Buzzing Around the Beehive State

Utah was amazing! Unbelievably beautiful, and surprisingly diverse in landscape for one state. It was also damn hot and so very dry...until the last day in Bryce Canyon when it was cold and rainy.

There are many, many national and state parks, recreational areas, monuments, etc. in Utah. We visited (or at least drove through) the following: 

• Canyonlands National Park (Island in the Sky and Needles)
• Arches National Park
• Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
• Capital Reef National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Red Canyon
• Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument
• Escalante Petrified Forest State Park (total disappointment! hardly any petrified trees!)
• Dixie National Forest (which is really like three separate forests--we drove by many "welcome" and "thanks for visiting" signs.)

 

Canyonlands, Island in the Sky. That's the two big buttes, Monitor and Merrimac.

I believe this is still Canyonlands...

 

Arches--this is Delicate Arch. I only hiked to the upper overlook and this is as close as I could get. The full hike to the arch was 3 miles...this was not going to happen with Mom, in the blistering Utah heat.

 

Resting beneath an arch. 

 

 

Canyonlands, Needles. It looks like Mom is standing in the mouth of the rock monster. Hee.



Bryce Canyon, filled with limestone spires (hoodoos). 

Our last full day in UT, it was 40F and rainy in Bryce Canyon. The fog was so thick we didn't make it all the way through the park. I was really looking forward to seeing the hoodoo that looked like a poodle too...