Utah Getaway 2014: Canyonlands National Park and Colorado National Monument

I just realized that I never posted the pics from Canyonlands! It was such a stunning place that there’s no way I wouldn’t share the pictures with all of you. From the drive to Canyonlands from Moab to our hikes in the huge national park, it was a gorgeous place. Stunning. I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, but I can hardly imagine that it would be more breaktaking than Canyonlands. Of course, I will have to make that judgment for myself someday, I hope! 🙂

With no further ado, some pictures from Canyonlands…

Our first view of Canyonlands. See the awesome view in the background.

Sitting in front of Mesa Arch during a hike

Hiking down a sandy, easy trail to a canyon overlook

Enjoying the panoramic setting on the camera. Also, this is about as close as I will get to the edge.

 

 

Another awesome panoramic view

Hunky Hubs in front of an Aztec storage room on the Aztec Butte hike. We had to hike up to the top of a mesa to get to this cool find.

On our final day in Moab, we stopped at this crazy (and I mean, CRAZY) place where a family actually lived for many years.  They blasted their home out of the rock, so there is a full sized house in there.  That part is pretty nifty, actually.  The family that lived there was quite eccentric, to put it nicely.  They had taxidermied (poorly) their personal pets and they were in the house too.  The donkey that died in the 1950’s and was right next to their bed?  Creepy!!  Anyways, we got a kick out of the tour and I would recommend this place to anyone who likes really weird stuff.

Yep, there’s a house in the rock. One of the most bizarre places I have ever seen.

On our way home, Hunky Hubs and I decided to see if there were any places along the way that would make for a convenient stop/hike/sightseeing tour, and we found Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction.  We found it to be absolutely stunning!  We took a hike there, which was nice since we spent lots of time in the car that day.

The trailhead for our hike at Colorado National Monument.

Stunning red rock formations

Overall, we had a wonderful time on our trip to Moab.  We got to see some amazing natural sights and marvel at creation.  We are very blessed to live so close to so many wonderful and beautiful places.  I can’t wait to explore some more or go back and explore these places even more!