Richard and Ann's National Parks Trip

We have been planning this trip for several years to celebrate turning 60 and being married 40 years. It's hard to believe it is almost time to start driving. We are quite excited and a bit apprehensive. We have never been away from home for this long. We like to hike so I have about 22 hikes planned along the way. We will also be on a cruise ship over our anniversary which is September 5. We have our cameras ready so check in here occassionaly and see what we are up to. Richard

Sunday, September 26, 2010

We are home

What a wonderful trip we had. The weather was perfect. No traffic jams. The biggest problem we had with the car was a burnt out turn signal light and a few blown fuses from all the electronic devices we had running. It is good to be home. Now to edit the 2000 pictures and 3 hours of video we have. That might take a while. Thanks for your support. Richard and Ann

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Our plans for today were washed out. We were going to drive the Million Dollar Highway on our way to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. We didn't since the visibility was zero. We went to the visitor center at the park and watched the video of what we would have been doing had it not been pouring rain. It looked so cool and we were bitterly disappointed that we didn't get to stay there and hike some of those dunes. The highest in the US (750 ft) The last photo below is the best picture we could get of the dunes. We will probably start our drive home tonight. See you all soon.

Sept. 22

Sept. 21 - Mesa Verde

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

We woke up to this beautiful sunrise. (photo taken right behind our campsite) Then we explored: Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch (one we wanted to make sure we saw, since a large chunk fell off in 1991 and it is getting very thin and fragile) but most important of all was the Golden Arches (which was where most of these blogs were posted) FREE WI-FI Now it's off to Mesa Verde for some culture:)

Sept 21, Arches NP

Once again we were blown away with the gorgeous views at Arches National Park. There was so much to see, but we will just show you the arches photos. The first and last are of Skyline Arch, which was a short walk from out campsite. It was also our favorite. The second is Delicate Arch. The next Double Arch and then Broken Arch. Tomorrow we will hike to several more.

Sept 20, Arches NP

Monday, September 20, 2010

utah

Utah is so full of surprises. Yesterday we were DRIVING on the Angels Landing Trail. 1000 ft. drop offs on both sides of the road. Of course there were no guard rails. Just down the road was a deer crossing sign. That gave us a good laugh. I think they just put that there to make sure you didn't drive too fast and that you were really paying attention. Every corner we turned brought a new and stunning landscape. We never had a day that was so full of "WOW" moments. We took many photos, but they just can not capture the panoramic effect. We are now seeing trees changing color to add to the beauty of this landscape.

Sept 20, Somewhere in Utah

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Yosemite National Park

Of all the parks we've visited so far, Yosemite is our favorite. As soon as we got to our campsite we had to chase away a bear cub. It has wildlife, amazing falls, big trees, canyons, spectacular rock formations. Basically everything that we love. We take, on the average, about 100 pictures a day so far this trip. In Yosemite the phrase I heard constantly, "Put the camera away, I'm not taking anymore pictures." Followed by, "Hey, quick give me the camera!", five minutes later. Apparently this is not just our favorite, but lots of other peoples. We reserved the campsites for Yosemite over 6 months ago, and it was a good thing we did. Everything was full and there were a lot of disappointed people that got turned away.