We had always turned left out of the campground to head into Moab. This time Ben wanted to turn right and see what was the other way.
After driving for a little bit, we came across the Hole N” The Rock. It’s hard to miss with a Jeep sitting on top of the rock and huge white letters painted on the rock face. We stopped in and walked around the outside. They have a petting zoo, a couple of stores (souvenir/gift shop type of stores), and a few wacky outside decorations. There is also the “hole in the rock”, which is a house built into the rock. It started as a homesteading site in the 1940’s. A couple dug out their home in the side of the sandstone. They created a diner that catered to local miners and later added a gift shop. There is a 12 minute tour of the inside of the house for $6.50/person.
They didn’t have electricity in the house until the 1960’s! The inside is incredible, and just goes to show what people can do when they don’t have video games (Ben’s pep talk to the boys to encourage them to do more instead of playing on electronics.). The house is quirky and honestly, they must have been bored out of their minds with no electricity to get it all done. The bathtub itself is carved out of the rock, which is pretty cool to see.
I would say it is worth the side trip if you are near Moab (it is maybe 15-20 minutes from town). We did not go to the petting zoo, just took the house tour and browsed the stores and the outside grounds.
After the tour, we went back towards Moab and stopped at Lop’s Pop Stop (a soda stand). The boys tried Gummy Bear water (made with fruit juice and puree) and I tried a Happy Camper soda.
We were getting a little hungry and saw a local diner (Milt’s Stop & Eat) that was crowded, so we gave it a try. We ordered an onion ring, fries, cheeseburgers, and one cheeseburger with fried bacon and an egg on top. Everything was very tasty. We continued further into town and stumbled upon a local outdoor market. They had puppies to pet, so I got my dog fix in! We got some groceries and headed home.
