Homeward Bound

After spending a very lovely time with Donza (did I spell that right?) and Norman, we started our trek back to Oregon. It's bittersweet. I could spend a whole month more traveling... but kids miss Skittles and their friends.
I'm sure everyone thought we were half crazed to even attempt such a trip, but it's been everything I wanted it to be. We've laughed our way across country and back, saw Jehovah's amazing creation up close, got a glimpse of what the new world will be like by visiting the Bethel families and made a lot of new friends. It's been truly the best time our family has ever had together.

Stopped in Brigham City, Utah

My childhood friend Donza Wilcox invited us to stay with them on our way through Utah. It is wonderful to see her and Norman again.
We found our old house and Nana's, here in Brigham and went to Peach City for milkshakes.
Donza and Norman treated us to a BBQ and we had a relaxing and entertaining evening before our drive home.
We've had such a wonderful time,  I almost don't want to go home. What a great summer vacation!
Thanks Trish for planning it and inviting us to share the adventure!

Bryce Canyon National Park

Today we packed up our gear and headed to Bryce Canyon. The sandstone in this part of Utah is just gorgeous!
We hopped onto another park shuttle and hiked a few of the points. The elevation is 8300ft here so I almost passed out! Well, the fat lunch we had didn't really help! Some of the lookout points had no railing so I could have fainted from that too. I didn't realize how terrified I am of heights...ugh...
Enjoy the pics!

Zion National Park

Amazing!!!
Just beautiful!
After we left the Grand Canyon we travelled about 3 hours north to Zion. When you enter the park from the East enterance you drive through a mile long tunnel right through the mountain. Inside it was spectacular! We drive straight to Springdale and took a shuttle into the interior of the park. They play a recording while you sightsee that talks about the history and features of the park. We finished our tour and ate dinner really late. A very exhausting day.

The GRAND CANYON

We stayed the night in Flagstaff and the next morning we packed up and headed to the Grand Canyon. WOW!
It really is spectacular and I am so glad we got to see it in person! Even driving around the east rim towards the north was gorgeous. We took about a million pics... I won't post them all though ;)