The Traveller

Mokee Mokee, October 2005

For our first anniversary, Abby and I let Mitchell stay with a friend while she and I headed west.

With my wife at our favorite Texas rest stop

Day 1…

•Travel day. We make our usual stop at our favorite rest area in the Texas panhandle, which we visited on our first vacation together, the High Road, in 2003. We had fun playing around on the grounds and making a few pictures.

Abby photographs the Texas rest stop

•Staying in Santa Fe, we discovered that the Chinese place we liked so much the last two times we were here, Ten Ten, had become a truck salvage yard. We had Chinese food delivered by a place called “Little House” instead, and it was delicious.

Day 2…

• 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.

Yellow trees and foothills in Colorado

• By late afternoon, we were fortunate to be at Mesa Verde National Park in time for sunset at Square Tower House.

Abby at Mesa Verde

•We stayed at the charming Mokee Motel in Bluff, Utah. On the High Road, Abby and I drove a cool high road called the Mokee Dugway. 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!” Last year I discovered this motel in Bluff, 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.

Mokee Motel, Bluff, Utah

Day 3…

•We made our way up to the Moab, Utah, area. We had a very nice drive through Arches National Park, where we got married last year, but Abby wasn’t feeling well enough to hike, so she insisted that I hike up to Delicate Arch anyway to shoot it at sunset. Despite Abby’s absence, and a sea of tourists, it was a worthwhile endeavor.

Delicate Arch near sunset

Day 4…

•We slept in, then had a very relaxing, romantic breakfast. We headed south, stopping at Hatch Point to see the Needles Overlook. It was a beautiful day. 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 makes video at the Needles Overlook

It was an exceptionally romantic first anniversary trip. There is simple nowhere I would rather be than with her, on the road or on the trail, or just by her side.

See the Mokee Mokee page at richardbarron.net HERE.