Temple Square in Spring

My husband and I went to Utah in April to attend our son-in-law's graduation. He graduated with a Bachelor's and a Master's Degree in Accounting from BYU-Provo. We're so proud of him!

One of the days we were in Utah, we went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was a cool, overcast day and actually rained heavily while we ate dinner downtown. Here's part of our group heading to Temple Square.

It looks like some kind of work was taking place on the exterior of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Of course, I took a few pictures around Temple Square.

The lovely fountain in the plaza by the South Visitor's Center.

The spring flowers were gorgeous!

My husband took pictures too.

I'm so glad we were able to see Temple Square in spring with all of these gorgeous flowers in bloom.

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Zion National Park ~ Part 3: Court of the Patriarchs

I'm sharing more photos from our trip to Zion National Park today. It's so beautiful there. I definitely want to go back some day.

Our first stop along the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive was the Court of the Patriarchs shuttle stop, which is the fourth of nine shuttle stops along Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. We skipped the Zion Museum and Canyon Junction shuttle stops at that time during our visit.

We got off the shuttle bus and were treated to a spectacular view of these magnificent sandstone peaks. These cliffs were named after three Biblical prophets - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The small roof in this picture is from the shuttle stop across the street.

Hopefully these photos below will give you an idea of how close these stunning cliffs are from the shuttle stop.

There's a short uphill path from the shuttle stop to the viewpoint.

Cactus along the path. And more photo opportunities too.

Almost at the viewpoint. It really is a short walk.

Here we are at the viewpoint area.

Taking in the breathtaking view.

There was an informative plaque that showed visitors which peak is named after which prophet.

In case it's difficult to read this plaque, here's what it says:

"Named for three towering figures of the Old Testament, these sandstone cliffs hold court over Birch Creek Canyon and this section of the Virgin River. In 1916 Frederick Vining Fisher, a Methodist minister, gave the religious names to the peaks. Today it is not hard to imagine how the grandeur of this view could inspire such reverence."

A view of the peaks from the viewpoint area.

After our visit to the Court of the Patriarchs viewpoint area, we walked back down to the shuttle stop. Instead of getting back on another shuttle bus, we decided to walk across the street to go on a path that lead to the Virgin River. I'll share photos of that little adventure in a future post.

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Zion National Park ~ Part 2: Arriving at the Park

In my previous post, I shared a few photos from our visit to Zion National Park. Today I'd like to share a few more.

We had originally planned to visit Zion National Park on Tuesday, April 28. Our plan was to travel to St. George on Monday, April 27, stay the night there, and head to the park on Tuesday. On our way to St. George we were going to make some stops along the way at various points of interest. But, our son and daughter-in-law made the excellent suggestion to just head directly to Zion National Park on Monday afternoon. I'm so glad we did that because there's just so much to see there.

We found a place to park that wasn't too far from the pedestrian entrance, which was amazing since it was so late in the afternoon when we arrived on Monday.

We entered the park through the south entrance near Springdale. We were treated to stunning views even before we officially entered the park.

Here's part of our group on our way to the Pedestrian Entrance. Our son and daughter-in-law are holding hands in this photo and our oldest son is behind them. I don't know who the couple up ahead is in this photo.

Here we are at the bridge before the Pedestrian Entrance.

This little booth is the Pedestrian Entrance. We decided to purchase the National Parks Annual Pass on Tuesday. We were able to put the $25.00 we paid to enter Zion National Park toward the Annual Pass, so that was awesome.

Beyond the Pedestrian Entrance booth is a large plaza area that includes the Zion Canyon Visitor Center, some very nice restrooms, benches, informational displays, and more. This is also home to the first shuttle bus stop. I love the shuttle system in this park. It's efficient and well-run.

There's also a neat relief map of Zion National Park near the Visitor's Center.

Zion National Park is absolutely beautiful. It's a photographer's paradise.

I'll be sharing more photos from our trip in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Zion National Park ~ Part 1

On April 23rd my husband and I traveled to Utah to attend our son-in-law's graduation from BYU-Provo. He graduated with a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Accounting. We're so proud of him!

On our way home, we visited Zion National Park. We'd never been there before. Wow! What a stunningly beautiful place!

We spent part of Monday, April 27th and most of Tuesday, April 28th in the park. We didn't even see all there is to see though. We'll definitely need to go back some day.

The shuttle service within the park was wonderful and very well-run. The shuttles travel along the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive. Including the Visitor Center, there are nine shuttle stops along the Drive.

I took this photo at the Court of the Patriarchs shuttle stop.

This informational plaque tells visitors about these stunning sandstone cliffs.

In case it's difficult to read this plaque, here's what it says:

"Named for three towering figures of the Old Testament, these sandstone cliffs hold court over Birch Creek Canyon and this section of the Virgin River. In 1916 Frederick Vining Fisher, a Methodist minister, gave the religious names to the peaks. Today it is not hard to imagine how the grandeur of this view could inspire such reverence."

At the Zion Lodge stop, we hiked on the Emerald Pools Trail.

Here are a couple of photos I took while walking along this gorgeous trail.

I took so many photos during our visit to Zion National Park that I filled up two memory cards and part of a third card! Don't worry, I won't be sharing all of the pictures here though. I will be sharing more photos from our trip in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by!


 © 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved