Our 2023 had 5 main components:

• New baby #1-Liam
• New baby #2-James
• New babies and Charlie-all 3 boys together
• A long Colorado/Utah/Arizona road trip
• A quick road trip to North Carolina

New baby, grandson #2, Liam Wilder, was born at home on May 13, 2023.  At 8 lbs 12 oz, Liam outweighed Charlie who tipped the scales at just 6 lbs 5 oz.

Liam continues to be a big chunk, but such a sweetheart!

Charlie immediately started smothering him with kisses and hasn’t stopped. ♥

Thank you, God, for this new little life!

Baby Liam

Sweet peaceful time

A whole new world for Charlie

The start of something wonderful

Jacob and his boys

If only they stayed this little for longer

New baby, grandson #3, James Michael Jacobsen, was born on June 17, 2023, just 5 weeks after cousin Liam.

Chelsea went long and Melissa went early, much to Chelsea’s chagrin!

Little James registered at 8 lbs 1 oz.

Now we have three sweet little angels. We are triple-blessed! ♥♥♥

In early July, we made the trek to see baby James. He was 3 weeks old. Chelsea and Jacob and the boys came out for the weekend, also.

It was amazing to see all 3 grandsons together!

Naturally, we spent a lot of time in the great-out-of-doors; namely, Carter Lake near Loveland, Estes Park, and RMNP.

Specifically, Charlie loved Chasm Falls on Old Fall River Road.

Gigi has her arms full!

It was a hot day

Keeping the babies cool

Blessings

Gorgeous day

We had a picnic and paddle boarded

Jacob, Charlie, and Luke at the lakeside

Sweet Charlie

Two cuties at the lakeshore

He was so excited!

Swirled rock, cake-batter-looking rock, colorful striations, stacked rock, and more!

We explored the Island in the Sky part of the park, including the Upheaval Dome, Green River Overlook, and the Mesa Arch (the most iconic spot in the park). 

This place was pretty cool, even though it was so hot outside. 😉

We stayed in Mexican Hat, UT, population less than 15. 😯

The unique hotel was built right in front of a huge rock formation. There was NO space in back of the building.

The winding Green River meanders through lonely terrain

A blob of swirled rock

Did I mention it was hot?!

The iconic and much-photographed Mesa Arch

The view from our room at the unique Mexican Hat hotel

Before the sun was up, we drove the famous road to Monument Valley, our second stop on the itinerary, to photograph the sunrise of the buttes.

You may be familiar with this road from the movie “Forrest Gump.”

I missed the perfect shot by just a bit.

As we set out on this fun road, anticipation ran high

I took SO MANY pictures of this historic place, in all types of lighting, as we were waiting for the sun to rise that morning.

Monument Valley is stunning, striking, hot.

Rock, dirt, and tree bark are all painted a reddish-gold.

Juniper trees thrive.

It’s sacred ground to the Navajo.

In many ways, this area of the country reminds me of the landscape in the movie “Cars.”

A thumb, mittens, and sisters

After we captured our fill of the sunrise, we moseyed along the bumpy, 2-hour scenic drive through Navajo land and found many more photos ops.

The sandstone formations portray many shapes with their massive buttes and towers such as mittens, a giant thumb, and 3 sisters.

We basically had the place to ourselves, so it was peaceful and quiet.

This silent, slow-paced setting gave the impression of a whole “nother” world, as time didn’t seem to matter.

The rock formations were colossal

We had the place to ourselves on this delightful day  🙂

Notice the gradient of colors on the ground

If you’ve seen my other posts,  you know I’m fascinated with dead trees

Simply perfect…in my book  😉

This day was far from over as we headed south to Page, Arizona, and many more sights.

First stop, Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell recreation area.

What a bright place with a vibrant blue sky and lake, green dam-water, and massive “orangy”-red rock.

Crazy hot forecast…just in time for us

A precarious view!

Here’s proof!

We weren’t done exploring yet

A peaceful evening

Next, we traveled many miles in search of some giant rocks known as the Cliff Dwellers area.

They liked it so much they later came back and built a home and other shelters using the giant rocks as part of the structures.

Eventually, a general store/restaurant and gas station were added.

We had fun exploring the shelters, inside and out. I felt the lure of self-sufficiency and adventure,

just as I did when reading The Boxcar Children books as a child!

The Cliff Dwellers Stone House

This place was kind of other-worldly, and I liked it

This landscape is mesmerizing...and people-less 😀

In Page, we stayed at one of the best Days Inn & Suites we ever have and talked with a lovely couple from Israel for an hour in the hot tub.

We discovered we have so much in common.

Both have 4 children (3 girls/1 boy), children in the military,

both our oldest grandchild and their only grandchild have blonde curly hair,

and we basically had the same itinerary as we traveled through Utah and Arizona!

It was Galit's first time in the states, and Roy had only been to the East coast. In my humble opinion, they picked the best places to visit.  😉

We recommend this place

Hello, Roy and Galit! ♥

Ready and 'raring to go' explore

This day was a big one; we experienced 3 unique places...

Next on the itinerary to-do list, and first for the day, was a Waterholes Canyon tour.

Both Arizona and Utah present many slot canyon experiences.

We chose a less well-known one and were rewarded with a one-on-one tour with our Navajo guide, Nate.

Traipsing across a field of sand to get into the canyon, the sun was already bearing down at 9 a.m. that morning.

Our well-informed guide answered our many questions and shared a wealth of interesting information as we wormed our way through the narrow rock, climbed up and down ladders, and investigated nooks and crannies for plant and animal life.

At times, the sandstone canyon opened up to provide sandy floors and glimpses of the sky above.

At other times, little sunlight reached the canyon floor.

Depending on where you point your camera, the colors of the sandstone change dramatically. I enjoyed seeing the big difference.

Hot, but pleasant, it was a fun adventure.

Where you point your camera changes the light and color of the rock

Rick climbing into a "slot"

There were some ladders to navigate

These slot canyons truly are narrow!

To get there, we walked 1.5 miles round trip accompanied by 106 degrees of intense heat.  😎

But the view was splendid.

Standing atop more "batter-like" rock formations, we gazed down upon green water surrounding a giant cut-out of rock.

We explored by climbing on the hot rock for different views.

As we were pretty high up, we could just make out some boats and campers down below.

Horseshoe Bend done. √

Afterwards, we sat in a McDonald's just to cool off and make plans for the rest of the day.

106° that day

There are also people camping down there

See the tiny white specks? They're boats!

More exploring

First time glamping

On the way to our repose for the night, we made one last stop. We had heard about a big rock in Lake Powell.

Now, some people might think "so what" or "boring", but not this girl.

We went in search of Lone Rock, and I'm so glad we did.

It was stunning!

And it just so happened that I talked Rick into stopping so we could get into the lake.  🙂

The sand is pink and you can drive almost down to the water's edge. The first time we tried we ALMOST got stuck in the deep, loose sand.

I was scared because who could help us get out?!  😮  But, we tried another way and made it.

The water was perfect and the sand silky-smooth under our feet.  ♥

The little path is deceiving! It's where we almost got stuck

Here it is in all it's picturesque glory

A good way to end a hot day!

See the pink sand?

That refreshment was just what we needed for the 106-mile scenic drive to our campsite for the evening. We perused more fascinating rock formations along the way such as the Grand Staircase of the Escalante National Monument.

We saw this on the way to our campsite, part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante Nat'l Monument

It was a picturesque drive to Hildale, UT, where we stayed in a yurt at Zion View campground.

Other camping options included 4 covered wagons on the hillside. That would be fun!

Maybe next time.  😉

We were treated to beautiful vistas of vast unspoiled nature, more red-rock terrain, and peace and solitude.

The sun went down... but not the temperature.

Smoldering in the hot evening air, the mountains surrounding us blazed red and gold.

Later, being out in the middle of nowhere,

we beheld many sparkling stars

as darkness poured over us.

∗∗∗

It was pretty comfortable in our tent, thankfully.

Because, the next morning was our #1 looked-forward-to itinerary item.

Have you heard of "The Narrows" in Zion National Park? 

It's a challenging hike in the Virgin River through a narrow, but deep, canyon,

the most narrow part of Zion.

We had initially heard about it from our daughter-in-law, Melissa, who has hiked it twice.  (I believe.)

She told us what we needed for the hike:

certain shoes, neoprene socks, and a walking stick.

We had planned on renting those things when we got to Springdale,

just outside of the park.

However, the night we met our new friends, Roy and Galit in Page, they said they had done the hike the day before with sandals and no stick, and it was fine.

No stick

We still thought we might rent the stuff, though.

Because of the heat, we had wanted to get an early start on the trail, but it didn't work that way.

That morning with so much traffic, it took forever to get into the park, so we didn't take the time to stop to rent our equipment.

We later found out that was a bad decision. 😳

 On the 1.5 mile-path to the river, we met many people coming and going, some completely soaked, others bone-dry.

We wondered what it would be like for us that day.

⇓Well...come find out! ⇓

The hike to the river was 1.5 miles

Water seeping down the rock grew "hanging gardens"

Here's a beautiful sample of some

Excitedly, we rounded the last bend and saw the river! We climbed down to it...

The scenery and day were beautiful and we were glad to be here.

There were lots of people, old, young, even children. Many were wearing just tennis shoes and had no sticks.

It didn't look so bad!

We stepped in.

The rocks were large and slippery.

The water was cold.

It was hard to keep my balance.

My first thought was "this is going to be hard and I wish I had a stick!"

Interesting side note: I could tell some had come here on a date.

The girls were not dressed for hiking, let alone hiking in water, and carried their phones in their well-manicured hands.

I wondered what if you slip and fall?!  😕

By the way, I had my phone in a waterproof case that you could supposedly take pictures through.

Well, you COULD take pictures through it, but they were blurry. See below.  🙄

This is the start...almost to the water

The water was nice and clear, but not the picture!

Some nice person took our picture  🙂

It gets a lot deeper

So, we tentatively started, feeling each rock with a foot before stepping on or over it.

We made progress, sometimes walking right beside the canyon wall for support. Each exhilarating foot placement brought the unknown.

The deepest part we tread was up to my bra; however, there was a deeper part people swam through, but we ambled along the rocks beside it.

Rick was ahead of me and I saw him slip and go down.  😯

The big rock that he had stepped on tipped, and he fell scraping his toe, losing his shoe, and banging his quad muscle!

He insisted he was okay and wanted to go on. (I thought we shouldn't) But we did. (It's always exciting to see what is around the next curve.)

We eventually ate our packed lunches on a sandy, rocky spot. Going a little further, I finally convinced him to turn around.

We went even slower on the way back and when we got out of the water and started back up the mile-and-a-half path, I saw how badly he was hurting.

He had to limp all the way!  🙁

 When we got to the hotel room, his whole thigh was bruised. I made an ice bag and he took some Aleve.  Since he didn't feel like going out for dinner, I walked to a restaurant nearby and got a carryout pizza.

Not The Narrows adventure we imagined! 

Even so, we were happy we accomplished it.

Even with the mishap, it was still a good memory maker

This was the deepest part we saw

We weren't done at Zion yet.

Next morning, we got back on a shuttle and rode up to stop #4 to see "The Court of the Patriarchs" and down to stop #2 to visit

the Zion Human History Museum, where we heard riveting stories about the homesteaders who worked the land before this was a national park.

Slowly, we ambled beside the peaceful turquoise-colored river.

Then we traveled to the east side of Zion, which turned out to be our favorite part. (No injuries there.)  😉

It was beautiful; we could drive our own vehicle instead of riding a shuttle and it was less busy.

Rick was able to walk okay, just slowly. It was only 50 yards to this viewing spot

At the museum, we learned about the original homesteaders on this site

We had a nice leisurely walk through peaceful scenery, much of the time along the river  😉

Isn't this beautiful?!

It was great fun to explore Zion Nat'l Park

We weren't done road tripping yet: the east side of Zion Nat'l Park. It's the best!

Why is the east side our favorite?

1. As I mentioned above, it is just SO beautiful and less busy

2. The roads are paved red which matches the rock and seems so welcoming

3. It contains the Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel

4. The fabulous Scenic Canyon Overlook trail  😉

The beautiful east side of Zion ♥

Windows in the rock!

The Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel is a delightfully fun 1.1-mile drive carved through the Navajo sandstone cliffs and tough slickrock.

Construction was completed in 1930. This tunnel fascinates me, if interested you can read more here.

One most interesting feature is its large gallery windows, which give light and glimpses of the scenery outside of the tunnel.

Originally, these were blasted out for the workers to get needed light and air as well as having a way to get rid of the debris from digging.

(Hot) Scenic Canyon Overlook

It's a narrow 2-lane tunnel, but because it was built so long ago, it's not large enough for RVs.

If an RV wants to pass through, all traffic coming the other direction is halted while it uses both lanes to proceed.

When we exited the tunnel quite a line had built up because an RV had passed just before us.

Going into the tunnel behind an RV

See the window? That's the tunnel.

⇒⇒⇒⇒

You'd never know there was a tunnel in that rock!

We still got to see the amazing sights even while in the tunnel

Two smaller windows

The traffic was backed up because of the RV that was in front of us

Immediately after exiting the tunnel is the scenic trail called Canyon Overlook;

we heard how great it was from one of our shuttle drivers the day before.

There is limited parking...5 spots! so we had to park along the narrow road and walk back to the trailhead.

Another day of 106°!!  If it looks hot from the photos, it was!

Just to give you an idea of how hot it was: The rail for the steps up to the trail is made of steel pipe and it was too hot to even touch!

We LOVED this trail!

Rocky terrain, sunny blue sky, tricky parts, a cool "cave," a rewarding view. ♥

Are you ready to see it? Here come some photos.  🙂

We found a parking spot some ways up the road and started for the trail under the relentless sun

Just starting out

We hiked along the outside of the tunnel

See the arch in the rock? The tunnel is in there.

Looking towards the bridge coming out of the tunnel

This was fun, but a little scary!

I like trees  🙂

Steep drop off!

Such a colorful canyon!

We had to "walk the plank" to get to the shelter of the cave

In this awesome cave shelter there were rocks to sit on in the shade.

Going down...

Rick and rails...

A sparkly bright day

Swirled slabs of rock ♥

Puddles of "rock batter," similar to Lumpy Ridge in RMNP

Getting close to the top

It was nice to see some flowers!

*More of this rock formation to come, I'll explain later  😉

This view says it all

It's fun (and easy) to climb on the slabs of rock

Too many people to get a good shot!

Hello, buddy

I'm pretty happy  🙂

On the way back down, I had to put my hair up. Whew!

After the hike as we were plodding back to our vehicle, we saw SO many cars and motorcycles backed up, way past where we had parked.

Imagine: the scalding sun bearing down between the rock walls, no breeze, and the motorcyclists wearing black leather!

Not a good kind of road trip for them!  😯

We continued through the rest of Zion and saw the iconic Checkerboard Mesa,*

a 6,520 ft prominence comprised of Navajo Sandstone. This is what I alluded to above.

This is the Checkerboard Mesa. ⇐ Click on this to see the red road leading up to it!

It seems like the day would be over by now, but no, it was only 12:30! We had another (unplanned) adventure to carry out.

Next: road trip through Fairyland

I had seen Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park before but Rick had not, and since it was on our way back to Loveland we had to stop.  🙂

There are many viewpoints, such as Inspiration, Fairyland, and Sunrise Points in Bryce and that's all we were planning to do...stop and look...

But when you discover an incredible point with a not-too-long trail...

Well, you just have to take a hike! It was still really hot, but Rick said he was up to it so we loaded our pockets with water bottles and hit the trail.

Fairy Chimneys

A little info here on Bryce. It's a magical place made of different-colored "hoodoos."

From Wikipedia:

A hoodoo (also called a tent rock, fairy chimney, or earth pyramid) is a tall, thin spire of rock formed by erosion. Hoodoos typically consist of relatively soft rock topped by harder, less easily eroded stone that protects each column from the elements. They generally form within sedimentary rock and volcanic rock formations.

Hoodoos range in size from the height of an average human to heights exceeding a 10-story building. Hoodoo shapes are affected by the erosional patterns of alternating hard and softer rock layers. Minerals deposited within different rock types can cause hoodoos to have different colors throughout their height.

Rick and the alluring Bryce Canyon

Since we didn't have an abundance of time, we chose a short trail (1.3 miles round trip).

The Navajo Loop at Sunset Point is steep with many switchbacks. The trail drops 550-600 ft down into the canyon, which makes it fun but challenging.

At the bottom of the gorge, there are 2 pine trees reaching for the sky.

It would have been hot in the morning, but it was intensely hot in the afternoon.  😎

3:00 pm. Crazy time to be starting a hike!

So steep!

So pretty

Rick was on a mission, even with his bunged-up leg

It was neat to see these trees down at the bottom

The twisting and turning switchbacks

This part was cool and "cave-ish"

A gorgeous day with vivid colors

After we finished our exploration of the Navajo Loop, we drove down the road to Bryce Canyon City.

We discovered Old Bryce Town with old west storefronts. I always love these places.  We relished a "chuckwagon," which was a waffle cone basket with our choice of 3 ice cream flavors, candy and syrup toppings, and whipped cream. Yum!

I remember that we chose orange and raspberry sherbets, but don't remember the third.

BUT, it was delicious and the best treat after sweltering in the canyon!

I recommend this place!

A day later we were back in Loveland to spend more time with Luke, Melissa, and baby James.

Rick and Luke also painted their house for 4 days.

This mammoth road trip included 16 days and 3059 miles

with lots of love, laughter, and fun. ♥ ♥ ♥

From yellow to blue

A big job done  🙂

Enjoying every snuggle!

So tired!

Day 5 post-injury

Including homemade sweet potato pancakes and buttery pecan syrup  😉

The 5th and final highlight of 2023 is the quickest road trip

The promotion ceremony was held at a marina

Proud parents and older sister, Lacey, celebrated with Calie

Rick, Lacey, and Calie

Me, Calie, and Lacey

Rick, Lacey, Calie, and me enjoying the ocean, a majestic gift of God ♥

...and another gift ♥

Wow! You may be tired just from reading about these road trips! But I hope you found some joy along the way.  🙂

Speaking of road trips...I just recently learned a new word: Wanderlust. It describes perfectly how I feel about traveling.

I could never quite come up with a word to describe my excitement and yearning to get on the road. Wanderlust. That's it!  😉

"People who love and long to travel are often said to be struck by wanderlust. They enjoy the excitement, new discoveries, and feeling free. This ancient Greek word simply means 'One who loves to travel' and those who are one, know it."

We are thankful to be able to get away and see more of God's great world (and new babies). May the joy I feel flow to you!

♥

Feel free to leave me a comment, I love to hear from my readers, and thanks for joining me for this go-round. I'd be grateful if you'd share my website.

Blessings and joy,

Pam