Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Three, Part One

Going through photos and blogging has made me realize just how much my dad and I did each day!

This day was no exception to our jam-packed vacation, which is why I'm splitting it in two parts as well.

Day three of our trip began by driving through Monument Valley, still on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

Monument Valley

Early on we began seeing these little huts on the side of the road with signs for jewelry.

My dad was all about giving me an authentic experience, so we pulled off to one of the first ones and took a gander at the little shop.

Let me tell you, this handmade jewelry was absolutely stunning.

The Navajo couple we talked to at the first stop were so nice. It really was fun to stop and shop :)

We stopped at four or five of these different huts throughout the entire day.

My dad was getting tired of it, I think, but I was on a hunt to find the perfect turquoise ring.

  

I think the worst and the best part about this vacation was that every minute we spent driving we had something to look at. Whether it was a stunning monument in Monument Valley, these odd little cacti that lined the sides of the road and spotted the landscape, or a canyon that made me anxious to see the one we call Grand, I never tired of looking out my window. The downside to which is that I could never spend much time sleeping or reading in the car :)

We eventually stumbled upon Navajo National Monument.

Instead of trying to explain it, here's a description directly from the website...

"The prehistoric Puebloan Ancestors built Tsegi Phase villages within the natural sandstone alcoves of our canyons. The resilient Ancestral Puebloans paved the way for current Native American groups in the Southwest region. These villages, which date from AD 1250 to 1300, thrill all who visit with original architectural elements such as roof beams, masonary walls, rock art, and hand and foot holds."

Just to the left of the shadow in the alcove you can see the dwellings.

Pretty dang cool.

This trip just kept getting better.

Believe it or not, these little huts above are how the Puebloan Indians "bathed."

They would go into these huts, cover them, and then lay in there to sweat all of the dirt out of their skin. Then they would wipe off the dirt, or, if lucky enough, rinse it off with a what water they had.

Sounds like a modern-day sauna.

After our history lesson at Navajo we kept venturing on to the Grand Canyon.

We came to the incredible Navajo Bridge over the Colorado River.

Navajo Bridge on the right, pedestrian bridge on the left

It was a blazing 104 degrees, in direct sunlight, standing over water.

I could hardly stand it, but we dealt with it for a bit in order to watch some people floating down the river.

Later on we drove further down the Colorado and ate lunch on the banks of the river by the company that sets people off on those 16 day trips.

This nice stroll under the Navajo was probably the most leisurely time those people had, compared to the rapids they'd experience later :)

I never would have guessed that the rest of the day would bring more incredible sights and a complete change of atmosphere.

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Two, Part Two

After Arches we began our trek down to the Grand Canyon, knowing we'd have to find a place to camp for the night somewhere in between.

The road took us through a town called Monticello, where we stopped to check out the tiny Monticello Utah Temple.

After that we continued on and ended up visiting my dad's Aunt and Uncle's grave site.

Our next little adventure was onto our first Indian Reservation during the trip. We spent the majority of our time driving through them, and that was definitely the beginning of our out-of-this-world experience.

We missed a turn to go see a sight, which ended up being to our advantage. After driving through a few small towns on the Indian Reservation, we were completely alone on the road. I kid you not, I don't think we saw one other vehicle for at least one hour. 

We knew we were headed for Monument Valley, with our intention to make it to Gooseneck State Park to camp for the night.

As we rounded one corner we saw the most incredible sight I've ever seen.

Let me set the scene...

We hadn't seen another soul in over an hour.

It was dusk.

There were thunderstorms happening off in the distance.

We were bordering Arizona. Desolate, empty, vast, Arizona.

If you've ever been down there you know what I'm talking about.

Imagine hundreds of miles of nothingness with huge monuments, like these...

everwhere.

So as I was saying, we rounded this corner and could see for hundreds of miles to the left and right.

On the left it was storming, right over the monuments in the distance.

On the right it was sunny and stunning shining through the clouds.

I couldn't even come close to actually capturing this experience, mostly due to the out-of-this-world feeling we had been having as we were driving.

So here's a photo that can give you just a glimpse into what this whole experience was like.

Yeah, doesn't even come close.

You'll just have to take my word on this one.

Anyway, we pressed on for the Goosenecks.

We finally passed a car or two, but as we got off the beaten path and headed for the park, we were back on our own.

When we got to the state park, I kid you not, there was nothing except for a French family who left when we got there, a few campsites on the edge of a cliff with nothing but a fire pit and trash can, and we were overlooking this...

Pretty sweet view, right?

Too bad there was NO way I was going to camp there, all night, with no one, and literally NOTHING for miles.

I'm adventurous, and I love camping, but I literally felt like I was on another planet, and if I had consented to sleeping there that night, I'm convinced I would have been abducted by aliens.

Anyway, my dad was aware that there weren't many campgrounds for quite a ways, but we went on to try and find something.

We ended up in a little town (you can hardly call it a town...) called Mexican Hat.

My dad and I both felt like we were in Mexico or Panama, and not the tourist towns...

It was sketch. 

My dad even agreed.

We had no choice but to stay, and there was no where to camp, so we ended up in a motel.

Surprisingly enough, it was pretty nice.

We cooked our dinner in the dutch oven on a little porch we had outside, took showers, watched the new episode of Breaking Bad, and caught some news.

I was out like a light and was sleeping like a baby, until the storm came.

As if we hadn't had a weird enough day already, it was pouring like crazy with wind on top of that, and thunder and lightning off in the distance - over the Goosenecks.

So call me a prima donna for refusing to camp at the Goosenecks, but if we had, I'm pretty sure the tent would be floating down the San Juan headed for the Colorado River.

I'm not sure we'd be alive.

I would have been abducted.

Oh, what an adventure it was.

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day Two, Part One

I'm having to split our second day into two parts.

Yes, we really did so much in one day that I can't cover it all in one post.

We woke up our second day in Arches National Park.

We had a plan to get packed up and ready early to make it out to Delicate Arch before it got too busy and too hot.

The hike out to Delicate Arch was really fun.

Along the way we got to see some Petroglyphs:

After getting a little off the beaten path and finding our way back, we reached Delicate Arch.

Now, for those of you that haven't been, don't be fooled.

The arch looks small in comparison to my dad and I, but that's an illusion.

 Check out the picture below...

 See that teeny tiny person in the blue?

Yeah, it's that big.

While we were up there taking a snack break and checking out the view...

...a little crow joined the party...

...and all of the foreigners were amazed.

Apparently crows aren't common in France? :)

After hiking back down from Delicate Arch we headed to The Windows, and then stopped at a few other arches on our way out.

It was hot, hot hot, and we were anxious to get out of there for a little relief.

Little did we know, we were in for some serious heat over the next three days...

Daddy-Daughter Vacation, Day One

So my dad and I set off on our somewhat spontaneous go-where-the-wind-blows vacation.

Originally I wasn't thinking I'd be able to take a week off of work to do it, but then I decided I'd regret it if I didn't.

First off we planned for WAY too much, which my dad realized a few days after talking. We were going to do Southern Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, but we wanted to get back to Provo for BYU's Thursday night kick off game against WSU so we cut the trip short.

We didn't plan for anything specific except to make it down to the Grand Canyon and then head back up. We didn't make camping reservations or anything, and it was definitely an adventure.

An adventure I'll remember for the rest of my life.

We left Saturday morning and headed down to Arches National Park.

My dad loves to take the road less traveled, which meant we didn't head into Moab to get into Arches.

Instead we off-roaded our way in the back side. 

We took a jeep trail road which was quite an adventure. It was rated a three, but we learned better pretty quick.

We ended up high-centering the truck at one point. The adrenaline was definitely pumping.

On our way into Arches on the jeep trail we saw dinosaur tracks!

That track is bigger than the size of my foot! 

Pretty sweet, if you ask me.

Once we got into Arches we got a campground in Devil's Garden.

It was such a cool campground surrounded by all sorts of different formations.

We even had our own little private cave and some area behind the campground to explore!

After getting settled and having dinner we set off to do a hike to Landscape Arch.

Here's what we saw along the way:

And finally, Landscape Arch below.

I apologize, the lighting was absolutely awful and I was shooting right into the sun, but you get the idea!

It was a great kick-off to the trip.

Amazingly enough, this was probably the least busy day of them all :)

Family Get-Together Part 3

We celebrated Jaden's birthday with a bunch of extended family.

That little boy loves nothing more than anything with a motor.

He definitely has a passion for trucks and that was clearly evident on his face when he opened all of his gifts...

Silly face :)

Aren't they just the cutest?!

I love my nieces and nephews so much.

Happy Birthday, Jaden!