Hello again everyone!
When I left off, Kayle and I had passed through Omaha and were on our way to Denver. On Saturday night, we finally arrived (another 8 hour drive) at Nate Falstad's house (a guy who lived in the Dutch House with Kayle). That evening, we took it easy and relaxed around the house. We played Settlers, which started and ended poorly (Kayle won AGAIN!).
The next morning, we went to church and then to Chipotle's for lunch. We had a tough time trying to decide what to do near Denver (too many choices) but settled on “Garden of the gods” and “Royal Gorge”. At the Garden of the gods, we climbed on some giant red rock formations (little did Angie know that the red rock formations would continue later on and get much bigger!!) but mostly drove through.
Royal Gorge was even cooler with the world's highest suspension bridge, which spanned the canyon. We took a hanging tram over the canyon, saw a small animal park (buffalo, mountain goats, some kind of antelopy thing), and walked back across the before-mentioned bridge. After, we waited in line for the world's steepest railroad, which would take us to the bottom of the canyon (as the corny video we watched said, “an engineering marvel”). To Angie's GREAT delight, there were hummingbird feeders next to the line at which around 10 hummingbirds flew in and out, buzzing and chirping away. A few times, one nearly missed running into our faces as they zoomed around. Angie took WAY TOO MANY pictures of hummingbirds! At the bottom of the canyon was what is at the bottom of almost every canyon, a river. While Kayle took pictures by the river, Angie stood near another set of feeders. This time, the tiny birds were only about 1 foot away, and I could even reach out and touch them a few times (when their backs were turned). Then, a flash of brilliance struck! "If I stick my hand under the feeder with my fingers curled up, maybe the hummingbirds will land on them when they come to eat..." Voilá! The plan worked and several different hummingbirds sat on my fingers and thumb (probably the highlight of the whole day for me). I hope Kayle enjoyed his river... When we left around 6:30pm, we still had a long drive ahead, arriving at our hotel right around midnight, after a harrowing nighttime mountain drive. (Don't worry, Moms, Kayle drove safely.) We both slept well. :)
On Monday, we went to Mesa Verde (also in Colorado), where the Puebloan cliff dwellings hide in the rocky faces. We drove to (almost) all the usual lookout points, taking hundreds of pictures/videos (literally). We learned a lot about the advancements of ancient cultures, from little pithouses (exactly like they sound, pits in the ground with some straw overtop) to basic one-story dwellings to complex, multi-story and multi-room towns in the cliffs. Kayle and I bought a $3 ticket to go down into Cliff Palace, the most ornate example of primitive architecture. Boy, were we impressed- I can hardly believe that native Indians could accomplish such a feat without any metal tools! While waiting for the tour, we experienced our second hailstorm of the trip...thank goodness the car was near-by! On the ranger-guided hike, a Navajo tribe-member explained that the Puebloans farmed on the tops of the mesas (plateaus, or tables), domesticated turkeys, hunted in the forest of the canyon floor, and worshiped in deep pit-rooms called kivas. The lineage was passed down through the mothers, who pretty much were held in highest authority, as far as archaeologists could tell. The path into and out of the cliff dwelling required scaling a ladder and some (convenient) stone steps carved for tourists. Apparently, the natives often relied on little toeholds to move up and down. Phew! Our first national park definitely lived up to high expectations...
On Tuesday, we hit national parks numbers 2 and 3 in the barren, arid state of Utah: Canyonlands and Arches. The first, we decided, is well named. We drove through lots of canyons, stopping at lookouts for pictures and snapping even more out the open window of the car. We also saw another video (guess the educational video is a “must” for us...) which explained how the canyons developed from solid sedimentary rock and further eroded into multi-colored formations. Our first hike was a gentle one that featured a lone cowboy camp (for long cattle runs), a shady overhang (much appreciated in the desert!), a shallow cave, one of the only continuously flowing springs in the whole park, a short climb up a ladder, and a panoramic view. Even though we drank all of our cold water-bottles and stayed in the shade as much as possible, we were sure glad to have a car with air-conditioning when we returned!
The Arches had many similar rock formations as Canyonlands (they are only about 30-40 minutes apart), but featured many more, you guessed it, rock arches. Here again, we drove to lots of viewpoints. This time, our 3 mile hike was so-called “moderately” strenuous. Boy am I glad we waited until the sun was going down to start off!! Refilled water-bottles in hand, we hiked up and up onto one of the plateaus where, exhausted, we reached a spectacle that we agreed was worth it. Delicate Arch towered over us and offered a spectacular view of the surrounding area and a distant thunderstorm. We have a picture of Angie standing under the arch like a tiny speck. We reached our car again when it was nearly sunset, taking pictures of the beautiful rocks as colors and shadows moved in. Another late hotel arrival and another deep, deep sleep...
Finally, today (Wednesday) we moved onto Bryce Canyon, stopping first at the Visitor's Center for an “award-winning” video (actually, it was by far the least overly-dramatic and overall quite good) and a stop to fill up water bottles. This time, we rode a shuttle bus between viewpoints, stopping at Bryce and Inspiration points. Here at Bryce was a unique landscape of hundreds of rock spires (called “hoodoos”), towers, ridges, and grottoes. Our hike was 2.5 miles, looping from the canyon rim to the floor (surrounded by the towering pinnacles) and back up again- from Sunrise point to Sunset point. What a tiring yet fitting way to end the day! We barely caught the VERY LAST shuttle to the Visitor's Center (where the car was still parked) and started the 2.5 hour drive to the hotel in St. George, UT. On the way, we happened to pass right through Zion National Park around sunset. We plan to come back to see Zion in greater detail tomorrow.
Well, that's all for today. I can hardly believe I'm not sleeping already (it's 11:30pm)! Hopefully, we'll soon post a link for a Picasa account to view the pictures from our trip. We miss you and love you!!
Angie and Kayle
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