Day 12: The end of vacation...Zion, part II

Ahhh....it's over, vacation is over and it's time to head back home tomorrow...we had a fabulous trip and saw so many beautiful and amazing sights as we traveled across the state of Utah! Other than a quick trip through the state (and Terri and Jessalyn spent a couple of days with friends in Salt Lake City several years ago)...we've never really been here...so this was a real treat! As we have said...it's been a busy time, on the go every day, no rest for the weary, which we were a times, but boy, it felt great! And, talk about exercise, this was not one of those vacations where you sit and read books or lounge by the pool or on the beach...we did LOTS of hiking and walking...and after the initial shock to our bodies...it felt great! Now, when we go home, our bodies will probably be wondering what's going on...guess we will have to work at trying to get out some each day...

Today was spent soaking up some more of the wonderful Utah sunshine while we hiked along a few trails in Zion...nothing real extreme, just a moderate trail and a couple of easy ones. One of them took us to see some Emerald Pools, which were beautiful pools of water among the rocks and trees...and all had amazing reflections...it was well worth the climb and at the top one, there was lots of shade and it felt about 20 degrees cooler (which was nice!). We also saw (after being told they were there) some climbers on the face of a cliff near one of the shuttle stops...WOW...these guys were going up a STRAIGHT rock face and we were in disbelief at seeing them do this...and evidently, they started yesterday...don't ask how or where they slept...no idea how that would happen...and as interesting as this was to see...it's definitely not something we could EVER imagine doing!

Here are the last set of photos...enjoy and we hope everyone is doing well and enjoying fall...we are looking forward to settling back in at home and enjoying some nice fall weather there as well!

Upper Emerald Pool...great reflections!

 Water flowing over a rock cliff...beautiful and refreshing!

 Mule deer...they didn't seem to be bothered by us as we walked by and photographed them!

Reflections from one of the Emerald Pools

Path of our morning hike...

Rocks, trees, moss and water...so beautiful and peaceful!

This little gecko didn't seem to be bothered by us and almost was like he was posing!

More reflections...it was amazing to see the detail and colors!

Upper Emerald Pool

Looking down on the Virgin River...which carves it's way through Zion

Bridge crossing over Virgin River

Some very ominous clouds that rolled in later this afternoon...but by sunset, it had cleared up!



Days 10 & 11: Travel and Zion

Two more days down...and one left to enjoy this beautiful state, before we head back home. Yesterday (Friday) we traveled from Bryce to Zion and enjoyed a few stops along the way...and a bit different scenes to photograph. We started with some fall colors as we traveled along a scenic byway across the state...we drove through Cedar Breaks National Monument and then Brian Head (ski area??) and then down to Zion. A stop shortly before we got there was Grafton, which is a ghost town and was wonderful. It was something suggested by a friend whose family lives in Utah and it was a wonderful stop...not really on the "beaten path" and a bit of a challenge to find, but well worth it...as you will see in the photos! We also did do a quick run through the north part of Zion, called Kolob Canyon and a short walk through there...it was just a taste of what we would explore today!

 Cedar Breaks National Monument

 Zion National Park - Kolob Canyon

 Grafton Ghost Town

Today we ventured into Zion...the main part and what a treat. It was very different from the other parks as this time we were DOWN below all the rocks...there were options (trails) to hike up, but they were pretty adventurous and given that Terri isn't too fond of heights (although she's done well with everything so far!!)...we opted to stay on the lower trails. In Zion, you must take take the shuttle through the park, so that meant we had to pre plan a bit more than with the other parks where we could drive to each stop. Today we enjoyed a couple of shorter trails and one of them was along a river, Virgin River, and that was a treat...the water was beautiful and peaceful, even with all the people (and those speaking languages OTHER than English!)...the other trail involved a "weeping rock" which was really neat...and quite pretty with all the moss and water running off of it.

Tomorrow is our last day at Zion...and we have another couple of trails planned for the day with a few more photos (hehehe....)...and then we will (sadly) head back home...to work, reality and probably cooler and wetter weather than what we've had here. The past couple of days have brought more clouds, which have been beautiful in the brilliant blue sky...and this evening there was a thunder storm with some rain, thunder and lightning. We are hoping for the beautiful weather again tomorrow for our last day...and a chance to soak up a bit more Utah sunshine and vitamin D!

Day Nine: Bryce Canyon, part II

A second day at Bryce Canyon was just as nice as the first day. This day had something that really none of our other days at the parks have had...clouds! What a surprise, and something we had actually hoped for most days...to add some interest to the extremely blue skies! It started out cooler, as we left the hotel for the park (just a few minutes away), it was 43 degrees so Terri opted to wear her jeans for the morning as we were going on a three mile hike and figured that it would be cooler, especially since we were going down into the canyon. Well, it wasn't long before she figured out that shorts would have been a better option...oh well, she survived!

Our hike, called Queens Garden/Navajo Loop Combination and it was about 3 miles and titled the best three mile hike you will ever take...and we have to agree, it was spectacular. The first part was easy, just downhill and as we got closer to the bottom, we were impressed with the hoodoos as we were now looking UP at them, rather than down...and walking among them...truly amazing! The second part of the hike was almost like we were hiking in the woods of the northwest...although past the trees you could see the cliffs of the canyon and the beautiful red and white rock...and hoodoos. Of course, as with anything that goes down...there's always an "up" part, so that was the last part of the hike, but was really nicely done in a section called "Wall Street" where the trail was a series of switchbacks that were made up with rock walls...and the view from both the bottom and top was great! Finally, we made it back to the top...and then had a half mile hike back to the car.

After that, we checked out the remaining overlooks and viewing points in the park...was a beautiful park and such an amazing sight when just a few miles away, you would have no idea that this is there, it's just countryside as you drive along the highways that surround it...wow, our country has SO many beautiful places to visit...I'm sure that we can keep busy seeing all these amazing sights for our lifetime!

It's Friday morning and we are on the road again, headed to Zion National Park, but today will do some sightseeing along the way...hopefully, some fall colors and maybe even a ghost town...we will see what we find. It's even cloudier this morning than yesterday...hope we get at least a bit of blue to go with the fall colors! Saturday and Sunday will be devoted to Zion and then we'll pack up early Monday, head back to Salt Lake City to fly home...then it'll be back to reality! We hope you enjoy these photos...it really is incredible to think that 1000's of years ago all of this began...and here we are in this day, seeing such an amazing sight!

We found some old cars and used them to "play" at sunset, just in front of our hotel

PS...lost our signal on the road, imagine that...so this post will be later than planned since I can't do anything else on it until we get closer to society! In the meantime, we are thoroughly enjoying driving on Scenic Hwy 14 in Utah...amazing fall colors...so for now...we'll just enjoy this and not worry about this post.