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I have just spent much of the past few days organizing the 1,150 pictures taken while on vacation.  I even had Clif scan the pictures taken on the Kodak disposable camera we had to use at the Grand Canyon South Rim.  As I was going through these, I realized, I have some favorite pictures in addition to those already posted I'd like to share.  I have compiled 2 Volumes of Vacation Books through Walgreens which I ordered yesterday.  They'll be in next week.  Then, I'll have memories to share without shlepping the laptop along.  Not only that, I think friends and family would rather see 300 of the best pictures than all 1,150!
                   
                The first view of the canyon at 7:00am.  We didn't realize Arizona doesn't observe  Daylight Savings time, and were confused as to why the Visitor Center wasn't opened at 8:00!  This is actually the view of where (unbeknownst to us) the Ooh Aah Point is that we hiked to just an hour later.


                The trail to get to Ooh Aah Point.  It was quite steep, especially for us FL folks.








         Having to make room for the mules coming up.  They have priority on the trails.
You can see our destination of Ooh Aah Point where all the people are just beyond the mules.



I really did make it all the way to Ooh Aah Point, and have the picture to prove it!



    A view of the trail to where we started from.  Yikes, and I have to hike all the way back up!



The next day, we hiked the Bright Angel Trail.  Clif wanted to hike to the Indian Gardens which is the green area in the middle of the picture.  I didn't want to hike 12 miles round trip as we had just hiked 10 miles total the day before, and I knew how exhausted I was from that.  Anyway, he settled for a 6 mile roundtrip to the 3 mile overlook.  As it was it took 6 hours with all the scenery and rest breaks along the way.




Now, I want you to pay special attention to the canyon area north of the Indian Gardens because when Clif and I got to the North Rim, we photographed the North Kaibab Trail that leads into the Bright Angel Trail from the opposite direction.  Unfortunately, even though we could see the Indian Gardens from the North Rim, our camera did not pick it up.  Hikers hike one way down the Kaibab Trail to Phantom Ranch on the Colorado River, then leave at 4am to hike up the Bright Angel Trail and catch the shuttle bus at 1:00pm to take them back to the North Rim.  Clif would love to do that some day.  He'll have to go by himself, or find someone to go with him.  That seems like torture to me.

Then of course, the view from the 3 mile point that shows what we have to hike to get back out.
Hmmm, taking a closer look, this might be the 1.5 mile rest point.  I don't remember that being where the comfort station was located.  Either way, it's a long hike up to get out of the canyon.

The next 2 pictures are the opposite view from the North Rim I referred to earlier.  The deepest revine is where the trail is.

I forgot when we hiked another trail, we were able to get a different view of the Indian Gardens.  You just can't see the Kaibab Trail from here.  It's the small green area located on towards the valley on the opposite side of the canyon.

One side note... make sure if you do both rims, to go out at night.  Look from the South Rim, and you can see the lights on the North Rim, Phantom Ranch, and Indian Gardens.  It looks really cool.  Then on the North Rim, look from the Lodge, and you can not only see the South Rim lit up, but the airport, and the windmill lights all the way near Flagstaff!

Some of the hikes we took on the North Rim offered some neat scenery.  This was Cliff Spring.
The trail was along the ridge most of the way.  It eventually narrowed and got steep and slippery.

I refused to go any further.  The trail was too narrow, and the dropoffs were steep!  I plunked my butt down, and stayed put while Clif explored.

This was the view from where I was sitting.  The mountain way off in the distance is the highest peak in Arizona.  Flagstaff sits at its base.

Moving along to Zion National Park.  I would have loved to have had time to explore, but unfortunately, unless you get there before 10am, you will not find parking anywhere.  Anyway, the feature that fascinated me the most about this park is that the rocks look like soft swirled ice cream with orange dye cast into them.  Around each corner brought a different perspective.

We had to drive through a 1.1 mile tunnel that has delays because buses and RVs have to drive down the center lane because of the curvature in the tunnel, creating one lane traffic.  Therefore, it was like a construction zone with the flagman indicating when to go with their slow/stop signs.  They even constructed windows in it to help with ventilation.

My second favorite park was Bryce Canyon.  It was small, not too busy, and the Hoodoos were interesting.  It was like looking at clouds.  Each formation brought on a different scene.  This picture I imagined being in Jerusalem.  Being able to look out and see such a variety of landscape makes me in awe of God's creation.  In this area, we were hiking the rim.  We started at the point in the far distance just left of the highest trees. (That is the Bryce Point overlook).  The Escalante Grand Staircase National Park is the mountain range in the distance.

I would have loved to have spent more time in Eastern Idaho.  The Mesa Falls were gorgeous.  The forests were lush and not yet damaged by fire or beetles.  This is my favorite photo of Clif's.
Hopefully, it won't revert to a little red box as has done before publishing this!



This picture just captures the sheer beauty of the forest.  This is viewing from the Lower Mesa Falls
overlook.

As far as the most beautiful park we visited in my opinion is The Grand Teton National Park.  Almost every picture we took I wanted to make into a piece of canvas art work.  Some pictures don't even look like they can be real, but simply imagined by an artist.  But now that I think about it, who is a better artist other than God, the Creator, himself?!

Look at how the sunrays just shine upon the pasture.  To me, God is saying, "My favor is upon you."

The next two pictures I would make into a puzzles.  They would be fun to put together.

The lakes are so crystal clear, you can see the bottom everywhere you look.  The reflections are simply amazing.

You can take the ferry across Jenny Lake to hike the Tetons.  We didn't have enough time to do this. 

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I would have loved to have hiked the Cascade Trail.  If you look closely, you can see the cascade falling along the mountain side.

Our first day in Yellowstone we caught glimpse of the elk at 6:30am.

I did enjoy seeing a variety of wildlife.  I didn't realize Buffalo swim.  I heard this big splash while waiting to see wolves (which I never saw), and then looked to find this buffalo.

On our Mt. Washburn hike, I did like this picture because if captured not only the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, but Yellowstone Lake, and "The Cauldron" from the volcano.

I also liked this picture because it shows the vastness of Yellowstone Lake.



I did enjoy the drive to Firehole Lake.  It got its name from the numerous hot springs that feed this body of water.  It then flows into the Firehole River.  This is one lake you would not want to swim in!

Our drive heading East out of Yellowstone offered some beautiful scenery.

This is Yellowstone Lake emptying into the Yellowstone River which flows north.  Word has it before either the Volcano, or an earthquake (I don't remember which), the lake used to empty to the south.

When navigating Clif, I just tend to look for the shortest distance to get to our desired location.  The next portion of our drive took us through US14 right through the heart of The Big Horn Sheep Mountains in WY.  It was a steep and curvy ride!

These are two of my favorite photos of my least favorite park...The Badlands.
I love them because it shows how barren everything is.


Would you really want to hike through this?  I wouldn't.



We had a wonderful vacation.  Clif and I will be talking about this for years to come.  I asked Clif, "The next time we venture out west, can we PLEASE fly and not drive?"  The drive through the deserts and grasslands are SO boring, I could really do without!

Silver Dollar City

Being we only had 1 day to spend in Branson, we decided to go to Silver Dollar City.  I have never been to the area.  Many people I've talked to love Branson.  I wanted to see what it was all about.  We set up camp at Table Rock State Park.  This was a nice area and conveniently located to all the attractions.  I would like to go back there in the future and spend some time.  There is so much to do from outdoor activities to theme parks to theatre.  Silver Dollar City seemed to be able to give us each of these tastes.  It's similar to Dollywood in most ways.  One major difference is that they have a cave that you can tour.  I highly recommend this.  The tour guide we had was so funny.  Clif and I needed humor after being in the car 12 hours the day before.  The sights in the cavern were amazing.

            We hiked down upteen stairs to get to the floor of the cathedral room.


                 Hiked down upteen more stairs to get to the waterfall.



                    And even squeezed through small walkways.



After the tour, we enjoyed the rest of the park.  We especially enjoyed the crafters.  We walked through Grandfather's House and had a great laugh at the slanted room.  Try to walk in here!



We finished off the day getting drenched not only from an afternoon thunderstorm, but the water rides as well.  It has been a very long time since we've been to an amusement park.  I was in heaven!

We are now safely home after one last night camping at Tombigbee State Park in MS.  And as you can tell, my blog is now up to date.  Walgreens picture mover is still trying to upload all the pictures we took on vacation.  We had a great time, but I am ready to get back into my "normal" routine.
I thank the Lord for protecting and guiding us through our journey.  God is Good! :)

Journey Home

Having spent the previous night in an RV type campground in WY, Clif and I decided we much prefer camping in State or National Parks.  So, as we were tootling along I-90, I was scouring the Atlas for a place to camp for the night.  I spied a few campgrounds along the Missouri River in SD.  So off we went for a 50 mile adventure through the backroads of farm country.

                             This would be a great picture to make into a puzzle.


We finally arrive 50 miles later to a campground along the river.





The only dilemma was the next day.  It took 80 miles to get back to I-29!  Needless to say, we didn't get to Branson, MO until 8:30pm.

The Badlands

On our journey back home, we decided to take a side trip to visit the Badlands.  It's a loop drive off I-90.  This was not my favorite park.  I was told it is interesting to look at all the different rock formations.  Truth be told, Zion NP and Bryce Canyon had far more interesting formations than this area.  After about the 4th overlook I was bored.  But, I humored Clif and shared his interest.  I did enjoy watching the prairie dogs though.  This was the only wildlife we saw even though the park says there is much more wildlife than met our eyes.

  This is the view looking to the south from the western part of the Loop Drive.



               The midway point.




How's this for a picnic area?



    Check out the temperature while we had lunch.  Our bread turned to toast within 5 minutes!



And we were considering a hike?  We decided otherwise after eating in the heat for 15 minutes.

Prairie Dogs.  They are so cute and curious.


With all the parched ground we didn't expect to find any plant life.  Then we saw it, the only flower.  The bees even found it.

Grand Tetons/Yellowstone

Last Tuesday, we were on our way to Jackson, WY with a rental car courtesy of the GM dealership who broke the strutt putting it in, and thus had to order another one. (So...the part wasn't defective after all).  Clif and I found a nice hotel to stay in, walked the streets of the town, and turned in for an early night.  Weds, we got up early as to enjoy the fullest day possible at the Grand Tetons.  This day did not let us down.  We had decided to drive the loop, take one small hike, and ride the air tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain.  The dealership called when we were waiting for the tram ride down that the car was ready!  Perfect timing.

The little blue Hundai was our rental car. We were surprised it did make it through the pass!




A herd of elk were grazing in the pasture at the base of the Grand Tetons. It was a small hike we took to see the remanents of a homestead that once existed in the area.


 Here is the house on the trail.



This is what I call a picture Postcard!  We stopped at this overlook because you are supposed to see beavers and otters.  Instead, we caught this beautiful view!



We took a short 1.5 mile hike along another lakeshore to enjoy the views.  It was breath taking.





We even spied a deer.



A family heading back our way from the second lake showed us their video of a black bear getting out of the lake and following them. Clif and I decided to head back to the car.  This was the lake the bear was video taped at.




Had Clif and I had more time, we would have rented kayaks and navigated the two lakes.  There were many kayakers doing so, and it looked like so much fun.

On our way to our next stop, we spied some moose!





Next, we ventured to the top of Rendezvous Mountain via the Air Tram.  This is the south view of the Tetons.



This is the north view.




While waiting for our ride down the mountain, we got our call.  The car is ready!!!!




Finally, we headed off for our original destination...Yellowstone!  We spent 4 nights in West Yellowstone going into the park daily.  After the first day, we were wondering if this was all to Yellowstone.  At first, rather disappointed with the road construction, sights to see were barricaded because of the construction, advice on hiking trails were the most congested ones, etc.  Clif finally broke down and bought a hiking book.  This was a gem because it gave recommended hikes.  We found several, and took advantage of them.  They were not so used, therefore, they were more tranquil.

I wasn't too keen in sleeping in a tent in grizzly bear country, so Clif agreed to splurge.  We got a deal on a 2 bedroom condo that was cheaper than the nightly rate at the Comfort Inn!  Of course the decor was Northwoods, so I was excited to get some more decorating ideas.



On our way to the North Loop, we immediately spotted elk.  Those who know me, know I can't resist a picture.



For those of you who haven't yet been to Yellowstone, know that the west side of the park is mainly volcanic activity via "hot" spots of all sorts; mud pots, hot springs, geysers, etc.  As for me, there are only so many of these to look at. 






I do however LOVE waterfalls!  The first few, I was frustrated because they are on the main road.  Therefore, there were too many people.  But after Clif bought the hiking book, we found some less crowded Falls to see.  Tower Fall is located on the NE side of the park.



Clif and I decided to hike down to Yellowstone River. What a slippery steep slope it was that last 50 feet! Well worth the slip and slide though. :)



We decided to see the Canyon Falls before heading back to our condo as it was just south of the cut through back to West Yellowstone.



    The Lower Falls offered us a much better view.  We didn't hike down the 380 something stairs to get the best view of the Upper Falls.  Seeing how many people were on the stairs was deterent enough for us.



These next 2 falls are located on the Southwest Loop of the park.

                                                            Fairy Falls
              

                                                                    FireHole Falls


We did stop and see Old Faithful.  You can't go to Yellowstone and not see it.  One word of caution though.  Traveling to that area from West Yellowstone before 7:00am is quite foggy.  It never occurred to us that 41 degree air temperature that meets steaming springs and geysers makes for thick fog.  Our intention was to get there to see her blow before the crowds gathered.  It worked.  Not many people were around for the first viewing.

                                                 The Fog....


                                                             Old Faithful



We took one grand hike to Mt. Washburn.  This is an area know for Bear Management.  So I told Clif I wasn't going to hike unless we talked to a Ranger first.  The Ranger let us know it is open for hiking, the bears are staying in the valley on the east side of the mountain.  We were hiking up from the west.  Whew, but Clif took the bear spray just to be safe.  This hike is 6.4 round trip and strenuous because of the incline.  I am happy to report, I made it up and back in the recommended amount of time.  The view was well worth the huff and puff to get up.  The temperature when we started was 40 degrees.  We shed our first layer before we cleared the first bend.  The last of the layers were off by the 3 bend.  By the time we reached the top, I had to put it all back on.  It was freezing there!




        We're hiking up to that Fire Tower at the peak of Mt Washburn.  This was taken after about 4 bends before we could see it in view.






                          The View, simply amazing on a clear day. :)


                            You can see the Grand Tetons in the background.


We did hike to Cascade Lake before heading East toward home.  I was nervous hiking because we were the first on the trail.  How many are out hiking at 7:30 in the morning?  Then as we got a mile into the hike (which was a 5 mile roundtrip hike), there were warning signs of bear activity in the area.  This only heightened our senses.  Clif had his bear spray, so we felt good to go.  Usually Clif and I are silent when we hike so we can see wildlife.  Not on this morning.  We were chanting, singing, and saying all kinds of silly stuff of nervous chatter.  My first puzzlement was this loan beast....



I know there are buffalo in the park, but this was not in the typical area we had been seeing them.  As a matter of fact, far from those places.  This buffalo kept a watchful eye as we passed by speaking sweet sounds to its ears.

The next wildlife encounter, I thought was a bear out of shear startlement, but when I calmed myself, and found the head, it was a humungous bull moose who was equally as startled as I was.  It pranced into the woods, but in the clearing was its family.  It was then I was calm enough to take out the camera a snap a shot.



We finally arrived at out destination, Cascade Lake.  I would like to know how it got its name because there was no cascade in the area.  I was just thankful I didn't see a bear.  Although, we did run into an overnight hiker who said a bear was at the lake the evening before.



On our way back to the car, we ran into a Park Ranger.  He asked us if we saw any bear.  We let him know although we didn't see one, an overnighter saw one last night.  He said to just keep vigilant watch on our way out as a precaution.  His duty today was to scout the trails for bear activity. Hmm.
It was a productive 4 days.  So much to do and see. :)