DAY 1: We packed up our bags, loaded the car, and started to head South last Saturday morning (June 30th). Our first day was a short drive...it's kind of sad that a five hour drive has become short to me, but we logged some long days in the car on this trip home! We first stopped in Salt Lake City and hit the local attractions. We drove through the University of Utah and checked out the campus. Then, we drove by the capital (very impressive), and we finished out our touring walking through Temple Square and viewing the Mormon Tabernacle. Our visit was brief, but we saw plenty. Although I would not want to visit this city for a long period of time, I was impressed with the cleanliness of it. A half a day was just perfect! From Salt Lake we drove to Provo, Utah. Not quite sure where that is...well neither was I, but it is the home of Brigham Young University. We drove through campus, and then went to see Bridal Veil Falls which is a waterfall that drops 607 feet into the Provo River. That evening we met a childhood friend of Nick's for dinner at Cafe Rio. After a month of food at the lodge, this Mexican food did not disappoint. The hand made tortillas = delicious!! From Provo we drove to St. George, Utah which was our final stop for the day. St. George is in the far southwestern part of the state and was the nearest city we could find to Zion National Park. One day down, 8 more to go!
Leaving Jackson Hole...will definitely
miss this beautiful city!
A few hours in to day 1 and
we were already using suckers
to pass the time.
Utah State Capital
Salt Lake City Tabernacle
Kyle and Hardy at Bridal Veil Falls
Utah sunset through a wildfire
DAY 2: Well this day had a great start, but not so much the ending...more on that in a bit! We only had an hour drive from St. George to our first stop and first national park of the trip (we saw 7 national parks over the course of our drive south), Zion National Park. Zion was Utah's first national park and it is filled with massive sandstone cliffs and canyons of cream, pink, and red. The park was insanely crowded that day so we opted to drive through most of it, and stop at the major attractions along the way. There was a 1.1 mile tunnel that we drove through and it once was the longest one in the U.S. From Zion we drove two hours to Bryce Canyon National Park. The major attraction of this park is Bryce Canyon, which actually is not a canyon but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters. Bryce Canyon is filled with these geological structures called hoodoos that are red, orange, and white colored rocks. Check them out in the pictures below. They are pretty cool! We spent most of the afternoon at this park, and then we ventured on to Capitol Reef National Park. We arrived at this park pretty late, but while driving through we decided to make one stop and do a little exploring. This park is in the heart of red rock country which you will notice in the pictures below. We all were having a good time exploring and shooting some pictures until Kyle and I realized that I had locked the keys in the car. At this point it is dusk and we have no cell phone service. Thankfully we had two cars, so we left Nick and Big Hardy hiking, and drove to town (with Hardy in my lap) to get service. We called a towing service that said it would take them about an hour or so to get to us. Around 8:30 a man arrives that follows us into the park to our car, and in just about five minutes he unlocks our car. Apparently this happens several times a day, but you just don't want it to happen when you still have a 3 hour drive ahead of you and you have not eaten dinner. I will say that the guys handled it well, and after about an hour drive we found a Sonic and everybody was happy! We finally made it to Moab, Utah after 1:00 and we all crashed. Day 2 is finished....and all this with a one year old!
Zion National Park
Bryce Canyon National Park
Rainbow Point
Lil Hardy, Kyle, Big Hardy, and Nick
Kyle, Hardy, and Me
Kyle, Nick, and Hardy are the tiny
dots at the top of this rock.
Yep, they climbed up there!
dots at the top of this rock.
Yep, they climbed up there!
Thor's Hammer
Sunset Point
Natural Bridge
Hardy, Nick, Hardy, and Kyle
at Bryce Point
Look at all the hoodoos!
at Bryce Point
Kyle, Hardy, and Me
Hardy and Kyle
Capitol Reef National Park
Moments before discovering
the keys were locked in the car
the keys were locked in the car
Killing time while waiting
on the locksmith...this little boy
cracks me up!
DAY 3: Day 3 and 3 more parks! We began the day at Arches National Park which outside of the Grand Canyon was probably my favorite park of the trip. This park is known for preserving over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch. Definitely some sights to see here! After touring Arches, we went to Canyonlands National Park. The vastness of the canyons in this park are pretty spectacular, and I really enjoyed getting to see the well-known attraction, the Island in the Sky. We finished the day at Monument Valley which most people would recognize because most popular western movies and close to 100 movies have been filmed in this park including Forrest Gump, Back to the Future 3, and How the West Was Won. In the words of critic Keith Phipps, "its five square miles have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West." This park was a great way to end the day. The sun was setting and it was just like what you see in the pictures except we were actually living it. I guess the west did capture me a bit!
Tower of Babel
Balanced Rock
Kyle and Hardy
Cove Arch
Kyle, Me, and Hardy at Cove Arch
Turret Arch
Kyle and Hardy inside Cove Arch
Hardy at Cove Arch
Kyle, Hardy, and Me
at North and South Window Arch
Kyle and Hardy at Turret Arch
Kyle, Nick, and Big Hardy
in the arch
Canyonlands National Park
Buck Canyon Overlook
Grand View Point Overlook: Island in the Sky
Green River Overlook
Kyle and Me at Green River Overlook
Monument Valley Park
Monument Valley Park
Kyle and Hardy
Back to the Future Scene
Sunset over Monument Valley
DAY 4: THE GRAND CANYON!!! We spent the night in a hotel that was less than a mile from the park's entrance so that we could get there first thing in the morning. After a quick breakfast at Mickey D's, we entered the park. Of all the parks we saw, this one definitely takes the cake! I am not sure if it is because of it's popularity or just simply because of it's grandeur, but the Grand Canyon is hard to top. We first stopped at the visitor center to see what we shouldn't miss on our one day visit--some people spend a week in the park! Once we talked with a park ranger, it was decided that our best option would be to ride the bus and stop at the major viewpoints. Had we more time we could have done a short hike, but to me seeing the canyon stretch on for miles and miles was just as impressive. As you will notice in the pictures below, as far as your eye can see the canyon would continue on. It is amazing to think that the Father created something so vast, yet he calls us his Masterpiece! After spending the majority of the day in the canyon, we got back in the car and headed further south to Phoenix, Arizona. One state closer to home! 
Mather Point
Kyle, Hardy, and Me at Mather Point
Mather Point
Nick, Hardy, Kyle, and Hardy at Mather Point
Yavapai Point
Nick, Hardy, and Kyle at Yavapai Point
Kyle taking it all in
Hopi Point
Kyle, Me, and Hardy at Hopi Point
Hopi Point
Kyle and I at Hopi Point
Hardy and Kyle at Hopi Point
Powell Point
Nick, Kyle, and Hardy at Powell Point
Overlooking Maricopa Point
DAY 5: Happy 4th of July! We started out our 4th celebrating America with a good old fashion breakfast at Denny's! We all were pretty wiped out from 3 days of park touring so we spent the afternoon enjoying some rest and relaxation, and then headed to downtown Phoenix for dinner and the Diamondbacks game. What better way to celebrate the 4th than at a major league baseball game! We ate dinner at Cooperstown which is Alice Cooper's restaurant and then headed to the game. Hardy had an absolute blast at the game, and he actually made it through all nine innings! The Diamondbacks stadium has a retractable roof which they opened at the end of the game for a spectacular fireworks show. Of course, we had to make one more stop on the way home at In-N-Out Burger for milkshakes! What a great 4th enjoyed by all!
Kyle and I outside
the Diamondbacks stadium
Kyle and Hardy watching the game
Nick sure knows how to
make Hardy laugh
Hardy loving the game
Happy 4th from The Coles
Proud to be an American!
Big Hardy and Lil Hardy
Fireworks
Hardy and Kyle watching the fireworks
DAY 6: Today we sadly parted ways with Nick and Hardy. We had so much fun with these guys and were glad they joined us for most of the trip home. They drove on to Dallas while we spent one more day in Phoenix. We kicked off our day at the Phoenix Zoo which opens at 7 am because it gets so hot so quickly. We did not arrive there quite that early, but did get there mid-morning. Hardy enjoyed strolling through the zoo and was very entertained by the monkeys. After lunch at P.F. Changs (yummy), Kyle was so nice to give me some time at the outlet mall which really did my soul some good. While I was not too thrilled about spending another day in Phoenix, I desperately needed a day that was not so rushed and with ten activities squeezed into the day. "Activity Kyle" was starting to wear me out! :) We finished the day at a local mexican restaurant that was very authentic and absolutely delicious! It was not crowded at all, and our waiter, Pepe, became a friend that night. He sat and talked with us for quite some time and quickly won over Hardy. Got to love the locals!
Hardy checking out the monkeys
Kyle and Hardy killing time while I shopped
DAY 7: Phoenix, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico...only 9 hours in the car! After driving 2 hours, we made a stop at Saguaro National Park. I like to call this park the cactus park. Basically it was filled a bunch of cacti of different shapes and sizes. Why wouldn't you visit a cactus park?!? After leaving the park, we basically drove 7 hours through the middle of nothing. Oh if you could have been a fly on the window of our car during that drive. Kyle and I had to throw some of the traffic laws out the window to keep our little man happy. He was definitely dancing to New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys in the front of the car while pressing all the buttons on the dash board. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! Upon arriving in Albuquerque we drove through the University of New Mexico, and then crashed at the hotel...only 2 more days!
Check out the height of that cactus!
A little prickly!
San Miguel Chapel
Lunch in downtown Santa Fe
Day 8 and Hardy is still smiling
Dinner at Cracker Barrell
DAY 9: 9 more hours and we are HOME SWEET HOME!! This day was spent in the car driving from Oklahoma City to Oxford. We had to make a stop in Memphis to pick up Emmy and enjoyed a good dinner with The Coles. It was so good to be back in the south and be with family...I even teared up when we first saw everyone. We pulled into Oxford around 10 on Sunday night and boy was I excited to be home! It is safe to say that the Cole family has conquered the west!
Together again at last: Hardy and Emmy
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