Petrified Forest National Park - Arizona

Our last official Park stop was the Petrified Forest.  We didn't have long to spend here so we went to the spot that the kids and I remembered as having the most petrified wood for David to see.  It is kind of amazing.  It's beautiful.

It was SO WINDY when we stopped.  Probably the most wind I've ever experienced. It made the 3/4 mile loop cold and memorable!

Even this plant was "jingling" in the wind.  It was a cool little sound. 

David's hat flew right off his hat and he had to run about 20 yards to retrieve it. 

Ready to take flight...  :) 

Grand Canyon National Park - Arizona

Magnificent is the word I use to describe the Grand Canyon.  We got to visit both the north and the south rim.  Very different, but neat to see both aspects.

The North Rim

The South Rim 

We hiked a couple miles to Ooh Aah Point.  It was pretty spectacular! 

Lighthouse Point

Just before sunset 

One Little Trouble

For the most part, things went really well, however, the morning that were suppose to be leaving the Grand Tetons to get Grammy to the airport in Salt Lake and to travel down to the Grand Canyon, the truck would not start.  It took hours to figure out the problem but after lots of phone calls and troubleshooting, David had it all figured out.  After about 6 hours and we finally had a tow truck coming from an hour away to tow us to Jackson, Wyoming, the truck started!!  Praise the Lord, we just needed to get it started that one time so we could haul the trailer with us to Jackson, Wyoming, and not have to come back for it.  We know it was miracle because the mechanic told us the solenoid was completely shot...shouldn't have started.  We were grateful.

My mom missed her flight.  We lost time and money, but God was there taking care of us the whole time.  We were grateful for his care during our little problem

Laudromat

Using our time while at the laundromat...  :)  Sudoku!

Mr. Beaver face... 

Zion National Park - Utah

Zion was also an unplanned jaunt, but it was also so cool.  It was also not trailer friendly...it was our one little trailer mishap.  There just was not good parking for trailer.  Next time we'll just take a shuttle through the park.  In Zion you drive through the park.  It was extremely steep in areas and there were lots of switchbacks.  There were also two tunnels that we had to go through.  The second one we had to pay extra for because since we were so wide they have to stop traffic from the opposite direction so that we (and all wide vehicles) can drive down the center of the mile long tunnel.  It was a pretty neat tunnel!  :)