Utah: Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, & Arches National Park

Our last stops in Utah were spent in Moab.  Moab is a cute town/small city which is not at all what I pictured but it was perfect.  There are plenty of places to eat, nice hotels, a lot of things to do, and in close proximity to the 3 parks we were visiting while in the area.

Canyonlands National Park.

 Dead Horse State Park is located right down the road from Canyonlands National Park.  Since we had some time, we decided to take a side trip and stop and explore another one of Utah's wonderful state parks.

 There is usually water in this area but due to their severe lack of rain it was all dry (like a lot of other places).  A lady in one of the visitors centers told us that their normal 'monsoon' season is July through September but they had barely seen any rain.

We left Dead Horse State Park and made our way into Moab.

 The next morning we visited Arches National Park and completed the Mighty Five (the mighty five is Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Arches National Park).

 The Three Gossips and the Sheep Rock.

 The Organ.

The Organ with the Tower of Babel peeking out behind it.

 Sheep Rock.

 The Tower of Babel.

Windows.

Parade of Elephants.

Fiery Furnace.  When the sun hits this area at a certain time of day, the entire area looks like it's on fire.

 The clouds rolled in but still no rain.

On our last day in Moab (& vacation) we decided to take a zero and just explore Moab.

Our trip to Utah was a dream!  We are very grateful that we were able to visit and we definitely got the bug for traveling out west.

Happy Travels,
Amber

Utah: Goblin Valley State Park

Everyday should begin with breakfast at a John Wayne themed restaurant!  My parents, who had been to Utah and completed the Mighty Five, recommended Duke's to us in Hanksville.  We, of course, were looking forward to this meal...I mean it's The Duke!

 View right before we got to Hanksville.

 Breakfast at Duke's.

 With our bellies full, we left for Goblin Valley State Park.

The Three Sisters.  There is a path that leads right up to them which of course we took all while trying to not blow over from the strong winds.  I don't know if Utah is always this windy but I could have sworn we brought the hurricane winds with us.

And now for the goblins!!

 While exploring this valley, we got caught in a dust 'storm'.  The car was a ways off and straight uphill so our only course was a try to shield ourselves behind a goblin.  After the 'storm' we were covered in dust/dirt/grim...we were nasty.  My mister's camera started having problems because of the dirt that had gotten in it even though he was doing his best to protect it during the 'storm' and all I kept saying was "I just want to brush my teeth".  So much dirt!  However, this happened in the morning and we weren't getting to our hotel until sometime that night so we made the best of our dirt covered situation and continued exploring the goblins.  The parking lot is located level with the park road and then you take stairs straight down to the valley.  There is no marked hiking trail, you just wander around.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of our Utah travels when we arrive in Moab.

Happy Travels,
Amber