Roadtrip!

Hello everyone! I just got back from a week long roadtrip and I had an amazing time! My friend, Kristene, and I drove from Sacramento to Vegas (woo hoo!) to Zion National Park and then to Arches National Park and back. We bonded during our long car rides from place to place, I camped for the first time in 13 years, and we saw some of the most amazing places we could imagine. The pictures I took don't even capture the full beauty of the places we went, so anyone who has the chance should definitely go see them in person. The first few photos are from Zion National Park in Utah, where we camped and took our first hike up the side of a very steep mountain. There were so many breathtaking views we ended up stopping every couple minutes.

We had a long drive after Zion to get to Arches National Park near Moab, Utah but the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We drove through valleys, grasslands, canyons, and deserts. The landscape seemed to be constantly changing and I was really in awe. So, of course, we had to stop along the way and capture as much as we could.

We ended up getting to Arches right as sunset was starting, which was perfect. We did a little research and found a short hike to a view of the famous "delicate arch." So, off we went. Little did we know the hike was straight uphill, oops. Pretty strenuous but sooo worth it. We sat on the edge of a cliff and watched the sunset over the hills and took pictures, of course. This place is truly amazing.

We decided not to camp and ended up staying in Moab a few miles down the road. It's a cute little town with a great atmosphere. This is definitely a busy time for them with tourists from all over the world. We were lucky enough to find a room even though almost every hotel was completely full, so we had a great dinner and went back to our comfy motel. Our second day there we got to really see the park and found some great places to shoot.

That night we took the hike we were most afraid of, up to the real view of the delicate arch. We thought it was 3 miles but it ended up being half that, thank god! It actually ended up being pretty easy. Once we got up there I got really scared though, I guess I'm a little afraid of heights. We were sitting on a slanted slab of rock that led straight off a cliff. If you tripped you would fall right off. A little terrifying.

I have to say that we drove on the easiest and emptiest highways imaginable. We had the easiest time getting around. We ended up taking Hwy 50 all the way home and were alone pretty much the whole way. So, when we got a little bored, we decided to stop and do a photoshoot. First it was for the landscape (there was a salt flat in the distance reflecting the mountain range), but then we started goofing off and suddenly Kristene became America's Next Top Model. Check her out! This was so much fun and I'm so glad she wanted to be in front of the camera for a change.