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

Yosemite National Park ~ Part 2

As I said in a previous post, my husband and I visited Yosemite National Park on April 3, 2015. We began our day at Bridalveil Fall.

We reached the base of the waterfall and took more pictures.

If you look very closely, you can see some water streaming over rocks down near the bottom left of this photo.

I took another photo to get a better view.

After our visit to the base of Bridalveil Fall, we walked back toward the parking area. But instead of getting into our car, we walked along the Yosemite Valley Loop Trail, heading toward Yosemite Village. We weren't planning on walking the whole way to the Village, though. We were just exploring a bit.

The scenery was beautiful. There were a couple of stone bridges along the trail. There's just something about stone bridges. They're so beautiful, romantic, and storybook-ish. My husband and I each had a camera and we were taking pictures from different vantage points. I stepped down from the trail to take a picture of this first bridge we came upon.

Here's my husband posing in front of this bridge. 

Here's my husband walking along this beautiful trail. It looks like he was taking more pictures, just like I was.

I'll be sharing more photos from our trip to Yosemite National Park in future posts.

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Yosemite National Park ~ Part 1

My husband and I spent the day at Yosemite National Park on April 3rd. It was a beautiful day, a bit chilly in the morning, but warming up in the afternoon.

Our first stop was Bridalveil Fall. 

There's a convenient parking lot at the trailhead of Bridalveil Fall Trail. The trail leads to the base of the waterfall. It's a paved trail and is classified as one of the easy hikes in Yosemite. It's only .5 miles round trip.

The photo below gives you an idea of what the trail looks like. That's my handsome husband in the foreground of this photo. Like I said, it was a bit chilly in the morning that day. It was sweater weather in the morning, but short-sleeves weather in the afternoon.

Bridalveil Creek runs along side Bridalveil Trail. Yes, that's my husband standing on a rock in the creek taking a picture.

A view of Bridalveil Fall from the trail.

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

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

He Lives - Happy Easter

As Easter approaches, I'd like to share this very special video with you. It's called He Lives - Celebrate Easter Because Jesus Christ Lives. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ. I know He is our Savior and Redeemer. I'm thankful for His kindness, mercy and love. And I'm grateful for His atoning sacrifice and for the Resurrection.

I'd like to wish all of you a very Happy Easter.

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Moonrise in Winter

Our family spent time together in Utah after Christmas last year. While we were there, I took these pictures of the moon rising over the Wasatch Mountains while my husband and I were driving in our car. Don't worry, my husband was driving at the time.

If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the beautiful Provo Utah Temple lit up with a golden glow at the base of the mountains. 

I took this picture about five minutes later.

Utah sure is a beautiful place.

Thanks for stopping by!

© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

Temple Square: Winter 2014 ~ Part 3

In Part 2 of my series of posts about our visit to Temple Square in December of 2014, I shared the last photo that I was able to take with our DSLR camera before it quit working due to the freezing temperatures.

Thankfully, our sturdy little regular digital camera kept on working, so I was able to take more pictures. Because of the frigid temperatures, I didn't take nearly as many photos as I would have liked to. My fingers hurt from the cold and my family and I were all too glad to head on over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to escape the frigid air.

Before we entered the warmth and beauty of that building, I was able to take a few more pictures.

The Joseph Smith Memorial Building is on the far left in the next two photos.





This is a beautiful nativity scene sitting on the reflecting pool near the Salt Lake Temple.



The shepherds watching over their flocks.



I love that there was snow on the ground for these pictures of the shepherds and their flocks.



My family was ahead of me as we were walking toward the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. That's it on the left in this photo.



We went up to the top (10th) floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building so we could be warm and still take in the beautiful Christmas lights on Temple Square. There are two huge observation windows on this floor. One is on the west side of the building near The Garden Restaurant and The Roof Restaurant. The other is on the east side of the building.

This is a photo from the west observation window. The stunning Salt Lake Temple is on the far right.



This beautiful stained glass ceiling is between The Garden Restaurant and The Roof Restaurant.



Here's another view of this stunning stained glass ceiling.



After taking pictures from the west observation window, we walked over to the east observation window. Here's a view from that window.



We really had a great time visiting Temple Square. After our visit to Temple Square we headed over to City Creek Center to have dinner at Kneaders Bakery and Cafe and of course I took more pictures. I shared pictures of our visit to City Creek Center in previous posts. You can view them by clicking HERE and HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!


© 2015 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved