NNs On the Wind

As we drove from Moab to the Fruita Campground, we passed a small market that had a sign for fresh bread and tomatoes. We found a place to make a U-turn and went back. It was the Mesa Farm Market on Rt 24, about 13-14 miles west of Hanksville, UT.   http://mesafarmmarket.com/our-products/  We found great stuff!!! There was homemade goat cheese, fresh heirloom tomatoes (in season) and several types of homemade bread.

As we got close to the Fruita Campground we stopped to see (find) some of the petroglyphs that are in the rocks adjacent to the road. It’s not the first time we saw petroglyphs and it’s always fun!

The Fruita campground area was once a thriving community of farmers and evidence remains of the early irrigation practices. NPS manages the orchards now and reports approximately 3000 fruit and nut trees. We are welcomed at our camp site by a friendly host in her golf cart. She recommends that we sample the fruit pies from the Gifford Homestead Store, which we did, but only after learning that the shop sells out of pies in the morning. They open at 8, so that’s when one gets in line if one wants to get pie. We had peach and cherry the first night. AMAZING!!!! (as reported by camping neighbors). We bought strawberry rhubarb and mixed berry as we departed and headed to Bryce Canyon NP on the 21^st.

We drove a portion of the scenic drive through Capital Reef but only went a few miles. We u-turned and had a great view of the Capital Dome that the park is named for, as it was considered similar enough to the Capitol in DC.  Much of the landscape seemed to be so much like Arches and Canyonlands – varying reds and other color sandstone cliffs.  

Our site was next to an apple orchard and the picking hadn’t started yet. We did sample a couple that had fallen off the trees and were intact. That means no mule deer nibbles!! The deer are nearly everywhere late in the afternoon. The wander around and one came to visit us on our second night here. We also had fun chatting with neighbors about their portable solar kit that could extend from their Airstream to where it was sunny. They were very friendly and we even got a tour, our first, of a 2020 Airstream trailer. Very nice – with a full width bathroom with good-sized shower enclosure.

We took a nice walk to the visitor center and got a chance to see more of the orchards and the nice green spaces along the river. 

When we left after 2 quiet nights we stopped at the Panorama Point overlook. It was impressive. We did not take the dirt road to either Goosenecks or Sunset Point overlooks as we were ready to go see new terrain and get to Bryce Canyon NP.