I have been editing pictures like a madwoman all morning! I thought I could narrow them all down to a reasonable amount for a blog post, but that number ended up being 81, and that's only Day 1. That's a crazy amount of pictures, even for me...so I'm going to do my best to pick the best ones to post on here. The rest of them will probably be on facebook or flickr, so if you want, you can check out the whole shebang on one of those places. (If you're not on facebook, and need a guest pass to my flickr album, let me know and I will email it to you.)
Alrightly then, on to Day 1!
We started out the day like this:
Surprise, surprise, it snowed overnight.
Next we headed to the puppy-sitter to drop off Copper, (how that went is a whole other post), and then we were on the road. Yay!
This picture was taken right around North Salt Lake City, when a car spun out and did a 360. Thankfully, it was behind us, and the car didn't hit anything. The roads didn't look slick, but apparently they were.
The road's not looking much better here.
Canyons in Carbon County. I wish I would have gotten pictures of the entrances of the train tunnels. The architecture was amazing. You could tell they were built back in the day when things were made to be beautiful, and not just functional.
That's what I'm talking about! Buh-bye snow! It got really flat, really quick after Carbon County. In this area there was a dinosaur dig site off the side of the road. Very cool!
Our first sighting of red rocks!
Where Adventure Begins. Yep, that was our plan. : )
So all along we were expecting red rock, but some of the first colors we saw right outside of Moab, was this turquoise-y color.
Almost there!
At this point we went ahead and drove into Moab, filled up with gas, checked where our hotel was, and then headed to Canyonlands.
Up through the mountain with roads that were constant switchbacks. Not as bad as last summer on some of the road we drove on in California, but it definitely took awhile to get there.
We made it!
The first thing we checked out was the Upheaval Dome.
They don't know if it was made from a salt mound collapse or a meteor striking the Earth, but it was awesome to see.
We had to go on a little hike to get there.
Mostly uphill, of course.
I loved all these old twisty trees.
More climbing. Ha. We didn't actually have to climb that part, but that was how steep it was.
I can't imagine climbing on this rock when it's wet, it was slippery when it was dry.
First glimpse of the huge crater.
Checking out the view. (Or checking out what the mommy was doing depending on the man.) : )
I hope you can get a feel for how big this thing was. I couldn't get it all in one shot.
After we left Upheaval Dome, we went to check out Whale Rock. You see that little dot on top of his "nose?"
There was a man up there!
One of many buttes in Canyonlands. I'm sure it had a name, Aztec Butte maybe, but I'm not for sure.
Next up we have the Green River Overlook.
Spectacular!
Distant cliffs.
It's amazing what a little water, wind and time can do.
Don't look Mom!
Over the edge.
Brennan and Mommy.
Brennan and Daddy. One of our catch phrases on the trip was, "King of the Rock!" Every time Brennan got to the top of something, (even the little boulders in the parking lot, lol.) he would say that.
Another thing we said a lot was, "That's way far down." Here's Jason checking out just how far down that was. It was WAY far down.
Another canyon.
Snow covered mountains in the distance.
This area was called the Grand View Overlook. I wish I would have taken a video. No matter what direction you were looking, there was something cool to see.
This canyon was carved out by the Colorado River. The same river that made the Grand Canyon.
It was a little windy. You might be able to tell from Brennan's face. You might be able to tell from Jason's face that he is sporting a growth for March Moustache Madness. Thank goodness tomorrow starts April, and that thing will be gone. That's all I have to say about that. : )
We did some hiking along the trail at the Grand View.
Brennan was on a constant lookout for what rock he was going to pick up next.
There were all kind of 4x4 trails down there. We are definitely going to check them out next time.
A long way down.
They had these cairns all along the way so we didn't lose our way.
Um yeah, as if that was even possible with the 6,000 ft dropoff to the side of us.
The view just got better and better.
More slick rock.
More stairs.
Buck Canyon.
Don't the mountains look like they were floating back there?
By this time everyone was tired so we headed back to the room.
Of course I had to take a few more pictures on the way out.
"We've got cows." **Name that movie.**
" 'Nother Cow." **Same movie.** Ha, I just crack myself up. As for the cows, it's free range around Canyonlands, so they were everywhere...and apparently they aren't a bit afraid of cars.
Back down the curvy road.
Time to relax back at the hotel with full bellies, jammies, and some cartoons for the little man.
Ahh, what a great day!
So, that was Day 1 of our Moab adventure. I should have Day 2 up by Monday.
Have a great weekend everyone!
