We are still alive and kicking here. It only took us three weeks of being home to go on another road trip. We went to Baton Rouge in September for my mother's birthday, which turned out to be a lovely celebration. She was deservedly treated like a queen for the day. I had not seen my parents since before our road trip this summer and we did our few weeks of safe isolation before we visited them. It already seems like ages ago!
It seems we have been living our life in 2 week increments. Visit someone, then isolate for 2 weeks. Visit someone else, isolate for 2 weeks. I have started to call it "time out". After our visit to Baton Rouge and our 2 weeks of "time out" we went to California to see our daughter and her husband. We also surprised her with a mostly virtual surprise baby shower! Life in the time of Covid.
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| Baby's first bank account and a virtual audience on the screen to the left. |
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| Macarons and flowers....a girl's best friends. |
Back home for a bit of "time out" until the next venture outside of our Groundhog Day routine. Random thought....have you ever noticed how your laundry is a reflection of how you spend your days? I noticed this the other day as I washed nothing but golf clothes, exercise clothes and biking clothes. That is our life....walk, ride, golf....oh, and one of us works. This is the time of year I am happy I live down south where I can play outside most of the year...especially this year!
All that walking and golfing has kept me from finishing the blog post I started two "time outs" ago! I was planning to wrap up the road trip with some National Park Awards. (because I am going to milk that trip for all its worth!) The categories are custom made for each park because everyone gets a ribbon in the Mahoney National Park Awards Blog. Sadly, once this goes out into the blogsphere our trip will finally be put to rest and I will be forced to find something else to talk about and photograph.
Largest National Park (that we visited)
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| Yellowstone National Park |
We probably drove 100 miles...in the park! We also stopped about 30 times!
Best Bike Ride
Zion National Park
I highly recommend riding your bike through the park instead of taking the shuttle bus. We saw so much and it was at our own pace, which for one of us was much slower than the other. An e-bike might be a good idea!
Most Photogenic
This one is a real challenge to choose just one! Can I say all of them? I think the one that surprised me the most in my photos was Bryce Canyon but the one I took such great delight in photographing was Teton National Park. You can choose for yourself!
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| Bryce Canyon National Park |
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| Teton National Park It took my breath away! |
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| Mount Rushmore So many flags...so many presidents |
Most Iconic
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| Arches National Park |
Most Surprising
Zion National Park
I am not sure what I was expecting. I had not heard much about Zion and had never seen the landscape of southern Utah before so maybe that is what surprised me the most. The red desert, the mountains, the way the sun lit the mountains up in the morning, the clear blue water in the streams, or the pure majesty of the park. I mostly rode my bike with my mouth agape looking up in awe.
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| It had it all... mountains, streams, trees and wildlife. |
Scariest Drive
Mesa Verde with a close second by Flaming Gorge.
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| Flaming Gorge The road was so curvy and high with many drop-offs that I had to relieve my vertigo challenged driver on the way there and also got to do the drive out. |
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| Almost 9000 ft. and the drive was narrow and steep but worth it! Mesa Verde National Park We took turns doing this drive.... |
Hottest National Park
No question in either of our minds on this one....Canyonlands National Park.
Add to the 106 degrees the lingering smoke in the air from the wildfires in the west and this was less than an ideal time to visit this park. I suggest the spring or fall and a time when there are no fires!
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| Perfect for a hike....it did go up to 106 believe me! |
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| I imagine in better light this is spectacular! Not bad as it was. |
Best Sunrise
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| Arches National Park Best and only sunrise....for me! |
Best Sunset
The bar for this category has been set very high because sunsets are my true love. It may surprise you that in 50 days of traveling to so many spectacular locations, fantastic sunsets seemed to allude me. I was vigilant in my pursuit though, just ask TJ.
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| The Badlands This one keeps coming up on my photo reel and makes me sigh. I love the dust trail behind the car and the contours of the land. |
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| But honestly, the best sunset was from my friend's deck in Park City. |
1 comment:
Mom had to drive down Pikes Peak in our truck pulling a trailer as my dad came down with vertigo, hives and visions due to the height. I was 12 or 13 and unable to help beyond hooking the trailer up.
Rob
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