Drive from Washington to Utah

Bridal Shower

Canyonlands National Park

Arches National Park

Monticello Utah Temple

Payson Utah Temple

Provo City Center Temple

My brother got married this summer, and back in May my mom wanted to throw a little family bridal shower for my future sister in law in Utah so we took a little road trip out there.  I have done the drive a few times, but always later in the summer and I loved seeing all of the countryside that I normally see all dried and brown, all green.  It rained pretty much the entire drive down, and for most of our time in Utah.  It was very unusual to have so much rain, and I loved it.  I thought it was so pretty.  We stopped for the night in Idaho Falls and stayed with one of my cousins.  Idaho Falls has the prettiest bridge overlooking the river.  I loved all the little waterfalls coming off the cliff sides from the rain.

Once we got to Salt Lake, we had dinner with my siblings that live there and the bridal shower was the next day.  Another one of my cousins let us use her house and it was fun to see all my extended family.  My mom and I then drove down to southern Utah to visit Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.  We went to Canyonlands first, and just went to the Island in the Sky portion of the park.  We hiked to Mesa arch and drove around to all the viewpoints.  It was clear most of the day, and started to rain just at the end of the day when we were almost on our way out, perfect timing.  It was my first time to this park and I really enjoyed it, I loved the views of the canyon and of course, I always love the red rock contrasting with the green vegetation.

The next day we went to Arches.  I have been before, but never hiked Delicate Arch, so that was the first thing we did and it was the perfect day for it.  There is almost no shade on the hike, but it was a nice cloudy day, without ever raining.  My ideal hiking conditions! 🙂  We went to a number of the other arches after that.  I really love this park, it is so pretty, and I especially loved all of the dessert wildflowers that we saw this time.  The next morning we drove back up to Salt Lake and on the way we went to the Monticello and Payson LDS temples.  I have been to the Payson temple before but it was my mom’s first time.  It is one of my favorites, the tall stained glass windows are all so pretty.  The next day we went to the Provo City Center temple, another favorite that my mom had not been too before.  There were so many less people outside this time than the last time I was there, it was so much easier to take pictures.  My mom then dropped me off at one of my friends houses for a few hours, and it was so fun to see her.  The next day another cousin of mine got married.  I loved the flowers and cake that she chose, they were so pretty.  After the reception, I packed up and went to the airport where I flew to Boston to see my sister.