Capitol Reef National Park and Goblin Valley State Park

Capitol Reef is an incredible national park.  If you ever spend time in Utah, be sure to include Capitol Reef.  Prepare yourself for lots of photos.

Hickman Bridge

Proof that aliens visited the earth in prehistoric times.  Large aliens.  Check out the size of the long horn sheep between the aliens.

Fruita Schoolhouse.  More about Fruita later.

The park is centered around the town of Fruita which was settled in the late 1800’s.  There are lots of orchards that are open to the public when the fruit is ripe.  We picked apples, peaches and pears.

Cassidy Arch

Another photo of Cassidy Arch.  Can you find it?

The Grand Wash

Capitol Gorge.  The gorge was actually used by settlers as a path to get through “the fold”.  The primary geological feature of the park is the Waterpocket Fold where the earth folded upward as the Pacific Plate moved under the North American Plate.

Graffiti left by settlers has they passed through the gorge.

The Waterpocket Fold

The orchards in Fruita

95 million year old oyster fossils.

Secret Canyon

Hike to Strike Valley Overlook

Back in Fruita

Cathedral Valley

Morrell Cabin

Temple of the Sun and the Temple of the Moon (to the left of the Temple of the Sun)

We stopped at Goblin Valley State Park on the way to Arches National Park


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fairbanks (July 2024)

Image
Our next stop was Fairbanks.  We visited Gold Dredge #8, the Museum of the North, and Pioneer Park.  We took a riverboat ride on the Chena River with a stop at Trail Breaker Kennel, the kennel started by four time Iditarod winner, Susan Butcher, and a recreated Chena Indian Village.  We also had dinner with my cousin Jane and her husband, Jim, long time Fairbanks residents.  And as you might have guessed, we did manage to see a moose cow and calf in a pond in the Chena River Recreation Area. But first the pipeline: Gold Dredge 8.  Later in our trip, we got to see exactly how these monster floating machines transformed the landscape in Dawson.  They scooped up the gravel at the bottom of a stream bed, sorted out the gold, and dumped the remaining gravel in a long serpentine pile behind.  The last photo in this group shows a bit of these long piles of gravel in Dawson. Dinner with my cousin, Jane, and her husband, Jim, on the Chena River. Museum of the North - If you ever visit Fairbanks
Read more

Houston and Waco, TX

Image
Our next stop on our journey was Galveston and Houston, TX. Here is a shot of the brand new Carnival Jubilee starting its maiden voyage in Galveston. And an older ship in Galveston harbor. We spent a day at Space Center Houston.  This is the actual 747 which flew the space shuttles across the country.  The shuttle on top is a mockup. Photos of Mission Control for the Apollo missions. Photos of the Astronaut Training Facility Photos of actual Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules that have been to space. We happened to be in Houston for the opening day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, so we decided to go. And then a trip to the Heritage Museum in Sam Houston Park in downtown Houston.  These are relocated historical buildings from as early as 1805. Then we headed to Waco to visit with our  friends Bill and Joyce Green. Photos of the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco. Photos at the Waco Suspension Bridge constructed in 1870 for cattle drives on the Chisholm trail to use as they crossed the
Read more

Anchorage (June 2024)

Image
We made it to Anchorage on June 26.  We camped at Bird Creek Campground on the Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage. Here are more photos from the Turnagain Arm. On Friday, 6/29, we drove to Whittier and took the 26 Glacier Cruise.  Prepare yourself for lots of photos of glaciers. And the glacier calves Note the boat in the photo below On Sunday we went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center Ben and Grace joined us Sunday night and on Monday we headed to Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park, but that will be my next post.
Read more