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On day four (June 25th) of our family vacation to Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, we drove to the Grand Staircase Escalante region. With the help of the park rangers at the Kanab Visitors Center, we picked Dinosaur Tracks as our first hike of the day. From our Airbnb in Washington, Utah, Dinosaur Tracks was only […]
On the third day of our family vacation, Monday, June 24th, we left the desert of southern Utah behind and drove 141 miles to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Many years ago Bill and I visited the South Rim so I had visions of similar terrain on the northern side. Boy, was I […]
Returning to Zion National Park On Sunday, June 23rd, we started day two of our family vacation by making the 50-minute drive from our AirBnB in Washington, Utah to Zion National Park. We found parking in Springdale and hopped on the free shuttle to the south entrance of the park. It had been nearly 36 years […]
Our much anticipated family vacation began on June 22nd with a ridiculously early flight out of Dulles International Airport. Once we landed in Las Vegas, Nevada, we met up with the rest of our family, grabbed our baggage, and picked up our rental SUV. Lunch was a priority and gave us an opportunity to catch […]
For my own ease in stepping back and reminiscing about our vacation in Wyoming and Utah earlier this summer, I’ve pulled together all ten days worth of recaps into one tidy little spot. I hope you’ll find this useful if you’re considering planning a Grand Teton area or Southern Utah vacation. Just click on the […]
While in Southern Utah, Bill’s bucket list included spending time taking pictures during sunset at Dead Horse Point State Park. As I mentioned yesterday, we spent a portion of the afternoon walking around the park scouting it out before returning to take pictures during sunset. There’s A Biker Working Very Hard On our trip to Dead Horse […]
Dead Horse Point State Park is a beautiful state park in Southern Utah just 32 miles from Moab. The park has spectacular views of the Colorado River winding its way below the mesa. The arid desert climate provides home to a wide variety of wildlife that have adapted to life with only about ten inches of […]
Our Return To Canyonlands National Park Designated as one of the Mighty Five in Southern Utah, Canyonlands is 337,598 acres of breathtaking canyons, buttes, mesas, and arches. Canyonlands National Park is divided into four districts: Island in the Sky, The Maze, The Needles, and The River (Colorado and Green). On our most recent visit we spent […]
Our Return To Arches National Park It’s hard to find a desert more beautiful and majestic, than Arches National Park located on the Colorado Plateau in Southern Utah’s Moab. The park’s 76,679 acres has wide expanses of open red desert dotted with scrub brush and cacti which are occasionally interrupted with spectacular sandstone arches formed by millions of […]
Part of the Plan When planning our trip to Wyoming and Utah, we had specific items on our agenda; obviously running in the Grand Teton Half was top on my list, but hiking in the Grand Tetons, visiting some of the southern Utah national and state parks, and seeing our friends was also part of […]
Convincing A Tired Girl To Go On A Phelps Lake Hike Just a few short hours after completing the Grand Teton Half Marathon my husband convinced me that in order to make the most out of our vacation, a Phelps Lake hike was in order, and there was no time like the present. I, on the […]
I don’t think the saying, I need to go back to work to rest after my vacation, has ever applied to me more than after the ten days Bill and I just spent in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. To say we were active would be an understatement, even though we spent a lot of time […]
Hiking Cascade Falls – As I mentioned last week in my recap of Bill’s and my trail run at Pandapas Pond, while in Blacksburg for the Thursday night Virginia Tech football game Bill and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather and changing leaves and headed out to Jefferson National Forest for a hike/run to Cascade […]
Once a year, my mom’s siblings and families gather along the North Fork of the Holston River for a two-day family reunion, and that two-day reunion happened to be this past weekend. There’s something for everyone with a dammed up pool for swimming and relaxing on rafts, baby rapids on which the the little kids […]
With the trail running bug luring Bill and me back to the mountains, we took advantage of being in Southwestern Virginia last Friday, and ran to the top of McAfee Knob. Well, make that – we ran, with a few hiking breaks! We were pleasantly surprised that the leaves weren’t too far from peak, and […]
On Saturday morning Bill and I slept in a little bit compared to when we usually get up to run. We skipped our run and drove to Giles County, which is not too far from Virginia Tech, and set out for a hike. Neither of us had been to Cascades Falls since our college days. […]
On Friday I drove across the beautiful commonwealth of Virginia for a family reunion with my mom’s family. We get together every year on my uncle’s gorgeous piece of property along the North Fork of the Holston River. It provides the perfect setting for us to catch up and reminisce! The river has been dammed […]
