May 4, 2015- Our adventures begin in Zion National Park

We didn't set an alarm this morning...shouldn't that be a rule on vacation?!?!

We have gone at a break neck speed ever since we pulled out of Abilene 3 days ago and it's time to slow this vacation down a notch or two! Or at least today.

We were so exhausted last night when we hit the pillow so waking up when we got good and ready (and if you know us at all, that is never late) was so wonderful. It was also wonderful to wake up to the sound of rain falling. We enjoyed coffee and breakfast at the trailer and made our plan for the day.

We needed to get a new battery for the trailer so we decided we would first go into Camping World in St. George, Utah, which was about 20 minutes away to see if they had what we needed before we took a Scenic By-way that was suggested to us by several and that will take us through an area of Zion that the tour buses don't travel. 

We had packed our lunch for the day so we enjoyed a beautiful drive before arriving at the Kolob Canyon area of Zion.  It was actually quite by accident! I was reading the maps as Larry drove and mentioned we were coming close to Kolob Canyons and we decided to stop by and check it out! Funny, it ended up being one of our favorite parts of the parks...as it had all the beauty and hardly any crowds!

We stopped in at the Visitor's Bureau to pick up a few postcards to send the grand kids and the guy you checked us out was an Aggie! Small world, so he too made some suggestions about what that area of the parks offered. When we were at the gate, I was not really overwhelmed, seemed pretty "ordinary" from the gate view, but oh my goodness, when we drove into the park, almost on the first turn...this was the view!
We had not dressed to do heavy duty hiking but he told us about one we could easily do it in our Chaco's, so we drove into the trail head, packed up the backpack and took the 2 mile hike into an amazing area! It was so peaceful and we came across 5 people the entire time...that is our kind of hiking experience!

 On our hikes, we saw so many Cairn and some of them were so creative!

I laugh when I look at this picture, because it was one of the rare days we were even able to where sandals, short sleeve and shorts. Most of our days we were very cool-cold-snowy-sleet-rainy kind of days! Didn't stop us but we sure didn't pack enough winter clothes!

I enjoyed taking pictures all along the trail head, sat on a rock and ate our lunch. This was the view from our "table" today...not bad...not bad at all. 

 

Then we took the rest of the scenic drive, which did not disappoint! We saw countless colors of rock, amazing formations and grandeur mountains at every turn. 

 

 One of several tunnels through these massive mountains!

Aren't the layers of the rock just crazy amazing!

 I love this picture. We came out of the tunnel and the view was beautiful, the storm moving in and the sun trying its best to peek through those clouds.

 There are not words to describe how MASSIVE these mountains are. It sure makes you feel small but it also makes us so grateful that we are here. We have been in Zion one day and are already in love! Its such a crazy beautiful place. Tomorrow we will go to the main entrance and begin to check our some of the many cool trails.
Tomorrow we will go better prepared to hit the trails!

Went back to the campground, enjoyed some supper (which was cooking in the crock pot while we were gone), enjoyed a long hot shower (this campground has amazing private bath houses...very nice!). We brought some DVDs to watch at night, so we enjoyed snuggling into bed and watching a little show before we called it a night. Long full day but absolutely so much fun! Can't wait to see more!

May 3, 2105 - Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell

We drank a quick cup of coffee then headed to meet up with our Tour Guide to view Antelope Canyon. We rode in the back of a pick up truck with about 14 other tourist. 13 of them were from Japan and they had their own tour guide, so basically Larry, I and the other man had our own tour guide and she was so sweet and informative. 
Nice ride, huh! :) 

You could tell she loved her job! The Indians are the only ones who do tours through Antelope Canyon since it is on the Reservation. We drove in a lot of sand for about 10 minutes, then unloaded and entered the canyons from the lower level. What a perfectly beautiful surprise! OH MY GOODNESS! We were blown away by the beauty. Pictures absolutely do not do it justice, so if you ever have a chance to go...GO! Another huge perk was we were the first tour group of the day through the canyon and it was not only super peaceful but we had it completely to ourselves for one hour! As we left all the tour groups had shown up and there were a lot of people flooding into the canyon...what a nice treat to be first! 

 Spotted an owl as we entered. Lovely home, Mrs. Owl!

Our guide would put us in just the right spot, grab our camera and take a picture...here we are obviously holding a large torch!

 Isn't it crazy what God, sand, water and wind can do! The shapes and contours in this canyon were breathtaking. I took a lot of pictures, and they don't do it justice. 

You need to see it with your own eyes!

 We had such an incredible time!

After the tour, we packed up the trailer and the sweet people in the campground office helped us find and book a tour boat on Lake Powell. We made the decision before we left this area that we really wanted to see Lake Powell. We made a quick run by the store, ate lunch in our trailer before heading to the Lake Powell Resort.

The boat carried about 50 people and we had excellent seats right at the front, so great views! One of the stewards on the boat was from Texas and she quickly picked up on where we were from and gave us all sorts of special attention, very sweet lady. We enjoyed the tour of Lake Powell, though we saw only a tiny portion of this huge lake, nonetheless it was very interesting. 

 The captain took us into a canyon area that was pretty narrow. It was beautiful but crazy how he he could go in this narrow canyon and still be able to CAREFULLY turn the boat around. No easy task!!! The ride was relaxing and fun!!

Hopefully on our next visit to Arizona & Utah, we will see more of Lake Powell!

  

It would be an absolute blast to be able to rent one of these "little jewels" and spend a week on Lake Powell with the family!!! When this size boat on this lake still looks tiny floating in the water, it sure tells you how big this lake is!

 "Our" boat and sweet "texan" steward.

After our Lake tour, it  was time to hop in the Jeep and get to Zion River Resort. We had a very beautiful drive, and were constantly shocked by what amazing things would be around almost every turn. It was about 3 hours drive, but a very enjoyable one!

Well hello gorgeous mountains!

We arrived at our campground and were welcomed with the sweetest staff. We were pretty blown away with not only how nice everyone was but how nice the campground was! It turned out to be our very favorite of the entire trip. Such nice sights, trees, flowers, hot tub, pool, amazing clean bathrooms/showers, etc plus and super cute gift store! Looked like something you would see in Fredricksburg! It had such cute gifts but then groceries, etc. also. The ladies were very friendly and helpful about helping us in planning our days in their area of the state. We were here 5 nights, so we sat up our trailer, and started planning out our days at Zion National Park. Full day but very fun!

We have gone none stop since leaving Abilene so we decided to take a little slower start in the morning and enjoy some breakfast at camp, get our maps out and decide what hikes and sights we want to see and do! What a fun 3 days and can hardly wait to see what is next!

May 2, 2015 -Headed to Page, Arizona and Horsehoe Bend

Day Two of our voyage started bright and early. We decided we would get up early and get on the road as we are anxious to check out Page, Arizona. This day was a very long day of driving. It was hard to choose the route as Google Maps gave us three choices and we thought we picked the best one (route 264) however, it was a mix of hills, switchbacks and then tons of flatland and not a well traveled road...as in we hardly saw anyone! It was also a lot of desert land and a little of that goes a long way with us! :) We were thankful we had no car/trailer trouble on this road...because we had no phone service and we sure didn't see anyone! Do not advise taking this route!

We stopped in Barnside, Arizona at a gas station parking lot (exciting huh) and ate our lunch in the trailer. Not scenic but we filled our tummies and had a break from the car for a few minutes and then back on the road again. Plus we have discovered pulling your bathroom behind you certainly has its advantages on loooong stretches of road with no towns!

As we neared Page, the scenery begin to improve and after we checked into the Page/Lake Powell Campground, we set up quickly and headed out to look around Page a bit. We stopped at a place called the Canyon King Pizza.

a place Karen Rich told us about where we grabbed a pizza, which was in an old boat that used to float on Lake Powell.  Then we headed to another spot Karen told us was a MUST DO in Page...Horseshoe Bend. It was simply breathtaking!!! It was only a short hike out to the lookout point, and it actually felt good to hike after such a long day in the jeep! We got there an hour before sunset so we had plenty of time to take pictures (its crazy how many I took!!) and then watched the sunset and took even more pictures! It was so beautiful!

Thank you Karen for your great travel tips!!! (Helps to have a world traveler friend as almost anywhere we go she can give me tips and suggestions!)

We called it an early night as we were exhausted and knew tomorrow we would need an early alarm! We have a 7:00 AM tour time to see Antelope Canyon! Cannot wait!!!! Here are a few of MANY pictures we took at Horseshoe Bend!

We stayed until the sunset, and as you can see the changes in not only the color of the rocks but the water became almost black in color. So beautiful!!!

I am not a geologists (ha...I know big surprise) but this was the first day which turned into three weeks of seeing AMAZING rocks. Different colors, textures, sizes, etc. I am not going back for a degree in geology but I certainly have a new appreciate for rocks! How can you not be amazed...just look at all the layers in this rock! Crazy pretty!