Arches National Park...

Was just beautiful!  I must say I was not sure I was going to love this part of the trip.  My husband really wanted to go to Moab, Utah (I'll post one for that too), but when I looked it up it seemed like a lot of red rock!  For those of you who read my posts regularly know that we go to Lake Powell pretty often and they have amazing red rock as well, but they have water - because it gets really hot.

I was so wrong.  And so happy we went.  We could not have had a better visit (or picked a better time to go) - the weather was perfect.

Here are a few (or a ton) of the pictures I took...

Moab, Utah - First Stop on the way home...

I must tell you that when my husband wanted to go to Moab I was less than thrilled.  We like to go to Lake Powell and I thought that this was going to be virtually the same thing.  I was so wrong!  I mean yes they do have red rock and beautiful canyons, but somehow it was completely different.  We unfortunately only had a day and a half so we barely scratched the surface.

We choose to go to Arches National Park and rafting on the Colorado River...

Here are several pictures from the park (I couldn't choose - they are all so pretty);

Utah...Part 1

The main reason for our road trip was to bring my son to an Especially For Youth camp at BYU.  He had an amazing time!  While he was in camp - I spent the week with my sister, her daughter, and her new baby.  We had a wonderful time.  Ate at lots of fun places, went shopping, and stayed up way to late.

My husband flew in mid week - at this point the activities shifted to more outdoor activities.

Here are a few shots from some of the beautiful places we went...

On the Road Again...

Here we go...starting our journey home.

Day 2 - Sarah Granger Kimball

OK - this homesite is set off from the other historical sites just a bit and is sometimes overlooked, but this was probably my favorite.  Sarah Granger Kimball was an amazing woman - she was instrumental in the establishment of the Relief Society not to mention a historic figure herself in women's rights.

I'm sure the beautiful garden of peonies had a little to do with it as well...

Day 2 - Wagon & Carriage Ride

In Historic Nauvoo they have a wagon ride, a carriage ride, and oxen & wagon ride.  The wagon & carriage ride require tickets (they are free but you do need to pick them up at the visitor's center - I suggest early in the am because they go quickly).  I am so happy we were able to do them - it was great!

The wagon ride takes you around the town and shares all sorts of fun tidbits, the carriage ride takes you on the north side of town through a beautiful wooded area.

Day 2 - Historic Homesites

Oh how fun was today!  There are several historic homesites and businesses that have survived or have been restored/rebuilt around Nauvoo.  This city was designed so amazingly that I just was in awe.  The Visitor Center has a scale model of the area that was perfect for getting a visual picture of what it looked like.  My favorite was that 1 - it was set up in a grid style (so much easier to navigate), and 2 - each block consisted of four 1 acre lots.  Each lot had room for a home, out building/stable, orchard, and small garden.  Large farming was done north of town. They also had a "Main St." with business; printing shop, post office, gunsmith, blacksmith, shoe maker, tin shop, bakery, community hall, etc.

Here are some of the fun pictures we took...

The Bakery

Cultural Hall

Family Living Center

 Printing Shop

 Post Office and Mercantile

 John Taylor Home

 Johnathon Browning Home & Gunshop

Tinsmith

Lucy Mack Smith's Home

Smoke house

 Brickyard...there where 350 brick homes when the saints left. Considering the amount of work and time it took to make the bricks this was quite amazing.  There was no one particular brickyard as they would make the bricks on site.

Marcia's Mumblings

Marcia's Mumblings

Brigham Young Home

 Blacksmith

The Seventies Hall

Red Brick Store

Smith Family Homestead & Cemetery

Mansion House...this was also a hotel but the back is no longer there.

And there are so many more I know I didn't include, some we where not able to get to.  On limited time it's hard to make it to everything.  If you ever want to go make sure to plan at least 3 full days.  We had 2 1/2.

Here is a link to a wonderful site that lists everything there is to see and do along with a map you can download and print.  

Historic Nauvoo - Historic Sites