AH, the Grand Canyon, some call it the Land to Inspire our Spirit. Yes, this gift presented to us did have a way of inspiring me. As Dick and I walked the rim we remembered many happy times and traced some of our hikes from Hermits Trail, The Tonto trail, Bright Angel, Indian Gardens, the South Kaibab , and stretching to see the North Rim and the rapids of the canyon. Wonderful fall days with cool breezes and memorable times.

Our campground was filled with deer coming right up to our motor home and drinking water from Moe's waterbowl.

One of our friends smiling

Our campsite tonight. We're just out of Flagstaff and have a great spot in the forest...cool weather, turning leaves, and a campfire. . It feels like fall today but I hear its still summer in Phx. Be there tomorrow.

A great time kayaking around Lake Powell, oogling the houseboats and enjoying the wonderful scenery. The water was like glass when we started but the waves came in to challenge my abilities.

Tour of the Glen Canyon Dam, the second highest concrete-arch dam in the United States. It stands 710 feet tall. Wow this is an amazing work to build and now to provide water and electricity for us. The discharge capacity from the outlet pipes is 15,00 cubic feet per second and from the spillways its 208,00 cubic feet per second. The dam produces approximately five billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power a year enough for about 4000,000 households.

A great view from the dam...

The deer on our trip



Yellowstone visitors

Our visitors at Capital Reef Campground

My favorite dears.......

Lake Powell


Day 80 of our adventure and we just crossed the state line to return to Arizona. Vacation is not over yet but it does feel good to be back to the warm country. It was 28 degrees in Bryce last night and a sunny 75 here at Lake Powell. Dick was ready to put on his shorts and thaw out. We'll head South to the Grand Canyon in the next couple days and then on to Phx.










View from our campsight looking out at Castle Rock.


What a view.








Another hole in the rock as seen from our camp at the National Park. More wonderful rock formations and a beautiful sunset. We treated ourselves to Mexican food and Margaritas in Page; Our taco level was very low. Another great day on the road.

Bryce Canyon, Utah

Bryce Canyon is about 18 miles of amazing HooDoos-apillar of rock, usually of fantastic shape, left by erosion. Hoodoo also mean to cast a spell. Surrounded by the beauty of southern Utah, hoodoos cast their spell on all who visit. You can't help but smile as your imagination runs wild viewing the thousands of Hoodoos. It fun to look out and pick out different figures, shapes .

We drove from Capital Reef past the Escalantes to get to Bryce. 14% grade at times. I drove the 12% stuff and left Dick with the big incline/declines. We were glad to get settled in at the National Park.

More Voodoos. I did a couple good hikes today but the temp is dropping and it is cold. Down to 28 degrees last night. We got out the hats, gloves, down vest and warm socks. Tonight we're getting some rain.....hmm maybe snow by morning. Glad we have the propane heater.

Capital Reef National Park

Capital Reef is one of those undiscovered gems. Who knew this little known park would be so beautiful. The geological formations are incredible, the walls of the canyon come alive as the sun sets from bright reds, to clay to grey blue. A real education in the formation of the layers of rocks. This area is called the Waterpocket Fold because of the freeflowing Fremont River and the giant buckle in the Earth's crust that stretches approximately 100 miles.

We stayed at Fruita National Park. Our park had a huge apple orchard available to everyone. Eat what you pick, pay for anything you take out of the orchard. An honor system complete with bags, scale, and paybox. We've had applesauce and apple cobbler. Yum . The deer come in towards evening to do clean up. What a sight with about 15 deer wandering around the park.

Petroglyphs made by the prehistoric farmers of the Fremont Culture. There were so many areas quite well preserved. It was like being on a treasure hunt as many were unmarked and just left for us to discover..

I found this ET like rock formation along the roadside. As you can image the kids were climbing all over it.

Hickman Natural Bridge: 133 feet wide 125 feet above the ground is named for Joseph Hickman who labored to preserve Capitol Reef as a park. Well worth the mile hike past a granary used by the people to store beans and corn gown on the plains below.

Just past this bridge lie the orchards of Fruita, a 19th century Mormon pioneer settlement. Throghout the park we found orchards that had peaches, apricots, pears. Too late in the season for us to enjoy however, the local women do keep up the tradiiton of preserving the fruit and sell wonderful home made pies, breads, and muffins in a little vintage farmhouse.

The Castle is a very promintent landmark. This park was quite a wonderful gift to add to our experiences of this trip.

And to all of my farming friends. This tractor was built in the 1940's in Salt Lake and it was used with horses. We found this in an old blacksmith shop.

Moab and the National Parks

An amazing trip through the arches National Park. There are over 2,000 cataloged arches range in size from 3 foot opening to the longest measuring 306 ft. Of course we only saw a very few but none the less a it was amazing to see the double arches, sand dune arch and delicate arch as well as the many rick formations. Three gossips pictured at the left....remind you of anyone??

Double arch. WOW

Canyonlands National Park, Utah's largest National Park

We entered Island in the Sky and were amazed at the vastness of the canyons from the Green and Colorado rivers to the mtns. The vividness of the red rock and depth of the canyon could not be captured on film. THe 100 mile White Rim Road is for experienced mountain bikers to challenge themselves ( no we didn't even give it a thought)

Shafer Canyon Overlook .. A wilderness of rock

Another beautiful overlook. This park was such a surprise,

Dinosaur National Park

My favorite blue dinosaur near Dinosaur National Monument.

Dick posing by the femur of one of these great dinosaurs. Earl Douglass paleontologist discovered a 200 foot long sandbar layered with prehistoric pland and animal fossils. Can you imagine finding parts of a dinosaur. There are still active digs in the area. roo5 lont wqnegq4 lqy343e 2i5h p43hiw5o4iw plqne qne qnimql rowwilw.

Look closely. Petroglyphs surround the National Park. This specific area had about 40 figures. Awesome find.