So this last weekend was pretty much one of the most action packed I have had in a long time! I took two days off work and some friends and I headed North! Boyd, Keith, Mandy, Rachel and I left Wednesday evening and headed straight to Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah. Bryce Canyon happens to be my favorite national park...and a great way to begin our adventure! I love the unique and picturesque scenery you get there as you hike through the hoodoos. The color contrast is also incredible- red rocks, blue skies and green trees! I LOVE Bryce Canyon! We had a blast hiking around, feeding chipmunks and enjoying the view.
After a long day of hiking, we decided to camp one more night at Bryce. The next morning we packed all our gear (which you should be impressed to know we crammed camping gear for all 5 of us inside the trunk of an Altima- we are awesome) and headed to Zion's National Park. Zion's is incredibly majestic. Sheer cliffs rising up everywhere. Once we arrived in the park, we took the shuttle to the entrance to hike the Narrows back to Wall Street. The Narrows is a huge slot canyon...and you are basically fording through a river the entire hike back to Wall Street- the narrowest part of the canyon. You can never go wrong with a hike through water and I loved every minute of it. Some people brought walking sticks to help them ford the river. Who needs that when you have a crossing buddy to hold hands with...definitely my favorite method to crisscross the river. On the way back on the shuttle, we were sitting in the back and Boyd had taught me how to split an apple in half with my bare hands...so I did. Yeah- it was incredible. Anywho- this little boy was watching and then proceeded to tell his dad what I had just done- how I was stronger than him...what with his gray hair and pudgy arms (ps. this guy had muscle and was in great shape). I wish we had had one more apple just so that poor guy could maintain his manhood in front of his son! haha.
The Narrows- Zion's National Park
A perfect hidey-hole to wait in and scare Mandy! Awesome!
We then drove down to Page, AZ. to meet up with some friends of Keith who had a boat at Lake Powell. We got there at one in the morning...so we slept in the cars and boat. We basically woke up with the sun and got ready to take the boat out on the lake. I have never seen anything like Lake Powell before! Sheer cliffs rising straight out of the water...and the house boats people take out are ginormous! They need semi-trucks just to get them down in the water. Put that on my list of things to do next time I am at Lake Powell- stay on a house boat! Our boat was amazing too- thanks to Crystal for sharing with us! We spent the day wakeboarding, swimming and being thrown around on the tube. The sky was blue with some fluffy white clouds...and out of nowhere this tempest blows in and dark, black clouds darkened the sky. Those who were expereinced with Lake Powell quickly got everyone packing up and we started back toward the dock, which was at least 20 minutes away. I have never seen a storm roll in the way this one did. It was fast...and soon we had huge waves that threatened to capsize the boat. I was in the front and the boat was dipping up and down- with waves crashing up and drenching me. I haven't prayed that hard in a long time! Haha. Luckily Keith was great at navigating through dangerous waters! We even anchored the boat off in the sand for a time as we waited for the storm to blow over. Captain Keith saved our lives! haha. Once we made it back to dry land we headed back home. It was a whirlwind weekend and one of the most enjoyable I've had in a long time. Loved it!
A semi lowering a house boat into Lake Powell...too bad it wasn't ours!
