#5: Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Santa Fe & the Grand Canyon
It seems to be taking too long to blog our trip in short bits - so here are pics from our final week. We camped at Dead Horse Point State Park just outside Canyonlands: a GORGEOUS campsite for many reasons - including the view at sunrise:
Later that day we ventured into parched Canyonlands. There is NO WATER in this park. That which there is gets trucked in from 70 miles away! Canyonlands is a web of deep gashes in the land as the Green and Colorado Rivers have carved their way towards their confluence... at any point you are only a few hundred feet away from the mighty Colorado - but a mile above it!
The sun was unrelenting: I pretended to be a small mountain animal and sought little patches of shade while we waited for our next ranger talk to begin:
We spent much of the day hiding from the sun, but returned at sunset to Mesa Arch - with its view of Washerwoman Arch in the distance (click on pic to zoom):
The sunset in Canyonlands was amazing: We RAN back on the trail to get better pictures of the sunset. It was breathtaking...
As soon as the sun was about to sink away, a lightning storm began to brew. We jumped into the car and raced to the next spot to try and take a picture of the lightning. After nearly 250 pictures, this was the best one we could take: note the canyon in the foreground by twilight!
The following day we left Utah and crossed into Colorado. No sooner had we driven over the state line and instantly things became green and hilly - AMAZING! We headed straight for Mesa Verde - the National Park where the Ancestral Puebloans built cities into the cliffs some 1000 years ago. We climbed between crevices and through tunnels to get down into our tour of Cliff Palace house:
To give you an idea of the scope: Compare the size of the little people walking far behind Jeremy among the houses... and then look below and try and find the whole palace in the cliff... (again, click on the picture to zoom!)
Sun tower:
From Mesa Verde we headed South into New Mexico to visit Jeremy's aunt and uncle: We had a wonderful time, ate gloriously, and explored stuccoed and artsy Santa Fe.
After 2 days of fabulous family time, we started the long trip back west - via the Grand Canyon. We followed a lightning storm all the way across Arizona, and arrived in time for the sunset over the Eastern rim....
Sunrise the next morning:
From Hopi Point towards the West: late afternoon clouds and light glistening on the Colorado River...
We were at the Grand Canyon during Monsoon season. The downside: constant fear of being hit by lightning. The upside: a gorgeous rainbow at sunset!
*Sigh* I couldn't have asked for a better Grand Canyon experience than to see a rainbow pouring into its depths on my final night there :-)
Our final stop on the way home was a wedding in Southern California - but Vegas was on the way and we needed a place to stay! We stopped at the towering Hoover Dam and got blasted by a wind from Hades (SO hot! SO SO hot!)... and then headed off to the city of sin and lights. Vegas is a bit like being in space: you can see Paris, Monte Carlo and New York all in one view!
The highlight of Vegas was certainly the fountains at the Bellagio - we watched 3 shows - and I could have stayed for hours longer. I will try and post a video if I can of the fountains. We drove home rested, happy... and could have stayed driving and camping for weeks still. But real life beckoned us back. We had a fantastic trip!!
Later that day we ventured into parched Canyonlands. There is NO WATER in this park. That which there is gets trucked in from 70 miles away! Canyonlands is a web of deep gashes in the land as the Green and Colorado Rivers have carved their way towards their confluence... at any point you are only a few hundred feet away from the mighty Colorado - but a mile above it!
The sun was unrelenting: I pretended to be a small mountain animal and sought little patches of shade while we waited for our next ranger talk to begin:
We spent much of the day hiding from the sun, but returned at sunset to Mesa Arch - with its view of Washerwoman Arch in the distance (click on pic to zoom):
The sunset in Canyonlands was amazing: We RAN back on the trail to get better pictures of the sunset. It was breathtaking...
As soon as the sun was about to sink away, a lightning storm began to brew. We jumped into the car and raced to the next spot to try and take a picture of the lightning. After nearly 250 pictures, this was the best one we could take: note the canyon in the foreground by twilight!
The following day we left Utah and crossed into Colorado. No sooner had we driven over the state line and instantly things became green and hilly - AMAZING! We headed straight for Mesa Verde - the National Park where the Ancestral Puebloans built cities into the cliffs some 1000 years ago. We climbed between crevices and through tunnels to get down into our tour of Cliff Palace house:
To give you an idea of the scope: Compare the size of the little people walking far behind Jeremy among the houses... and then look below and try and find the whole palace in the cliff... (again, click on the picture to zoom!)
Sun tower:
From Mesa Verde we headed South into New Mexico to visit Jeremy's aunt and uncle: We had a wonderful time, ate gloriously, and explored stuccoed and artsy Santa Fe.
After 2 days of fabulous family time, we started the long trip back west - via the Grand Canyon. We followed a lightning storm all the way across Arizona, and arrived in time for the sunset over the Eastern rim....
Sunrise the next morning:
From Hopi Point towards the West: late afternoon clouds and light glistening on the Colorado River...
We were at the Grand Canyon during Monsoon season. The downside: constant fear of being hit by lightning. The upside: a gorgeous rainbow at sunset!
*Sigh* I couldn't have asked for a better Grand Canyon experience than to see a rainbow pouring into its depths on my final night there :-)
Our final stop on the way home was a wedding in Southern California - but Vegas was on the way and we needed a place to stay! We stopped at the towering Hoover Dam and got blasted by a wind from Hades (SO hot! SO SO hot!)... and then headed off to the city of sin and lights. Vegas is a bit like being in space: you can see Paris, Monte Carlo and New York all in one view!
The highlight of Vegas was certainly the fountains at the Bellagio - we watched 3 shows - and I could have stayed for hours longer. I will try and post a video if I can of the fountains. We drove home rested, happy... and could have stayed driving and camping for weeks still. But real life beckoned us back. We had a fantastic trip!!
posted by Bronwyn at 10:26 am
1 Comments:
Ooh, can't find an e-mail address, so I'll leave a comment.
I clicked through to you when I saw the title of your blog. I've known "coolth" is a word for years, and it's so delightful to find someone else who knows this. Then, when I saw that you spend your time talking about Jesus, I thought to myself, "The web is a wonderful place!"
Blessings and warm regards, from muggy Michigan
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