Day One And Two:
Not that exciting. There was a 1 hour drive to a Mariott Hotel and a half hour to the airport. There were lots of delays. We flew to Las Vegas through a six hour trip.
Day Three:
We are here! Today, we traveled to Utah to see Zion National Park. However, there was a huge hailstorm that showered on our car, so we had to stop. The clanking of the hail impacting the van was incredibly loud and I actually got to see one of the pieces of ice on the window shield. The ice was as large as a small cherry. It was INSANE!
Actual footage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsNuEY1XswQ
Later on, the hail stopped and we continued our hike up. However, it turns out the place was closed!!
We went back to get a hotel room. But the day wasn't over yet! We drove to Snow Canyon Park where there are lots of cool rock formations and animals like:
Coyotes
Kit Foxes
Quail
Roadrunners
Leopard Lizards
Gopher Snakes
Canyon Tree Frog
The endangered species:
Peregrine Falcons
Desert Tortoise
Gila Monsters
(I swear that I found a turtle burrow and a Gopher Snake hole. Also, it was clear that we saw a leopard lizard!!)
I also wanted to add the park history here:
Created in 1959, the Canyon was inhabited by humans such as the Paiute and Anasazi Indians from the 200 A.D. Speaking of the Anasazi's, they used the Canyon's animals for food from 200 A.D. to 1250. The Paiute used it from the 1200 A.D. to about 1850. Mormon pioneers discovered this canyon when searching for runaway cows in the mid 1800s. The canyon is a setting of many movies such as the Sundance Kid and The Electric Horseman.
At first, we went to some places to take pictures, but the best part was when we were climbing a vertical slope with little handholds. I managed to climb up by using the sides of the cave.
The best part was when we went to a very rocky place where the thrill of the day was! On the highest rock, there was a big white, DIXIE and there was a D on a mountain just east of the DIXIE. That is why the park was originally named Dixie State Park.
We got to climb a lot and I saw lots of rocks with holes in it. You can even crawl through them! At last, when I reached the highest rock, I saw lightning!!!!!!!! I actually got a video and some snapshots!!!! (credits to my dad and I) Here is this amazing video I took of some of the most powerful thunder strikes of the day:
Here is the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu5UTyBJQnM
Golden Clouds:
At the end, we went to Panda Express to eat dinner.
Day Four:
First of all, we went to see a dam. There was a huge lake! The cool thing about it is the contrast! On one side of the lake, it was a sky blue color and on the other side, there was emerald green water.
We then went on a cave tour. The name of the place was called Navajo Valley. The cave was called Antelope Canyon. There used to be a lot of antelope near the canyon, but they moved away due to too much people moving in.
We first have to ride on a truck that looks like this:
It was a really bumpy ride. Our tour guide was named Jaz. In the cave, there are so many beautiful structures! Also, the tour guide told us that if there are flash floods in the canyon, a whirlpool could start!!!!!!!
Here are some of the best photos taken:
We then went to a place called Horseshoe Bend. It was a really long and dry trip there. I scaled a really big rock and to mark that I was there, I constructed the largest, highest, and heaviest stone tower. I built another before that, but Dad accidentally knocked it over along with another person's tower.
The last part was the highlight of the day. WE WENT TO LAKE POWELL!
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The lake is really beautiful as well as cold. However, if you jump right in the water, and you get used to it, it will be warmer! The experience was totally epic even if the water was not totally clear. I got to swim and if you are gonna ask if I snorkeled, I will tell you this thing:
There is almost no wildlife around which is good (no sharks.) and bad (a little fish would be better.)
At the very end, we got to swim in the pool. When we were back at the hotel, we drew Bob the Builder. (By the way, this is the funny picture of the week. In addition, coming up in another secret project, this time a post, is a poll to see which summer funny picture of the week is the best.)
Day Five:
We made another attempt to go to Zion Park. However, it was also closed. AGAIN. But this time, it wasn't the hail or any dramatic weather generally. A big rock rolled down from a cliff and blocked part of the road:
They told us that we could take the detour and go around Arizona, but my dad thought it wasn't worth it. Therefore, we drove to Bryce National Park.
There, the wildlife include:
Great Basin Rattle Snakes (I found one of these.)
Violet Green Swallow (saw this one)
Clark's Nutcracker (I saw this one too)
Pronghorn
Deer
Mountain Lion
Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel
Stellar's Jay (saw this one.)
Uinta Chipmunk (more fit than New Jersey chips.)
Utah Prairie Dog
How the park formed:
What Caused Bryce Canyon Wonderland?
"Water/ice are the creators of Bryce Canyon's Wonderland. Melting snow and rain erode the stone and carry it downhill, leaving behind ginormous pieces of balancing rock. Ice cracks the rock apart as it freezes and thaws, weathering it into fins and hoodoos that spark curiosity imagination."
(Quoted from benchmark.)
At first, we walked to someplace that smelled like horse poo, so not getting into the details of that. We traveled another place called Sunrise Point where you could see lots of amazing geology. The geology there looks like part of a king's/queen's palace.
After sunrise point, there was a sunset point! I saw a Violet Green Swallow when we were entering the stairway down. It was pretty small. After the stairway, there was a spiral path that lead to a cave that you can go through. At the highest rock in the cave, I was the first one to put a pile of rocks to mark my visit! Exiting the cave, walking on a path, in a bush, I heard a buzz or hiss, couldn't tell. But then, when I looked closely, I SAW A BABY GREAT BASIN RATTLESNAKE!!!!!!! It was epic and awesome! I have a few pictures that my dad took. But by the time he came, the shy Rattlesnake slithered away to hide in a bush.
We saw a few squirrels and chipmunks (Utah kind). At the one part of a path, we saw a hummingbird. Skipping the boring parts. We took pictures at "Thor's Hammer" (a rock obviously).
In all, we walked about a mile or two. After all of the walking, we rode on a bus to the visitors center since on the benchmark:
It said that you could take a picture with the benchmark and you could win a prize which turns out that it was a car sticker that said I HIKED THE HOODOOS! (This portion of the park was called the Hoodoos.) The sticker looked like this:
Day Six:
Nothing that exciting. We just went to Cosco and Walmart to buy some stuff. In between, we went to Salt Lake City and boy was the lake a nightmare. Don't ask why.
Day Seven:
We went to Bear Lake on our way to Grand Teton. We swam in there and built a tiny island establishment on it. After that, we continued our trip to Grand Titan, stopping at Jackson.
Day Eight:
Today, we went to Grand Teton. We first traveled to Jenny Lake. The water there is really COLD. We walked to Snake River. However, based on the name, there are NO snakes in there, but instead, the River is shaped like a snake.
A Snake River Fact
”The Snake River twists and turns as it flows over 1,000 miles from Yellowstone National Park through Grand Teton National park ultimately to the Pacific Ocean. From Jackson Hole the Snake turns west to Idaho and eventually joins the Columbia River, which flow into the Pacific. This designated Wild and Scenic River attracts river otters, bald eagle, osprey, moose—and human anglers and rafters.”
-sign from Snake Lake Overlook
Our last stop was at Jackson Lake. It was really cold too and I found a stone that could change color based on how moist it is. We headed toward Yellowstone now and rented a wood cabin to sleep in. Actually, make that two beds since we can't fit seven people in one cabin. (That's like fitting four tigers in a pet travel cage.)
Day Nine:
Today, we went to see the geysers! There are like a million geysers that I saw today. However, I don't want to ruin the whole thing so I am going to describe some of the best geysers.
First of all, the geyser that won "most powerful" is the Beehive. It can shoot water up to two hundred feet in the air for almost up to five days. However, it is very unpredictable since there is no patter to its "water gun". It is shaped like a tree stump.
The geyser that won "most popular and watched" is the, drum roll please, the great Old Faithful spring. It gets a huge audience every ninety minutes that gather around Old Faithful, cameras ready.
The award, "biggest geyser" goes to the Grand Prismatic Spring. It so big that it can not even fit in one picture, even in a distance! Therefore, the panorama option would be put to use to fit the HUGE geyser all into one picture.
That was what we saw today. Except, tourists would be able to see a water snake somewhere on a bridge crossing a river! (I saw it!)
At the end, at the lodge, our friends (four of them) that also went to Yellowstone came over and we played all the way until they left
Day Ten:
Some more geysers. However, the spotlight is now on the animals! I saw lots of animals like Stellar's blue jay, Buffalo and calf, wolf, trumpeter swans, Clark's nutcracker, and the Lesser scaup. I also saw an antelope, a baby one. And a mountain goat too!
To sum up the day, we went to see Mammoth Spring. It won the award of both the hottest and most acidic! However, I wasn't able to see it due to a lack of energy.
Day Eleven:
I wasn't able to see the first few attractions and my parents saw a female deer. When it was lunchtime, we went to a river to eat. After that, we went to Fire Hole Lake to swim. Then, we drove out of Yellowstone but before, we saw a group of elk female and male at last!!!!! That pretty much sums up the day.
Day Twelve:
We drove for three hours to Utah and then stopped look around and explore the city.
Day Thirteen:
We went to a place where there are lots of amazing rock formations! There are like so many holes that you could sleep in! (It's pretty shady too!) another surprising thing I found out was that there was an orchard that you can pick fruit such as peaches, strawberries, and apples right from the tree and eat it! The rest of the day was driving. At the end, we went there again to look at the stars. There are way more stars in Utah than in New Jersey! Today was a lucky day! On the way home, we saw a lunar eclipse!!!!!! The moon was orange and I got some pictures although they don't show the actual color. (a little bit.)
Day Fourteen:
Today, we successfully entered Zion Park at last! At first, we went to a lookout and in total, I saw 4 lizards not to mention that there are lots of chipmunks and squirrels. After that, we crossed through a dark tunnel that goes through one of the mountains when we were driving to Weeping Rocks. Speaking of the Weeping Rocks, it is called that since water runs through the rocks which makes it look like it's crying. We rented a hotel room to end the day.
Last Day!
WE ARRIVED HOME!!
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