We didn’t get to all the places we wanted to go in Arches, so we went back for a second day.

For perspective, take a look at the two people under the arch.

I do promise, though, that this is the last post of “rocks!”

It was hard to imagine that after a week there were still new and unusual things to see

The arches were great.  This one is called Double Windows.

 

Bob looks pretty good here, doesn’t he?

I think most of these arches have official names, but to me, this is Mamma and Baby.

I prefer to be behind the camera, but Bob did get it away from me!

Look closely at the snow on the mountains in the background!

The arches never cease to amaze me.

 

And I could say the same for the rock formations.

But this was the one we’d been waiting to see.  This is Delicate Arch, the unofficial symbol of Utah!

What a great week we had.  We visited 5 National Parks, 2 National Monuments, 1 National Forest, 1 National Recreation Area, 1 Tribal Park and 1 Tribal Monument!  Whew!

 

After a week in the Southwest’s National Parks, I wasn’t sure I could take another photo of rocks !  But, with a name like The Three Gossips, I couldn’t resist!

If those were the Three Gossips, are these the Four Gossips?

Bob and I were in Arches National Park, and took the one mile walk called Park Avenue.

It was so neat to be down on the valley floor looking up.

It really gives you a sense of perspective that the photos down’t show.

The rock beneath our feet looks like frozen sand dunes.

There’s Bob, showing his rock climbing skills!

This is Balance Rock.

We walked around the base.  I kept listening for any cracking!

There were so many interesting rocks, I had to keep taking photos.

But what we came to see were arches, and this was our first one.

As we drove along, it wasn’t long before we saw another.

And then there were needles like we saw in Canyon Lands yesterday.  I love the colors in the different layers of rock.

Ah, another small arch!

We parked and headed down the Devil’s Garden Trail.

Again, we felt dwarfed by the high canyon walls.

Our first stop was Pine Tree Arch.

Then Tunnel Arch.

There was more to see than just arches, of course.

This is Landscape Arch.  It was the best by far!

It was a perfect day–68 degrees, sunny and a slight breeze!

Today we detoured from our Utah itinerary to go to Mesa Verde in Colorado to see the Anasazi ruins there.  Unfortunately, it was another foggy and snowy morning.

We headed to the park and climbed to an elevation of over 7000 feet.  Near the top there was a pull-out so you could look back down into the valley. Hmmm, not such a great view.

But we were more than rewarded when we got to the overlook at Palace Cliff.

I think like many other people, I’ve always been fascinated by these dwellings built into the cliff sides.

It was interesting to learn that the people who built them had lived and farmed for years up on the mesas before moving into the canyons, and continued to grow their corn on the mesas.

And they really didn’t live here very long before moving on, probably because of continuing drought.

Across the canyon we could see another small dwelling.

We took the Ranger led tour into the village.

It was so interesting to learn about the Kivas, the sacred rooms.

We marveled at the architecture.  Imagine, those logs are from the 1200′s.  I expect stone to last that long, but logs?

The view from the village, looking up the canyon, was truly amazing.

We also hiked down a trail to view one of the other villages a few miles away.

And on our way out of the park, the weather had lifted enough to see the view of the valley below!

From Mesa Verde we headed toward Moab.  The day had been overcast, but the temperature reached 53 degrees.  Suddenly, we were in a downpour, and the temperature dropped to 40 degrees in about three minutes!  Despite the change in weather, we decided to go to Canyon Lands National Park.

The sky was still threatening, but we could see blue off in the distance.

We hiked several of the trails and were rewarded with petroglyphs.

Aren’t these hand prints fascinating?

After nearly a week in Utah, you wonder how many more rocks you can possibly take photos of, but…

…they are all so different,

and the sun had finally come out.

I’d been waiting for this, because it really effects the colors of the rocks.

So we kept hiking and kept snapping photos.

These are called mushrooms.

We hiked an area of potholes, with only rock carins to mark the trail.

With all the recent rain, lots of the potholes were filled with water.

Bob is much braver about getting close to the rim than I am!

 

As we were leaving the park, there was a pull out for Newspaper Rock.  It didn’t sound all that exciting, because I was picturing a rock shaped like a newspaper.  Instead, it was a rock that had been used as a record for centuries!

I was thrilled!  I love all kinds of primitive art.

It was so cool to see goats, horses, hunters and so much more.

Another great day in the Southwest!

 

We started out our day at Glenn Canyon Dam.

The bridge across the Colorado here is quite amazing.

We walked out on it to have a look at the dam…

…and the Colorado River.  Quite impressive.

Then we headed for Monument Valley, but first we stopped at Navajo National Monument.

It was nine miles off the highway, and the farther we went, the harder it snowed!

We went into the visitor’s center, watched a film, explored the exhibits and were rewarded when the weather started to lift.

We came to see the Anasazi cliff dwellings, and headed down the path.  The snow was already melting, and the landscape was so interesting.

We could hear water running and spotted this waterfall on the other side of the canyon.  The melting snow from the plateau was cascading down.

At the bottom of the trail, we could see the ruins of Betatakin, from around 1270!  It was built into a natural alcove.

It was amazing to see.

The village was only occupied for about 20 years.  The people who lived there were farmers, but crop failures forced them to move on.

From the overlook we could see the waterfall.  It was already shrinking. We were so glad we stopped here.

Then it was on to Monument Valley.

The scenery was more than we expected.

It was like flashing back to every Western movie I saw as a child!

The two trailers in the photo below give you an idea of the scale of these cliffs.

Here’s a Navajo visitor’s center also dwarfed by the mesas.

We stopped and did a little shopping.

As we left, we had to wait for these goats to cross the road!  It was a four way intersection, and the goats were at the corner.  There was a school bus waiting to our left, and we waited, and the goats crossed.

There were no people in sight, just a dog in the lead and a dog in the rear.  Makes me wonder if the dogs were out having fun on their own or if their master said,  “Okay, boys, go get the goats and bring them home!”

 

We had a huge variety of weather today.

We could often see rain storms off in the distance.

And experienced temperatures from 36 degrees to 65 degrees.

I’m amazed at how far across the landscape you can see.

It was really interesting to watch the weather.

I kept thinking we’d run out of monuments to take photos of….

…but that wasn’t the case!

Suddenly the hillsides took on an entirely different look.

It was like someone had been playing with colored sand and running their fingers through it to make designs.

And in front of it all was a cool monument called the Mexican Hat.

I just loved the designs on these hills!

And still there were more red monuments to see.

The shapes are never the same.

Besides the shapes, the colors were amazing.  There were so many shades of red.

Bob was great about stopping for photos, but I finally just started taking them through the car window!  Even those turned out!

Our next stop was Four Corners.

Doesn’t everyone need their photo taken here?

Obviously, we did!

After leaving Zion National Park, we headed toward Bryce Canyon.  An unexpected bonus was driving through Red Canyon.

Fabulous shapes…

…incredible colors…

…cool wear patterns…

…amazing balanced rocks….

…more cool shapes…

…and not one…

…but TWO arch tunnels!

It was onto Bryce Canyon City.  Imagine our surprise when we woke up to a dusting of snow this morning!

But, we weren’t deterred.  It was on to the Park.

The sun was peeking out intermittently.

And even thought the elevation was high…

…and it was cold enough to build a snowman (kind of!)…

…the views made it all worth it!

 

We were right on the rim.

 

Looking down at the amazing shapes was awe inspiring.

We saw hikers below.

We started to follow the trails, but the mud was growing on my shoes with every step!

So we continued to enjoy the views from the rim.

Everywhere you looked there was something different to see.

I love when the erosion leaves rocks looking like they’re precariously balanced.

At first, you’d think nothing would grow here, but that’s so not the case.

Do you see the little “windows” near the top of this ridge?

Lots more photos…

…I’ll just let you enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other thing that really fascinated me was tenacity of some of the trees!

 

And the snags were beautiful in their own way.

Another great day in our National Parks!

After Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, Bob and I decided to see some of Utah.  As we headed south to Zion National Park, we thought we’d stop at Cedar Breaks National Monument.

After driving 15 miles off the interstate, we found the road wasn’t open yet for the season!

In fact, the snow was quite deep!  I made Bob get out of the car for reference, and I stayed in the car and took the photo!

We had climbed a lot on that 15 mile drive!

And while we didn’t get to see what we had come for, we had terrific views!

So, we headed back to Interstate 15, and took the 6 mile drive into the northern part of Zion.

No snow there!

This is Kolob Canyon.

The views were amazing.

As were the close-ups of some of the rocks!

 

 

 

The next day we entered the south part of Zion.

We took a hike into the Temple of Sinawava along the Virgin River

The water was moving very rapidly.

But it had been higher as you can see by the debris and small rocks atop this large boulder!

The views up the canyon were amazing!

The farther you go up the canyon, the narrower it gets.

Eventually, we could go no farther.

No kidding!  Those steps lead right into the river!

Some one had been busy along the beach!

These stacks of rocks were amazing.

May of them were very precariously balanced!

But they were all so whimsical.

It must have taken some patience to get them balanced just so.

I didn’t test my skills!

But here is what Zion is all about–the cliffs!

I must have taken 75 photos just of the canyon walls.

I’ll spare showing you THAT many!

But I have to share a few with you.

It was an overcast day, so the colors aren’t as vivid as they would have been otherwise.

And while most of the cliffs were dark red, some were white!

The shapes were incredibly varied.  We took several hikes and enjoyed the many views.

The surroundings made you feel incredibly small.

Finally, we got a little bit of blue sky!

As we travelled from the west to the east, the rocks really began to change.

The erosion patterns were very different.

These looked more like windswept sand dunes.

You could see layer after layer of rock.

And fabulous shapes like these.

The colors are so pretty…

…and so varied.

I highly recommend a visit if you ever get a chance!

 

 

 

While we were at Quilt Market in Salt Lake City, everyone kept telling us how beautiful the flowers were at Temple Square.

The trouble is, when you’re at Market everyday, it’s hard to find time to do anything else.

But finally, on Sunday morning, we decided we had to see for ourselves.

And I’m so glad we did!

Words could never describe how beautiful the flowers were.

And I can’t imagine the number of tulips that were blooming everywhere!

I can’t even guess–5,000?  10,000?

They were everywhere.

I love it when flowers are planted in drifts.

It wasn’t all tulips.  There were these pretty purple flowers whose name I should know, but can’t think of just now

There were cherry trees just about to burst into bloom.

But it was mostly tulips.

If you looked closely, however, you saw that they were underplanted with other flowers, too.

These almost looked like poppies!

And this statue was so joyful!

I couldn’t resist a couple of angles.

You must think I’ve posted every photo I took there….

…but I promise I didn’t!

I edited the best I could.

But there were just so many to share.

 

 

It was hard to know where to stop!

So, Ill leave you with these last few.

I hope you enjoy them.

 

Is it vintage or is it retro?  To me, vintage means it’s truly old, retro means something new made to look old.

At retreat last month, I was helping Susan C. load her car after four fun days of quilting.  On her sewing table were her iron and a can of spray starch.  It had been a long time since I’d seen an aerosol can with small lid.  I remember cans being switched over from small lids like this to lids that are as big around as the can, but I have no idea when it was.

And there was that word “New” on the can.  Suddenly I thought somebody is going back to the old style!  Cool.  But then I wondered, is this really new, or is it really old?  Very old!  As Susan came back to her table, I just had to know.

She laughed.  Definitely old!  She said it had belonged to her mother-in-law originally and that she, Susan, had had it for years herself.  She said, “I really should toss it out, it doesn’t spray that well!”  Then she asked if I wanted it.  Of course!  I don’t plan to spray it, I just think it’s fun to look at!  Then I turned it around and saw the price printed on the can.

How long has it been since, 1.) Prices were printed on cans and 2.) spray starch was 42 cents!?!  Definitely vintage.

Thanks, Susan!

There really is a water fall at Falls Creek Retreat Center.  But first, a few other pictures from the four day retreat there.

I’m lucky enough to live in a place where we frequently see herds of elk, many of the women who came to my quilting retreat are “city girls.”  Just a few miles from the retreat center, Karen R and my sister, Sally, spotted this herd of elk.  If you look closely, you’ll see there are 33 of them–lots of babies in the herd.  Sally’s a city girl now, but she grew up here and has seen lots of elk in her day.  Karen, however, is a true city girl, and she was thrilled.  This was her first elk sighting.  Actually, I have to admit that no matter how many times I see them, I still get excited every time.

Driving in, I was greeted by these cows.  They didn’t look very happy that I was disturbing their slumber!  In fact, when I stopped to take this photo, I’m pretty sure the cow in front said, “Move it along, babe!”  Actually, this are was settled by Swiss farmers in the late 1800′s and there is still a lot of dairying going on.

The flowering cherries at the entrance were just starting to open their flowers for us.

I’m so glad the old bridge is still there, and even gladder that we don’t have to drive across it!

The crick is right there to greet you when you enter the property.

And that other wonderful sign of spring–daffodils.

I love this time of year when you can still see “through” the woods.  It won’t be long and everything will be leafed out and you won’t be able to.

The creek flows pretty fast just outside the building where we were sewing.

We followed it for a ways on our way up to the falls.  Last year, when we were there in October, there were lots of salmon returning to spawn.  I thought we might see some smolts heading out to sea, but no luck.

The creek takes a lot of bends and turns.

Then we left it for a bit as we entered the big meadow.

I love that you can still see the old growth stumps.

These are my favorites, the triple trunk trees.

There are two of them clearly visible from the path.

In the meadow there is this tiny cabin.

Next time I must ask how old it is.

I love the pair of log chairs on the porch…

…and the dinner bell!

After leaving the meadow, we began to climb toward the falls.  This isn’t the main falls, yet.

This is the main falls!

From the top, you can see the big, initial drop-off.

The sound is amazing.

All who went agreed it was worth the trip!

When I was at my parents’ house the other day, Mom had an old scrapbook out on the dining room table.

What fun!  It even had a package of “Nu Age” photo corners still tucked inside.

Doesn’t she look preppy?

This is her high school graduation photo.  I love the bow!

She graduated in 1941–just before the beginning of WWII.

She even kept some of the graduation cards she got.  The dimensions on them are very different that today’s cards.

My mom has always written poetry, and she wrote the class song for her class.

In case you want to read it, a typed version.

She had one of my grandma’s business cards.

And she saved her home economics notebook!

Don’t you love her Palmer Method handwriting?

I thought there might be some recipe treasures in here, but a recipe for hot chocolate??

The sugar cookies might be worth a try.

I’m in love with this simple drawing on Mom as Daisy May.  Unfortunately, she can’t remember who drew it, but I think that it’s an incredible likeness.

Mom had gone to a costume party dressed as Daisy May–I’m sure many of you are too old to know who that is!

At the end of WWII, my mom and Lil moved to Los Angeles.  A big adventure for small town girls!

Now mom was collecting matchbooks from places like the Polo Lounge…

…the fabulous Rotisserie…

…and The Pirate’s Den!

Cocktail napkins were also a popular memento to collect.

Ooh, here’s one from the Palladium.

Of course you have to have pictures of your friends–and yourself in front of the famous Garden of Allah Motel!

In the scrapbook were programs from plays.

I love the ad on the back cover!

And this How to Dunk booklet cracked me up.  Bob will have to read it!

She dined in China Town…

…with her sister-in-law Gloria and friends who were visiting from home.  Those were the days when everyone dressed up to go out.  The ladies even have corsages!

She had a menu from the Fred Harvey restaurant.  I thought it was especially interesting because it has cover art by Thomas Hart Benton.

It’s worth taking a minute to look over the menu and prices.

Mom also saved birthday cards she got from home…

…and friends.

And this very special telegram she got at work.

No, it wasn’t THAT Roy Rogers, it was my cousin Jimmy, who always signed letters to her as Roy Rogers!

He also sent her this bear he’d colored.  My mom was always known as Beeb or Bebe to her nieces and nephews.

She may not have gotten a telegram from Roy Rogers, but she did get Frank Sinatra’s autograph when he came into her workplace once!

He was every girls’ heartthrob then and Mom got to see him perform at the CBS Radio Playhouse.

She was still writing poetry–usually about finding a guy…

…or this one, about exercise.  Cute cutouts around it.

But then she came to Long Beach for vacation, met and married my dad, had three kids and her scrapbooking days were over!