Day 2 out West

{ Day 2 - Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park - Moab, UT }
We stayed in Green River, UT which is about 45 minutes out of Moab, so the next day we woke up at 4:00am so we could drive in to hike and see the sunrise at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park- the Island in the Sky district. It was an EARLY morning, but definitely worth it. The sunrise at Mesa Arch is stunning. It literally creates a glow beneath the arch as you look out over the canyon.

Above is a picture of the view through the arch.

Below, me and Mal as the sun began to rise overlooking the view beside Mesa Arch.

  

Above - the Sunrise view from the overlook by Mesa Arch. 

Below - Sunrise glow beneath Mesa Arch. 

Above - Daddy capturing his shot at Mesa Arch.
Afterwards, we went into Moab for some much needed coffee and a delicious breakfast at Jailhouse Cafe in downtown Moab. Then we headed back into Arches National Park to view more of the arches.

First up - Double Arch. 

 

The view was stunning. Every time we saw something new we thought, "nothing can top this," and then we would get to the next site. It's just amazing how beautiful our country is. 

Then we went to North and South Window Arch.

 
and we finished the day at Landscape Arch (pictured above) before heading back to Green River for the evening. Pictures don't even do these place justice, the size of these arches is insane.

All of these pictures were taken with my iPhone, so you can imagine how beautiful the ones my dad captured on his camera are going to be!

Also this day we visited within Arches National Park: Devils Garden, Turret Arch, and Skyline Arch. I just don't have them pictured within the post.

Utah.

It's been ages since I've blogged, and a lot has happened in the last few months. Finished up my first year of pharmacy school, enjoyed the pledging process as I joined Kappa Epsilon at school, and took our first family vacation in YEARS.

The day after school finished we all packed up and headed out West for 8 days, and it was an absolute blast. You may have seen a bunch of our pictures on my instagram, but I have to blog about it before I forget all of the stops we made. :)

We flew into SLC, then had a connecting flight in Grand Junction, CO. We got there late that night, so the next morning we woke up and drove into Utah. It's so crazy how different it looks as you drive out West compared to Georgia. We loved getting to see the change in geography as we drove between our destinations.

We spent the first day stopping in two ghost towns, seeing some Indian petroglyphs (cave paintings), and ending the day at Arches National Park hiking to the Delicate Arch for sunset. My dad is a photographer, so we spent time in both of the ghost towns we visited taking some fun portraits.

 

The first was taken in Cisco, UT, a tiny little ghost town on our way to Moab. The shot below was taken in Sego Canyon, in what used to be a general store. 

 

We still haven't had a chance to go through all of the shots we took, so I can't wait to post more after we do!

Above is a picture of some of the petroglyphs in Sego Canyon.

Next up, we headed into Arches National Park - probably one of my favorite places we went. Below is one of the first picturesque scenes you see as you enter the park -- Park Avenue. It takes your breath away. 

 Below is a shot looking back through Park Avenue shot from the Courthouse Towers viewing area.

Below is me and Mal at Balancing Rock. 

Next we hiked up to Delicate Arch, and WHAT a hike. It was definitely a lot more strenuous than we anticipated.. granted, I'm super out of shape. 

It's the coolest thing though, because just when you're starting to question how much further you have to go, you round the corner of this cliff and there it is. Absolutely breathtaking.

 It was just so cool up there. I could sit there for hours and take it all in.

After a while we headed back down so we could head back to the hotel to gear up for our next day. 

Can't wait to share more pictures of our next days of our trip.
Sorry it's kind of a picture overload, but really I'm not that sorry.  :)

I wish I was back there!
#bentleygowest

All the best,