After Bryce we drove up to Moab, Utah.  Great little town.  Great food.  Really GREAT!  Miguel's Baja Grill has superb Mexican, with the best ceviche ever...maybe not a big surprise on having  Mexican food in Utah.  But also a wonderful Thai place.  Thai?  Yep!  Singha Thai is the name to write down.  Moab is the gateway to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.
We really enjoyed Canyonlands...Arches not so much.  Canyonlands gave Marilyn the mountain goat an opportunity to show her stuff.

You know how sometimes pictures can make things look scary?  Well this ain't that!!  See the opening between the two slabs?  There is about an 8 inch place to step on between the two.  It goes straight down for somewhere around forever feet.  I didn't even THINK about going out on that ledge!  Here is a look at the plateau below.  Her vantage point was a little off to the right.  That is a road down there.  Straight down!

Then there was the big arch we hiked out to...

And a bit of the view down from that perch...you can match up the rocks.

Here is the whole arch.  It really is an amazing place. 

And more arches...

You have to look VERY closely to see John as the little yellow speck on the right hand side of the arch opening.  This is the North Window at Arches National Park.  Marilyn stayed below for about 5 minutes of hiking for John to get there first.  :-) 

These just aren't your North Georgia mountains.

There was desert beauty all around us as we hiked.

And there was an occasional cute little critter.  OK, maybe not so cute.  But he was little...only a single rattle.  We didn't now where his moms was, so we didn't stay around too long.

One thing that continually amazes me are the ever changing clouds.  Not sure why, but the shapes can be completely different than anything I've (Marilyn) ever seen.  These were just too pretty to pass up.  Kind of reminded me of angel wings covering the earth as the sun was going down.  

And on that note, we're going to bed so we can enjoy our time over the next 3 days at Mesa Verde.  Good night! 

Bryce Canyon Utah

We are now in the loop of hiking different canyons and National Parks.  Yesterday we went to Bryce Canyon.  Very different scenery from Zion.  In fact, each park has a very distinct geography which includes the colors, the greenery (or lack thereof!), the altitude and the difficulty range of hikes.  Some of the true, backcountry hikers take on challenges that are beyond the imagination.  It's fun to spend time around such a wide variety of very healthy people!  

At Bryce Canyon, the erosion has sculpted the most amazing figures.  They aren't small.  There are edges that you walk to the end of the path, look down and it can be 3,000 feet to the bottom and the "hoodoos" are only a couple of hundred feet from the top.  I'm not a geologist so you have to do your own reading, but this first picture shows the top layer of "capstone", the gray rock.  That's what stays on the top because it's very hard.  However, the material under that layer (a type of sandstone I think?) is what erodes into the eerie shapes.  

Here are a couple of pictures what happens next. 

John is suspended on the wall! 

This is the highest point we've hiked to so far.  Actually, we drove to this point and then hiked down! 

The colors of the canyons are beyond real. 

And then, in the middle of our hike 1500 feet down into the canyon, this became the view over the top of the edge above.  Acckkkk!!

Time to put up the hood on the rain jacket, tie on a hat, zip up and walk fast.  Good thing that the storm blew over with only a little rain.  Actually, it blew over 3 times before we got back to the top.  Nothing like outdoor adventures!!

This little guy is running right along the road.  They were pretty common throughout the park.  Cute huh? 

Looks kind of like giant chess pieces if you really use your imagination. :-) 

Last view of Bryce Canyon

 Cowboy John!  Hat, glasses and new belt buckle!!! 

Have a great couple of days everyone! 

Zion Canyon (includes a 20 second video) John's blog entry.

Zion Canyon is an amazing place.

It is beautiful...

...and majestic

Serene...

...and fun.  What DID Marilyn see?

It's a Canyon Tree Frog.

Why the ripples around him?

Just listen/watch via this short video!

John went hiking up the swift flowing little Virgin River into what they call "the narrows."  You can see why.

About 90 minutes up stream was enough.

Here is a picture shooting straight up from my lunch spot...beautiful.

A little farther on the way downstream I spotted this turkey hen with her little...uhm, chicks?  giblets?  Well, you probably can't see them anyway.

Tomorrow we drive a couple of hours to Bryce Canyon to spend one night. 

The big trick to maintaining  a blog is finding an internet connection in the Southwest!  Well ... that's not exactly fair.  An internet connection in the middle of hiking and camping and National Parks and side roads for interesting places to camp or stay. We just spent the night in Las Vegas and the first order of business is finding a laundromat.  Dust and more dust everywhere we've been.  

This is Bright Angel Trail at Grand Canyon National Park.  We're at the top, with intent of going to at least the first point of 1.5 miles where there is water to fill up canteens and a restroom.  That was amazing to me! 

Ok.  Now there's the rim WAY UP THERE so that means we've made it this far hiking down into the canyon.  If you look for the tiny dots on the trail about a third from the bottom, that's the hikes coming where we've already been.  Which means ... we have to go back up that eventually.  

Now we're at our intended level.  From this point, the trail continues to descend to the bottom of the canyon floor.  My vote was, "I'm good.  Going back up takes twice as long and I want to get back to the room sometime today!"  John decided that he wanted to see what was around the next bend.  So  .... this shot was taken after he was gone about 10 minutes.  Did I say going down is fast? You can see him in the middle of the picture, at the end of the v-shaped ledge.  He's waving goodbye as he's decided that hiking farther is  something he wants to do.  I start for the top and practice the Zen art of placing one foot in front of the other.  Let's just say, it was lots of practice!!!  But I was so happy that I did it! Whole different perspective on the Canyon. 

This is a switchback.  As in ... I think I would fall off the mountain if they didn't carve this into the trail! 

This scene is repeated many times as John packs up the car again.  It's working out really well and we've found a place for everything.  Hmmm.  Well ... I think it's working out pretty well.  Guess you would have to ask John if that's true but I've decided that if he's smiling ..... all is well. :-)

This is Hoover Dam. Amazing structure!  For perspective, those are cars and people on the top.  Just too vast to even try to explain, but it was a fascinating tour.  Well worth the stop if you are ever out here.  

Believe it or not, this is inside the Venetian Hotel in their Grand Canal Shops.  It's crazy! There's a canal inside the shopping area, with gondolas, singing gondoliers, bridges and ceilings painted like this.  Certainly gives you a sense of being in Venice!  We also watched the rich and famous on their shopping sprees at The Wynn and Encore hotels.  It was pretty fun.  They were actually carrying bags (with things in them!) from Cartier, Hermes, and the like.  Truly "the beautiful people".  We enjoyed sitting outside sharing a fat, chocolate dessert and coffee.  Enough for me! 

Gotta cut this off.  As they say, "dessert first, laundry later".  We are now to "later".  Going in search of a laundromat and sneak in all our dusty hiking clothes.  We have enjoyed a night of true luxury with two bathrooms, jacuzzi, sitting area and space that we were too tired to use.  Time to pack and head out to Bryce Canyon. We're halfway through our trip already.  Time flies when you're having fun! Enjoy your day.  Marilyn

Updates from May 14 (?) May 21.

Holy Cow!  It's already May 21st so I have a little catching up to do.  One thing about the great Southwest is that it's big.... with WIDE open spaces .... that don't have ATT cell coverage or any kind of online servers.  Even the hotels ( at least our kind of fun hotels!) don't have any kind of service.  

We spent some time in Santa Fe and the architecture is so different than anything that I've ever seen.  It blends with the landscape and the fact that nothing is over 2 stories makes for an intimate setting. 

I know that not everyone is a "foodie" but this was so pretty I just had to include it.  We were overlooking the Square, enjoying the breeze and feeling pretty spoiled.  Yahoo! 

This is the mysterious staircase that has no obvious supports.  I wish the lighting was a little better but you get the idea. Superb piece of craftsmanship.  It's in Loretta Chapel, and we could see the Chapel from our balcony at La Fonda (our hotel).  We got a great deal on the room because it was under construction.  However .... we were assured everything stopped at 5 o'clock.  NOT!!!!  When John went down to the front desk, the very nice young woman said, "Oh no.  They must have been mistaken.  The workmen have stopped their drilling at 9 o'clock since they started the renovation!"  Oh well.  We enjoyed the stay anyway! 

This is a stunning statue of St. Francis of Assisi in front of the large Cathedral.  Way to much to cover about Santa Fe.  Just GO!  And by all means, do not miss the Indian Market on the Square at the Palace of the Governors.  The actual Native American artists are there selling their work, can explain the process and sign everything.  This is truly a plea for "buy American". 

Moving on to Abiquiu, New Mexico! Marilyn has always been entranced by Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings and we had a blast staying at the Abiquiu Inn and taking a tour of her home.  Unfortunately, they don't allow pictures so I don't have anything to share with you.  But we also visited Ghost Ranch (her place about a 15 minutes away by car ... 1 hour away when she lived there) and took a horseback ride.  It was awesome!  One of the  guides gave us a flip chart review of the places we would be seeing so we would recognize the actual location in relation to her paintings.  Pretty eye opening. 

A couple of cowboys if I ever saw them.  Our horses were very polite and just slowed down for any pictures that we wanted.  Nice guys!! 

Ok.  We can't exactly remember the name of this place but it's so spectacular that I have to include it. John thinks it's Plaza Blanco.  Anyway, it's natural formations that are a quick climb down some sliding rocks.  Can you see John in the foreground in a red shirt for perspective? 

An Abiquiu evening.  Great skies.

Recognize some of Georgia's images? 

We went out to Ghost Ranch and this is a cabin on the property when you come into the general facility.  Looks like hard living to me! 

Next was Chaco Canyon.  Holy Toledo!  It's a most amazing place.  We hiked quite a bit, seeing the ruins of different  Great Houses.  Again, it's too much to cover in a blog, but here are a few pictures to whet your appetite. 

These are on the walls when we took a morning hike on the Petroglyph Trail.  So curious to see the actual messages left and try to interpret what they mean.  It could take a lifetime, I'm sure.  Stunning. 

This is one of the Great Houses at Chaco Canyon.  It's a civilization that there is all kinds of speculation about why they moved.  But having been there, I think the water became the issue.  Lack thereof.  Even in Santa Fe now, buying property is a dance because you want to have water rights.  Yep.  You are not guaranteed fresh water.  It's really something to think about.  

I'm running out of power so will publish this much.  More to come.  Hope everyone is well and happy!