Horse Ranch

We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise at a ranch near Dubois where they train horses for pack riding. The cowboys ran the horses through the sagebrush and below the badland cliffs and we tried our best to keep up.

Lawn Mowers

One of the summer’s unexpected delights was the appearance of these two horses next door. The neighbors borrowed Monty and Jack for a few weeks so they would effectively mow the lawn through grazing. My daughter was enthralled with them, of course, and they seemed to feel the same. They would meet at the fence nearly every day. She would talk to them and feed them carrots. We aren’t horse people, so it was a treat to look out the window and see them in this beautiful afternoon light.

Capitol Reef National Park

Seven Weeks Across America

Capitol Reef State Park was such a refreshing experience after being so hot and dry for the last few weeks.  The Fruita enclave, an historic Mormon settlement along the Freemont River, serves as the central area of the park, featuring a Vistor's Center, campground, nature center, and several orchards.  

In fact, the orchards are adjacent to the campground, meaning we spent the evening and following morning picking apricots and eating them right off the tree.

Wyle makes some new friends.

The deer were everywhere, obviously enjoying the fruit as much as we were.

Another highlight (THE highlight, depending on who you ask), was the little store that sold freshly baked fruit pies.  In the morning we hightailed it the store and everybody bought a pie.  Then we sat at the nearby picnic table and had pie for breakfast!

And just in case you think Capitol Reef is all about pie, here are some photos of the beautiful landscape.  We very much enjoyed the scenic drive, particularly the off-road portion that winds through the gorge, the walls of which tower above you.