hiking – Travel Plan Mom

National Forest Fun

October 11, 2017 by TravelPlanMom, posted in Travel, Virginia, West Virginia

“To travel is to live” – Hans Christian Andersen

There is so much lovely terrain right in our backyard, in the state of Virginia. So my better half and I decided not to waste our beautiful Saturday on boring things like house work or yard work or household projects, and instead ventured out to enjoy the beginnings of the autumn colors in our region. If you are ever visiting southwest Virginia, this day trip is a wonderful way to spend a day.

First I am going to tell you how to get there. And make sure you eat before you go, because it is a bit of a drive. On a previous trip to the area, I was starving, and the drive over two mountains made me a little car sick, so this time I made sure we ate breakfast right before leaving. But I digress. If you are in the Roanoke, Virginia area, leave Interstate 81 by Exit 141 and go west until you reach a traffic signal. Turn right at the light onto 311. This will take you over the first mountain pretty quickly. After the first mountain, you will pass the Homeplace Restaurant on the left. Sidebar – if you’ve never visited the Homeplace, you are missing out on a fantastic family-style meal. Do yourself a favor and try it out!

Back to the directions – after passing the Homeplace, you will drive for 12 or 13 miles and then drive through the small town of New Castle, Virginia. Keep on driving. After an additional 16 miles of curvy roads while crossing over another mountain, you will reach the little crossroad known as Paint Bank. Currently Paint Bank offers up a general store/restaurant combination, a lodge, and a gas pump. There’s not much to see right at the crossroad, but what is there is very quaint.

Two story red brick building with two story porches on front and waving American flag with hanging flower baskets — Paint Bank General Store and Swinging Bridge Restaurant

The Paint Bank General Store, pictured above, also hosts the Swinging Bridge Restaurant in the rear of the building. But we will come back to that later.

old train depo turned into a lodge that is two story grey building with metal roof and bikes in front — Paint Bank Depot Lodge

I’ve never stayed at the Depot Lodge, but this building is not the only accommodation available in the area. In addition to the lodge, there is an amazing caboose, two “glamping” tents, two cabins, an airstream trailer, a house, a cottage, and “coming soon” the Lemon Hotel. You can check out all of the lodging available at The Depot Lodge. Seems like it would be a great place to host an extended family get-together.

The picture above is what you will see immediately after the General Store. Make a left here onto 600, or Waiteville Road. As you drive along, you will probably see buffalo grazing in one of several pastures along the left hand side of the road.

Drive about 10 – 11 miles, and you will see a small sign on the left that says Hanging Rock.

Turn right here onto Limestone Hill Road. It is a lovely drive up this winding, curvy road. We saw some beautiful leaves along the way.

Stay on this very narrow, paved road for almost 4 miles and you will come to the parking area on the left. You’ve arrived!

One of the great things about this trail is that the small parking area is never crowded, at least not when we have been here. We had passed by the trail heads of several other well-known hikes in southwest Virginia and they were packed out, but not here. And it was a beautiful October day.

Okay, so now that we are here, it’s time to secure our valuables in the trunk, grab the backpack with water bottles and light snacks, and hit the trail! The trail is probably rated as moderate, at least that’s what I think. It is short and has some steeper areas, but also some flat places.

Follow the yellow marks on the trees! One of the steepest parts of the trail is right at the beginning, but it’s not bad.

We’re headed for the hanging rock lookout. I think the sign says it is .6 miles. So, 1.2 miles round-trip. Not very long!

There are some rocky stretches along the trail, and in a couple of areas we will need to do some scrambling over rocks. We keep walking until we get to this sign:

If we stay to the right we will join the Allegheny Trail, and if we go left, we will reach the fire tower. Just a little farther and we will be there!

When we reach the top, there’s a fire tower to the right and the hanging rock to the left. In the past, we’ve only been up in the tower, so I wanted to try to take a selfie from the rock. It would have been so nice to have a selfie stick in this situation! None of our selfie pictures worked out. Oh well! But I did get a couple of shots from the rock, including this one:

Blue sky with puffy white clouds, wooden building with windows, and angled rock slabs with autumn trees — The Hanging Rock and the Fire Tower Observatory

Next, it’s on to the fire tower. The views are amazing from up here. You can see mountain ridges for miles and miles.

Man in blue shirt standing in shadow at deck railing looking over colorful trees and mountains in the distance with blue skies and white clouds — Looking Over Miles of Mountains

Here’s a panoramic:

If you are a bird-watcher, this is the place to be. The tower is right along the flight path of predatory birds. Unfortunately, we forgot our binoculars this time but we’ve seen several bald eagles in the past without binoculars. Red-tailed hawks and other large birds are known to pass by. The tower is at an elevation of 3812 feet.

I failed to mention earlier, that not long after leaving Paint Bank, we crossed into West Virginia. Most of the area we are looking over is West Virginia. It sure is scenic!

By this time, despite the little snack we brought with us, I was getting really hungry! After filling our eyes with wonder, it was time to think about filling our bellies with delicious food! So we grabbed our pack and headed back down the trail. The return trip was a lot easier, with the exception of a little bit of knee strain. We passed some young families with several young children who were heading up. This trail can be trekked by just about anybody, as long as they have no mobility issues.

We got in our car and drove back to Paint Bank, arriving at around 3 p.m. We were relieved to be able to walk right in to the Swinging Bridge restaurant and get a table. The last time we had visited, there was a two hour wait! Wow! The restaurant does not take reservations unless your party has 8 or more people, and I think that sometimes large tour buses come with huge groups, but that’s not what we encountered this day.

In the picture below you can see the bridge crossing over the dining room:

Inside of open two story building with bridge across the middle of room, a christmas tree, taxidermy animals, old Texaco signs, people sitting at tables, log walls — Inside the Swinging Bridge Restaurant

The restaurant had a steady flow of customers but it wasn’t crowded. The Swinging Bridge offers a varied menu, with buffalo options. We decided on the ribs. We saw them cooking outside on the smoker earlier and they smelled so good! We also had baked potatoes and side salads and they brought a basket of rolls and cheesy cornbread to the table. Every time I have eaten here the food has been very good. We split the apple crumb pie with a generous scoop of ice cream for dessert. We both had drinks (non-alcoholic) and our tab came to around $42 (we had plenty of left-overs to take home).

After our late lunch, we explored around the gift shop upstairs, the general store, and outside for a bit.

Then it was time for the long-ish drive home. It was a fun and scenic adventure and we were glad that we put off the things we needed to do at home to enjoy a warm October day in the mountains. It was time well spent.

Until next time, happy traveling!

A Gem in Nevada

July 12, 2017July 27, 2017 by TravelPlanMom, posted in Nevada, Travel, Vacation

“Stuff your eyes with wonder, live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories” – Ray Bradbury

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary a gem is defined as: a jewel, (or) a precious or sometimes semiprecious stone cut and polished for ornament, (or) something prized especially for great beauty or perfection. Any of those definitions can be applied to the subject of today’s discussion – Valley of Fire State Park.

Where, you may ask, is this gem, this jewel, this stone cut and polished for ornament? And, what is this place, prized especially for great beauty or perfection? The Valley of Fire, aptly named, is located in Nevada and is an easy hour’s drive from “the strip” in Las Vegas. It is a true gem, its brilliant colors rising in sharp contrast to the usual drab landscape of this slice of Nevada.

The picture below is the typical view out of the window of your car as you drive away from Las Vegas:

As you can see, it is pretty much tan with a little bit of green thrown in.

Pretty drab, right? But as you drive up to the Valley of Fire, beauty begins to unfold before your eyes. Out of the dull and uninteresting, rock formations of reds and pinks and whites arise:

You’ve reached the Valley of Fire!

As I was researching and planning our family trip to Utah this year, I also needed to decide how my husband and I could best spend our extra few days ahead of the official group vacation. We were spending three nights in Vegas, and since we’re not big gamblers, we were looking for other things to do. My search of the internet, and the forums on TripAdvisor.com, led me to this little gem in the desert. And I am so glad!

I had planned on us leaving mid-afternoon from Vegas with a picnic supper and spending a few hours at VoF, enjoying the evening and the twilight hours, away from the worst heat of the day. However, we got a little carried away walking the strip, ogling the fancy hotels and indulging in a huge lunch buffet at the Bellagio. By the time we got back to our room we were wiped out and had to recuperate for a while, pushing back our leaving for the Valley of Fire. By the time we got there, we didn’t have time to do everything I wished, including driving around the park, sightseeing, and taking the two trails I hoped to hike. But, I must say, the hour or two before sunset are a great time to visit VoF. The setting sun cast beautiful hues of pinks over the red and white rocks, and the skies were a bewitching cascade of color. The pictures just don’t capture the splendor that the eye sees. Here are a few of the evening pictures:

By the way, I rented that convertible as a surprise for my husband, because he loves convertibles and we can’t afford to buy one at this stage of life. I was so excited and kept it a secret until we picked it up. We got an incredible price on it from the car rental company named Sixt. It’s a European company that’s new to the states and they offer prices on luxury/specialty cars that compare to standard cars from some of the other companies. Check them out when you want to rent a special car!

So, back to Valley of Fire . . . here’s another evening picture – it’s kind of dark, but the sky is so pretty:

Well, as I mentioned before, we got to the park a little too late to see everything that I had planned, and the park closes at sunset, so we had to leave. But, thankfully, my husband was a good sport and he agreed to come back the next day after we visited the Hoover Dam. When we drove away from VoF that first evening, it was a chilly 57 degrees! Surprising for the last half of May in Nevada, at least for me. But despite the chill, we rode back with the top down on our rental convertible (with the heat on), and enjoyed every daggone minute! And the roads from the VoF back to Las Vegas were pretty empty, which made it even better! It’s no fun to ride in a convertible when you’re surrounded by semi-trucks. Ha!

The following day we came back in the afternoon, after visiting the Hoover Dam and taking Lakeshore Road (which comes with a big price tag – $20 – the entrance fee for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area) back to the Valley of Fire State Park. It’s a prettier drive than the other alternative, although it doesn’t compare at all to the VoF itself.

When we reached the park this time, it was not 57 degrees! It was hot! Whatever cold front that had been visiting the day before was long gone. And although the park was still beautiful, the colors were not quite the same with the sun blaring down on our heads and the sweat dripping off of everywhere. But, like I said, still beautiful. But I am partial to visiting a little later in the day, when the colors are highlighted by the setting sun.

The main reason we came back the second day was so that we could hike to see Fire Wave, a visually stunning rock formation with flowing lines of red and white. We hiked out and back, a round trip of about 1.5 miles. And we felt every step in the heat! Here are some pictures from the hike:

See what I mean? Still beautiful, with contrasting colors of blue sky and red rock, but not quite as lovely as the night before. And hot. As we hiked closer to Fire Wave, we began to see the variegated red and white rock:

And, finally, we reached our destination, Fire Wave

You can see for yourself that Fire Wave is an unusual and magnificent rock formation. And despite the walk through the sand and the heat, it was worth the trek and the sweat to be able to see it ourselves and take a few photographs. My only regret is that we didn’t get to see and photograph it in the evening hours. But who knows, maybe this particular spot is prettier in the daytime?

So, after our second visit to Valley of Fire, with our camera full of pictures and our hearts full of memories, we were ready to get back in the convertible, put the top down, and head back to Vegas.

I hope you have enjoyed our jaunt through the desert to the little gem in Nevada and that you will get the chance to visit Valley of Fire yourself someday. Until next time, happy traveling!

Bryce is Nice!

June 28, 2017 by TravelPlanMom, posted in Planning, Travel, Utah, Vacation

“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer” – Anonymous

In a previous post, Beautiful Utah, I mentioned different places in southern Utah that my family and I visited in May of 2017. Part of our epic journey included a day trip from our rental house near Alton, Utah to Bryce Canyon National Park.

But first, after a much needed morning of rest and relaxation, we stopped for lunch along the way to Bryce at a restaurant called Bryce Canyon Pines. We, of course, picked this restaurant after reading all the restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor. There are slim pickin’s around Bryce, and we wanted to pause for a somewhat quick and basic meal that wouldn’t break the bank. I had also read that Bryce Canyon Pines was supposed to have really good soup and pies! The food was much as we expected – pretty basic but good, not too expensive, and we split meals so we could all eat pie! The chocolate pie was my favorite, by the way.

When we got to the gate of Bryce Canyon National Park, we stopped to pay the entrance fee of $30 for our vehicle. The entrance fee here is the same as it was for Zion National Park, even though Zion was much bigger and had so much more to see and so many more trails. Another note on the differences – Zion’s bathrooms were kept up very nicely and there were quite a few of them. I noticed that the bathrooms in Bryce were not in very good shape. There were overflowing trash cans and there was toilet paper all over the floor. I was surprised.

So back to the trip. I had seen pictures of the park and its hoodoos, and I had done some research about what trails were best for a relatively short and pleasant hike. My daughter-in-law also had Bryce Canyon high on her list and we pretty much had the same ideas for which paths to tackle.

There are several hikes to choose from in the park, but since we didn’t want to hike for the entire day and wanted to see as much of the hoodoos and beautiful scenery as possible, we settled on the Navajo Loop/Queen’s Garden combo. The two trails together are just short of 3 miles and are supposed to take around 2 to 3 hours, depending on how many times you stop to enjoy the view, take pictures, or just stop to catch your breath!

When we got to the viewing area over the main “canyon” we suddenly didn’t know which way to go. We had two choices – we could go to the left, to Sunrise Point and head down the Queen’s Garden trail and come up the Wall Street side of the Navajo Loop, or we could do it in reverse and start at Sunset Point to our right. I remembered that I had previously read that one way was supposed to be a better option, but could not, for the life of me, remember what to do!

As we were pondering and looking at a map, a fellow traveler told us that Wall Street was closed, and it was much prettier to the left, so we should enjoy the view going down. She said that when they were walking up, all they could think about was catching their breath and they didn’t enjoy looking around as much. So we took their advice and set off.

And she was right! The view as we walked down the Queen’s Garden trail was magnificent. Absolutely stunning. What strange figures these hoodoos were – unlike anything I had ever seen. And so many of them! And so many variations!

While we are on the subject of hoodoos – let’s talk a little bit about them. Where does the name hoodoo come from? Well, I remember from our trip that someone said the word is similar to a Native American word that evolved into hoodoo. But, going back and searching the internet isn’t turning up that same answer, so . . . . I’m not sure but I’ll stick with my vague memory here.

How are hoodoos formed? This I remember for sure – they are formed from the freeze/thaw cycle. Snow melts and gets into the cracks, then the water freezes again which causes it to expand and cracks get bigger and bits of rock fall away. Eventually bigger parts of the rocks topple over. In fact, this very thing had happened at Bryce before we got there, and unfortunately was the reason that Wall Street was closed. Sad face.

So let’s get back to the trail. As we were descending the Queen’s Garden trail, we were merrily hiking and looking around at the beauty and stopping to take lots of pictures along the way. The people hiking up, on the other hand, were stopping to catch their breath. And then they would look at us like, “Yeah, you just wait!” They looked harried and red-of-face, with their tousled hair and lack of oxygen. But we were determined. We will not be dissuaded, we thought, as we marched down, our ankles creaking along the way.

Speaking of lack of oxygen – at this altitude you must not push yourself too hard or you can get altitude sickness. Thankfully, we had been experiencing the higher altitude for a few days before tackling Bryce, so none of us got sick. But we could definitely feel the reduced oxygen as we eventually hiked back up.

When we reached the lower part of the trail, the topography began to change a bit – we started to see some trees along with the hoodoos.

After a little while hiking through the bottom of the trail, it began to gradually slope upwards. Then we came to a crossroads. If we went one way, it led to Wall Street, part of Navajo Loop that would eventually be blocked. If we went to the right, we would follow the other part of Navajo Loop back up to the same end point. Since we didn’t want to tack on a dead end meander, we went to the right.

As we began our steep ascent, I came to understand the harried looks of the hikers we had come across earlier. Now we were those people. We were the ones that had to stop and catch our breath (especially me). This part of the trail consisted of multiple steep switchbacks and an elevation gain of 580 feet. When I look at the number 580, it doesn’t seem that bad. But when I experienced 580, it was bad. Now, I am not the most fit person in the world. I am probably a pretty average 48 year old, needing to lose some weight, but I walk for exercise regularly. But not 580 feet upwards in an hour or less, or in a day even. Phew!

Every few minutes, I had to stop to catch my breath and give my pounding heart a chance to slow down. Our kids had gone way ahead of us, so it was just us “old fogies” dragging up the trail. But eventually we made it.

I will say that despite the challenge of the upward part of the trail, it was an experience that was definitely worth the effort. The sights that are seen in Bryce National Park are unlike anything else that can be viewed anywhere else in the world. The hoodoos are fascinating and pictures are not the same as the experience.

If you’ve never considered putting Bryce Canyon on your vacation, reconsider! It’s a sight to see!

Until next time – happy traveling!

A Catch in my Throat

June 17, 2017June 17, 2017 by TravelPlanMom, posted in Travel, Utah, Vacation

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us” – Anonymous

Have you ever done something that scared you half to death? Or really scared you in the moments right before you took the plunge? Made you nauseated? Break out in a sweat? Made you tremble? That is how I was feeling right before I connected the rope to my harness and walked out over the edge. The walk, or creep, in my case, was the hardest part about it.

As I sat in at an uncomfortable angle with my feet keeping my posterior in place, I watched and took pictures (very carefully, I might add) as, first, my daughter-in-law very courageously volunteered to go. Then my son, her husband. Then my younger son. Next, my husband said it was my turn. My turn. What?!

The beautiful view while waiting for our first rappel

Our very knowledgeable, positive, and experienced guide, Graham, from Zion Rock & Mountain Guides, and his assistant Ethan had hiked us up a steep path, through a slot canyon, and to our present location. First Graham explained how this rappelling experience would work, how we had two ropes holding us up, one that we would control with our own hands to let ourselves down (also held, just in case, by Ethan), and one, a safety rope, that he would be holding. What could possibly go wrong? Well, what if my feet slip? The rope may be holding me up, but if my feet slip, I could dangle upside down, maybe? Or hit my head? Or smash my face into the rock?

She was first to go!

So, as I waited, I kept giving myself a pep talk. “You can do this. Be courageous. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” When my turn came, I carefully inched closer to the edge, strapped on the rope, and slowly, very slowly and shakily let myself down. And I didn’t look down! Only up – that was a big help! Our first rappel of the day was the shortest one, the baby one, the one that gets your feet wet. As I dropped further and further toward the ground beneath me, I felt better and better. Wow! It really isn’t that bad! I can do this! I am doing this! Finally I touched down. We had been given instructions to say, “On the ground!” when we made it down and then, “Off rope!” when the rope was released from our harness. What a feeling of accomplishment! I was ready for our next rappel!

The young’ns adapted a little easier!

Graham called our dirty hands “badges of honor”

I will say that the younger generation seemed a little more excited and less nervous than I did. They all did a great job! Our guide, Graham, had us laughing all day with his expressions, such as: schwing! and schweet! and super safe! He also called us party people, told us, “you’re groovy,” and our favorite, “whatever’s clever, man.” He reminded me of the sea turtle from “Finding Nemo.” He was a really good guide and always put a positive spin on every situation. Our dirty hands and scrapes were called badges of honor.

After the first rappel of our half-day canyoneering adventure, we were ready for a second, higher one. But the second time, I wasn’t scared at all. After conquering the initial fear, and understanding how it all worked, all of a sudden it was no big deal! I knew the rope would hold me, I knew I could handle it, I understood the mechanics, so the next ones were exciting.

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When all of our rappels were done, and we had done some scrambling over and under rocks through the slot canyon and headed back to the van, it was nice to look around, enjoy the beauty around us, and bask in the feeling of accomplishment.

Facing and overcoming my fear was a liberating feeling! I’m so glad that I didn’t let fear keep me from experiencing something challenging and exciting that I have always wanted to try. And I am so happy that I was able to do it with my family. What a day!

Until next time, happy traveling!

Riverside Walk at Zion National Park

June 14, 2017June 14, 2017 by TravelPlanMom, posted in Travel, Utah, Vacation

“Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions” — Peter Hoeg

Hey again! Let’s talk about an absolutely easy and delightful hike in Zion – the Riverside Walk. When we visited Zion, we, of course, didn’t get to explore every hike in the park. There is a very strenuous, thrilling and nausea-inducing (if you are afraid of heights) hike with magnificent views that we intentionally skipped, known as Angel’s Landing.

Another one, known as the Narrows, which is about 8 miles round-trip through the Virgin River, is supposed to be stunning, although somewhat challenging. We couldn’t do that one because the river was running too high and the park service had it closed. However, we were able to do the Riverside Walk, which is the very beginning of the Narrows hike.

The trail begins at the Temple of Sinawava shuttle stop, is 2 miles round-trip, and takes about 1.5 hours, give or take. The trail is a very easy walk and is paved and wide, so just about anybody, including those in wheelchairs, can enjoy it. It’s so pleasant because it is alongside the Virgin River, and shady, so it’s a rather cool, refreshing walk.

Along the way, you can enjoy hanging gardens, a peaceful river, and some of God’s creatures.

While you are walking along the river, there’s such a feeling of peace and tranquility. I wish I could bottle that up, along with the sounds of the river, and the feel of the small breeze from the running water. So delightful.

I’ve had to break out the thesaurus to figure out a bunch of different ways to say the word beautiful. Because I want to keep saying beautiful. Because it is so beautiful.

It has been fun re-living my hike from a couple weeks ago with you! I hope I’ve been able to share how alluring, appealing, charming, dazzling, gorgeous, grand, marvelous, and superb this experience can be, and that you get a chance to see it for yourself.

Until next time – happy traveling!

Zealous for Zion

June 14, 2017 by TravelPlanMom, posted in Planning, Travel, Utah, Vacation

“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before” – Anonymous

Hey y’all! Can you tell that I had to break out the dictionary for that title? I needed something that started with Z that would adequately convey my emotion for Zion National Park. Oh, there are plenty of adjectives to describe the appeal of that bewitching, resplendent locale, but how many start with Z?

Anyhow, on our recent jaunt to southern Utah, Zion National Park was at the top of my list. As I mentioned in a previous post, even though I didn’t really know exactly what to expect, I knew by reputation that it is supposed to be beautiful. As I prepared for our trip, I started searching Google images for some ideas of what we would be seeing and I was amazed. I called my husband over to the computer while he was watching a basketball game or something, and I was actually able to grab his attention away from the tube while we oohed and ahhed at all of the lovely pictures.

But, let me tell you, pictures never do a place as majestic as Zion any justice. And, even though I just said that, I am compelled to share pictures with you. Below are a few pictures from the Canyon Overlook Trail.

By the way, there are hanging gardens in quite a few places in the park. They are formed when water drips down through the rock and creates a wet environment for plants to grow. You can see some of that in the picture above, left.

My favorite views in Zion National Park were seen as we departed the long tunnel and entered the canyon in the eastern part of the park. The cliffs were massive and soared above our heads in beautiful hues of red and cream with the contrasting green of the vegetation.

I found it interesting that the views east of the long tunnel were somewhat different from the main canyon.

And, part of those views were big horn sheep! We were all so excited to see them, although they only showed themselves to us once. Tip – look around the east side of the long tunnel close to dusk.

And while I will be sharing more pictures of individual hikes inside Zion in future posts, the last thing I would like to highlight today is the amazing petroglyphs that we found inside Zion National Park. It’s actually really amazing that we found these ancient creations at all. There’s no sign on the road letting you know that they exist (that I could see, anyway), and no parking area for them. The tour guide from Mild to Wild Rhino Tours is the one who told us about them and how to see them. Even with his directions, we were pretty unsure as we picked our way through a wash and under a road.

Seeing the petroglyphs was one of the items on my own personal “bucket list” for our vacation, and even though we were at the end of a long day that had been full of activity, and even though it was starting to get a little dark, my family humored me and went along for the journey. I am so thankful!

While I am talking about Zion, I would like to point out that May is a fabulous month to visit the park. Unless, that is, you want to hike the Narrows. Usually, during the month of May, the Virgin River runs too high due to snow melt, and the park closes the Narrows hike. But the temperatures are really nice for hiking most of the month – not too cold, not too hot, and you don’t have to worry much about flash flooding in the slot canyons because it is not the rainy season. Of course, you always have to watch the weather, because with mother nature, anything can happen, but the odds are in your favor in May. We were there May 20^th – 27^th and had absolutely gorgeous weather, although it was getting pretty warm at the end of our trip. Also, the kids aren’t out of school yet, so it’s less crowded than the summer months. If you can get there in May, it’s a great time to go!

So, if Zion National Park isn’t on your list, then get your pencil out right now and write it down! Make plans to visit. You won’t regret it!

Until next time – happy traveling!

Beautiful Utah

June 9, 2017June 9, 2017 by TravelPlanMom, posted in Travel, Utah, Vacation

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

Today I would like to share a little overview of our trip “out west.” My oldest son had been saying for a while that our next big family trip should be to Utah. We had both heard amazing things about the beauty and majesty of southern Utah and the national parks there. But I didn’t really know. Since I’m from the southeast part of the states, anything west of say, Missouri, is just a jumbled mess in my mind – location wise. I mean, I know where California and Washington are located, and I have vacationed in Arizona, but other than that . . . . hmmmm. Oh, yeah, Texas – I know where Texas is. It’s in the middle, at the bottom, right above Mexico.

Anyway, I don’t know what comes to your mind when you hear the word Utah, but it didn’t really conjure up anything geographically special or spectacular to me. What do you think of when you hear Utah? First of all, without looking at a map I thought it was like, up near Oregon or something. Secondly, it made me think of Salt Lake City, and a really big salt lake, and the Mormon Tabernacle, and their amazing choir, oh, and the really cool, huge library in Salt Lake City that has all the genealogy records that I really want to visit someday.

So, despite all my lack of knowledge (or my ignorance, which is not as nice to say about yourself) – other than the great things we had heard about the parks there – we set our sites for Utah. After booking our flights and setting up our lodging for the week, I finally got around to doing some visual research on the places we would see by using Google images. Wow. Wow. I really had no idea. I’ll share some of my own with you.

The picture at the top of the page is a shot of lower Zion Canyon in Zion National Park. Below is a picture from our journey along the Canyon Overlook Trail in ZNP:

Here’s another one from Zion – it’s from the Riverside Walk (spectacularly beautiful, by the way):

Simply amazing, right? Now I have to show you one from Bryce Canyon. Bryce was also beautiful with lots of red rock, but also a lot different from Zion. Here it is:

The keyword for Bryce is hoodoos. Yep, that’s right – hoodoos. I personally think that word is a lot of fun to say. Hoodoos! Hoodoos are those happy rock formations that look like lots of little (or big?) statues all over the place. Even though Bryce is called a canyon, it’s really not, but I will get to all of that in another post.

And, since this post is supposed to be an overview of Utah stuff, there’s one more picture I will share. This one is from the hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument:

I have a confession to make. We didn’t make it to Lower Calf Creek Falls. We didn’t have enough time to make the whole hike, but that’s okay because look at the eye candy here! It was such a beautiful hike even without the falls. Well, they are like the number one thing to see in the national monument. And they are beautiful (from what I hear) ~sigh~ oh well, next time.

So, to wrap things up, we spent a week in Utah (mostly), and didn’t get to see that much of it! But what we did see was incredible. I really wanted to focus on Zion, and immerse ourselves in it, because there is just so much to do and see in Zion National Park. We visited Zion for a few days, Bryce Canyon for part of a day, the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument for basically a day or two, and then popped down to Arizona for a day. We only got to two of the national parks in Utah. There are several more to visit, but we just didn’t have the time.

Seriously, one week in Utah is not enough! It is so beautiful, it is like a feast for your eyes. I told my hubby while we were there that it’s almost like beauty overload. You are overwhelmed with spectacular scenery and your mind just can’t comprehend it. I’m not exaggerating, here! Okay, so I will stop raving about the beauty of Utah. But you really need to see it for yourself – you won’t regret it!

I hope that my overview has been a bit informative and has whet your appetite for your own trip to this beautiful state. I have more to share, so I hope you visit again!

Until next time – happy traveling!

Where do you want to go?

Tag: hiking

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Riverside Walk at Zion National Park

Zealous for Zion

Beautiful Utah

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