Birthday Vacay: Heading Home

Our birthday vacation came to an end with a flight home over Bryce Canyon National Park and Lake Powell. Even from the air Bryce is spectacular.

If you look close, you can see the "bathtub ring" around Lake Powell.

Birthday Vacay: Zion NP

On day two of our birthday expedition, we made the 80 mile trek to Zion National Park. This is another park that I didn't get to explore much on the train tours, and John had never been. It started out as a pretty dreary day, but by the end, it was absolutely gorgeous.

I really like that Bryce and Zion are so close because they give two completely different perspectives. At Bryce you're at the rim of the canyon looking down on these gorgeous orange hoodoos and at Zion, you're in a valley looking up at these towering monoliths. All of it is quite spectacular.

Weeping walls during our first hike. The sandstone is so porous, it is constantly "weeping". They say that the water that comes out of these stones is thousands/millions of years old ... I'm not sure about that one, but when you have a continuously wet wall in the middle of the dessert, the water has to come from somewhere.

These flowers were everywhere. I'm not sure what they are, but they're beautiful.

Looking down through Zion's Valley.

At the end of our first hike was this view. You can hike across the river into the "Narrows" which is where the canyon becomes even more narrow - imagine that - and it was carved by the river. I don't think I would do it that day since they were calling for flash floods.

John at the end of the trail.

Me striking a pose circa 1997 senior photo shoot.

The park's shuttle system. There is no place for the cars to park in Zion, so they have everyone park at the visitor's center, and then the shuttles come by every 10 minutes or so and pick you up, drop you off at the next stop, etc. It's a great system, but when we got there in the morning, I thought John was going to turn the car around to go home. The crowd was monstrous! He ended up having more fun when the crowds thinned out toward the afternoon. During our first hike to the river, it seemed as if people were hiking on a mission and not enjoying what was around them as they went, so you felt like you were slowing traffic if you stopped to enjoy or take a photo. But it is good to see that so many are enjoying our national parks.

A taste of Zion's monoliths

Birthday Vacay: Bryce Canyon NP

A month late in updating you on our birthday trip, but here's the first day. John and I flew - John flew, and I rode along - to Bryce Canyon National Park the weekend before our birthdays. We landed at the airport, which is nothing more than a paved runway a barn and the "terminal."

We made our way to Ruby's Inn, which is near the airport and run by the same family for generations. There's a few hotels, couple gas stations, rentals, etc. Basically it's a tourist trap, but it's the only thing available near the park. We rented the last car available and made our way into the park.

I had been to the park before with the train tours, but I never got to do any of the hiking. I didn't even know there were so many great trails! I guess when you're touring with a more mature audience, you don't realize such things.

On a hike at Sunrise Point.

The hoodoos at Bryce Canyon. The hoodoos are caused by the natural erosion process of water flowing through the rocks, freezing, thawing, etc.

Toward the end of the day we were getting pooped from our hikes. I decided to take a breather after a monsoonal downpour.


John being his handsome, jovial self near the Natural Bridge.

Ending our day at the Natural Bridge.

That evening we went to the Western show that Ruby's Inn put on, which came with dinner. The food was good and the singing was great.

An Artist in my Home

That artist happens to be John. After our trip to Canyonlands National Park, we decided that this picture was frame worthy. In my opinion, this photo is as good or better than some of the photos selling in galleries of the same view. John had the picture blown up and put on canvas.

The photo up close and personal on a white wall.

And the photo hung where we think it will stay. (sorry for the bad lighting)

South by Southwest

John and I had a bad case of cabin fever, so we took a long weekend to explore even more of the surrounding parks. There are so many natural wonders within driving distance, I don't know if we'll ever see them all while we're living in Colorado.

Thursday evening we took off for Moab, Utah, where we stayed the night so we could get to Canyonlands National Park at sunrise. This was not my idea! John wanted to get a sunrise picture at Mesa Arch. We were up at 4:30 a.m. ... It's very cold that morning, and we pull up to the view point around 5:30 or so where we meet many cars. It's our luck that the Brigham Young University photo class is at the arch before we get there and there's about 30 kids in the "prime" photo positions. John jockeyed his way into position and managed to get some phenomenal shots. He's becoming quite the photographer.

Mesa Arch - Canyonlands National Park - Sunrise

View through Mesa Arch - Canyonlands

We then explored Canyonlands, which is a great park, however I wouldn't say it's a must see. If you're ever in Moab, you must go to Arches. On the other hand, I'm surrounded by so many spectacular natural wonders, I may be a bit jaded when it comes to which natural wonders I prefer.

Me and John - Canyonlands

Acting like a goofball (it's natural) - Canyonlands

By 9 a.m. we had been through Canyonlands and started our trek to Monument Valley. We went through a number of tiny towns including Mexican Hat, which is named after the rock formation, and Bluff, Utah. Here we stopped for lunch. The restaurant was directly under the Twin Rocks and was aptly named Twin Rocks Cafe. I had the best hamburger on Navajo Frybread. Delish! The bread is like a Mexican dessert bread without the sugar and honey. I strongly encourage you to give it a try. I should've taken a picture!

Mexican Hat Rock Formation outside of Mexican Hat, Utah

The Twin Rocks - Bluff, Utah

Finally we arrive at Monument Valley to stay at Goulding's Lodge, which began in the early 20th century. The Gouldings settled there originally as sheep traders and then Mr. Goulding established a trading post with the Navajo. During the Depression, the Goulding's approached Hollywood with pictures of the Monument Valley area in hopes of John Ford directing his Westerns in the area. It was a smart move ... the first movie starred a young John Wayne.

Goulding's Lodge - Monument Valley, Utah - Can you believe the view?! The lodge had a museum, theater that played John Wayne movies, delicious restaurant, indoor pool and tours available of the park.

Stay tuned ... I'll fill you in on the rest of the trip in future posts.

Best National Parks for ...

Have you ever wondered which National Parks have the best biking, hiking or photography opportunities? Check out this article and find out. The photography at this link is breathtaking as well. No matter where you live, be sure you're taking advantage of the land that's been set aside for our enjoyment!

Back in Black ...

The Black Canyon, that is. John and I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, but our Internet did. Therefore, I haven't posted recently.

Things are going well for us. A couple weeks ago I started my new job at a local marketing agency, which is great. Now John and I, in theory, have the same schedule. My first weekend off, John was on location, so this weekend, we went past Montrose, Colo., to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We figure people come to Colorado to vacation, so we need to explore it a bit ourselves.


We did luck out when going into the park. When we got to the entrance, we were told that the fee had been waived for the day because the park was celebrating its tenth anniversary being named a national park.


The Black Canyon is well named. The large canyon is never bright due to the dark shadows it casts on its opposing side. Parts of the canyon are so deep it could house two Empire State Building's end upon end.


We did our fair share of hiking while at the park. Each of the stops had the name of the point and how many yards it was to the lookout. The final point, High Point, had Warner's Trail. John's friend had told us that it was one of the best lookouts. The sign said the trail was 1300 yards ... 13 football fields one way ... We started out on the trail and got some breathtaking views, but it was quite hilly and steep, literally taking our breath away. From our pamphlet we knew there were 14 points of interest marked along the trail. Here John is happy we made it to the 14th.



The trip is always longer going out than coming back. Shortly after making it to the 14th stop we took some good photos of ourselves. We're really not that vain, but who else are we going to take pictures of?





Finally, on our way out of the park we took a drive to the bottom of the canyon, and I would say it was my favorite view. We were looking up the canyon walls, nearing sunset, and the colors were phenomenal. The road was at a 16 percent grade, but I wasn't driving, so it wasn't that scary. Here's the spectacular view of the Gunnison River and Black Canyon in fall colors.

Oh, Donna!

I just wrapped up a great long weekend with my friend Donna. She told me when I moved that when she found a good-priced ticket, she was coming and that she did! We gallivanted about Grand Junction, did some shopping, saw a movie, loafed around and John drove us up on top of the Grand Mesa, which is on the east side of town, and through the Colorado National Monument on the west side. Here's proof ...

Donna getting cozy with the art Downtown.

Being wary of the bears at the Powderhorn Ski Resort on top of the Grand Mesa.


Testing out the cooler waters in the Grand Mesa National Forest.

Thinking, and trying not to laugh, at the Colorado National Monument.

Being our fab selves at the Colorado National Monument.

I know you can't get enough of me and John, so here's one more to satisfy your appetite.

Friendly Visits

I've had a great couple days with my college friend Lisa. Being in the same state warranted a visit, so she made the drive from Denver. Who knew Colorado was so big? It takes four hours from Denver to Grand Junction!

Lisa said she had never been to Arches National Park, so I was glad to take her. Even though the temperature reached 101, we managed with plenty of water and air conditioning between our stops.

The most spectacular arches of the park - The Double Arches

The most famous arch in the park is Delicate Arch. It's on all the Utah marketing material and the license plate. However, the hike getting up to view Delicate Arch is not so delicate. It's a pretty steep hike, and when it's hot ... whew! I think the disappointing thing was we made the hike instead of doing the lazy man's lower viewing area and we seemed to still be three miles away from the arch. My camera was zoomed all the way in to get this photo!

Here's the little friend we made on the Landscape Arch trail. It was much bigger than a gecko, but it still seemed harmless. Here, Leezard, Leezard, Leezard ...

Finally on our way out of Moab, where we purchased ice cold beverages, we stopped at this foot bridge that crosses the Colorado River. It's a really nice bridge and trail that only adds to the charm of the area.

Arches National Park

I promised a while back to write about our trip to Arches National Park. We decided to drive down to Moab and visit the park earlier in the weekend. It was a beautiful day - chilly, yet sunny. We got into the park around noon and began our adventure ...

It began innocent enough with the mandatory picture at the sign.

And taking roadside pix.

We then decide to stop at Balanced Rock and try to take some self portraits ... but we're so tiny!

Then we stop at the double arches and take some goofy pictures. I'm so clever!

At the same double arches stop is this treacherous bit of hiking ... very slick but no falls.

To avoid going down this hillside skating rink, we decide to go around the double window arches on the primitive trail. Mind you we're not prepared. We both have on heavy coats, but we're not in hiking gear. I have on rubber soled ballet flats ...

It starts out well with spectacular views we wouldn't have seen otherwise. We continue to follow the snow tracks, but we're not sure if we're on the trail or not. We get to a point where we need to either go over these arches, go back the way we came or go over and around steep cliffs. My vote was to go back the way we came.... about a mile or so back ... but John went up a steep incline to see if he could see the parking lot from where we came.

Up the snow and ice cover cliffish incline, John found this.

To get to this, there was a lot of this ... which is much slicker and behind us was even more of a steep, icy incline, cliffish thing.

While John was taking these pictures, I was climbing up the icy incline, thinking with my gracefulness that I was surely going to fall back and really hurt myself. Remember ... ballet flats! So, I climbed up this on my hands and knees. Fun. Somewhere around that tree is where there was a place we could go over the rocks, down through an ice covered crevice that was VERY steep and where I proceeded to sit on the ice and scooch down the ice-covered rocks.

We did make it to the lot and had a good laugh after the fact. I really was scared, thinking that I was going to kill myself out there. I could see the headlines now, "Two ill-prepared 'hikers' found in Arches ... if only they had stayed on the trail ..." We couldn't find the trail!

We then went and took many more beautiful pictures throughout the park.

We're so small!

Three football fields could fit in the middle of this arch. This was quite a snowy hike to this arch, but we stayed to the well-marked trail.

Walking back to the car, we ran into this little guy. We thought it was a chipmunk type thing but it then jumped off like a kangaroo. It's rightly named a kangaroo rat.

Our final photo of the day.

This was a fun trip, and we didn't see everything there. It's definitely a park worth visiting, and we'll be sure to visit again with a pair of hiking shoes and gloves!