rachel’s posterous

A little behind, but better late than never!

Yesterday was our Grand Canyon day which was spectacular. It’s hard
to fathom its size but we couldn’t even see the bottom from the North
Rim. Then we drove to Las Vegas where we are spending the day and
finishing up our trip. It was 108 degrees as we were driving here.
The low last night was 90 degrees…unbelievably hot! But a dry heat
thankfully… :)

Day 7 and we left Moab Utah and Arches. We drove through Capitol Reef
National Park and visited Bryce Canyon where all the pictures are
from. Tonight we are just south of Zion National Park and north of
the Grand Canyon…both on the radar for tomorrow or the next day, still
figuring that out. :) Lots and lots of driving today, had to go about
50 miles out of the way due to construction but such is life! Saw lots
of mule deer which Max really thought was fun…probably his highlight
of the day. Anyway, we are enjoying the sites and the diversion from
a long, long trip to San Francisco. There really is a lot of
beautiful stuff to see in our country.

Day 5 and we left Estes Park, CO and drove through the Rocky Mountain
National Park on Trail Ridge Road which is the highest continuous
highway in the United States reaching 12,183 ft. past the tree line
into the tundra. The pictures really don't do justice to the
incredible views. 51 degrees was the coldest temperature reading we
got. Dan did a great job not careening off the road down a cliff,
although I was worried. :)

Then we continued on to Moab, Utah taking a scenic byway (red rock
pictures are from Utah) where it was 96 degrees today, crazy
temperature difference. Tomorrow we'll see some arches!

Day 4 of the big cross country move. We woke up in Cheyenne, Wyoming
and then drove to the Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado
area. We wanted to do some hiking and take Maximus with us, so we
found an area called Hermit Park that allows dogs and hiked the Kruger
Rock Trail. It was a 4 mile trail round trip, 2 each way. Kruger
Rock is at 9250 above sea level so there were some beautiful views.
This evening we had dinner in downtown Estes Park, walked the main
street and browsed the cute shops. It was a great day in absolutely
gorgeous countryside. Tomorrow we are driving through the scenic
Rocky Mountain National Park on our way to Moab, Utah to see the
arches!

Day 3 and we visited the Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore,
both which are really amazing. We also saw the "Wall Drug" store
which seems to be a big tourist attraction in South Dakota. Then we
drove to Cheyenne Wyoming where we are spending the night. We've seen
far more cows than people so far in Wyoming. :) Tomorrow we are off to
Colorado!