Drop dead gorgeous

This morning was an EARLY wake-up call....5 a.m. to be exact! Part of me said "stay in bed, Erin....don't get up, Erin...it won't be worth it, Erin..." But the other side of me prevailed :)

It was a 55 minute drive to the arch trail head (during which I had the pleasure of a near run-in with a coyote darting across the road in front of me in pitch black darkness), then about a 10-15 minute walk. But this was the reward...


A view to be shared with about 40-50 of our closest friends....


But in the end, the sunset was well worth it! Look at those early morning sun rays....


One part of the morning I was NOT expecting was to get sick to my stomach at 6:45 a.m. because my lovely husband got the idea to go up a massive cliff beside the perfectly-fine-and-gorgeous-arch. He and Joe took off soon after we got there and looked like ants to Jenni and I as we could barely watch. Why does he torture me like this?!?! But alas, he came back with a massive smile on his face, so I am glad he is happy. See if you can spot him and Joe climbing and then on top....




 After the sunrise, we grabbed a picture of the kids who then decided they wanted to do some rock climbing. The weather was PERFECT (low 60's with a breeze), so we were more than happy to oblige and hang out a bit more.




Finally, after a brief detour to the visitor's center for Junior Ranger books, where I about lost my mind riding in the passenger seat going on some wild twists and turns, we headed to Grand View Point Trail. This trail is 1.8 miles in-and-out, but a gorgeous meander alongside the edges of the cliffs giving you amazing views of the canyon for the entire hike. The kids LOVED this hike. And we appreciated it even more because of the background we learned from watching the video at the visitor's center. Apparently all of the canyon used to be an ocean with lots of life. Because the ground was muddy and malleable before turning into rock, you will see a lot of character in the rocks, including rain drops that were there when dinosaurs roamed the Earth! The biggest question all of us wondered was, how can the Grand Canyon be even more amazing than this??! I guess we will find out next week!











When we got near to the end, I saw a huge shady rock that looked like the perfect place to stop for the kids to do their Junior Ranger books. After persuading Jenni that the rock was far enough from the edge, we all plopped down, enjoyed a very cool breeze still blowing, and the kids worked on their books.

Brie, Josie and Noah decided that they next wanted to play pretend on the HUGE rocks all surrounding our rest place. Brie and Josie pretended to be Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from My Little Ponies and Noah was their guard to protect them from bad guys :) He ran around pretend shooting and rolling around while Brie and Josie ran around pretending who knows what, ha. It was really fun to watch. At one point I got a "cool kids" pose from the girls....


The rest of the hike continued to be beautiful, and the walk back showed us even more vantage points of the canyon. 








Just like the primitive trails in Arches, the trail here was only marked by cairns again. But these cairns were a bit more sturdy :)


The hike definitely worked up an appetite in everyone! (not the least because Auntie Ren here might have, maybe, took the snacks out of the bag for some reason...) We ran into a Ranger on our way back to the car who was able to answer some of our questions about what we saw and informed us that the Grand Canyon is indeed much deeper than Canyonlands, but he also advised us that right back up the road was a picnic area with tables under SHADE so we would not have to eat our lunch in the sun :) We found the tables and had a wonderful lunch capped off with a mass of chipmunks who decided they wanted to grab the nuts from our trail mix :)



Our last stop was back at the Visitor's Center where the kids answered questions from a Ranger and got their books signed to receive a Ranger's badge! The badge is made of real wood and I know the kids felt quite proud :)



Our way out of the park was capped with even more amazing views. We loved Canyonlands National Park!









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heading on an EPIC adventure!

Image
It’s the day my sister-in-law and I have spent planning for many hours over the past three months!! Four adults and four kids- heading to see a world that will look completely different from anything we have ever seen: the Utah and Arizona deserts.  Every other year we have done a vacation with Aaron’s sister, Jenni, and her family. 2014: Disney World and Anna Maria Island. 2016: Sea World and Clearwater Beach. This year, I had my heart set on anything “epic”. I’m sure if you go back to my texts with my sister-in-law earlier this summer, it would be amusing to count the number of times I used the word EPIC in brainstorming locations. :) Having recalled seeing some blogs on the Utah National Parks, I proposed it in conjunction with the Grand Canyon and the rest is history! If you know me, you know that I am a *planner*, and this 12 day trip is definitely no exception! I present to you, my laminated itinerary.... My goal had been to not have to think about what ...
Read more

Pushing to the limit

Image
Part of this trip, I wanted us to try new things. New things we had never done before (on top of visiting new places we had never seen before!) We have indoor rock climbed a bit here and there, so when I saw that Moab and Zion are known for outdoor rock climbing too, I knew I wanted to try it. We had too much planned for Moab to squeeze it in, so I scheduled it for Zion. When I called to schedule, the lady recommended a "combo" tour - rock climbing and  canyoneering because we would have Brie. Kids normally enjoy canyoneering more :) So I booked it! *side note - when we went rock climbing back home in Tyrone a couple of months ago, the girl who worked there had also just been to Zion for rock climbing! She said it was amazing. The only bad thing? The best rock climbing and canyoneering for a half day was on the other  side of Zion from where we were staying. Meaning, the meet-up spot with our guide was one hour away, and then the spot to climb was another 20 minutes...
Read more

ZION all day!

Image
Let me preface this by saying yes, I know I skipped a day blogging yesterday. But we were SO tired about our resort was a less than appealing place to set-up shop to blog from :) Today I have to tell you ALL about Zion National Park though, because, well, WOW! It's stunning. (there we are, little people on a bridge!) I will preface this by saying that the pictures absolutely will not do this park justice. It is just astoundingly majestic. The cliffs are towering and the foilage so green, plus the Virgin River. Ya'll, it's gorgeous. Also, let me just stop for a second and show you my current view, from our new digs in Page, AZ, which is also doubly inspiring: We will be here three nights, and I am sure I will have a lot more to update you on tomorrow and the next night! But back to Zion.... We started the day at 5:30am! Woohoo! ha, NOT. It was literally 40 degrees outside, and around 50 degrees in our canvas-covered wagon. Yea, brrrr. Thankf...
Read more