Incredible Arches

Saturday morning of our trip was another day to wake up early and hit the road.

Besides the stops of Horseshoe Bend and Lake Powell, we needed to get on the road to Moab, UT and Arches National Park.

I’d have to say, because of the uniqueness of the Arches, I liked this stop almost more than the Grand Canyon. They are two completely different wonders, though, that I encourage you to see them and judge for yourself.

Tiffany and I were amazed with how these arches were formed, and that they’ve been around for so long! The quick story of it is this: Due to the rock and salt layer this park lies on, it combines with erosion from water and forms the arches. Okay, that’s the VERY short story of how it works….but it’s also the story that probably makes the most sense! J

This again, was a trip that had the weather been warmer, we could have experience so much more of it. We were lucky enough to have clear blue skies, to get incredible shots and views…..but there are some GREAT hiking trails to take advantage of!

I’m the type of person who has never understood art. How or why someone thinks it’s a great piece, or why it was named a certain way I could never understand. This is not the case with the Arches, though. The names of these formations were all very self-explanatory. Take a look at the pictures and names below and see if you can see the name they are referring to!

The 3 Gossips

Organ

Sheep

Balanced Rock

Delicate Arch, I prefer Cowboy Chaps

Skyline Arch

Just an incredible view.

 After the Arches, we drove to Grand Junction to spend the night. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful friend and co-worker who lives there and she was gracious enough to let us stay at her place for the night! Thanks again, Annette!

Sunday morning, it was time to hit the road for the last time and head home. We didn’t have any stops on Sunday, but got to see the beautiful I-70 stretch in Colorado that is something incredible of its own.

Our trip was so jam-packed with so many cool things to see….it was definitely worth all of the car time! If you ever get the chance to visit any of these great places, I highly recommend it! They are truly some hidden gems of our country and something to add to the bucket list! And if you need some secrets on how to do it for cheap, Tiffany and I have the peanut butter and jelly sandwich menu to prove it can happen!

Wonders of the World

Our next leg of the Southwest America Road Trip was to the Grand Canyon. Friday morning we woke up and got on the road right away. A lot of maps we found told us it would be about a four hour drive to the Grand Canyon, so we were pretty pumped we made it in two….and, no, we were not speeding. At least not too much!

When we got to the gate and we were given a map, we were a little overwhelmed with where to start! We found the main visitor’s center, which also has one of the bigger lookout spots, Mather Point, but didn’t turn in time so we ended up going to Yavapai Point….which was probably one of the most beautiful places we could have started. Because of the beautiful weather, we were lucky enough to drive along most of the entire Southern Rim, with multiple stops along the way. The last stop was another beautiful one, with a great watchtower you can climb up for alternate views.

The Grand Canyon is simply breathtaking. Unfortunately, the weather was just a little cold that we chickened out quite a bit!! Nevertheless, we were inspired to round up some friends for a nice weekend getaway to someday make our way to the bottom of the Canyon…..when it’s warmer!

Colorado River at the Watchtower

We had also wanted to see Lake Powell on this trip, so we decided heading to Page, AZ after the Grand Canyon would be a good rest stop. Little did we know all of the gems that Page had to offer! We drove into town right around sunset, but still had the chance to see the Glen Canyon Dam – and one of the scariest bridges you could imagine!

At the hotel that night, we did a little research on what we wanted to see the next morning and couldn’t believe the great sites that were within such a short distance of Page! I’m sure you have all seen this amazing picture before: (Disclaimer: This is NOT my photography skills, but had to post it so you could see the beauty.)

Horseshoe Bend Canyon

It’s called the Horseshoe Bend Canyon and is 3 miles away from Page! Funny enough, we drove right by it on our way into town and had no idea!

We also wanted to check out a place called Antelope Canyon. This is what is known as a slot canyon, which allows beautiful shots like this: (Disclaimer: Also not my photo.)

Antelope Canyon

Unfortunately, we found out that with Antelope Canyon, you have to have a guided tour. Because of the slot canyon, it is prone to flash floods with the smallest amount of rain, which is you must have a guide. We didn’t have enough time for that trip, so we have saved it for the next trip!

This trip was becoming such a beautiful experience…..and we still had another great day of sites to see! Our next stop? Moab, Utah and Arches National Park!

Road Trip!!

When K-State Football started having a better than expected football season, I started mentally preparing for a bowl game trip. I’ve never been able to go to a bowl game before so I decided this was the year I needed to make it happen.

As amazing as it would have been to travel to Miami for the National Championship Game, my wallet appreciated the fact that the Wildcats didn’t make it there…..I’m not quite sure how I realistically thought I could afford that trip on a nonprofit budget. J  So when the Fiesta Bowl became our game, my friend Tiffany and I started planning. We knew that to fly to Phoenix would be really cheap, and even though the flights we found were inexpensive, we determined we’d be able to make it even cheaper on the road……let the road trip begin!

When we started looking at the route we could possibly take, we decided we should make the most of it and explore. Living in Colorado, you’d think we would already understand how beautiful our country is – but this trip kept us in awe the entire time!

Wednesday evening after work, the trip began. I loaded up our rental car, went to pick up Tiffany and we were off…..sort of. Because of rush hour traffic we didn’t actually get out of Denver until around 7 – which normally wouldn’t matter except we had a 14-hour drive ahead of us – eek! Our first leg of the trip was straight to Phoenix, via Albuquerque, and I hate to break it so many of you, this is not the real Las Vegas. Did you know there’s a Las Vegas, NM? Neither did we. We both sat and stared at each other for a second thinking; can you actually get to Vegas in just 6 hours from Denver? Sweet! But sadly, no.

For some reason, neither one of us thought it would be important to sleep on the trip there…..we were rudely awakened around 7am when we were just getting near Phoenix – and completely exhausted! We had only planned on getting a hotel room for one night, so when we got close we called and asked if we could check in early to sleep…thank goodness they were gracious enough to do that! We stumbled into the room for an hour and a half of sleep (yes, you read that right), to get up and turn around and tailgate…..we are serious about our Wildcats!

One of my favorite things about football is the tailgating, and I couldn’t wait to see some friends from the Kansas City area that made the trip as well! What made the experience even more enjoyable? There was purple EVERYWHERE!! For the first few hours, we didn’t see any Oregon fans, I was really beginning to wonder if any of them had arrived for the game at all!

Everyone knows the disappointment of how the game actually turned out (not ideal at all), but that didn’t ruin the fun we had. It was my first experience of a bowl game and Tiffany and I had the lots of miles still to cover! With our cramped agenda, we both called it an early night so we could get on the road for….the Grand Canyon! Check back in a couple weeks for the blog about the next leg of the trip…..