A lot of travel this summer. A few weeks after returning home from Lake Powell, we headed out to Utah again for a Dayton family reunion - my mother and my siblings. We debated whether to drive the motorhome on this trip but decided to make a number of scenic side trips on the way home so the motorhome became a necessity. We left home on Tuesday (8/22) and stopped over in Moab to stay a night with Jim and Anna Maria (Liz's sister). They are incredible hosts and not only took great care of us but took us to the Arches National Park...a place we hadn't been for many years. We decided we must come back to Moab and stay a week to really explore the area and take in all it has to offer.
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| Canyon Wall leading in to Arches National Park |
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Sand Dune Arch in Arches National Park
Liz, Lee and Anna Maria
Kids love the sand here |
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Landscape Arch
Longest natural rock span in the world |
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| Jim and Anna Maria Englebright |
The next morning we planned to travel on to the family reunion in Fairview, UT but Liz had a case of vertigo and was too dizzy to travel.....so we spent an extra day at Anna Maria's for Liz to get her balance back and Jim took me on a trip through the back country near Moab on his Polaris Ranger. It was great to have an extra day to explore Moab.
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| Indian carvings on a boulder that we passed |
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| Me with the Polaris Ranger |
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| Jim and I after a day in the Ranger |
On Thursday Liz was feeling better and we drove to Price, UT to meet up with my siblings who were visiting Price and Dragerton; two places we lived when I was growing up. We stopped at many of our childhood landmarks including the three homes we lived in, the church we attended, the school (no longer standing), Dad's medical office, and the grave of our brother Darell.
That evening we drove on to Fairview, UT through some beautiful country and arrived at the cabin that Mom had rented for the occasion. Actually, we didn't exactly "arrive at the cabin" because while the cabin was amazing, the gravel road up the mountain to the cabin was treacherous and the motorhome had to be left at the bottom. Six of my seven siblings were at the reunion along with the spouses of all the boys and we had a good time catching up while taking in the beautiful views and enjoying the hot tub. The cabin was truly awesome and had all the room and amenities we could want.
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| The Reunion "Cabin" |
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| Hot Tub - site of serious discussions |
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| Mom and my siblings in the kitchen |
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| View from the balcony |
On Saturday (8/26) the reunion ended and we drove south to Duck Creek, a beautiful campground in the mountains near Cedar City, UT. Next morning we headed east and picked up highway 12 heading to Bryce Canyon. Highway 12 is one of the most scenic roads in the country, winding through deep sheer walled sandstone canyons and climbing into beautiful forested mountains. It also passes two national parks, Bryce and Capitol Reef. We stopped at Bryce and rode the bike trail along the rim....it was beautiful and great fun.
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| Bryce Canyon |
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| The obligatory "selfie" at Bryce Canyon |
That night we stayed at Calf Creek campground which is a little way past the town of Escalante on highway 12. The next morning we made a 6 mile round trip hike to Calf Creek falls. This 120 ft cascade falls into a beautiful pool that's good for swimming if you can stand the cold. The falls were beautiful and the hike was well worth it!!
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| Campsite at Calf Creek |
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Calf Creek Falls
after a 3 mile hike |
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| The falls are 120 ft - beautiful |
In the afternoon we pushed on through Capitol Reef, stopped at Stan's Burger Joint in Hanksville, UT for dinner, and drove past Lake Powell via Hite on highway 95 arriving at Natural Bridges National Monument campground Tuesday evening. We have probably driven past the turnoff for Natural Bridges 25 times since it's on our way to Lake Powell but we have never gone there to see it. The short drive off of highway 95 to this Monument is well worth it. There are 3 natural bridges in a deep slick rock canyon that are truly beautiful to see. We're so glad we stopped to see them.
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| Campsite at Natural Bridges National Monument |
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Trail to one of the natural bridges
Before the stairs were added, visitors had to climb down that tree next to the stairs |
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| Natural Bridge No. 1 |
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| Natural Bridge No. 2 |
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| Natural Bridge No. 3 |
After leaving Natural Bridges we made a beeline for home. This was our second trip to Utah during the summer and we were ready to get back to some flat boring Texas terrain and high humidity.
