August 19, 2013

• Our Mountain West Trip - Final Stage

  The final stage of our trip began in Utah and ended in New Mexico.  We have been working on our goal of getting the boys into all 48 contiguous states and Utah was the final frontier.

   

  Jeremy and Justin have now visited or at least driven through the lower 48 states.  JJ came along after we began our challenge and he's standing at 32 states now.

   

  We spent part of a day on Antelope Island which sits in the Great Salt Lake.  Even though it has the same salinity as the Dead Sea none of us wanted to try floating in it.  The boys satisfied themselves with skipping stones. 

   

  We drove quite a distance on Antelope Island before we saw an antelope and he decided to sit down and rest about the time I had the camera ready.  Even though there are supposed to be buffalo on the island we didn't see any, but we did come across a small herd of deer.

  

  As we traveled around the west, I felt like I was feeding something deep inside on the beauty.  When I saw this cloud where we stopped for gas, I just had to take a picture.  I don't see such awesome clouds in the east.

  

  As we headed south towards New Mexico, we passed through Moab and were wishing that we had a couple more days to spend traveling.  As we drank in the artistry of the red sandstone, we decided that we'd like to go back sometime when we have more time.

  

  As we approached New Mexico, we began looking for Shiprock.  It poked its head out of the mist and welcomed us to the Navajo Nation and New Mexico.  I was back in the land of my birth.

  We spent two days in New Mexico.  As usual, my sister and I spent a day shopping.  I love the second hand shops and shopped for school clothing.  Mom and Tena both helped me in searching and I ended up purchasing more than I had planned on.

   

  The second day we were there, a group of us drove up into the Jemez valley for the day.  I had never seen the tunnels and I also had great fun playing with my great-nieces in the stream.  Many of us at least got our feet in the water and some managed to get in even deeper.

  

  We left New Mexico early in the morning after telling everyone good-bye the night before and headed east.  Our vacation was over and we were on our way home.  Since we had enjoyed our vacation so much we weren't ready for it to be over, but we were still glad to be home and in our own beds.  Now we have a new store of memories to draw on and more dreams to dream as we think about other adventures.

       

  • 7:18 pm
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