Arches National Park

Our first rainy day was a travel day so we really lucked out. The lightning and rain fronts ripped across the open land with dramatic beauty.

Our campground was on the outskirts of Moab Utah. A cute little town with fun restaurants. Our campsite had a great view of the mountains and setting sun.

Passing through the most amazing storms!!

Santa Fe Sunset on the hills. view from our campsite!

New Mexican dinner,wine,family and sunset! What could be finer?

Camper at sunset

Entering Arches National Park

"Landscape Arch" is believed to be the largest Arch in the world!!

Happy tourists!!

This was REALLY high up though the picture doesn't show. Both boys had a blast climbing as many rock faces as possible. That and constant lizard catching are their highlights so far I think

Grant up high again :)

Another of the many arches. It was awe inspiring to think that water can change the rock that much.

Another Arch I loved.

And there is Grant climbing again!

The 3 guys hiking to the next vista.

And there goes Grant again!

and again!!!!!

The rock formations looked like they were carved not eroded. I felt like I was on another planet. It was so very cool!!!

The "Window Arches"

Coming back from another fabulous Mexican dinner the sky looked like this?????? 

Zion National Park

Zion was beyond words and pictures for me. I was in visual overload the whole time. Despite the high altitude and close to 100 degree temperatures we hiked all day. It was awesome and humbling. We all agreed we have never drank so much water in one day of our lives. It was well worth it. We had a few cooling moments hiking under spraying falls and wading in the narrows. Below find a few pics. I will try to add captions and more if we ever get strong WIFI. The mountains have made our posting quite challenging so most posts are coming from me rather than the whole family as we originally hoped. Check back pages as we go .If we get good service we will add more to all.

Way to Zion

The ride to Zion was amazing. Country that I have never seen. The ever-changing colors in the rocks had me snap happy. Here are just a choice few views. The skies were so dramatic against the red and gold rocks. Calling out to be painted...

Western Wildlife

Lizards

Check back soon. Grant and I will be adding to this page often.

Red Headed Spiny Lizard

Sage Brush Lizards bathed in the sun while resting on the Santa Fe style, clay buildings.Their blue bellies would show out from the side. Plateau Striped Whiptail Lizards bolted at the sight of Grant and I, so we haven't caught one yet.This lizard is one of my favorite so far, with yellow stripes down it's back and long blue tail. The short horned Lizard we've only seen once in our time at Mesa Verde. The small, fat, and short lizard was just sitting on a rock and I reached down a picked him up with no struggling. At Zion the campground was full of lizards, primarily Yellow Backed Spiny Lizards and Red Headed Spiny Lizards. There was one massive lizard that lived in a small brick structure. Every day Grant and I would try to catch it but we never did. At Arches National Park we found four new species of lizards. I spotted the Painted  Desert Whiptail first,they were strolling through the dormant grasses and the Scrub Oak. They are yellow orange and splattered with black dots. we only managed to catch a tail and a picture. The next lizard was the Tree Lizard.These lizards always looked like they hadn't eaten in two weeks. You could see their ribs through their wrinkly skin. Grant was the only one who saw the Common Side Blotched Lizard. It All he caught was a blue tail that dis-attached from the red body. The lizard disappeared into the rock before he could snap a photo. The last lizard we found at our campsite. It was a lesser Earless Lizard. So far we've seen nine different lizards and we'll probably see more.

Yellow Backed Spiny Lizard

Short Horned Lizard

Sage Brush Lizard

Grand Canyon

Wow! How exciting to watch my boys see the Grand Canyon for the first time. We arrived late afternoon Saturday and biked to a trail to see the sunset . I was in visual overdrive wishing I could stop time and paint for a week.

We got up at 4:15 Sunday morning to bike to a different trail to watch the sunrise. It was the South Kaibab Trailhead and we hiked down about 800 feet in elevation (1.2 mile hike) to "ooh -ah point" It's name is well deserved

We are now on our way to Zion National Park and hope to hike in the riverbed. Stay tuned. Laura

Mesa Verde

Hello all  Service is so limited that posts will be limited until we hit civilization. we are having a blast!!!!!

The route to Mesa Verde had us all glued to the windows. We went to through an amazing mountain pass that may rival Bryce and Zion J.

Mesa Verde Was beyond words.  We went on 2 guide led hikes into Balcony house and Cliff House. You get such a strong feeling of how the early Pueblos lived.

We then went on a 2 hour hike to see the petroglyphs. 

Cliff Palace~ Amazing to think these were built without any metal tools. Only stone and hands.

Sitting in a rock alcove at Cliff Palace

Spencer at the Petroglyphs

Santa Fe

Santa Fe

On the way to Santa Fe we passed through Nashville, crossed the Mississippi, saw rice fields , thanks to Spencer, and saw our first wide open spaces.

Our campground was in the desert on the outskirts of the city. It was a great joy for me to finally share my love of the desert with my family. Spencer and Grant had a blast catching lizards and finding cacti.

We had a FABULOUS New Mexican meal in downtown Santa Fe. The next morning we went to Canyon Rd to explore the galleries. Of course I was in heaven.

First view of mesas heading in to Santa Fe

Sitting at a great New Mexican restaurant under the stars. Food was fabulous. I had Posole and Tamales...in heaven.

View of our campsite. 

Example of the Pueblo architecture in Santa Fe

Map of trip

Found this cool sight which has mapped our trip this our proposed stops. Thought you might like to see.
Laura