May 16 - United States: Richfield, Utah

Jon made us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast this morning and they were really, really good.  Heather and I washed the dishes while Jon disassembled our tent.  Then, we were off to Canyonlands.

Jon and Heather at Breakfast

Canyonlands National Park

This is exactly what it sounds like.  A park full of canyons and gorgeous vistas.  According to our map, "water and gravity have been the prime architects of this land, cutting flat layers of sedimentary rock into hundreds of colorful canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches, and spires."  Heather says that the mesas are called "islands in the sky" because the vegetation atop the mesas are so very different than the vegetation down below.  What starts off as a mesa, eventually erodes to a butte, then to a needle or spire, and then erodes away to nothing.  (Jon, by the way, likes to pronounce butte as "boootaaaayyy", which makes us laugh.  Such as when he says, "Hey!  Look at that boooottaaaay!" when he's really talking about a rock formation and not some girl's butt.)

We entered at the Visitor's Center and then drove south to the Grand View Point Overlook, stopping whenever we pleased along the way.  At the Grand View, there was a map that pointed out points of interest, including an old mining road that's still scarred into the earth.

Heidi and Heather at Canyonlands

Mesa Arch

Then we drove to the Mesa Arch parking lot, where we hiked out to the arch.  (I remembered to wear my hiking boots this time).  It was a really lovely view and we were excited to climb up on the arch - which we weren't allowed to do in Arches National Park.  

Jon, Heidi and Heather at Mesa Arch

We hiked a little around the the arch and found a rock structure called the "Washer Woman" because it looked like a woman carrying a load of laundry.

Then, when we were all canyoned out we left the park and searched for a place for lunch.  We stopped at an overlook and head turkey and cheese sandwiches on sourdough bread.  We had to eat in the sun, simply because there was no shade which was a shame because we each got a bit sunburned.

Not long later, we parted ways.  Heather had to go north to Heber City, and were heading south to Bryce Canyon.  So we pulled over at a gas station where Jon bought ice creams and snickers for us.  I got all my stuff out of Heather's truck and piled into our car again.  Then we said our good-byes and Heather drove off.

This was around 2:30 or 3:00 or so.  We figured it would take us 3-4 hours to get to Bryce Canyon.  But three and a half hours later, we reached the town of Richfield and knew we had a good two hours to go.  We also really wanted a bed because we've been sleeping in our sleeping bags for so long (on Heather's floor).  So we found a cheap motel called "The Night's Inn" and settled in.  Dinner was at a Dairy-Queen-Turned-Mexican joint called "Mexicano's" which we were quite happy with.  We toyed with the idea of seeing a movie, but we were quite content to stay in the room.