Southern Utah- The Most Unreal Place on Earth Part 4: Green River and Goblin Valley!

Now we were off to our final destination- Green River. It was about an hour away from Moab and would be the town we slept in before going to Goblin Valley, the final state park on the agenda. Driving to Green River was easy. The highlight was seeing a majestic looking Pronghorn antelope standing tall and powerful on train tracks, its gaze off in the distance, discerning things not meant for humans. It was a Nat Geo moment that never happened. I wish I could have stopped, got out my camera, walked over and gotten a photo, but I’m sure I wouldn’t have gotten the shot, it would have taken too much time and without a telephoto lens, I’d have to walk fairly close to it.

Now the landscape was looking desolate, but still impressive with smaller hills and rocks dotting the landscape here and there. I didn’t bother using Google Maps because we never had wifi, so I got kind of lost, and drove to a dead end. In that dead end was an alien themed gas station called Papa Joe’s Gas and Go. This totally made sense but it didn’t. This place was in the middle of nowhere, the place was covered in Alien drawings and stickers, advertising lots of beef jerky. The Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo was parked out there among other cars covered in art. The back of the store had broken down junk and cars. It would be something you wouldn’t imagine in Southern Utah, but something you would see in San Francisco, yet it wasn’t but it made sense. If you’re going to see aliens, this area seemed to be the place.

I entered the establishment, and the guy at the counter not only allowed me to use the restroom, but he gave me directions to Green River and allowed me to film the place. I marveled at all the different types of Jerky being sold. There were probably 100 to 200 different types. The store also sold things you would see at a 7-11 and merch. When I exited the place my mom told me my dad went looking for me, so I had to explore the back again and found him. I told him we should buy some jerky but each pack was 20 bucks. We went half on it and I asked the guy a recommendation so we went with that. The guy was funny too, with his dick jokes that I didn’t get on tape. It was an unexpected but interesting and fun experience.

Now we were set for Green River. Green River, according to my dad, was a dump.(My dad means that he wouldn’t want to grow up there. Neither would I.) It was basically one strip with some gas stations, a couple restaurants, motels, and ruined businesses. While my dad may be right, it intrigued me. I love small towns that have abandoned buildings. This was some Texas Chainsaw Massacre type shit! I was bitter I wouldn't be able to explore the place. I was also scared because this is a white American place. We ate at a Mexican restaurant but they also had two taco trucks at a gas station which we didn’t try. The food was good! Now, we headed back to the hotel to sleep and leave for Goblin Valley.

Day 7- Our hotel had some sort of deal with the restaurant next door so my dad wanted to eat there. It was also one of the only restaurants to eat. Little did we know that the Greyhound bus stopping through broke down last night. By the time we got to the restaurant in the morning, it was packed with the people on the bus. I wasn’t sure if they slept there, but they were eating there. My dad was pissed because he wanted to eat and go. I was happy because now I got to wander the village!

I took my video and photo equipment and went to work. I walked by the stand where they were getting their watermelons ready for sale. It was all like white looking farmer people. I avoided them because I was uncomfortable, but I was eying all of them. A dude in a truck noticed and waved to me, I waved back and felt a bit more comfortable. I walked past them because I wanted to explore abandoned buildings. I went to a hotel that had some of its rooms opened. I didn’t find anything too interesting, but just going into ruined buildings is something I enjoy. I didn’t feel comfortable going to the residential area of trailers and small homes, but maybe next time.

I headed back to the watermelon place, and everyone was nice. I started filming and asking questions. The lady in charge was continuing what her grandfather started back in 1954, I believe. Everyone was nice, and I told the woman I'd return and buy a melon after breakfast. That's exactly what I did. After a huge plate of lluevos ranchero’s, we bought an israeli, which is like a tropical watermelon and we also bought a normal watermelon.

Now we were ready to go Goblin Valley, the last part of this adventure! Getting there was easy and desolate. Upon arriving at the entrance, I got a drone permit as it was a state park, but I always checked because Dead Horse and Canyonlands were also state parks and I couldn’t fly my drone. We saw some goblin guardians before the parking lot, but once parked the valley was open to a myriad of goblinoid statues dotting the landscape. To be honest, the shapes looked more like mushrooms of sandstone or even a Smurf village, but goblins is still a suitable name. This place was the icing on the cake and probably one of the most impressive. It was otherworldly and highly interactive. I could climb the goblins, wander where I wanted, take pics and videos, and fly my drone.

According to the map, we could have done Goblin Valley State Park first, but that would have eliminated Green River and probably the alien beef jerky, gas station place, which I felt were crucial to the adventure. Now was the long ride back to Layton. We hopped on a main road to reach highway 15 to drive back north to Layton. Landscapes were still cool, but once my dad got wifi he decided to punch in coords. He found a route that was 4 minutes faster than the one we were on so we took it.

This took us right back into the thick of it! Cutty roads with beautiful landscapes. We marveled about how these places were not national parks. We questioned the route several times because it just didn’t make sense. It seemed like we were going backwards, but we weren’t. After hours of driving we finally arrived in Layton, through some amazing back roads!

My sister finally returned from Mexico from her surgery, we were reunited after years of living in Asia.