kauai - waimea canyon

Hailed as the grand canyon of the Pacific we decided it needed to be on our list of places to see.

the ride up we stopped at a small place that had a blow hole where the sea came up through.



I was fascinated by this sign


I didn't see any cats but saw plenty of chickens.  One of the stories we heard about them is they were originally brought over by one of the ships that first landed in hawaii and then after a hurricane they escaped and were never rounded up.  they are not good eating I guess either to tough.  what a shame.




after a long twisty road we finally arrived





it really was gorgeous but very like the grand canyon.  you stop you look and oh and ahh over it and then well not much else to do



here you can see all the way to the sea


and of course the shot of us

valley of fire

ok I teased you the other day with a better place then red rock canyon in Vegas, Nevada and here it is:



this is your first glimpse just after arriving at the pay station.  $10 gets a car load into this beautiful park full of surprises. 

valley of fire also happens to be Nevada's first state park as well.




so if you have a choice and can only do one state park while in vegas go to this one.  its about 50 miles from the strip and so worth it.


this post is part of the creative exchange.  Check them out some awesome talent there.

red rock canyons are a natural beauty

tower mountains of multiple colors take your breath away

thankfully they are protected so that our children's children can enjoy them.

goodbye Zion.  until next time may your rivers run clean and mountains soar high.

angels landing in zion national park

last leg on our way to the top.

I look at this now and say why was i wearing that shirt. oh yeah when we left it was 60 degrees on our way back it was 90.  good reason to leave early in the morning.    This is the spot I camped out and waited.  I lost my nerve and couldn't make it the rest of the way.  I was disappointed in myself but with my fear of heights I felt good that I made it this far. 

my little friend that kept darting around me while I waited.  he wanted that trail mix bad.  But there is a $100 fine for feeding the wildlife.  One I wasn't willing to pay even this high up. 

this is as far as I made it.  That's hubby on his return from angels landing.  He noted that there were several spots he had to go it on his rear so i am glad I stopped.  maybe another time I can make it. 

the notch.   sheer cliffs on both sides most areas are 3 to 5 feet wide. 

                                                      the top of angels landing.

a view from the top thanks to hubby.  I am proud of him for making it and his reward you ask?  a t-shirt that says I hiked angels landing, i had to settle for the i hiked Walters wiggles t-shirt.  :)

that's the end of that story and most of my Zion pictures.  I have a few miscellaneous pictures I will post for tomorrow.  If you ever have a chance to go here go!!! you don't have to do any of the hikes just stay on the bus and tour the park its a grand site.  we live in a great place that we are able to have parks set aside like this unspoiled and beautiful. 

God Bless America and all its beauty.

scouts landing

almost there.  this is scouts landing.  over 5000 feet up what a view.  This is also where we saw the condor in an earlier post. 

proof I made it this far

the red rock canyon is a beauty.  I have a cousin that lives in Florida that vacations here every year and has been telling me about the beauty for a long time.  I am so glad I finally took a few days to get here. 

watch that edge Dave

doesn't look so bad right?  well that was my next stop around that outcropping and the chains are there for a reason.  because this is what is below them

well after navigating these chains I thought we were at the top. NOPE wrong again.

but what a view.  see that trail to the left that leads to the top.  and that is tomorrows adventure.

walters wiggles in zion national park

 zion park a great place to hike or just enjoy the beauty of it.  we are just a little ways on our trail at this point its around 8 am and the sun is peeking through.  NOTE we are so happy we left at this time in the morning. 

Destination Angels landing a 5 and half mile round trip. 

another view from the trail looking the other direction.  thankfully the trail is mostly paved so its easy going. hahaha well no boulder climbing at least

destination.  well only about 1/3 of the way as we find out.  can you spot any people?  lower center in the blue are the easiest to spot they get smaller after that.

part of the trail we have accomplished.  we started across the river just past where the river ends in this shot.

we are now at the top where I showed you was part of destination.  wow we thought that was tough but those switchbacks weren't bad.  we THOUGHT this was Walters wiggles.  we were wrong.

this is our payoff at this point.  hubby carried the pack with our bottles of water which we were very thankful for later on.

refrigerator canyon.  They call it that because it is nice and cool and much needed after hiking in the sun.  luckily we were not to hot since we left earlier.  when we came down the mountain, yes you have to go down the way you came up, we saw at least 100 people going up at 1 in the afternoon.  crazy. 

we made it to the wiggles.  a set of 21 switchbacks that are steep very steep.  this is a shot looking up you can see the person in the blue jacket is about mid way.  we are not use to this elevation and it really takes your breath away. lol

you have arrived!!!! (in my GPS voice)  that is the top of Walters wiggles.  we made it and neither of us old people had a heart attack.  lol  but this was only the destination for today's post.  and only about 2/3rd of the way to angels landing our ultimate destination.  to say you made it this far is a great feat. 

zion critters

not the best shot these were right on the side of the road and took the shot from the car. there were probably 30 of them out there

deer in the meadow

not sure what type of lizard this is we just called it a blue belly.

ground squirrel. funny thing we see squirrels all day long here but hey are tree squirrel it was fun to watch people's reactions to them. I think they must live where there are no squirrels