Taking a Closer Look

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:1,2 and 5

We are at the end of this road trip and are so thankful for the Lord's protection as we traveled 5100 miles through 13 states in 21 days. Come take a look with your guide Coco Joe, and see a sampling of random, fun and beautiful things of God's creation we experienced on our journey.

Thanks for checking in and joining us on our trip. We are so grateful for the opportunity to enjoy God's country and to spend this time together.

Triple Play in Utah's National Parks

We have been under the radar for the past 4 days and have now returned to the blogosphere and will try to bring you up to date. This picture tells the story of where......

....this shows what we saw out the front window and.....

....this shows our view out the back window of the motorhome. You can tell we have entered red rock country and the view is fabulous from any angle.
We arrived at Capital Reef National Park and camped in this lush valley of apple and cherry orchards. This is the view from a hike we took looking down on the camp ground nestled below in the trees.

The early morning was perfect for hiking before the temp got into the 90's.

Our campsite view of the gorgeous red mountains of Capital Reef. Nice!!!!

Now we are off to our next National Park.....

It sure is hard to grasp the magnitude and beauty of this place from a simple photo. Wish you could see how deep and spectacular this really is. Awesome creation by an Awesome Creator!

Now for the hike and to get down in there....Yeehaw!Tom is trying to keep some leaning towers from falling down.

Don't slip and fall you two.......It's a really long way down!

Back to our new campsite in the pines after a full day of hiking...

...time to relax, watch the mule deer feeding in the meadow and enjoy the evening together.

We are now at our last stop on the wonderful trip and it was a real treat.

Coco Joe points the way so just follow along through the rock tunnel.

Then bike along with us as we follow the river path and enter the magical land of Zion National Park.

Don't worry, you don't have to keep up with Tom. He really will slow down and meander along with us.

A refreshing dip in the river and rest in the cool shade is a nice break from the heat of the day.

At the end of the day and the conclusion of our trip can say "We are very happy campers!"

Bike-a-gogo in Provo

Our first stop in Utah was for lunch at a restaurant in Salt Lake City that we have been looking forward to eating at. The Red Iguana Mexican Restaurant lived up to the reviews that we had heard and it's mole sauce (made from chocolate) was muy delicioso. We licked our plates clean but thought we'd spare you a picture of that.

After lunch we continued on south until we found a lovely place to camp alongside Utah Lake in Provo. It was sunny, 80 degrees and perfect for a bike ride on the nature path that followed the Provo River for miles.Check out the views and some of the wildlife we spotted along the way.

A mama and her baby ducklings along side the bank adrift with cottonwood fuzzies....

A little beaver busy at work......

and Mr. Snake slithered right across our path......
and we passed several picturesque horse ranches which must have been the elite B + B's for horses.What more could we ask for? Absolutley nothing! You can bet that we are happy campers after a beautiful day like that and we thank God for letting us enjoy such a special time.

Slowin' down in Lava town

Today we had an unplanned adventure into Idaho. A fellow camper gave us a tip about a worthwhile side trip and we are so glad we followed up on it. The scenic route off the interstate turned out to be not only beautiful but was part of the early settlers Oregon Trail.
The goal of this side trip was to find the town of Lava Springs which was established in the late 1800's. It still has an old charm look with many vintage buildings and is tucked right in between several mountains..

We got settled into a nice campsite beside the river and then headed for the hot springs.Tom's mom, Jean Meadows, grew up 25 miles from here and recalled enjoying these same hot springs in her youth.

We soaked for awhile in the crystal clear mineral waters, trying out each of the 5 pools with the hottest one being 112 degrees. After that we treated ourselves to wonderfully relaxing massages........aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

We returned again at night to soak one more time before bed. Now that is a nice side trip don't you think?