Yoo 604 - Canyonlands

I went camping with my dad, and two sisters, in southern Utah last month. It was a week of laughs, incredible surroundings, and not showering. Our main victory was getting our dad out there with us.We've gotten him on two vacations in as many months and I think we've probably extended his life a few years because of it. He works too hard :-)

Except that in the process of preparing to camp we spent approximately $200,000 on groceries for the week and cut a few years off of our mom's life when she noticed that on the credit card...

So in between all the Filet Mignon we were eating (ha!), we spent the first two nights camped just outside of Canyonlands National Park. It's vast and rugged and I feel like I need to be a geologist to truly start appreciating its intricacies. But canyon overload equals awesome and we soaked in the views while hiking around. Happy places galore.

^^ white rim trail. or if you're me saying it out loud, white wim trail. i have an isolated speech impediment with those words. but anywho, it's still a bucket list item. ^^

^^ this is unintentionally almost a reproduction of the beatles abbey road album cover in southern utah ^^

^^ sloppy joes for dinner!^^

The first night in Canyonlands Dylan and dad set up camp while Morgan and I started dinner. It was super windy. Even after stealing Dylan's sleeping pad to use as a wind break, we could not get the "easy-light" charcoals going. After at least (no joke) 15 matches, the fire gods smiled on us. We made sure to burn the pile of failed match remnants before dad could come back and give us a hard time...

I had low expectations for the Dutch oven pizza we were making but it turned out quite tasty. Therefore, I submit the 15+ matches were an investment.

^^ it was morgan's birthday. i made her open her present in the middle of this field because it was more scenic. ^^

^^ she got bras ^^

^^ dad made peach cobbler. no one remembered the candles. i'm so jealous she got to celebrate her birthday in southern utah...but super glad i was there with her! ^^

^^ if i had gotten the focus right, this would be one of my favorite pictures. ^^

^^ this series of pictures made me laugh. i had the camera on tripod taking shots every few seconds. there's about 4 pictures with me, morgan, and dylan all moving around in crazy positions and my dad doesn't move an inch throughout the 4. ^^

The first night in the tent was windy as could be. We had everything zipped up but still awoke generously dusted in sand. I say awoke like we actually slept thru the night...haha. There was a pleasant surprise later that day though as we discovered a primitive toilet near camp. Upgrade from the bush we had been using! Except not because I have no problem using nature's toilet in the back country.

Sunrise photos.

I love soooo many things about camping but one of the bigger reasons is timing my day with the sun. Up with the sun and down with the sun. Watching the sun rise and then set. Settling down with a twinkling night sky. It's simple and natural and such a luxury for me coming from a city right now.

Have a great day :-)