Leisure Adventure

Decemeber 30-31

Here is what the "swede" and I managed to

do before the New Year 2012.

We drove to Torrey, Utah, stayed the night

at the luxurious Days Inn and got up early at sun rise...

...to venture the back roads of Capitol Reef National Park.

(main entrance sign.)

back country (off road) entrance sign.

One of the hundreds of views within the park.

We crossed this river to get to the rode to

take us into "no man's land".

The only other living, breathing thing

we saw were cattle grazing everywhere.

Up out of the ground...(temple of the sun)

...Out of the ground came (temple of the moon).

That tiny spec is the "swede" standing on the

edge of gypsum sinkhole.

(ok, this was very large and deep and scary!)

Nothing like a good old fashion scenic road trip.

On our way home we took the exit to

Goblin Valley State Park.

( I was trying to be scary)

It was the oddest thing...seeing toad stools

pushing up from the earths floor.

The weather was clear and brisk,

a fantastic day for late December.

Below are a few quotations I really like:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt:

"There is nothing so American as our national parks.... The fundamental idea behind the parks...is that the country belongs to the people, that it is in process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us."

George M. Wright, Joseph S. Dixon, and Ben H. Thompson, Fauna of the National Parks of the United States, 1933.

"But our national heritage is richer than just scenic features; the realization is coming that perhaps our greatest national heritage is nature itself, with all its complexity and its abundance of life, which, when combined with great scenic beauty as it is in the national parks, becomes of unlimited value. This is what we would attain in the national parks."

-On to the next adventure....