Utah - Part III Salt Lake City

Well here we are still in Utah - quite an amazing state - who would have known!!! Salt Lake City is lovely and we had a great time especially on our side trip to Olympic Park in Park City. Also for our family in Beaver we drove past Beaver, Utah and wanted to put the pictures in (thriving metropolis).

We toured Temple Square which is awe-inspiring. The displays were beautiful and the entire complex is huge - the flowers were unbelievable. We listened to a demonstration in the Tabernacle where the choir sings - accoustically perfect. They play a scriptural text of Christ talking while you are sitting in the presence of the fourteen foot statue of Christ and what a moment of reverence it created.

We looked up a few names in their geneology files which was interesting. We also had lunch in a former home of Brigham Young. This was a great stop.

Our trip to the Olympic Park was a wow! We saw the ski jump areas and we decided to brave the ultimate zip line which goes from the top of the highest ski jump hill down 1800 feet at 60 miles per hour. Totally cool!!! We also watched ski jumpers practicing (no snow of course - they water the course) and also the freestyle skiers flipping into a pool. They have camps there for kids to learn and they were flipping into the pool on skis just like the older skiers. A beautiful area - the city was adorable and all uphill. You can see below Barb's reaction as she flew (gracefully??) down the ski jump hill!!!!!!!!!!

Our last stop here was to see the Great Salt Lake which wasn't so great! Bad smell, gnats by the gazillions and remants of a bygone era in which this place was quite the mecca made it sad but glad we did go and see it.

We passed through Idaho on a one night stop in Hagerman and then drove to Baker City, Oregon which will be the next blog. Goodbye to Utah!!!! Hello West Coast!!!

Utah Part II - Bryce, Zion and Capitol Reef

Utah was a major stop for us - here is part II and Salt Lake City will have to be part III.

I have a PS from the last blog posting that I forgot to put in because we were not allowed to take pictures but could download them from their website. It was The Canyonlands at Night boat trip with a sound and light show. It was an amazing and wonderful new experience. We started with a cowboy dutch oven dinner - each item was cooked and served in a dutch oven (delicious food). Then we boarded a theater boat and started down the river looking up at the canyon walls. When the sun set we began to float back down the river and they played a musical narration about the beginnings of civilization through Indians in the canyon area while flooding the walls of the canyon in light and directing the boat toward the wall they wanted you to look at. You lost all sense of where you were on the water and actually could imagine and see the images on the canyon walls. At the end they played beautiful soothing music and the moon was full right above

the walls in the trees - couldn't have been staged any better. Beautiful, wonderful evening.

Now back to the present blog - Our first stop from our Bryce Valley campground was Bryce Canyon National Park. I fell in love with the beautiful rust orange color of the canyons and had to buy myself a T-shirt in that color. The columns are called "hoodoos" and most look like little soldiers standing at attention.

Can you see Cinderella's castle in the middle of this picture?

We have learned that you view some canyons from the top and some from the bottom and then you have the choice of walking to the bottom and looking up but then you have to climb back up. This is what we did on a three mile loop road - you can see the view from above (it was an easy switchback trail and the bottom was magnificent - there is also a picture looking up.

We also found some more friends in Bryce (wildlife seems to be scarce when you are looking for it). Anyway we saw some pronghorn antelope and a canyon squirrel

On the way to Zion National Park we saw buffalo in the field and stopped at the trading post beside them and found out they were a wild herd that came in the morning and evening to get water. Buffalo aka "tatanka" are my absolute favorite animal and so I go a little crazy when I see them. Can't wait to go back to South Dakota and see the wild herds of them in Custer.

We continued to the Zion NP and this park is the epitome of majestic mountains and grandeur beyond description. In this park you were required to park your car and use their shuttle service of which you could get off and on to view various scenic sights. A great idea to save the park. This was one of the canyons we were on the bottom looking up, way up!!!

This stop was called the Court of the Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!

One of the stops we made was to walk up and see the Weeping Rock! Water runs and drips constantly down the side of this rock. It had a lot of plants and greenery growing out of it. How interesting nature is in such a dry, dry environment.

At the end of the week we took scenic highway 12 north to Capitol Reef National Park. The drive alone was wow, wow, wow!! The park returned to the red orange color but entirely different style of rock formations - much more flat and jagged.

This park was named for this rock formation that looks like the Capitol Building in Washington DC.

This rock is called the Castle - can you see it on top????

In this canyon are the remains of a settlement called Fruita. The pioneers settled here and planted orchards of all kinds of fruit trees, built a school and had a very successful life here. The people are gone but the orchards are still producing and being harvested. We stopped at the homestead and had homemade berry pie and homemade ice cream. Delicious!!!!!

Another friend in the orchard - can you see the two baby fawns on the right by the tree? Also had to take a picture of this very interesting tree! Double click on the picture and it will enlarge.

Well we are done with the national parks for awhile but weren't they great!!!! We still have more to see in Utah so will do the next post in a few days.

Have a great week and we'll see you soon!!!

Utah, Part I - The Arches and Canyonlands

Utah - the state of many faces and colors and rocks. It's like a performer changing costumes for each number they do on stage. As we were driving I took a few of the changes along the highway and then each park showed even more costume changes.

This may be getting redundant, but the National Parks continue to drop our jaws. Pictures can't come close to the beauty we have seen and continue to see. Has to be witnessed first hand, then sometimes you still have to pinch yourself.

We parked the RV in Moab, Utah to take a couple days and visit The Arches NP and Canyonlands NP.

"Delicate Arch" (or Chaps to the cowboys) is the famous picture from The Arches NP and also the state of Utah.

......... and then there are some 'not so famous' arches and formations. We had to hike some distances to see some of these beautiful works of God.

Then there were all the other interesting rock formations, images and just plain "how is that staying there?"




Do you see the "parade of elephants" and the three "wise men?" (called the three gossips on the map)



The Canyonlands NP can compete with the Grand Canyon. None of these pictures can begin to show the size or colors of these places but we're trying. Canyonlands is enormous so this is only one of the three parts of the park.....called Island in the Sky.

The walks and "hikes" to some of these views enabled us to meet new friends.......




.......and view some things that looked impossible....like flowers growing on what looked like a very dead log and a bush growing out of a very gnarly piece of tree.

Last item for this blog is a question..... do you know what this is called and what it is for?

Answer is at the end of the blog.

Utah - Part II (Bryce, Zion, Capitol Reef and Salt Lake City) will be coming up in the next few days. Take care until then.

Answer: It is called a cairn and is used to mark the trail so you don't get lost.