Category: Sights to see!

But first…our battery has been showing signs of failure, we decided we better get a new one before we go any further. The Advance Auto Parts store we stopped at had the battery but no one to install it. They suggested we go next door and see if Meineke could help us. They were very helpful by providing pictures of how to pull & replace the battery. God was in control directing us to this specific place and specific help during lunch! Dennis was able to get’er done in less then an hour. Very do-able but not so simple like back in the 70’s!

We’re on the road going South this time – the Blue Ridge Parkway! Looking for changing colors of trees and general beauty of the North Carolina Mountains! The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and is America’s longest linear park, running for 469 miles through Virginia and North Carolina linking Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Our first day was cool and a bit rainy but we explored many of the overlooks and vistas ahead of us. To see the giant panoramic views was amazing. It is such a peaceful and beautiful country, and fall colors were starting to emerge!

As we looked out, we could see a sprinkling of yellows, oranges, reds, and combinations of colors that were just starting to show. So majestic! We shared what a wonder it would be to behold all the land fired up in brilliant colors – we’ll keep this drive on our bucket list!

Near our campground along the Blue Ridge Parkway, we had access to “Natural Bridge” which is a National Historic Landmark. . We explored and hiked the river under the bridge.

The Natural Bridge is one of our natural wonders. In fact, it has been hailed as one of the nation’s most visited natural wonders and known as one of the seven natural wonders of the modern world. Natural bridge is 215′ high, 40′ thick, 100′ wide with a 90′ span between the walls. The “Lee Highway” US Route 11 still uses the bridge today passing overhead.

In 1750 when George Washington was 17 years old, he surveyed the site and carved his initials in the rock wall. We could see the initials highlighted by the small white rectangle on the wall above our heads. Pretty cool!

It was a fun little hike along the river, even found some waterfalls! We saw a Blue Herring “fishing” and Lorree was fascinated by the colors and sizes of the leaves on the path.

We moved on down the Parkway to our next camp spot at Stone Mountain (not to be confused with Stone Mtn in Georgia). Stone Mountain State Park is home to the 600-foot granite dome that is a designated National Natural Landmark and the historic Hutchinson Homestead.

We found the Stone Mountain Falls trail, which is pretty much a very long rustic staircase stepping down over 200′. From the top it looks like the river just disappears over the edge of the granite rock. What does the bottom look like? We had to know!

Pretty easy going down. We kept saying, ” You know we’re gonna have to climb back up all these steps, should we turn around?” Nope – let’s do this!

Pictures don’t really show off the height and steep fall of the water. Looks like it would be quite a water slide – but for 200 feet! Yikes! So glad it was just us this day. There was no room on the stairs or at the bottom for crowds of people to enjoy it.

Here it comes yikes! Steps all the way back up! We counted stairs and came up with 380 (give or take a few).

We made it up and even continued hiking another 3 miles with more elevation climbs that day. We hiked to the homestead and later to another falls. The name “Widows Creek” left us wondering if we bit off more than we should have! We’ve found that hiking is a great way to really experience the beauty of God’s creation and make lasting memories of great adventures…

…but our age is showing as we take rest stops and huff-n-puff a bit LOL! Those trails and elevation climbs did us in!

Our next campsite was right on the river with a deck! These campsites sure made traveling the Blue Ridge enjoyable. It gave us a “homebase” to unwind and plot our next adventure.

Finally…OH the colors! We’re so grateful that we get to see and experience these beautiful views – the trees and landscape are fire-ing up all around us!

One of the many iconic views that we were able to stop and hike to was the Yonahlossee Overlook. This is at the base of the Lincove Viaduct that we’ve “oo’d & ahh’d” over as we view the images of fall colors along the Blue Ridge. It was fun to actually be here!

Had we hiked up the steep rocky trail for the upper view we would have captured this iconic photo! We were happy to be able to see this location in person and add to our memories!

Another great spot! This is Price Lake found along the Blue Ridge. We passed this one day and had to go back the next day to spend some time hiking around areas of the lake and grabbing these amazing views!

Another day. we hiked to the Upper Falls along the Linville Falls Trail. It was a beautiful area – there were actually some people wading/swimming in the cold pool below the falls! Brrrrrr!

Before we left camp and traveled on to our next adventure, we decided to try a new-to-us campfire meal – Woof’ums!

Named “Woof’ums ’cause you just woof’um down! LOL!

After making the wood dowel sticks needed, we stretched refrigerator biscuits thin over the dowels and toasted over an open fire. We then stuffed these with sausage dogs which we also cooked over the fire. So fun and tasty! For desert we stuffed additional woof’ums with peaches and yogurt, these really hit the spot. We’ll be doing this again for sure!

It’s time to head down the road again. We’re looking forward to visiting with cousins in North Carolina and exploring the famous Biltmore House in Ashville on our next adventure – be sure to see our next blog!

Leaving Vermont, we spent a night in New Hampshire and we’re back on the road again! We’re taking our time….but let’s get to Maine!

“Bienvenue” is French for “Welcome”! We finally got to Montpelier, VT. (We had planned to be through here a week ago, see our last blog post about God’s detour) We’re enjoying the scenery, crossing the rivers, and seeing lots of “timbers” along the way.

We stayed one night in New Hampshire at Timberland Campground – a great place!

And we made it to Maine! Crossing the country from the bottom of SW California to the tip of NE Maine continues to be a great journey. We saw lots of logging trucks on the way hauling timbers – this is obviously a thriving industry in Maine! We’re making lots of memories on this 50th year of marriage excursion.

We stopped and had a quiet, peaceful, and restful picnic on the bank of Kennebec River. Kayakers were on the water making it look so inviting. We’ve learned there is a lot of history here – it’s fun to imagine what life would have been like back in the day!

The business of ice cutting and harvesting was a booming one on the Kennebec River. In fact, according to Maine History Online, the worth of Maine’s ice business at its peak in the late 1880s and 90s was more than California’s gold production!

After settling in at our campsite for the next few days, we set out to find a “lobstah” roll! Our first stop was a lobster pound just down the street from our campground. We stared at the menu…a lobster roll at market price was $32.00! (and the fries were an extra $5.00!) Yikes! But hey, let’s enjoy, right?! We were served cold chunks of lobster meat mixed in mayonnaise on a bun, that’s a lobster roll – and it was very good. We split one between us and glad we did as there was so much meat.

Then on to Bar Harbor. What a beautiful and colorful area! We enjoyed a great view of the harbor and this thriving fishing city. One of the main lobster harvesting areas of Maine.

As you look across the harbor, there are thousands of colorful buoys floating out there. Each design is unique to the fisherman that owns them. Under each one is a large lobster trap. These are often checked every other day for a harvest and then re-baited with dried salted herring or haddock, tuna, and mackerel. There could be anywhere from one to twelve lobsters in one trap when they pull them up. It takes lobsters an average of 5 to 7 years to grow to legal size. Any lobster that is smaller in carapace (shell) length than 3-1/4″ must be returned unharmed to the sea. A lobster that weighs 3 pounds is an estimated 15-20 years old! There’s a reason we associate Maine with lobsters—the state has led American lobster landings for over 3 decades. Massachusetts is the second leading producer. Together, these two states produce 93 percent of the total U.S. harvest!

Our first night in Maine just had to be a romantic sunset over the harbor, and God didn’t disappoint! We drove to Seal Cove, a parking space was “just waiting for us”. After we walked along the shore for a little way a sitting bench was “just waiting for us”. (The message on the bench says, “we’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time”) We thanked God out loud and chuckled at His exuberant abundant love for us [John 10:10] – fifty years of blessings wrapped up in a sunset adventure!

The next day we returned and drove around Acadia National Park, “the Crown Jewel of the North Atlantic Coast” This is one of the top 10 most-visited national parks in the United States. Visitors can enjoy 27 miles of historic motor roads and 158 miles of hiking trails! We highly recommend this National Park – definitely a bucket list item!

But, trying to pace ourselves – after all, Lorree is still recovering from surgery!

We ended up back in town at the public Bar Harbor Pier parking lot – full of vehicles, but again there was a spot “just for us” when we arrived! Lorree was able to take a brief nap while Dennis scouted out the harbor, the kayaks, some yachts and an ice cream place!

We were parked next to “Kisses” the yacht of former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles – Norman Braman -(lot’s of money around here!) The ice cream was great and we both enjoyed the rest.

For the evening, we booked a Schooner Sunset Sail on board a 4-masted schooner, the Margaret Todd. We rested up and got ready for a romantic peaceful sail!

So fun! We enjoyed a light hearted sail with a boat load of people. We were entertained as they had guests help hoist the sails and enjoyed live music with Jack as he roamed the ship. When they shut off the engines and we just sailed with the wind it was SO relaxing, peaceful, and quiet, and the sunset was amazing! It was good for the soul!

Our last day of R&R after Lorree’s surgery was spent reading in the RV and relaxing at the pool at our campsite. We soaked up some sunshine, and cooled off from the warm day. This was a great three day stop for us and helped Lorree get her “mojo” back. We had a great adventure here and made lots of memories that we hadn’t planned on – thank you God!

Next, we’ll head north tomorrow to our originally planned SOWER Project and meet our other SOWER friends already at work. We’re looking forward to our next adventure!

We chose to travel Highway 12 North and East through the heart of Utah. We were blessed to see so many different uniques landscapes during the day trip to our next destination.

Highway 12 through Escalantes to Arches and Canyonlands

Every moment of our travel day led to our excitment of seeing Escalantes, Arches National Park and the Canyonlands. Some of our kids have recently visited these areas and have given us some great information in order for us to have a the best adventure!

So we learned that Arches National Park has recently established a “timed entry” – with reservations on line. We booked our time to between 8 -9 am. It worked out well and we enjoyed our time at Arches. Our first stop – Balanced Rock!

Dennis had a bit of a hard time holding up that balanced rock with the perfect pose while Lorree got situated with the camera (what fun!)

We hiked up Windows Road to see Turret Arch and North Window Arch. We were impressed again at the creativity of God in forming these rocks into amazing scultptures for us to experience.

What a great photo op through the arch – Victory!

We saws lots of these old-timer cars and the drivers dressed to match the period. How Fun!

The next day we set out to explore the Canyonlands National Park. It was pretty much a drive through area but we did stop at several places along the way. More beautiful country!

We enjoyed all the beautiful vistas and the vibrant and colorful plants along the roadway through Canyonlands.

Getting back to Colorado! There was a definite change in scenery from rocks, dirt, and canyons to green landscape, trees and bright blue sky! Our planned route eventually led us to Durango, Co, our next stop on this adventure! We are getting so close to home, but we wanted to check out the location of our next SOWER Adventure for June: Cross Bar X Youth Camp, just east of Durango.

Just North of Durango is a great National Forest Campground – Junction Creek Campground. We found this to be a great place to settle and un-wind a bit before our last day of travel to our cabin in the mountains!

Just past Guffey, coming around the corner on the last mile home – is one of our favorite views, that’s Pikes Peak – home sweet home! Wonder what adventures we’ll soon have at Selah Acres? (Just a hint, we never saw “this” coming – check out the next blog!)

As we entered Utah we were amazed at the variety of scenic vistas and changing landscape along the way. Our first camping reservation was at Cannonville, UT. From here we would visit Zion, Bryce, and several off road sites that proved to be great exploring surprises for us!

We were introduced into Utah’s canyon lands when we first drove through Red Canyon leading into the Bryce Canyon area. We soon became very familiar with the hoodoos (geographic rock formations often described as having a “totem pole-shaped body.”) that make this area so unique.

First up – Bryce Canyon!

Our first view of Bryce Canyon was an overlook where we could see for miles – it was a vast panorama with colorful cliffs, rocks, hoodoos, and foliage all blended into a beautiful landscape.

We spent a day just driving the canyon ridge and stopping along the way for views and photos. It was calming with a sense of excitment – wondering what the next view would be like. We would often just stare into the live picture before us – no words, just thoughts of God’s majesty.

We came across this “Natural Bridge” at the same elevation as our cabin in Colorado. It’s really not a bridge but an opening in the wall supporting more hoodoos and a beautiful formation to see!

And then there was this bird, a very large bird! It seemed to be everywhere we were. It’s height was from below the shoulders to the top of the head. From the scriptures: Mat. 6:26 “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” This fowl was well fed! …and a great reminder that we are very well loved, taken care of, and blessed!

Whew! What . A . View! There are many opportunities to hike down into Bryce Canyon for spectacular views and for once-in-a-lifetime experiences. We chose to just observe from the top – looking down into the canyon (because hiking down also meant hiking UP!) …and we had already hiked every vista outlook. We needed to just enjoy a quiet picnic lunch!

An off road adventure we stopped to explore!

Between our campsite and Bryce Canyon, there was an option to explore something called “Mossy Cave”. This is one of our “off the road adventures” that proved to be pretty fun! It was a hike into a canyon similar to the Bryce Canyon area. We found ourselves looking up at the rock formations that we have previously been looking down on – such a different view!

It was a beautiful hike – we had a stream, waterfalls, a cave and even ice (look behind Lorree’s hand) still hanging out in the cave! (And yes there was moss growing on the walls of the cave!)

At the end of the day we were tired – we had hiked almost six miles at over 8K elevation mostly uphill! On the way home we passed this sign: Elevation 7777 ft. Perfect! It was a wonderful day but we’d better get rested up for tomorrow!

Let’s check out – Zion National Park!

We drove into Zion on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway (Highway 9) from the East. This way provides direct access for travel between Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, and Zion National Parks and allowed us to experience the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel and all of the switchbacks afterward! What a beautiful way to see so much of the amazing scenery!

Zion Canyon is closed to traffic so we took advantage of riding the on-and-off shuttles and hiked / explored as much of Zion as we could in one day.

One of our goals was to hike up to the slot canyon called ” The Narrows”. We did that – about 2 miles round trip. We were excited to see the river coming through the narrows canyon and to be able to sit, rest, and experience the cold river. There were slippery river rocks everywhere and we didn’t come prepared for that so we didn’t hike up the Virgin River into the slot canyon. (Maybe another day?) We enjoyed being at the “launch site” watching other groups with their water shoes and hiking poles hiking up into the canyon. It was fun to be there that day, another great adventure and more great memories! What’s next?

A slot canyon! …only a few miles from our campsite! We’ve had a slot canyon on our “bucket-list” for a while and it turned into one of our favorite adventures!

To get to the Willis Creek Slot Canyon trail head, we had to take a secluded four wheel drive road through the desert and hills. So thankful (again!) for the blessing of this truck God allowed us to own.

We had no idea what we would be seeing or hiking through. We’ve seen pictures of slot canyons – but to be here….!?!! Wow! And this is just a little one – but to us on this day it was so spectacular! We kept refering to the scripture – “hidden in the cleft of the rock”. The rocks have such an intense sense of fortitude, strength, and safety (let alone the beauty all around us!)

When a heavy rain pours down from the heavens, the slot canyon could be a dangerous place to be. The water accumulates and rushes through the canyon – creating a “slot” in the earth. It certainly has carved out an amazing creative colorful design for us to enjoy! The creek was dry this day, we’ve learned that we could have been hiking through ankle deep water – that would have been fun!

The sunshine poured into the canyon allowing us to see the lines and swirls in the rock with the contrasting shadows of the crevices.

Once again God revealed to us how great He is (and how small we are) inside of His beautiful creation. “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” Ex 33: 21-23. The “cleft of the rock” represents Jesus Christ. To those hidden by Him, that same glory means life, protection and peace!

We have such joy and assurance in our souls – Jesus is OUR ROCK – We pray you know Him!

…and then this! What is Grosvenors Arch? Let’s check it out!

Continuing on from Willis Creek Slot Canyon along a long and sometimes rough dirt road – there’s this majestic rock arch – so impressive to walk up to it!

…and then to stand underneath it… it was so massive! It is a soul stirring thing to be overwhelmed and literally in awe. It was “awe-full” and it was SO fully great!

We took a side trip off of our side trip to see the campground at Kodachrome State Park. We saw some very unique rock pillars – this looked to be a great campground.

So after another full day and over 5 miles of hiking – we cooked up some great food and enjoyed our final evening at our Cannonville Campground. We’ll be traveling Hwy 12 through the heart of Utah tomorrow – so much more to see!

It seems like every mile we go, another scene unfolds! Northeast Arizona is arid, largely free of greenery, and characterized by hills, mesas, buttes, cliffs, and canyons. We’ve seen all of these as we travel down the highway! What a beautiful changing landscape – so full of adventure!

Up ahead is Page, AZ and Lake Powell! We have reservations to camp at Waheap Campground at Lake Powell – but we’re planning to stop at the Horseshoe Bend overlook just before Page!

Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped “incised meander” of the Colorado River located near the town of Page, AZ. – just downstream from the Glen Canyon Dam. We stopped to hike the 1/2 mile to the rim overlook. Whew…it was gusting at about 50 mph that day – actually pretty scary being sand-blasted with the fine desert sand – and we could feel the power capable of blowing us over the edge! For tomorrow…we booked a half day float trip down the Colorado River and around Horseshoe Bend – about 1,000 feet below!

While crossing the bridge we were amazed at the size and structure of the Glen Canyon Dam (completed in 1963) that created Lake Powell. It is a concrete arch-gravity dam and is larger than the Hoover Dam at Lake Mead near Las Vegas, NV. in every way with the exception that it is 16 feet shorter. Lake Powell is 186 miles long and has nearly 2,000 miles of shoreline – longer than the entire west coast of the U.S.A! Around it’s perimeter there are 96 major canyons to explore! This dam was the last one of its size to be built in the United States. Today, because of severe draught and water needs, there is a plan in place to eventually breach the dam and let the Colorado River run free.

The picture that Lorree is holding on your left shows the lake/dam at its fullest capacity in 1980. The picture on the right is a current 2022 picture. You’ll see more of the lake’s current emptiness coming up.

Here’s our latest adventure, a river raft float trip through Horseshoe Bend!

After checking in at River Headquarters in Page, AZ. (and being cleared that we were not terrorists) we enjoyed a motor-coach ride through a service tunnel carved through two miles of solid rock! We descended approximately 500 feet to disembark at the foot of Glen Canyon Dam. We had to wear hard hats (in case someone from up above dislodged a pebble or tossed a stone) for protection from the Bridge or Dam view point that was about 700 feet above us!

We enjoyed having Holly as our tour guide – she was a lot of fun and full of information. At times, the sheer walls lining the Colorado River were 1,000 feet or more above us – impressive!

 As we traveled downstream we learned more about the importance of the Colorado River, the explorations of John Wesley Powell, and the life of native tribes. Other historic activities we learned about included periods of government expeditions, Indian wars, Mormon settlements, gold mining, mineral exploration, and finally today’s recreational use (rafting, camping, and fishing).

We stopped and disembarked at Petroglyph Beach. We were able to hike a short distance to see century’s old petroglyphs and other fascinating artifacts. They say the petroglyph’s on the wall of the rock may have given specific directions to the only passageway through this area of the canyon, across the river, and back up the other side. It made good sense to us – fascinating!

After setting out again we entered the iconic Horsehoe Bend of the Colorado River.

We were just here yesterday looking down from above in a fiercely gusting wind but now enjoying a warm calm gentle float. We saw beautiful rock formations and plant life – literally growing out of crevesses in the rock. What a contrast, this is a beautiful canyon! We’re coming to the end of this 15 mile trip down Glen Canyon. Soon it will transition into the Grand Canyon. How do we get back up from this river?

In 1870 John D. Lee was sent to establish a ferry crossing across the Colorado River. Fast forward to the very same location it is still a busy place today! There are boaters, rafters, fishers, and backpackers all starting or ending therir adventures here every day!

We landed at Lee’s Ferry for our motor coach ride back to Page, AZ. Lees Ferry is the only place within Glen Canyon where visitors can drive to the banks of the Colorado River in over 700 miles of canyon country! Because of that, Lees Ferry is the only launch site for a river trip through the 277 miles of river in the Grand Canyon. We saw adventurous river runners getting ready to launch their rafts for day, week, and month long trips into the mighty Grand Canyon (someday – maybe????). This was another super adventure, so glad we took advantage of this opportunity!

Yikes! On the other side of the dam, we’re missing some water! At Lake Powell – so strange to see sand and desert brush growing instead of the massive full lake of water we had visited with the kiddo’s in 1996 (bottom left picture). Back then, we spent a whole week exploring the lake in a houseboat going through canyons, swimming, and sleeping on shore – great memories!

We had a good time staying at Waheap Marina, enjoying the scenery and the beautiful sunsets. The only thing we didn’t enjoy was that it was very windy most days and evenings. We’ve got more to see and do…it’s time to head out to our next stop on our Arizona/Utah canyon’s adventure!

We’ve completed three months of SOWER projects (Feb, Mar, Apr -2022) and have decided to take a break and see what adventures we can experience traveling through some of the National parks in Arizona and Utah. We were able to revisit some of the sights and relive some of the memories from years gone by while vacationing with our young kiddos . We love having the flexibility, opportunity, time, and resources to pause, explore, and stand amazed at the glories of God that are all around us!

After living/working for three weeks in the high desert…we found this beautiful State Park campground (Cattail Cove) just outside of the city of Lake Havasu, AZ. Lake Havasu was formed by the construction of Parker Dam in the 1930’s and has over 450 miles of beautiful shoreline. It was a great place to just unwind and rest a bit. Lorree dipped her toes in the water – pretty chilly – not ready for swimming yet!

One of the fun things to do in Lake Havasu is to visit the London Bridge! It was originally built in the 1830s and formerly spanned the River Thames in London, England. In 1968, an American tycoon bought London Bridge—all 10,000 tons of it—and moved it brick-by-brick to the desert town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona. (They have since built a new London Bridge in England). Around the bridge, they have created a small England style city square complete with the old fashion telephone booths. (Since times have changed and there was no actual telephone, Dennis had to use his cell phone!) Lorree added a pin to the visitor location map to represent Guffey, Co.

For one of our adventures, we took the ferry across the lake to a resturant for lunch. (We were constantly crossing between Arizona and California!) It was refreshing to get on the water and feel the spray, and we learned about lighthouses! Currently, there are 28 replica lighthouses on Lake Havasu from the East and West Coast of the USA and the Great Lakes and is the only place in the world that can boast of having this replica lighthouse program. (They’re continuing to add more every year!)

Not too far away, our next adventure was to camp at and explore the GRAND CANYON!

We are so glad we made camping arrangements almost six months ago! We were able to stay in the National Park at Trailer Village with full hookups. We walked and rode the shuttles to all the various stops and took so many photos. But we mostly just looked out over the grandeur in complete AWE! It truly is breathtaking – no way to describe the wonder – you have to be there and “try” to absorb it all. (This was one of those “relive the moments” from years ago with our kiddos).

Our first evening we HAD to go see… our first view…

“Oh Lord My God! When I in awesome wonder, consider all the works Thy and hath made…”

You have to go see it – “seeing” this captivates all of our senses! From years ago, I remember hearing my blind uncle Gil describing the Grand Canyon as he rode the mules down into the canyon and back up. He got it all right – and he’s blind! Be aware – this is one of those “I’ll never forget” experiences!

…and then there was this doe elk near to where we were viewing. Lorree just wanted to make friends but she wasn’t interested! It was another memorable moment of the day!

We traveled to the Desert View lookout. Perched on the edge of the south rim, what appears to be an ancient Native American ruin is actually the Desert View Watchtower, which was designed in 1932 by Mary Colter to overlook the eastern end of Grand Canyon National Park. The tower was closed but what a great experience to witness this amazing view and the sunset!

More views of this GRAND Canyon! For us it confirms the results of the receeding world-wide flood back in Noah’s time – breathtaking! [Very similar to the formation of the canyons formed at Mt. St. Helen’s… “the volcanic eruption event at Mt. St. Helen’s was just a small reminder of how the Earth’s present surface was formed – by a rapid and catastrophic event. On May 18, 1980 – Mount St Helen’s eruption created a small version of the Grand Canyon in just a few hours!”] It’s inconceivable to think that this was formed over millions of years by a seasonal snow melt fed river that’s only several feet wide and the wildly imagined erosion and weathering to result in the formation of the Grand Canyon. It’s is a mile deep, 277 miles long and 18 miles wide!

At the western end of the Rim trail we visited Hermits Rest. The main structure currently standing at Hermits Rest was again designed by architect Mary Colter. . Hermits Rest is the westernmost point on the canyon’s south rim that is accessible by paved road. It was built as a rest area for tourists on coaches on the way to the now-vanishedHermit Camp. The building was designed to appear to be a natural stone formation, closely tied to the land. There were several signs with scripture praising the Lord!

Along the Rim Trail, we hiked from Pipe Creek Vista to Mather Point (about 3 1/2 miles) with beautiful views along the way!

We hate to leave this amazing place – but there are more adventures ahead! Still thanking God for his beautiful creation and His glory that we see everywhere we go!

Now we’re headed to Page, Arizona – Lake Powell! We have some very fond and fun memories of our time with the family (renting a houseboat for a week) and with our CB-ROM Mission team from Crowley, CO. (Mission trip to Navajo Indian Baptist Camp). Lets’ see what it looks like now!