September 28
Driving along Highway 24, we made our way through Capitol Reef National Park and towards the Caineville Badlands, where we can see the landscape changes from the red to the greyish desert areas in a matter of just a few turns along the highway.
But first stop, we went to the Visitor Centre in the National Park, before heading to the apple orchards (Fruita), smack in the middle of some pretty dry landscape, thanks to a river. From the entrance, it didn’t seem like much, but a short walk into the orchard, and we found the apples, plenty of them, and we all had fun picking the apples and eating them in the orchard itself (consuming apples in the orchard is free). We picked a tree with nice sweet ones, ate some and bought some for the road trip. Yummy.
A drive along Highway 24 to Mesa Farm Market, an organic farm (in the middle of the Badlands) that produces great veggies and cheese, and serves excellent coffee. The Best Western we stayed in got it’s veggies from this farm, as well as several other restaurants in the region. We had our lunch there, veggie sandwiches, and bought some of the cinnamon rolls for later. The veggies were excellent, and tomatoes very sweet and delicious, and everyone lapped it up.
After lunch, it was time for a long drive back along Highway 24, and along the Scenic Drive to our next destination, Bryce National Park.
