Exploring around Bryce NP: Willis Creek

If you want to explore a slot canyon minus the crowds and the need to wade through waist deep water than Willis Creek is a great alternative. It is an easy hike, full of beautifully undulating walls. We headed here mid morning on a weekend after a leisurely breakfast and only came across two other groups the entire trip. There were lots of shadows cast by these tall walls, it made us feel small and we had fun with some silhouette shots.

Bryce National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is a fantastic place for easy hikes, beautiful rock formations, hoodoos and glorious blue skies. What I did not realize until I started researching our trip was how Bryce Canyon is a series of horseshoe-shaped amphitheaters, I always pictured in my mind one large canyon. As the sun intermittently went behind clouds, the color of the landscape changed throughout the day.

A couple of our favorite hikes were: Navajo Trail, and Queen's Garden.

Zion National Park: how good it is to feel small

Far below the towering rock cliffs I am reminded of how small I am. My problems, my worries, my life is really small in comparison to this whole wide world. I am grateful for my faith, my personal power I cling to. No matter how small or insignificant I might feel I am happy to know this great big beautiful world was created for me to enjoy. I realize it was not created solely for me, but when I am hiking amidst the hovering pine trees or the red sandstone and there is no one else around, it certainly feels like this was all created just for me.

Four Corners

Normally, I pride myself on taking well thought out, and researched vacations. I like to seek out great local restaurants to eat at or locally made shops to visit, but since Four Corners was on my list of places to visit and we were passing through anyways, it seemed like a shame to miss.

Zion National Park

This was the Summer we were going to introduce our son to the great outdoors. Some people dream about teaching their child to speak their first words or ride a bike, but we were excited to simply strap him on our back and show him the beauty of this earth. As we stood in line at the gift shop, a women got in line behind us to purchase a Junior Park ranger vest. Suddenly, tears started to flow and I made my way outside. The items which once filled my heart with excitement and anticipation are now the very reminders of shattered dreams.

Heading to the Southwest!

After much deliberation on where to vacation (our top choices were: Amsterdam, New Zealand and Kauai) we finally decided on hiking our way through the Southwest- completely random I know! We found inexpensive flights to Las Vegas and then made our way through Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and then Arizona. This was the first time we have taken a ten day vacation with the sole purpose to hike and visit National Parks.

By the end of our road trip I realized we had nothing in the way of souvenirs besides post cards because all we had done was hike, eat, sleep, drive and then repeat. Cameron and I have been fortunate enough to go on some epic vacations over the years, so this simple vacation was embarked upon with low expectations, which oftentimes equates to more fun. While I sift through the thousand or so photos I took, here are just a few to give you a taste of the Southwest through our eyes.