Mokee Mokee

A First Anniversary Vacation, October 2005
On our first vacation together in 2003, Abby and I drove a cool high road in southeastern Utah called the Mokee Dugway, which leads down Cedar Mesa into the Valley of the Gods. After that, and to this day, one of our nicknames for each other has been some permutation of Mokee, Dugway, or Mokee Dugway. Sometimes we answer phone calls from each other, "Mokee mokee!" In the spring of 2004 I discovered a motel in Bluff, Utah, called the Mokee Motel, and I told Abby we had to stay there. So this vacation, celebrating a year of being married, is named Mokee Mokee. By the way, we found the Mokee Motel to be among the nicest, most comfortable, and friendliest we have ever visited.
Watch the Mokee Mokee QuickTime Movie here
Abby peeks through a star at a rest stop along Interstate 40 in the Texas panhandle. Over the years, this rest stop has become "ours," since it is just the right place to stop for a break in the late morning or early afternoon as we travel west toward New Mexico.
The rest stop also has symbolic value; it is often one of our first stops on our way to adventure, and we begin to feel that sense of excitement.
Clowning around for Abby's camera at our rest stop. The windmill inside is visually very interesting to Abby, and she photographs it every time we pass this way.
Our first night was in Santa Fe, where we were crestfallen to find our favorite Chinese restaurant, Ten Ten, had become a truck salvage lot. Instead we had fantastic Chinese food delivered to our motel by a place called Little House.
The next morning, we drove the Chama Valley and into Colorado, not shooting much, but instead just enjoying being together. We did, however, stop to shoot some nicely golden trees by the roadside in a valley...
Abby shoots cottonwoods in a valley in southern Colorado.
Two images of the exceptionally beautiful fall foliage of southern Colorado
By late afternoon, we were fortunate to be at Mesa Verde National Park in time for sunset at Square Tower House...
Abby smiles as she photographs Mesa Verde during the golden moment, just before sunset.
Taking aim at a handsome tree at last light.
This ended up being one of my all-time favorite portraits of Abby. She looks beautiful and happy on this cool evening in southwest Colorado.
Square Tower House at dusk. Anyone who has visited this site knows that this is the only view you can make, since the only place from which you can see it is a fenced overlook. Still, it is a handsome example of ancestral Puebloan masonry, and worth visiting.
As we made our way back up the short trail to the car, we spotted the last sunlight hitting the tops of these trees.
Two hours later we were in Bluff, Utah, where we spent the night at the Mokee Motel, a charming little place we found to be among our favorites.
The next day we drove north to Moab, Utah, where we got married in 2004, and took an excellent driving tour through Arches National Park. Abby wasn't feeling up to hiking, but encouraged me to hike up to Delicate Arch, where we exchanged our vows, for sunset. It was an excellent day to be on the trail...
Delicate Arch and surrounding sandstone formations at sunset; it was crowded for the sunset, which is normal for this popular icon of the American west. However, using Adobe Photoshop, I was able to remove all 26 people from this frame.
This view shows the crowds that typify Delicate Arch on most evenings. Note the phalanx of photographers lined up for "the shot" in the upper right portion of the frame.
On the last day of our tour, we drove the 22-mile road to the Needles Overlook south of Moab, which I had always skipped in the past because I usually hike in the Needles district of Canyonlands, which is nowhere near the overlook. I think Abby and I were both surprised and delighted by what we experienced looking out over the vastness of this place, one of my favorite in the world. It was an excellent way to introduce Abby to Canyonlands...
Abby smiles as we walk the short trail around the overlook above Canyonlands.
Pondering my next frame.
Dead tree with Junction Butte in the distance. The overlook was a perfect end to an excellent first anniversary vacation.
There is no place I would rather be than on the road, standing in the golden sun at the end of the day, with a camera in my hands and Abby by my side.
All content Copyright 2009 by Richard R. Barron and Abby S. M. Barron