This tunnel was on the way into the park.
Just some of the Hoodoos found in the park.
Natural bridge found in the park.
More Hoodoos. Bryce is known for the Hoodoos. Notice the valley in the background. At the highest viewing area we were at 9100 feet and we could see into Arizona 90 miles away.
We spent the day in Canyonlands National Park today. This formation is called Merimac and Monitor.
This is Dead Horse Point. Legend has it that the indians would round up wild horses and pen them on the point (center of the picture). After they culled out the horses they wanted, they would let the rest go. One time they kept the horses on the point too long and many of them died of dehydration. The Colorado River runs around the point, but the horses could not get to the water.
This is one of the many canyons in Canyonlands.
This formation is called Wooden Shoe.
Monday we left Salt Lake City and went to Arches National Park. This is just a taste of the scenery we saw on the way. Nevada was not very pretty, but Utah is gorgeous with all of the red rock mountains and formations.
This is one of the many beautiful views in Arches National Park.
This formation is called the Three Gossips.
The tall rock to the right is called the Organ and to its left is the Tower of Babel.
This is one of several balanced rocks in the park.
This is a great view of arches.
Another beautiful arch. There are over 2000 arches in the park, but only a few can be seen from the road. Some are accessible on hiking trails and the rest are in the back country.
This is the landscape in Nevada from Reno to the Utah border. Very barren with scruffy dessert scrub brush. The only interest on the drive was a herd of about 6 wild horses and some cowboys rounding up a herd of cattle. Sorry, no pictures of these events. When going 75 mph on the interstate it is hard to get these types of pictures.
As soon as we crossed the border into Utah, there were the salt flats. We drove for about 45 miles before we came upon more dessert looking areas. We saw the Bonneville Salt Flats, also.
This is the Morman temple in Salt Lake City. It took 40 years to build in the 1800's. It is built of granite that was transported from a valley some distance away. Each stone took 4 days to transport then it was hand carved into the correct sizes and shapes to build the temple. The labor was all volunteer with church members volunteering one day out of 10.
This is the beautiful organ in the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was also built in the late 1800's for a meeting place for the faithful. It was built with unbelievable accoustics so that the prophet could be heard when speaking (no microphones in 1800). Shortly after this picture was taken, one of the volunteers did an accoustic demonstration. She spoke to us without a microphone and we could hear her perfectly while seated about 100 feet away. She tore a piece of paper into about 6 strips, then she dropped 3 pins and a small nail into a dish. We heard each item perfectly. We were also fortunate to hear the Morman Tabernacle Choir accompanied by the orchestra perform their weekly live radio/TV program. It was awesome. The choir has 360 members and the orchestra has 110 members. All are volunteer musicians, they must be between 25 and 60 years of age, live no more than 100 miles from Salt Lake City, and can perform a maximum of 20 years.
A view of The Great Salt Lake. There were lots of sailboats on the lake. We did not take a lot of pictures because there were not many viewing areas. The area around the lake is very flat and there are no roads that run near the lake.
I just had to put my hand in the lake. It was cold and very salty.
This is the approach to Reno, NV from Virgiania City. When we got to Reno, we discovered there was a big motorcycle rally going on called Street Vibrations. There were thousands of motorcycles roaring up and down the streets. We only stayed in Reno a couple of hours, long enough to lose about $40.00 playing the slot machines.
We headed accross nothern Nevada towards Salt Lake City. This is some of the scenery we saw. The Truckee River is in the background with a small ranch in the foreground.
The open road with desert scrub and bare mountains in the background. A very boring drive.
We heard about this beautiful lake off I80 not far from Reno. This is Pyramid Lake named because the island has a pyramid shape at one end. This lake in on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation, the Paiute Tribe. The water is as blue as Lake Tahoe. Worth the drive to see.
A view of Lake Tahoe. The water is such a beautiful shade of blue.
This is an island in Emerald Bay. There was a man who lived in the bay for many years and would occasionaly row over to Tahoe City. One night a storm came in while he was rowing back to the bay and capsized his boat. He was able to hang onto the boat until the storm blew over. He realized he was very lucky to survive and he built this burial site for himself on the island. Unfortunately, he was never buried there. He was caught in another storm, but this time when his boat capsized he was drowned and his body was never found.
A view of Emerald Bay. This picture does not show how green the water is, but it truly is emerald green
Another view of Emerald Bay.
We drove to Virginia City from Lake Tahoe. This is a view of the main street which I presume looks much like it did 100 years ago. It even has wooden board walks. This is an interesting town because it is built on the side of a mountain. This is the main street, but you either go up the mountain or down the mountain on very steep streets to get to the parallel streets. Many of the houses have a victorian look to them with lots of gingerbread trim. The main street is mostly shops and bars. One bar brags that it is the oldest saloon in Nevada. What a fun little town.
As we entered Yosemite from the west, we came accross this burned area. In 2006 the park service started a burn that got out of control. This shows part of that burn and three years later there is still smoke odor in the air.
This is a view of Half Dome (center) and El Capitan (to the left of Half Dome). These are the two most notable rock formations in the park.
Another awesome rock formation.
These rock formations are found throughout the park. Each view more glorious than the last.
This is Bridal Veil Falls. There is not much water cascading at this time of the year, but in the spring the water gushes over the falls.
This is a beautiful lake nestled in the mountains of Yosemite.
