John Wesley Powell River Museum | Ray's Tavern
Saturday - 26 March 2005 - Green River, Utah:
For the first time in a week, we saw the sun! How wonderful, after just terrible
weather day after day. And how nice that we didn't have to get up, hitch-up and
hit the road. We needed this day of rest, especially my hard-working driver. Of course,
DT went for a long run this morning - but that is as therapeutic
for him as a Prozac. On his run, DT was able to actually check-out the entire
city of Green River! Late in the morning we stopped by the Green River Coffee Company
for a latte. The owner is also the chair of the Chamber of Commerce and gave us
information on what to see in the area. (A "Children's Policy" is posted on the
wall of the Coffee Company: Any child left unattended will be given two
shots of espresso and a free puppy.)
Our first stop was the
John Wesley Powell River History Museum.
Powell was a mostly self-taught geologist, naturalist and historian. He lost his
right arm after being shot during the Battle of Shiloh in the Civil War,
yet Powell was still able to travel and map the entire Green River and Colorado
River through the Grand Canyon. It was a very nice museum, with replicas of the
boats Powell and his crew used to ride the rapids, a small art museum and
historical displays about the life in this area in the early 1800's. We also
watched a film about rafting the much-dammed rivers today.
Explorers - inside the John Wesley Powell Museum
After touring through the museum, we decided to drive up the
Green River to a small state park popular with rafters. On the narrow road along
the river, we came upon a large herd of cattle - cows with calves - blocking the
road. Pretty cute, but pretty muddy due to the recent bad weather. One of the
calves had the most unusual marking on her face!
Calf along the Green River
Green River vistas
We drove up the road until it became too muddy to safely
continue. It is Jeep Week in the area and there are hundreds of filthy 4x4's
everywhere, tearing up the roads and hillsides. For sure, they would have
relished in pulling a CRV out of the muddy muck, but we decided to deny them the
pleasure and drove back to town to try the local delicacy - a burger at
Ray's Tavern. Two burgers in two days? This is a Family World Record.
Rays' Tavern - The Place for Everyone
The burger at Ray's puts Mom's Cafe to shame. (We also learned
Salina is pronounced Sah-lie-nah.) DT and I both thought the burgers were even
better than a McMenamin's burger. Alors! Even the fries were better than
McMenamin's. The first thing you notice when you enter the interesting Ray's is
the aroma - charcoal-grilled burgers. The booths are made from logs split in
half and are massive. The place doesn't look like much from the outside, and I
guess it doesn't look like much from the inside either, but it is so incredibly
clean - I was amazed. Lunch was twice the price of two burgers at Mom's - but
that is okay, it was three-times the beef. (Oh, those poor cows!) Simply
delicious lunch (and I think our dinner too, because we are both still too full
to eat again).
Then we drove 40 miles towards Moab to meet my parents and my baby brother,
Steve, and his family! Yes, my family came from Denver, Phoenix and Portland to
gather at Arches National Park for a few days. We have the place surrounded.
Their campground was full tonight because of Jeep Week, so DT and I will "move" there tomorrow. We
will spend the next five or six days together - hiking will be involved... and I
suppose lots of eating and laughing. Check back often!
RV Park:
Shady
Acres RV Park
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