Welcome to our September edition of
Tales of the Traveling Tote, where
ten adventurous ladies love to explore and
share their adventures with you as they
bring along their MacKenzie-Childs
totes.
Guess where Miss Madi K is? No, it is not on
an airplane! She is taking her first ever
helicopter ride!!! A couple of summers ago
she got to pose by a helicopter before I took
a ride, but she wasn't allowed onboard.
This time she got to come along!
Miss Madi K has had quite the summer. We spend
most of our time during the summer back and forth
from Lake Powell, and although that is spectacular,
I have lived here in Utah since I graduated and came
out to BYU for college, and have not seen all of the
Five National Parks that we have in Utah. My husband
has gone to all of the parks as a Scout Leader, so this
year I told him I wanted to hit some more of the parks.
Last year we had the good fortune of biking through
Zion's Canyon. Since the number of tourists were
extremely limited last year in the National Parks,
it felt like we had it all to ourselves. This year we went to
Bryce Canyon, which is just under 10 miles from where
my mother grew up in Tropic Utah.
We decided to start our adventure with a helicopter ride
over Bryce Canyon. It was absolutely breathtaking.
We had participated in a family reunion many years ago
down in Tropic, but somehow we didn't make it to Bryce!
It is a park that is so unbelievably gorgeous. Of course,
pictures do not capture the majesty of Bryce Canyon.
The helicopter pilot gave us a great tour and
overview of the park.
Afterwards the pilot told us to go check out the
last remaining airplane hangar from the WPA
during the Great Depression. The second to last
one was in Boise, Idaho and it burned down last year.
It is a beautiful old building with several airplanes
parked in it. Miss Madi K looks so good up
against the old logs.
Next we headed in to Tropic to see my grandparents'
graves and drive through Tropic.
It still isn't much of a town, but
has quite a few restaurants that
support visitors to Bryce Canyon.
On the way back to Bryce we stopped for a
short hike to Mossy Cave. The hoodoos or rock
towers in this part of Utah are spectacular.
Hoodoos are also called Fairy Chimneys.
Mossy Cave is a place my mom would have
hiked to growing up. She was born and raised
in this area and moved to northern Utah during
WWII for employment. She married my father
during WWII and then they moved to Wisconsin
after the war ended. My mom also worked at
the Lodge in Bryce Canyon during summers.
This whole area was her stomping grounds.
This waterfall on the hike to Mossy Cave was
the exact same color as the rocks. The channel
the water comes down was created by the
early Pioneers to bring irrigation water
down to Tropic.
Next we returned to Bryce Canyon to drive and hike.
Part of Bryce Canyon is known as Fairyland, and
that truly describes it.
You can't quite capture the depth and scope
and colors, but of all of the National Parks
in Utah, this is just magical.
The arches are breathtaking but
in many areas the drop offs are a little scary.
We hiked down into Wall Street. There is nothing
like being down amongst the hoodoos and
towering walls.
Then the next weekend our oldest grandson had
a pre-season game down in Southern Utah at Moab.
Moab is a little over 3 hours south of us
and we have been down here for Glamping
and side by side rides before, but I had
never been to two more National Parks
just outside of Moab.
We decided we would go down for his game and
on the way down and back we would hit two more
of the Mighty 5 in Utah.
Our stop on the way down to the football game
was at Arches National Park. It was just four miles
outside of Moab. This is the original
log home that a family settled in. It is
beautifully preserved, although weathered.
We didn't have much time before the
game started, so we raced up to
the main arch in Arches, which is Delicate Arch.
Delicate Arch is featured on some of Utah's
license plates. You can see someone standing
next to it to give you an idea of the scope
and size of this arch. It was pretty much uphill
the whole way, but since it was just before
sunset it wasn't a bad hike. We raced down
the hill to make it to the game.
This was the view leaving the park. The variety of
red sandstone is so spectacular in all of
this surrounding area.
We raced over to the ball field and although we were two
minutes late, they had already scored and scored again
as we walked up. His team beat Moab
51-6.
He is just a Freshman, but he was
able to get in on the second half of the game and
catch three passes. It was well worth the trip.
The next morning we got up early because we wanted
to see Canyonlands National Park, which is also
right outside of Moab. We had to race back home for
another grandson's football game, but we were able
to catch Mesa Arch in Canyonlands with the
morning sun shining through the arch, and see a
lot of the beautiful park.
We left all three parks wanting more, and we plan on
returning with our bikes and to do more hikes.
Now, after living in Utah since I came to
college, I can say I have visited all of the
Might 5! I did tell my husband that I
needed to return to Capitol Reef National
Park because we visited that too many
years ago and I am pretty sure we
didn't spend much time there.
So Madi K has now visited 4 of the
National Parks in Utah. Lucky traveler!
Now for our giveaway. Visit Cherry Kay to enter
our giveaway for these darling Halloween towels.
All of our travelers would love
a visit from you, so click on the links below to
see where they have been off to.
Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths
Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch
Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron
Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda
Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box
Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply
Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul
Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader
Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women
And stay tuned for our next adventures on Dec. 1st.
Christmas adventures are always so fun.
