Sometimes Change Just Sucks!

Fred and I don’t deal with disappointment very well. When our friends said that they were going to Colorado to visit Jer’s Mom and would not be in Truth or Consequences when got there, we were sorely disappointed. Spending quality time with them was one of the goals of the trip. 

Knee-jerk Reaction?!

“Let’s just go home!”

After a night’s sleep and some sober second thought we realized that it was DUMB to head home considering we were already south. 

Out came all our maps and we went back to the drawing board.

Considering our adventures with gorges, passes and winding roads, the lure of a wide, straight Interstate Highway was undeniable. Our first stop on Interstate 15 was Beaver, UT.

  

Unusual Treasures in Unusual Places

The unusual place is Beaver, Utah. Beaver is merely a fly speck on the road to warmth that we travel every winter.  How did we find this place? The Beaver Canyon Campground is one of the few discount RV Parks along the way.
It’s a funky little park where each site is unique and each is decorated according to the whims of previous occupants with treasures rescued from the latest yard sale or other peoples’ throw-aways.
It really hasn’t changed much from the first time we stopped there way back in 2002 although the signage has definitely improved.

When we drove up to register, a young fellow was flitting back and forward like a buzzed road-runner trying to keep (or get) things organized. He was kind of panting as he explained to us,”There is only one site left - way in the back – is that okay? You would need to come up here to the rest rooms and showers?”

“No problem,” we told him.

“I’ll be back is less than five minutes. You can fill out the form sitting on the counter in there” he said, as he ran ahead of another RV escorting it to its site.

Five minutes later, he and his faithful dog Blue were back standing on the front porch. All registered and ready to go, Blue and his faithful human walked us to site C24. A pull through – yes, but not overly level or wide.

We wandered around the park admiring the creativity and ingenuity of the folks who had decorated the sites. Some sites have fences surrounding them, others have covered patios and almost every site has some sort of decoration wall.

The Park comes along with a built-in fabulous Mexican restaurant run by Maria – the wife/mother part of the ownership. Truthfully, we have never had better Mexican food and even the local folks told us that it is the best place to eat in town. 

Talking about local folks, we always try to explore a community we visit. Well, Beaver is not what you would call a thriving, robust community but we did manage to find a unique treasure . . . the Love the Art Gallery.

We went into town to check out the WiFi at McDonalds and noticed this interesting sculpture sitting in front of (what looked like) an abandoned service station. The Gallery is in that old Service Station. Love the Art is a warm family owned business. Almost all the pieces are created from local materials and Tina, her Dad and uncle have done most of the work housed in the Gallery. They have one of a kind, Hand Carved Rock Sculptures, Animal Carvings, Gifts, Jewellery, Chainsaw Carvings and much more.

 

 

The Gallery has only been open since 2012 but they have been in the gemstone business for 35 years.

 Our next challenge was to find more National Parks to explore and decide what we would do next.