Banal Leakage » national park http://www.banalleakage.com Random Bits of Whatever Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ Random Bits of Whatever Banal Leakage no Random Bits of Whatever Banal Leakage » national park http://www.banalleakage.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://www.banalleakage.com … and Roll http://www.banalleakage.com/2009/09/06/and-roll/ http://www.banalleakage.com/2009/09/06/and-roll/#comments Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:41:06 +0000 martymankins http://www.banalleakage.com/?p=2260 Now that I’ve rocked you with my concert recaps, let’s roll on down the highway for a couple of road trips I took this summer.

Arches National Park

Delicate Arche
The view most people know of Utah

It’s no surprise to my regular readers that I like to travel. It’s fun, I get to see new places and it gives me a chance to use up all of my vacation days throughout the year.

In the 21 years I’ve lived in Utah, I had never been to Moab until April of this year, when we went to TequilaCon 2009 in Santa Fe. We passed through Moab both driving down there and coming home. We also passed Arches National Park, which I found out that my wife had never been to [as I had not either]. So we decided to plan a trip during the summer.

Turns out the weekend we went was not only our one year wedding anniversary, it was also free entry to all national parks. Double Bonus!

So without further rambling, I’ll let some of the photos we took document the trip.

Marty Arches
Standing Tall

Reba Arches
Looking Pretty

pathway to Delicate Arch
the pathway to Delicate Arch

Majestic
Incredible

Balance rock
Balance Rock

Marty holding Balance rock
Who knew I was that strong?

night sky through rock
A Window To The Sky

Sunset
Stunning Sunset

========================================

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon
Welcome To The Grand Canyon

Every year, my daughter and I take a trip somewhere. Just the two of us. Previous years, we’ve been to Denver and San Francisco. This year, we discussed various locations that were within a reasonable driving distance.

My daughter had never been to the Grand Canyon. I had never been to either the North Rim or South Rim – only Grand Canyon West. So we started making our plans to go in August.

Now most people know that Arizona and August mean extreme heat. But it turns out the North Rim of the Grand Canyon isn’t as warm. The temps are much cooler there. But enough about the weather, let the pictures tell the story.

Fredonia
Fredonia, AZ

Grand Canyon North Rim
Grand Canyon North Rim

my daughter Tiffany
Tiffany, excited and happy

Squirrel!
Nothing like getting photobombed by a squirrel.

And the next day, we went to the South Rim, where it was much warmer but still bearable, so long as we had water to drink.

Grand Canyon South Rim
Grand Canyon South Rim

Fred Flintstone
The Unofficial Entrance to the South Rim

Marty on ledge
Afraid of heights? not this time.

Tiffany on ledge
… and neither is Tiffany

Marty and Tiffany
It looks Photoshoped, but it’s not. We were there.

Squirrel!
Photobombed at the South Rim, too.

South Rim entrance
The Official Entrance to the South Rim

And that’s the end of the summer, as far as road trips go.

]]> http://www.banalleakage.com/2009/09/06/and-roll/feed/ 12 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/