Touring, Teetering and Evolving

My wonderful boyfriend and I went on a few day trip up to Utah to explore Bryce Canyon and Zion Nat park. Every little vacation for us proves to be necessary. Not only for peace of mind and a touch of seclusion for the two of us, but my inspiration so much comes from seeing and experiencing new things, and there is no one I'd rather do that with than him.

I just purchased a new lens: 35mm fixed 1.8. Really great for portraits (amazing depth of field) and perfect for low light situations.

I also borrowed a wide angle 12-24mm from my teacher so I had something specifically for landscapes and wides.

Day one- The drive up to Utah. We Decided to pretty much drive straight except for our three hour detour in Vegas for lunch and a couple drinks (then walking and waiting off those couple of drinks).

The one photo I took:

Our first fill up in Utah.

Day 2- Exploring Bryce Canyon

We drove in very late the night before, so went straight to our hotel and crashed out.

The next morning we woke up on the early side and drove into the national park, went on a few short hikes, and followed the road through the park and out.

There was snow on the ground and covering some of the roads. Initially, as we were driving in, we looked at each other and thought, "fuck! We aren't prepared for the snow!" But the majority of the national park is much lower in elevation so we ended up being just fine. Except for Stephen when I nailed him with snowball when he wasn't expecting it.

View from our Hotel door step

The most important decision of the trip.

Day 3- We woke up in Bryce Canyon and began our drive down to Zion Nat. Park. It was about a 2-2 1/2 hour drive. A beautiful one.

Stephen's photo

We hiked around, then got back into our car, drove to the next spot that looked cool, and hiked around some more.

Out of Zion we had lunch in the little town just outside of the entrance. It reminded me of Joshua Tree. A bit of an art community, with a hippy vibe, fine art galleries, cafes, and restaurants. I specifically remember saying to Stephen, "Ade would love this place."

We then headed up to a ghost town in southern Utah called Grafton. It was settled in 1859 as a part of Utah's cotton growing project ordered by Brigham Young. It was largely destroyed and abandoned after a flood of the Virgin River which the town borders.

After Grafton we found a nice spot looking over the Virgin River to relax and take a nap.

We then drove into Vegas, for the 2nd time, met up with Sonja and Seth and hung out off of the strip for the night.

Day 4- Started as it should, with a bloody mary then craw fish. We went to a restaurant in Vegas called Hot and Juicy. Delicious cajun food. Gorged ourselves, needless to say.

I will post the last event of our trip in a new blog entry... when I finish going through the pictures. My trip in total used 5.68 Gb of space on my memory card. I'd say it was worth while.