Torrey, Utah - It's Part of Capitol Reef

It seems like just about everyone I've mentioned Torrey to has asked me what or where the hell it is. So here is the short answer... it's a little town in central/southern Utah that borders Capitol Reef National Park. I'm talking small town as in everything closes at either 7 or 9 PM. EVERYTHING. There is one grocery store, maybe three restaurants, and a few churches scattered about. Rose, Noelle and I decided to go down over the weekend just for a change of scenery. Rose's family owns a "cabin" in Torrey. It's not so much a cabin as it is a second home. Three bedrooms, two baths, full kitchen, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, full deck and a hot tub. Not to mention a phone line, TV and computer that is hooked up to high-speed internet. These first five pictures are the view from the house looking west, southwest, northwest, and east. The other angles weren't that fantastic.
We piled into Noelle's car around 4:45 on Friday afternoon ... Noelle drove, I got shotgun, and Rose and Charlie got in the back (Charlie is Noelle's pooch). We drove from SLC to Payson where we stopped to grab coffee at Starbucks. Yes, there's a Starbucks in Payson. From there we drove to Scipio where we stopped for a drink and some gas and then headed east toward Salina. About an hour and a half of the drive (from just past Scipio to Torrey) was done in the dark, so we had to be on the lookout for deer. We saw quite a few grazing and at one point there was a herd running toward the road. Luckily, we didn't have any run-ins with the furry ones. As we were driving along I was playing DJ with Noelle's iPod and a song came on that Noelle didn't recognize. She asked who it was, so I decided to give her a hint... I told her it was Justin Timberlake and "Yo Mamma." She thought and thought and finally asked who the hell "Yo Mamma" was after she recognized Madonna. I started cracking up because she thought I was serious when I said "Yo Mamma." You know, Yo Mamma/Madonna, it all sounds the same anyway!
Once we got to town, we decided to stop and either get dinner, or get the groceries to make it at the house. We also needed mixers for our vodka. Well, let's be real here... the mixers were our first priority, dinner was second. The general store was open until 9:00 and we made it just in time. However, we should have stopped at one of the grocery stores in one of the bigger towns because the prices were astronomical and there was very little to choose from.
After the mixers were safely in our possession we headed to the "cabin." It's always fun to see what something or someone looks like after you've heard stories and formed a picture of your interpretation in your mind. Strangely, even though the house wasn't exactly how I'd pictured it, it was pretty close. We got the car unpacked and got settled in. Noelle was gracious enough to make us dinner, and we enjoyed spaghetti bolognese (not Bolganeese), aka spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread. I know I'm forgetting something here, but I'm not sure what... so if it comes to me, I'll let you know.
The rest of the night we just hung around the house, listened to music, chatted and looked at pictures on my laptop. We attempted drinking heavily, but I don't think any of us had more than one cocktail that night. Oh, and I have to back track a bit... when we got to the house, the first item on the agenda was to turn on the hot tub. It takes something like six hours to heat up, so we thought we'd get it brewing in case we were up at 3 AM and wanted to take a dip. Around 1 AM we were all pretty tired and decided to go to bed. We each got our own rooms, and Miss Rose was gracious enough to give me the one with the "prettier" view so I could wake up to it in the morning. Isn't she fab?I slept pretty good that night... I even got the bed with the Scotty Dog blanket on it! I felt pretty cool. Anyway, Charlie came upstairs in the morning to check on his Aunt Rosie and Aunt Erica, jumped in bed with each of us to make sure we were still there and in good condition, and then went back downstairs with his mommy. I think Rose and I each fell back asleep for another hour and a half or so and then got up around 10:30 or so. The three of us decided we were hungry and thought we'd throw some clothes on, doll ourselves up to look presentable and go grab some food. Sure enough, we got to the restaurant around 11:15 or 11:30 and they were serving lunch, so we decided to head to the new coffee shop at the end of town and check it out. The coffee there was really good, and their chais are even better. They've got great, home made pastries along with home made chocolate delights! As Rachael Ray says ~Yummo! After coffee we decided to drive in and check out the park. All the pictures after the first five are from Capitol Reef National Park. Some are from the main road, and others are from a fun little drive we took on a turnoff from the main road. It was tons of fun. We drove around for about three hours, I think. We pulled over at least 30 times to take pictures. We also took pictures while the car was moving. Noelle didn't always feel the need to stop for photography! And after all that, she thinks I'm gonna let her borrow my camera. Yeah, right!This is Rose and Noelle having a lovely moment on the little trail. I think this was right before Rose flashed me. I turned on the video camera and told her to do something, so she flashed me. Nice, I know. Then she proceeded to say a few fairly naughty things, and ended with saying, "Hi Mom!" Oh well, I have it on video and can and will use it against her... not sure when, but I have my ammunition if I ever need it.We decided to take a picture of this so we can change it to say "Nipple Rock Rapture Center." We'd only have to switch the R and the N and find an extra P... it will work eventually. Then the sign is going to be placed in front of the little shack in the picture you see below. We originally named it the "Fornication Shack," but then came up with the "Punany Palace." Tell me, which name do you prefer?Now, there's a reason we had to come up with names for the shack. Apparently on one of her recent trips to the house, Rose was informed by her mother that, "There will be no fornicating in the house!" And if anyone knows Rose's mother, they know she's serious. So we have been on the lookout for places to fornicate (outside the house, of course) should the need arise. We thought it was a good idea.... be prepared like a Girl Scout, you know?We thought this rock was kinda cool... it looks like an opened snake's mouth. Almost looks like the drinking fountain at the zoo...Here's another precious moment of the girls. Rose is leaning because we told her to. She was having issues, but then, she's always having issues, so why was Saturday any different? HahahaHere's me as the Great Cornholio... that's not really what I was going for, but it worked because it was freakin' freezing and the wind was blowing sand in my face. Yes, I'm a dork... I am able and willing to admit to it. This picture above was taken for the benefit of Odum. We named it "Tit Rock."I think this is the ony picture of the three of us that turned out semi-decent. Aren't we cute. We almost froze our asses off but we had so much fun driving around and seeing everything. I even had fun getting left behind while Noelle and Rose drove off without me. I even flashed them and they wouldn't come back for me... I had to catch up to them. Rude!This above picture is that of "Penis Rock" as we named it. It looks like a wang. Boys, what do you think? The shaft up the middle and the head balancing on the top... totally looks like a wang. This is a really cool picture to see how much of the terrain was formed at an angle. Kinda crazy.
Alright... I'm ending this post here because I took an Ambien and need to get in bed. And I want to post this damn thing even though the story isn't done. I will finish the second half of the story tomorrow... the second half will get much better, I promise!