Away We Go

I know I'm a little late posting this, but here are some of the highlights from my trip down to New Mexico:

We started out going East on 84 towards Pendleton, which I had just driven the week before going out to visit my family. Driving through the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area is beautiful,
but then it becomes very flat and boring.

The first night we stopped in Buhl, ID. It was starting to get dark and we needed to find a camp spot so we could set up before the light was gone.  My mom had read about camping at Balanced Rock and we wanted to give it a try. The directions took us farther and farther into nothingness and we were starting to get worried.  The farmland finally dropped into a rocky canyon.
It looked like scenery from Thema & Louise. 

We found the rock, but didn't feel comfortable camping out there.

Does anyone else think that these look like faces?

We drove back into town and were able to get a camp spot at Miracle Hot Springs.

On the second day we continued South through Utah.
I loved the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City and Provo. 

 Eventually we made it to the flat, flat, flat part of Utah. 

I feel like someone took this rock and keep pressing ctrl + v

We came into Moab the back way because my mom wanted me to see the beauty of the Colorado River.

I was speechless.  

As it turned out we arrived in Moab just in time for Jeep Safari Weekend. What that meant was that every single campsite was taken. We pulled into each of the seven campgrounds along this stretch of the river and there was not one open spot.  The sun was setting and we were starting to get worried.  My mom new of a few more campgrounds on the other side of town so we headed that way.  Of course those were all full too.  By this point it was completely dark.  At the last campground we saw a group site that only had one tent set up, and we asked if we could join them.  They were super friendly and FINALLY we could set up camp. Thank goodness for headlamps.

When I woke up the next morning and peeked my head out of the tent I was blown away all over again!

I couldn't understand why anyone would ever want to leave Moab, but we had to get back on the road that day. We did manage to squeeze in an AMAZING hike!
Just across from Gold Bar Campground there are a few trail heads.
My mom dubbed this one Culvert Canyon.

   

We had to leave beautiful Moab and continue southward. We drove through Colorado (although I didn't find it all that colorful after falling in love with the red rocks and blue sky in Utah).

 

And we finally made it to New Mexico! 

By the time we made it to the house it was already dark,
so we had to save our exploring for the morning. 

I will post soon about our New Mexico adventures!