway for hours on end.  He learned, that I need a bit more stimulous and will get cranky after about six hours of driving.  He also learned that I am every bit my mother when it comes to reading in the car.  Give me a book, and we can go for hours.  This does not mean I am bored or do not like the scenery, it just means that I’m having a great time reading my book.  As you can imagine, there was a lot of miscommunication going on.  Despite all this, we still saw some pretty neat things and met some interesting locals.

These are dried lava beds.  You will see them all throughout Utah and it’s pretty wacky imagining volcanoes erupting all over the place.  Actually, all these lava flows occurred through slits in the earth.

If you look closely, you will see the book I was reading behind my back.  It takes Chuck a while to set up a shot so I always had my book on hand.  The book is “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” and I highly recommend it.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I was bored when we took this picture.

As night approached, we ran into some rather formidable locals.  I told Chuck to just blow the horn and plow on through, but he didn’t want any of them charging the rental.  The picture doesn’t do the situation any justice, but it was a little harried.

After driving what seemed like forever, we finally reached the interstate and a motel.  They had a really nice pool and it was a great way to end the day of endless driving.

The next morning we planned on grabbing a few geocaches before making our way back home.  We atttempted getting a cache off a crazy dirt road, but after bottoming out and nearly getting stuck in a ditch, we decided against it.  Thank goodness for some fancy driving on Chuck’s part, we were able to back down the switchback road.  After being thwarted by our first attempt, we eventually found a great cache near the long lost town of Paria (pronounced Pa’ ree’ ah).  Again, we had to take a dirt road to this old settlement.  Apparently this area has been the backdrop for quite a few western movies.  They even had the remnants of a movie set.  We were pretty excited to see it, but when we got there, there was a note saying some jerk had burned it down last year. Poo!

The cemetary was still there, however, and it was beautiful.

In order to get to the cache, we had to follow the Paria River.  We hiked through some bullrushes and eventually came across some water.  I was so excited!

The cache was a multi-one and so the first coordinates led us to a cave.  It was too cool!

From the cave, we ended up on a cliff with man-made steps.  This was crazy and by far the most difficult cache we have ever down.  It was well worth it.

Can you spot the Goonie?  The steps in the mountain directly above him are man-made.   Believe me when I say that we are in the middle of nowhere, so it was super weird.  I’m thinking it was for a movie set.  Our hike back was great with  lots of shade.

The next cache took us to a stop along 89.  As we scurried down into the small canyon, this is what we discovered:

These cars date back to the early sixties.  They are literally a part of the canyon and hold up the road.  We were both in awe at this site.  I guess you never know what you’ll find on the side of the road unless you look.  Alas, we didn’t find the cache.  I think it’s been moved.

This is where the coordinates put the cache.  We were flummuxed.

By this time, the sun is beginning to set and we still have a good  seven hours of driving.  Luckily, Chuck likes to drive so I could read/sleep and play with the XM radio.  We made it back into the Junction by 2am.  Whew!  What an adventure.