A Capitol Experience

CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK

MARCH 2015

 Ever since our kids were young, we have come to this place. It probably started with my parents, or possibly even with Mom's parents. We have picked peaches in the orchards, We have hunted Easter eggs in the campground, we have weathered bitter cold, hot summer sun and suffered through intense sandstorms. After all of that, we keep coming back.

 Oftentimes we hike the same old trails, showing off things we have discovered before to a new and older batch of children. Half of the fun has been watching as the new ones discover the same places their older siblings found years ago.

 We hike with kids who just want to go back to camp and play in the grass, and others who want to see what lurks around the next boulder. We find polliwogs in desert cisterns, ants that can carry huge beetles over long distances, and watch as the bats come out at night.

 Through it all, we share tender times with our little ones. We laugh and sometimes we cry a little.

 This year some of the family explored the place where our daughters got stuck inside a dry "tank" the water had carved in a canyon above Hickman Bridge. As the older  and wiser parents saw where the girls were trapped, they found out just how negligent we their parents really were. Heather said it scared her. I wondered which was scarier; looking at where they had gotten stuck, or realizing that we let them get to that place on their own.

 Every time we go, the kids find places to hide in the rocks.  And every year we take their pictures in their hidden places

 Nathan was a little stressed out in the narrow canyons for some reason, but still enjoyed exploring.

 We found a great place for the kids to play under a double natural bridge that I don't remember being there on other trips. Maybe we weren't observant enough then.

 We got to watch some great sunsets and grand vistas, the best of all was the time we were able to spend together playing  and goofing off.

 But soon it was time to say good-bye and come back to the dreary world of work and school and all the other stuff we do.

But as we left, we had a new store of memories to cherish for years to come. Something we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Winter Wonderland

Janene and I were able to get away for a couple of days to see Bryce Canyon in "winter". We heard that it had snowed in the southern part of the state, so we made arrangements to stay at Ruby's Inn just outside the park and headed down.

Everywhere we looked was an incredible panorama. We took over 1500 pictures and could easily have taken 1500 more. We arrived just in time to watch the sun go down and the full moon come up over the amphitheater. Be still my heart!

The next day, we put on the winter weather gear, the crampons for walking on ice, grabbed our trekking poles and headed out for the day into the bowl full of hoodoos. At sunset, we watched the Sinking Ship slowly sink into the darkness.

We walked for three miles on a single track through the fairyland of colored columns. We had to stop every few minutes to take pictures or just be awed by the beauty of the place.

Then we headed over the highway that was featured in the Wall Street Journal this week as the "most stunning section of highway in the United States". We watched as windswept snow mimicked the petrified sand dunes that were hidden underneath the snow

 Janene didn't really appreciate my photo featuring the juxtaposition of two sets of curves, but I felt that both were pretty stunning. Maybe this is what the Wall Street Journal was referring to in their article.

 As we left Bryce Canyon we held powerful memories of the wonder of these beauteous scenes.

As we headed home, we drove the Burr Trail through Capitol Reef and the Waterpocket Fold. We were greeted by incredible vistas that few people ever get to see. We met people from all over the world on this trail. All of them had heard of the beauty of this place and had come from Australia, Israel, Germany and beyond. We are blessed to have this in our own backyard.