BEAUTIFUL UTAH...ZION, BRYCE, CANYONLANDS, AND ARCHES NATIONAL PARKS

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in gorgeous Utah.  Both the land and the people had a good vibe.  The national parks there were breathtaking.  Our first stops were Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks.

 Next we visited Bryce Canyon.  Each park is distinctive in its own stunning way.

 

We went through several of these natural bridges. 

We loved seeing all the Hoodoos.  They look like people standing around. 

Window rock!

The high elevation made breathing difficult for us as we live at sea level.

We could have reached out and touched this raven.

We next went to Arches National Park.  Again...more stunning rock formations.   Like fairy lands.  

Many warning signs caution to listen for cracking sounds!!

Yikes....just teetering on the edge.

Once the capstone wears away, the rock has no more support and soon falls.

Such beautiful formations.

Watching these adventure seekers made us nervous. 

And it was a verrry windy day!!!

And last but not least.....Canyonlands National Park.  It's interesting how some of the parks are viewed by looking UP.  While others...like Canyonlands, are viewed by looking DOWN. 

I really HATE it when he does this!!

More interesting Hoodoo formations. 

CROSS COUNTRY TRIP PART 2..SAN FRANCISCO, DEATH VALLEY AND LAS VEGAS

We were thrilled to finally arrive in amazing San Francisco to visit Katy and Juan and enjoy their new home town. 

Beautiful Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz

San Fran Pier 39

Painted Ladies row of colorful Victorian homes.

Wine tasting tour in Sonoma Napa Valley with Daniel, Lori, Katy, and Juan

After leaving lovely San Francisco....we begin making our way east.  Our first stop is Death Valley National Park and the idyllic little town we stayed in, Lone Pine, California.   We had the most stunning views at our campsite and around the whole area.  Many old time western movies were filmed in our area.  We could picture John Wayne on horseback making his way over the cool rock formations.  Right in our town of Lone Pine we had perfect views of the tallest mountain in the lower 48...Mount Whitney.  

The beautiful Sierra Nevada Range

Took this beautiful pic down the street from our camp.

Mount Whitney

The views from our rv were stunning 360 degrees. Many of the trees were blooming also.

There were some glacier fields in the mountains in that area.

This was taken at our campsite.  We lucked out to get a full moon during our stay.

Sunsets to die for. 

Many rock clusters in this area were used for old western movies. These are actually quite huge.

Interesting find.  Maybe an old mining entrance. 

Our visit to Death Valley National Park was very exciting.  On the drive in...we had to go over two mountain passes....verrrrrry high....but stunning views.  Death Valley has the lowest point on earth, Bad Water, which is an expansive dried up salt lake.  We walked out onto the salt flat.  So interesting.  We also passed lots of white land....borax fields.  Who knew??

There were lots of salt and borax fields here. Hard to tell the difference as both were white.

The lowest spot on Earth!

Salt!!  Mario tasted it just to be sure.  YUP!!

Some BOZO decided to take the family car out there and got stuck. 

This caught our eye!!  Definitely cross country!!

A truly memorable visit was the visit to Manzanar National Historic Site, the internment camp for Japanese and Japanese Americans during WWII.  This area is truly in the middle of nowhere and can be like an oven during the day and a freezer in the night.  It was assumed by the public that the people voluntarily went to these camps and that it was for their safety and protection.  It was reported later that the guns of the guards were pointed INWARDS rather than OUTWARDS.  It was truly a concentration camp.....2/3 of the people were BORN in the U.S.A.

Guard watch towers....making sure nobody gets OUT!

I love the last line....this action shall never be repeated.  Hope that is true. 

Shows what public hysteria can do and what the government is capable of doing.

There were men's and women's barracks like this one.  10,000 people lived in this huge camp.

Women's bathroom.  Can you even imagine this!!!

Women's shower!!! 

Las Vegas here we come!!!!!  Viva Las Vegas!!

The Wynn fountains

The Venetian

Venetian

New York New York

Paris

In front of the Bellagio

The Cosmopolitan

Bellagio

The gardens in the Bellagio

The shell is all flowers.

Caesar's Palace

While in Vegas we took a short day trip out to see the Hoover Dam.  Very cool!!  Built in 1930 it was the highest dam ever built and the largest power plant of its time.  The bypass bridge that stands watch over the dam is the highest and longest arched concrete bridge in the Western Hemisphere.  It's the second highest bridge in the U.S. and the 14th in the world.