The North Rim

The last, but not least, park was the Grand Canyon.

Even before we saw the canyon, she saw her first bison!

Finally we spy the canyon!

Its a long way down!

 We stayed in cabins along the rim

.

Delightful little ground squirrels live under the cabins

 We found some other wildlife too, like this spiny lizard.

 And this pretty bird.

 WE both had a great time & got to know each other better.

We took lots of photos and left only footprints!

On to Bryce Canyon National Park

Leaving Zion we continued on to Bryce Canyon,

one of my favorite parks.

 The hoodoos are fascinating and you get to explore right down among them.

First, we explored on horseback with Liddy riding trusty Sandman.

Then we hiked down the Queen's Canyon/Navajo Loop.

 It was a hot dusty hike , but she made it!

 And received a sticker from the ranger for hiking the hoodoos!

 She also saw her first rodeo!

 And liked mutton busting the best!

Majestic Zion National Park

Our first national park was Zion and its magnificent!

 Liddy hadn't seen such huge canyons & mountains before.

Of course we did some hiking and saw this waterfall on the Emerald Pool hike.

She spotted this Blue-tailed Skink at the lower pool.

 Where we got our picture taken.

And she spotted this snake hunting tadpoles.

She enjoyed exploring the canyon.

 

 On a separate hike, we hiked to the narrows in the Virgin River

 where the canyon walls are 2000 feet high!

And cooled off in the river

And we made friends with the local wildlife!

Headed Out West

Oldest Granddaughter & I are headed out west for a special vacation.

I've decided to take each grandchild on a trip when they are 12.

Liddy is going to three national parks, Zion, Bryce Canyon & the Grand Canyon.

 We went with Road Scholar which has inter-generational trips for grandparents & grandkids.

 The first stop was Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada 

where the kids were allowed to scramble on the red rocks.

 We saw ancient petroglyphs

 And we spotted some lizard tracks in the desert sun.

Then we moved on to our first national park.

Look who we Found on the Trail!

Three Goldfinches

Cataract Falls, Indiana

A beautiful summer day calls for a day trip.

We visited Cataract Falls, Indiana's biggest waterfall.

This isn't the highest falls in Indiana, but has the largest volume of water.

 The falls are actually two sets of waterfalls on Mill Creek.

The upper falls is a series of cascades.

The upper falls have a larger drop.

Near the upper falls is a covered bridge.

About a half mile downstream, is the lower falls.
After visiting the falls, we drove to nearby McCormicks Cree State Park.

We hiked to wolf Cave, which you can hike through, if you'd like.
This is the entrance to the cave.

At the exit of the cave, two natural bridges formed when the ceiling of the cave collapsed.

 The trail was cool and serene.

We saw some of the native wildlife too, this opossum.