Utah!!

As many of you know, we took a quick trip to Utah last week. It was a year overdue promise to John and Stephen, one which Anna and I managed to cash in on as well. 

We made full use of our 5 days (including travel time) and packed every moment. Here is a quick snippet of a few of the awesome pictures. 

The boys had never been west of Nebraska. This was their first glimpse of the mountains...

$3 I will never regret spending. The 3D suduko book... 

Our first night outside of Arches National Park. This was our little tent city. 

As soon as we had the tents set up, we set off to see the delicate arch. After 13 hours in the car, the boys couldn't help bounding up and over every rock in sight. 

I am so, so, so happy this girl could come with. It was such a blast to have another girl on the trip and her enthusiasm for life is contagious. Plus, she took care of me when I got rather sick in a canyon on day 3. Love you, Anna dear!!

The last time we were here was on our way home from Arizona just a few weeks before we got engaged. Felt kind of like old stomping grounds...

Day 2 we explored Arches. In many, many ways. We climbed rocks, hiked to several arches and off roaded in the Jimmy. Like I said, we packed every minute. 

This does not look impressive. What the Jimmy did was impressive. So impressive we all got out of the truck and prayed it would make it up a few of the hills. May I just say, my man is a natural off-road driver and God listens when you realize you can't go back where you came from and just have to get up this next hill...

One of the coolest arches in the park. It was worth all the crazy back roading we had to do to get there. 

Wouldn't you know it, the truck didn't mind the crazy rocks and sand one little bit. But a few mile stretch of washboards (which cars were driving on) did it in. We were able to get a diagnosis and a sawzall and mostly got it corrected before the sun went down. We also found a great roadside to make dinner next to the Colorado River. 

Day 3, what we have all been waiting for. The canyons. Who would have thought this would take just a few miles to become...

This...

And eventually this!! So incredible. My first time in an actual slot canyon narrows. Good thing all of us like small spaces...

It eventually brought us to 'the actual end', which is only the end if you don't bring rappelling gear. We were prepared to rappel in the second canyon, but not this one. 

Canyons really are photogenic. 

Canyon 2 was a cause for much discussion. We had planned to hike to the top and rappel in, but now we were running out of light, I was cold, and there was more water than we had planned. Eventually we decided to just hike up and back like we did in canyon 1. This turned out to be a good call because not only was there lots of water, but I got rather sick during this hike as well. Once again, Anna to the rescue, who hiked slowly with me while the boys went on ahead. 

They had all manner of fun times while we followed slowly. We caught up just in time for the water. 

One more step and he started swimming... Three brave souls went across (and one equally brave stayed with me and helped me feel better). I have just wonderful videos of them screaming while they swam through 32.1 degree canyon water.

Quite pleased with themselves. True canyon swimmers now. 

We camped in Capitol Reef National Park. After two canyons in one day, all we really wanted to do was eat warm ramen and go to sleep. 

Finally, a picture of the glowing tent. We try on every trip...

The morning of day 4 dawned rainy and cold with a storm blowing in. We were warned the interstate might close and should make tracks for home. However, being a fan of trees, I convinced our fearless leader to take us to Dixie National Forest really quick first. 

After days of sand and rocks, this felt like some enchanted land. It was snowing little pellet snow, but that couldn't keep up from taking off for the highest 'peak' we could see. 

Working on our mountain goat skills. Mine involve using brother-in-laws to steady me on slippery logs...

It wasn't an actual summit, but it was the tallest thing we could see. 

It was also windy beyond all reason and snowing like crazy. I honestly thought one of us might blow off the top and need to be collected on the way back down. 

God continued to watch over us. Apparently the truck did sustain a little damage from the off roading, and decided to announce this by delaminating a tire at 65 mph in the mountains. As it was, we had just finished the curvy, windy stretch with drop-offs and were in a perfect place to pull over. Another reminder to take no amount of perfect timing for granted. 

We went south towards Colorado Springs to miss the snow storm, but it followed us. This was all beautiful grass when we crawled into our tents. Oh well. At least it was only a few inches instead of the 7-14 they were getting up in Denver. 

I will gladly wake up in a cold tent every morning if I also get to wake up to this face, just a few inches from mine, all excited because it snowed on us. 

Final view from the tent. I love what snow does to evergreen trees....

Sadly, all the tourist attractions of Cripple Creek were shut down due to the snow, except for the $.49 breakfast plates the the Old Home Cafe! We ate until we couldn't eat anymore and headed for home. After driving through a snowstorm, a thunderstorm and a dust storm all in one day, we rolled into our own little driveway, happy to be home and full of wonderful memories.