Alrighty…want to come with me for the rest of our roadtrip? Here we go- LOL.

We went from the Grand Canyon through Monument Valley to Moab. Quite a long drive- but …I tell you the landscape was amazing. Lot’s of photos out of the car while driving.

We arrived late at the Redcliff Lodge in Moab and the next morning after a nice and hearty breakfast we went horseback riding. So fun!

Here is Buttercup my sweet horse- she liked to be photographed :)

Here is my peeps :)

Here is me – LOL – well – of course I thought the whole time I look really cool – kind of like John Wayne…but this one…not so cool ;)

He …looked really cool!!!!

Close by is Arches Nationalpark – so we went there later ….Roadrunner and Koyote Land! Or how we called it ACME Land- LOL

See this bug?  We had seen it in Sequoia too and wondered what it might be. Somebody came along and called it a Potatoe Bug and I finally found some info on the Internet. Actually it is a Cricket. Very interesting!

The Landscape Arch which might be falling down in the next couple years

And the Delicate Arch

And one of our many Album Covers…naaaaa –get what it says???

The next day we had a short stopover at Bryce Canyon – I want to come back and spent more time there

and then we continued to Zion where we stayed down in the Canyon in the Lodge. We went for the Angels Landing Hike the next morning. Never a good sign…if it starts with a sign like this:

It started all easy peasy :)

little zigzag upwards

It was warm…

until we came to the part which is called the Refridgerator Canyon…

And then we had a lunch picnic break and there it was….the Oh-Shoot-Indicator! Chains – nothing on the sides…but I decided I try

And I was scared and realized how much I like my life …

So Karen and I decided to stay right there …Bill came back five minutes later…taking care of us girls ;)

While my crazy hubby was going to the end – and I was scared with for him. After over an hour I was a wrack.

When it came to climbing down while holding on to the chain and looking over the edge I really freaked. I almost cried and I cursed…the whole time. sorry about that…but I couldn’t help myself. And …I wasn’t the only one. I saw 20 year old guys going down on their behind and freaking. I know it doesn’t look bad…but it was.

but see- here she smiles again ;)

So that was a lot of Zion- but I had to tell you- LOL. And then the next day we had to drive to Las Vegas where our friend’s flight left and we drove till late night till California where we stayed in a Motel near Gilroy.  We woke up and spent a wonderful morning in Santa Cruz.

Loved the Pelican just starting to fly

and those Babes just hanging out

We went up the Coast along Highway 1 and stopped here and there

It was like a mini vacation during vacation- LOL

We went to the airport, flew to NJ where we stayed another three days with family and friends, filled with great times and laughter and then went back to Germany. It was amazing! I have seen and learned so many things during this trip. What a beautiful world we live in!!! So that was it… next time crafty stuff again – promised! Have a good one!

Nat

I know it is about three weeks ago I’m back from our vacation and I guess I should have shown the pictures earlier- but as some of you already know I have a bit of a rough time right now. My two grandaunts and my mother were in hospital as soon as I came home from the States . My mother and my one aunt are doing fine now- but while it looked a couple days as if my aunt Margot is going to be released from the hospital today, she got high fever again and get’s infusion and feels really bad.

So to get myself in a happy mood now I share some of my vacation photos with you:

We flew to NJ where we visited our family and had a big family dinner and then the next day we continued on to San Francisco to stay with our friends Marina and Karsten and their babygirl which we hadn’t seen so far.  We had such a wonderful time with them and I can’t wait to see them after Christmas then they are going to visit us!

hahaha- I love this photo of Marina- it is so her!

The visit war really short and the next evening we drove up north into the Wine country to visit our friends Joe and Jen who live on a vineyard.

One of the highlights was that we went to Occidental to see our friend playing- she is amazing!

It was sad to go -we haven’t seen them in three years and I so hope we will see them quicker again this time

From there we drove to Sequoia Nationalpark where we spent two nights. It was amazing.

General Sherman – huge huge huge- look how small my husband looks like and still the tree is not in total in the pic.

And the saw bear number one- who was as frightened as we were

We also saw a lot of those cuties

and another bear – he was sooo cute – from far away and in a car – LOL

He was eating the seed out of one of those little cones

We hiked through the woods without seeing one person for hours!

Then we we drove to Las Vegas – with a little drive through the Mojave Desert

Las Vegas was a bit of shock- LOL- after being away from civilisation and craziness- but we had fun and finally connected with our friends Karen and Bill for the rest of the trip.We stayed at the MGM Grand – holy moly that is the biggest hotel I have ever been to!

Karen and me – having a good time

Meeting more friends for lunch…so crazy to see all the NJ people in Las Vegas- LOL

we went to the Secret Gardens at the Mirage

Just hanging out- LOL

We went to a show by Cirque Du Soleil: Beatles Love- Oh my gosh it was amazing. I started crying at “Here comes the sun”. here is a video – not really showing how it is life- but it was amazing!

[youtube width=”325″ height=”271″]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzXnYPMab2c[/youtube]

To tell you the truth though – I was happy to leave Las Vegas- it was fun..but I don’t need it again or longer than two days. So the four of us made our way over the Hoover Dam into Arizona. Here are some road impressions

And then we arrived at the Grand Canyon- ohhh my – that was so mind blowing. We had a picnic at sunset and were stunned!

Look- that’s me- LOL

And the first of our many album cover photos…LOL

Our cabin right at the edge!

We went 1/3 down the Canyon the next day- it was an amazing hike.

I love this picture that Bill took of me and Jim

Lunchbreak and before hiking up again – ppuhhhh

Lot’s of screaming that day- LOL

In the evening we went out for dinner at the Grand Canyon Village and as we were heading out for a Ranger Programme about Mountain Lions we saw Elks- and we heard them. Fighting- loud bams and squeeking too. One of the watchers was knocked over and I tell you – I was more scared of the Elks than of the Bears ;)

I liked the little ones better ;)

And then the next day we had to say good bye to Grand Canyon to continue to Utah.

I will post more tomorrow- hope I didn’t bore you – but I feel at least better just remembering the trip and looking at the pictures. Have a great day!

Nat