Gram's Visit

My Grandma came out to visit!  She and Mom drove out from Nebraska for her first trip to Utah.  We had a great time running around Goblin Valley, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Dead Horse Point.  It's my favorite thing in the world to be with someone as they see Utah for the first time.  It's such a bizarre place, and hearing Gram yell "Jemeny Christmas Judas Priest!" when she saw Balanced Rock was the best.  :)

hiking machine @ Capitol Reef!

Goblin Valley

The longer we live in Utah, the less frequently we tend to visit National Parks and do the "windshield tours."  Don't get me wrong -- I love the parks.  They were the first thing I saw when I came here and what made me fall in love with this state.  But after you've lived in a place for a while (almost 5 years!) there's definitely a tendency to dig deeper, explore more, and find new places.  More and more we gravitate towards places off obscure dirt roads.  The parks tend to get really busy with people, which can be exhausting after you've been talking to tourists all day at work.  Still, when family and friends come out to visit, National Parks are the first place we take them.  They're so iconic and gorgeous, and it's nice to revisit the places that got me out here in the first place.

Arches NP

Arches NP

Arches NP

"Jemeny Christmas Judas Priest!"