Red Canyon Lodge

Red Canyon Lodge website

After our first night in the tent, we woke up early with the sun.  We started up the propane camping stove and boiled some water for hot chocolate.  While we sipped that, we put eggs, turkey breakfast sausage, and cheddar in the pot together.  Crystal was the chef since she owned the stove.  She stepped away to mix her hot chocolate and the eggs ended up cooking to the pan a little bit.  That stove gets hot quick!  Luckily, the breakfast was still delicious.  (Though I did not feel so lucky when I had to wash that eggy pan with no sink.)  I managed to scrape out most of the cooked-on egg, but I do not want to repeat that experience any time soon.

We drove around to look at the area.  It’s a gorgeous part of America with the red cliffs of Flaming Gorge and the Green River running through it.  We stopped by Lucerne Bay where we found out there was a fishing tournament that weekend.  We started getting hungry so we snacked on an oyster cracker mix that Crystal had made.  It was a nostalgic snack from her childhood family camping trips. It’s a combination of oyster crackers, oil, garlic pepper, parsley, parmesan cheese, and dill.  She’s crazy about the stuff but I was doubtful.  When I took my first handful, though, it was a burst of garlic and tangy flavor.  I didn’t realize how tangy dill was.  The flavors melded amazingly.  My hand kept going into our big Tupperware of the snack.

Our next stop was at Red Canyon which offered another amazing view of the canyon and river.  Clouds rolled in on a strong wind so we went back to the car and decided to lunch there.  It was a good decision considering it started pouring rain as soon as we got in.  Since we drove around with the cooler, we were able to grab food wherever we were.  We munched on some cold barbecued pulled pork in hot dog buns with slices of cheddar.  We also had some pasta salad that we’d brought along.  Normally I’d be turned off by cold barbecue, but the flavor wasn’t that bad.  I would still have preferred to have a warm sandwich, but it was good enough for the situation.

We drove back to the campsite and took a small nap while waiting out the rain.  It was still a little cold and miserable so we decided to go to a restaurant that we’d passed on our way back to camp for dinner.  This was the Red Canyon Lodge.  It had a small dining room and a nearby gift shop.  The Lodge also had a red wooden patio outside.  We sat in the dining room and perused the menu.  We started off the meal with a fried ravioli appetizer and Napoli sauce.  These were cheese stuffed raviolis that had been fried and served with a chunky marinara sauce.  The raviolis were a bit heavy for me.  I would have preferred something lighter.  We both got salads with our meals and they had mandarin oranges, candied walnuts, and balsamic dressing.  The dressing and toppings were delicious.  When it came to the entrée, I was tempted by many items.  Some of those were the Wild Game Cottage Pie or the Elk Medallions.  However, I tend to prefer a local specialty when I travel.  This pointed me toward the Utah Rainbow Trout.  This was cooked in a Meyer lemon butter sauce with mashed potatoes and gravy.  Crystal ended up ordering the Wild Fresh Caught Salmon in a dill cream sauce with French fries.  We both had a side of carrots cooked in a sweet chili sauce.  The trout was interesting to try for me but I am used to saltwater fish.  This freshwater fish had such a different flavor that it was a little strange for me.  Plus, the sauce had all cooked into the fish, leaving it a little dry.  Crystal had the opposite problem.  She grew up eating trout and wanted to try the salmon.  Both of us preferred the other one’s dinner.  We should have switched, but didn’t.  I was glad I gave it a try but I think that in the future I will avoid trout.

After dinner, we made our way back to camp.  We started a fire and made S’mores.  There’s nothing like S’mores by a fire.  The feeling of sticky marshmallow and melted chocolate on the face is a requirement of summer.