Denver

We stayed with my mom's Aunt Esther (on left) and her friends Yvonne (center) and Sandy (right), at Cottonwood Farm in Denver. 

We had fun hanging out with them and their animals. Their Doberman Kiri loved chasing her tennis ball and frisbee. 

And we even got to ride their horse Shaniya, both with a saddle and bareback. 

Their cats George (below) and Gracie loved being petted and cuddled. 

Aunt Esther treated us to an authentic Mexican restaurant. For every other meal she cooked us amazing food. 

The Great Sand Dunes

Our second to last stop was very different then any other place we've been. As we drove toward the Great Sand Dunes they appeared below the mountains.

At the dunes we enjoyed hiking to the top,

Seeing this weird bug,

And the view at the top. Amazing!

But our favorite part had to be the sand board and sand sled we rented for the day. After waxing the boards they glided so fast down the sand dunes!

Mesa Verde

On Monday we were at Mesa Verde, which translates as "green table," named because of the green tableland above the cliffs. Before our tour we watched the park film and explored the museum and visitor center. Then we took a tour of the Cliff Palace.

One part of the Cliff Palace we learned about is called a kiva. It is a round room dug into the ground for ceremonial and religious purposes.

Arches

                                  At Arches National Park we hiked to see many different arches. 

This is the Landscape Arch.

   

Two miles into our hike we arrived at the Double O Arch. It's no surprise why it was named that. 

At the Double O we knew we could go a half mile further to see the Dark Angel, which we thought was an Arch. We had some difficulty finding the trail, so we wandered around in the desert for a while. We didn't find Dark Angel but we did find this creature.

We finally found the trail to Dark Angel, which turned out NOT to be an Arch. By this time our water tasted as warm as tea.

In the late afternoon, Selena, Seth, and Dad also hiked the trail to see Delicate Arch, the most photographed arch in the park. We climbed in the hot sun with almost no shade, but it was worth it!

Bryce Canyon

We had a wonderful time in Bryce Canyon the day between our time at Zion. It was so nice to stay at a campsite in between the two parks so we didn't have to pack up our stuff as often. We hiked on a trail down in through the Canyon.

The orange and blue colors of the rock and sky were so beautiful.

This is called the Queen, which we all agreed was a good name for it. 

In the afternoon the girls had some rest time while the guys hiked some more and saw the Wall of Windows.

We watched as the sunset lit up the clouds and hoodoos to end our day at Bryce.

Zion Day 2

On our second day at Zion, after going to Bryce for the day in between, we hiked into The Narrows. This included a one mile riverside hike, and then the rest was wading through the Virgin River in between the canyon walls.

Mud handprints

The walls got closer and closer together. We didn't get back this far, but the narrowest spot is about twenty feet wide.

Family picture in a side Canyon.

Zion Day 1

We had a wonderful time in Zion National Park. The first day we were there we hiked a five mile trail called Angel's Landing. It was named that by a man who said of the lookout at the end, "Only an angel could land there." The first two miles were switchbacks like the ones in this picture. It was cool as we hiked up we could see the part of the trail we had been on earlier.

The last half mile before the lookout was steep and rocky and had chains you could hold onto.

At some points it dropped off on both sides, like this picture. It was so fun! 

At the top was a gorgeous view of Zion Canyon.

And we saw two of the seventy California Condors that live in Utah and Arizona.

The Grand Canyon

Hamburgers for supper overlooking the Grand Canyon.

We were at the North Rim and with binoculars we could see the South Rim visitor center.

We hiked out to Angel's Window and saw stunning views.

The vast silence was amazing.

Las Vegas

On a Sunday evening in July we experienced Las Vegas for the first time. We felt a little conspicuous carrying our Tupperware camping clothing boxes up to our room in The Orleans hotel.

That evening we rode the shuttle to the strip where we walked through an enormous shopping mall mimicking the city of Venice, complete with a canal and gondola rides.

We enjoyed Grimaldi's pizza at 9pm for a late supper next to a fountain choreographed to music.

The High Roller, a distinct part of the Vegas skyline.

License Plate Search

Since the beginning of our trip we've been keeping track of all the state license plates we've found, and somewhere along the line mom and dad promised to buy us ice cream if we found a Hawaii license plate. And sure enough, in the Crater Lake parking lot Seth spotted the rainbow plate.

Even though we found it at Crater Lake, we didn't get our ice cream until we were on the way out of LA. But our blizzards were worth it!

We were glad for the ice cream since we were driving through 116 degree weather!

Since then we've been continuing to search for license plates, and we finished finding all of them just a couple days ago! South Carolina was the last one.