Deb's Digest

Saturday August 18, 2007

As mentioned in the previous blog, we left Monument Valley and had our 2nd 3 hour bus ride of the day. We were fairly worn out, not to mention dusty, from the off road adventure, but the scenery was so magnificant it was hard to sleep.

We finally arrived at the Red Cliffs Lodge just outside the town of Moab. Oh My Gosh. We fell in love with this place. Nestled amoung the mesas and buttes of the Red Cliffs, this working ranch was our home for the final three days of our Adventure.

Upon arrival, we were directed to a room in the main lodge for an orientation by the resort manager, Sandy. We had beverages and cookies while she explained everything about the resort we would need to know. Sandy was most enthusiastic and really got us all excited about our stay.

We were then given our room keys and when we opened the door our luggage was sitting there. I can't tell you how great it was to always have our luggage taken care of. At every resort we arrived at.... either the hotel staff or our Adventure Guides had all our room keys ready for us in envelopes and we could immediately go to our rooms. Our luggage was always there waiting for us. Then, at our leisure, we provided the front desk with a credit card for incidentals. Whenever we were checking out of a resort, our luggage was picked up in the room and loaded on the bus. It was a GREAT convenience!!!

When we arrived at the room, we were blown away. Simple, rustic, yet very roomy with a kitchenette, sofa, table, on the lower level and the "loft" had the beds, dressers, tv etc. We also had a very nice patio area to sit and relax. There were 2 room views available: river and creek. We were fortunate to have a river view and were able to enjoy a couple beautiful sunrises and sunsets! WOW! We loved the location.

Our dinner was in the winery tasting room in a separate building and was quite good! As we walked to dinner we passed a wedding taking place on the lodge grounds at sunset. What a romantic location and view!

After dinner it was time to turn in. We had a big day in store for us at Arches National Park!