Like we do, last week Beth and I had some time to kill, so we wandered south of Moab. Maybe we’d finally get to check out the exciting cities of Blanding or Bluff! But then something magical happened. A few miles outside Moab, there is a wonderful little place called Hole in the Rock.
What is Hole in the Rock? It’s a lot of things, such as:
A 5,000 sqft house/diner carved out of a giant sandstone structure (pictured above).
An exotic zoo.
Your one stop destination for native American art souvenirs.
Seriously. In the 50’s, Albert and Gladys Christensen blasted out this huge section of rock and made themselves a house over the course of several years. Here’s a picture I found online (they don’t allow photography here).
It’s much cooler than you’d think, actually. If you ever end up in Moab, I highly recommend visiting Hole in the Rock. It’s crazy to think as you’re walking around the house (on the tour) there’s about 65+ feet of solid sandstone above your head.
Hole in the Rock also features, for some reason, an exotic zoo, where you’ll find
an albino racoon
bison
zebras
camels
mini horses
a very intense emu
the dear from bambi
Here’s a picture of Beth getting a kiss from the two-humped camel. (Such a nice camel! You put a carrot stick in your mouth and he takes it from you, very gently).
What? It was awesome.
After Hole in the Rock, we made our way farther South, just wandering. We decided to turn off the main road and head toward “Needles Overlook,” which was 17 miles west of Highway 191.
It turns out, Needles Overlook is on a cliff that overlooks a huge basin and, in the distance, the Needles District in Canyonlands National Park (but just to be clear–the overlook is NOT a part of Canyonlands).
We arrived a few hours after noon. It was cold. Like, really cold. We were treated to the slow formation of a snow storm over the basin (was amazing, pictures don’t do it justice) and then it promptly started hailing on us. This only lasted a few minutes. When the storm left us and moved back out over the basin, I got a pic of the storm. Here it is:
Here are some pics from our Needles Overlook adventure.
And that was it!