so i go out to the monument visitors center.
now the whole reason i came down was to see the fossel bead which is enclosed in a building so you can get up close and see the bones embedded in the rock, right? so i ask the lady for a park map etc. she says casually, " oh yeah, the pavilion with the bones in it is closed for structural problems"......WHAT? "i just drove six hours through the mountains in the most strenuous driving conditions to see that. it is closed?...." "yes....since last wednesday...were very sorry". "sorry? what about me?" " so are there any other places we can see the bones embedded?."..."no, but there are some specataular viewing places where you can see the mountains and valleys". "i just drove through all the spectacular scenery i want for today thank you. i came down here to see the bones embedded in the rock!...no thank you for driving around your park and looking at rock formations!"
so i tried to find another way back to jackson without driving the same road back. all were about twice the distance.
so i headed back reluctantly. it was now about 4:30 in the afternoon. the drive had taken me over six hours on the way down.
so i drove back to vernal. i discovered they have a very nice museum there in a spectacular modern building with swooping curved rooms . in the center is a huge skeleton of the huge long necked thing that is a herbivore (a borontosaurus?) that doesnt sound right. but also a lot of bones and interactive stuff.
i spent about 45 inutes there, then got a cup of hot coffee and a sub a bag of chips and a fruity drink for the drive back and headed north.
just outside of town i rounded a curve and there before me was a mile long section of limestone that was heaved up at a 40 degree angle like a huge model tilted. on the angle of it i noticed a curved shape, what is that i wondered? it was an outside curve from a river which had carved its way through the limestone for a few hundred thousand years, then dried up and the whole slab was now tilted up. then i looked and incredibly there was about a mile long section of the river bed perfectly preserved winding back and forth all sitting high and dry at a 40 degree angle for us to observe. one of the most incredible geological things i have ever seen and not even a pull over with a placard describing it.
ok you creationists, which day in the creation process did this happen?

so soon i was as happy as a hog in mud driving back through the ten switchbacks and mountains.
as it was more along toward evening i was soon seening a lot of animals. on one section of high plateau out in the sage brush (or whatever those low gray green bushes are) i saw a group of five wild horses about 100 yards from the road, grazing.
as i got closer to jackson the white tail deer started making their presence known. i had noted that there werent many of them. not compared to indiana i thought. wrong. i just hadnt seen them because it wasnt evening before. so i was whizzing along at about 75 and i see a fawn beside the road, right at the edge.

more

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.