Around the Country in 19 Days

Well---we did it!!!!!   We just returned from the best trip I have ever taken in my entire life... We spent almost 3 weeks driving our wonderful Toyota Prius (which incidentally got about 53 MPG) across the country and back.  We put 5,414 miles on "Mrs. P",   drove through 13 different states PLUS Tennessee coming and going,  and managed to stop and visit gorgeous places ALL along the way.

We basically followed I-40 on the way out and I-70 on the way home (with several  exceptions along the way).  We had wonderful weather (rained only once for part of the day),  no construction or tie-ups on the roads,  and we paced ourselves so that we had enough time to see as much as we could.  We had temperatures above 100 degrees at times ---and temperatures in the 30's (with snow flurries) at other times... That made things interesting --as you can imagine!!!

Even though we saw some waterfalls along the way,  this was mostly a photographers' dream trip... I've never seen so much BEAUTY in my life. Believe it or not, George and I EACH took about 2500 pictures!!! (Thank God for digital photography these days!!!! ha)...  I think we will have blog posts for the next several years!!!!!

It's hard to know where to start ---and we are both still trying to get things organized, in addition to 'jumping' back into life here at home...  SO----I just picked out some pictures for you to see today.... Hopefully,  this first set will just be a sample of things to come.  Sit back and enjoy!!!!!

PAINTED DESERT

Our first view of the GRAND CANYON was breath-taking.  We started on the 'eastern' end --so that we could get a good picture of the Colorado River below.

This one was taken from ZION NATIONAL PARK.  There were huge boulders on both sides of the road --as we took the shuttle bus from place to place.

Since CEDAR BREAKS is at an elevation of about 10,400 feet,  we loved seeing the left-over winter snow while there.  I loved seeing the snow in this picture above.

BRYCE CANYON is one place which needs to be seen in person.  The 'hoodoos' are AWESOME.   They look like lots and lots of people standing side by side.  Bryce was definitely our favorite place on this entire trip.  We were there twice during this trip--and want to go back again and again.

What I liked most about the ARCHES NATIONAL PARK was all of the strange looking rock formations.  The picture above shows some of the "Parade of the Elephants"... Can you see the elephants in the middle and on the right????

At the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK in Colorado,  we felt like we were in Switzerland.  At an elevation of 12,183 feet,  we saw LOTS and LOTS of snow ---even though the temperature was in the 50's on the mountain when we were there. This place was awesome ---and our 2nd favorite place (after Bryce).

Glad to be home.. We have missed you!!! Hope your June was a great one also!  Happy 4th of July Weekend!!!!! 

Hugs,