Rasheeda's Travel and Food Blog

Rasheeda's travel and food blog

Category: National Parks

National Parks / National Parks and Canyon Country / National Parks Photo Blog

National Parks Photo Blog

State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah

State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah

This absolutely amazing building is the State Capitol. It houses government offices for the U.S. state of Utah.

This is the Place Monument, Salt Lake City, Utah

This Place Monument is a historical monument at the This is the Place Heritage Park, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In honor of Brigham Young’s famous statement in 1847, it is where the Mormons should settle. Led by Brigham Young, pioneers arrived in Salt Lake valley. From the back of his wagon, he declared, “This is the right place..”

Bingham Open-pit Copper Mine

We saw this amazing Gaint thumbprint from the perch atop a mountain. Sometimes it has been called the biggest and deepest man-made excavation on the planet. A historian, Leonard Arrington, called it “the richest hole on earth.” Billions and billions of dollars worth of copper and other metals have been hauled from the Bingham Canyon.

Bryce canyon National Park is located in Utah, USA. Its colorful landscape with geological formation like hoodoos, fins and natural Bridges was (to me) a proof of Divine presence. Bryce Canyon isn’t a Canyon, but a series of amphitheaters carved out by water and ice painted in nature’s glowing orange and red hues. One look, and it became my favorite travel destination, and I thought, I’ll take any excuse to make a trip back.But I havent been able to make it back there yet.

Zion National Park, Page, Arizona

Our next iconic destination was Zion National Park: steep canyons, vertical stone towers, and lush vegetation forming contrasting scenery of Zion, once a refuge of Mormon poineers. I believe that it is a dream location for younger hikers. What we saw and did with our great group of friends was worth every minute.

Zion National Park, Utah

Our group in Zoin National park. Young man to the far left is our guide, whom everyone called Brad Pitt. He had a great temperament and looks to go with it. All the ladies adored him.

Grand Canyon, Arizona
With friends in Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon in Arizona simply reveals millions of years of geological history in cross section which puts Mother Nature in perspective. It is 10 miles across and a mile deep along 277-mile length. Almost all this area is a National Park with Colorado River white-water rapids and sweeping vistas. Its immense size left us awestruck.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

This video tells you more than I could ever imagine. We visited incomprable Garnd Canyone twice.

Glen Canyon Lake, Utah,
Gunsight Butte

Gunsight Butte is one of the most recognize landforms in Glen Canyon, Towers over Lake Powell. The Canyon’s sandstone retreat a rate of 6 inches every 1000 years, as new landforms continue to be created. Butte is an isolated mountain with steep sides usually with a smaller summit than a mesa.

Lake Powell, Utah
Cruising on Lake Powell, Utah/Arizona

Cruising on Lake Powell’s crystal blue waters provide a beautiful environment. It was the most exciting cruise ever.

Hoover Dam, Boulder City, Nevada.

Hoover Dam information.

Hoover Dam is on the Colorado River and was formerly called Boulder Dam because it is in Boulder City, Nevada. It is a highest concrete Arch Dam in the United States and was built between 1930 and 1936 and named in honor of Herbert Hoover, the U.S. president during (1929-34). It impounds Lake Mead which is the largest artificial lakes in the world. It is used for flood control, hydroelectric power, agricultural irrigation and domestic water supply. It is also a major sight seeing destination with millions of people who go for tours through the dam.

This was our last destination with the group. They brought us to a hotel to stay the night. From there we were on our own. The following day, we flew to Los Angeles to my husband’s brother’s family for 4th of July week- end and had a great time before flying back home.

Alaska Cruise Photos / National Parks / National Parks and Canyon Country

National parks and Canyon country

National parks and Canyon country

Crazy Horse Monument, South Dakota

National Parks and Canyon country

In 1997 we planned a multi-state vacation with a travel company to tour the natural wonders in Western America. Our National Parks tour started in Denver and ended in Las Vegas.  We flew into Denver and stayed there overnight to be picked up by our travel company in the morning at 8am. We were the first passengers to be picked up, and the rest of the 26 were picked up from different hotel locations. Including the driver and guide, we were 30 people. The coach held an orientation when everyone was on board to provide basic information and guidance about the upcoming trip and the rules for everyone’s safety and fun. It was a beautiful coach with air and heat as needed. One of my favorite rules was that we could not grab the same or front seats every time we got on after stopping somewhere. They designed a good rule: everyone moved one seat backward, so the people in the last seat moved to the front, giving everyone an equal chance to have the front seats. Later on, I found out that most tour buses observe the same rule. 

We started in Denver with overnights along the way in Custer, Lead, South Dakota; Cody, Yellowstone, Jackson, Wyoming; Salt Lake City, Cedar City, Utah; Page, Williams, Arizona; and on to Las Vegas, where our trip ended.

Our first night was in Custer, South Dakota, where we stayed in a really comfortable hotel. The best part throughout our vacation was that we did not have to worry about carrying luggage or looking for food. Luggage was brought to the room, and we were asked to leave it outside the door at midnight to be loaded onto the bus for the next leg of our journey.  Most of the food and entertainment were included. In Custer, we were booked in a place called Heritage village for dinner. They had lined up a great dinner for us. We were treated to a Jamboree, a great show with songs and stand-up comedy with all local flavor as we ate.   We were lucky to have such an opportunity to give us an insight into the local lifestyle of South Dakota. We had a lot of fun and got to know some of the people in our group. Another treat was that Crazy Horse Memorial was located at a stone’s throw from where we stood in the Heritage Village grounds. It was built to honor the famous Lakota leader. Although the sculptor’s original work began in 1948, surprisingly, it was still under construction. 

Heritage Village

After spending the night in Custer, we were headed to visit Mount Rushmore National Memorial, a large-scale mountain sculpture designed by artist Gutzon Borglum. It was decided to feature the faces of four Presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, because they played important roles in American History.  Each face is approximately 60 feet in height and with noses longer than 20 feet. Their mouths are also about 18 feet wide.

On our way to Mount Rushmore, located near Keystone in the Black Hills of South Dakota, we passed a huge expanse of grass fields extending as far as the eye could see. Where a herd of bison was chomping on the beautiful green grass to their heart’s content. It was an exciting scene. Information given to us by the tour company said,

“Bison often referred to as buffalo once numbered in the millions in the West. After being reduced nearly to extinction at the turn of the century, they established a stronghold in Yellowstone. The beard wagging bison is often seen in Firehole River, Old Faithful thermal basins, and the Lamar and Hayden valleys. In the annual rutting season, a ritual in early August, males charge each other, banging heads in competition. Always stay out of the way, especially during this time.”

Arriving and seeing these awesome Mount Rushmore sculptures was exciting. It took us just over an hour to go through the attraction. It was beautiful and had some tourist stores to shop in, but it wasn’t enough to captivate your attention longer. 

But we had two other stops before the day ended. The next stop at Mount Moriah cemetery was in Deadwood which was 50 miles from Rushmore. Mount Moriah Cemetery is Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Seth Bullock considered notable figures of the Wild West. 

Mount Moriah Cemetery

74 miles more brought us to Devils Tower, located near Belle Fourche, South Dakota. It is a thousand feet tall rock formation in a valley and looks like a giant tree trump. 

Devils Tower, South Dakota

After an exciting day, we had dinner and spent the night in Lead, South Dakota. The next morning after breakfast, we left Lead for Yellowstone National Park to marvel at another natural wonder of West.

Please look out for future postings on National Park Trip.

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National Parks / Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Ultimate Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Finally, getting to Yellowstone National Park was a dream come true. Yellowstone National Park was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant in March1 1872.  The park is a geothermal wonderland. Hissing geysers, bubbling mud pots, and steaming hot springs are part of this staggering landscape. 

Yellowstone was the first national park in the U.S. and also the first national park in the world.  The vast majority of the park is in Wyoming, but it creeps into Montana and Idaho, and it is larger than the states of Delaware and Rhode Island combined. Apparently, it is the biggest and most diverse National Parks anyone ever visits. We knew we didn’t have a chance to see even a minuscule part of the park in the time we had available to us, as we were on a fairly tight schedule, as opposed to those who go there for a longer period of time. Anyway, the planning of our travel organizations was perfect. They included all the parts that are defined, repeatedly, as must-see main landmarks and attractions of Yellowstone. They made sure that we got the most out of our short stay there. The parts we saw are few and far between, considering the size of the park.

According to sources, there are approximately 10,000 remarkable geothermal features in Yellowstone Park, and the best known is Old Faithful.

Thousands of gallons of steaming water thunder into the sky with each eruption. It is believed that Old Faithful is as faithful today as it was 150 years ago. In recent years the geyser has erupted at an average of every 79 minutes. Since we were visiting National Parks in July 1997, we were warned that it was the busiest season with the crowd around the most popular attractions. That being said, we found that it was hushed around Old Faithful, the most popular attraction in Yellowstone Park.  When we got there, we had just missed the eruption and had to wait. It was interesting to wait and time it. Lo and behold, it did erupt in just over 70 minutes. It was exciting. Everyone cried out at this amazing sight of stunning natural wonder erupting right in front of their very eyes. The best part was that the eruption lasted long enough to admire the geyser and take plenty of photos.

tube video of Old Faithful erupting

Old Faithful is in the Upper Geyser Basin, home to 25% of the world’s geysers. We walked along the paths where we saw many geysers and thermal features. Our walk through the Upper Geyser Basin brought us to the Morning Glory Pool, our favorite for its beautiful colors and nature’s artistry. The pool gets its name because it resembles the morning glory flower. It is no longer as deep blue as it once was because its vents are clogged by debris visitors have thrown into it.

Morning Glory Pool, Yellowstone Park

Not far from the Morning Glory Pool in Yellowstone National Park, noises from bubbling mud pots call attention. Mud pots are acidic hot springs enough to dissolve the surrounding rocks and lack water in their system. This viscous clay-water mixture creates a muddy area through which gases gurgle and bubble. Gas or water vapor thermally heated rises through the mud creating the bubbles seen on the surface. It was the most intriguing scene, which sent shivers down my spine.

youtube video of mud pots in Yellowstone park
Mud pots, Yellowstone National Park
Steaming hot spring, Yellowstone

The next attraction was the Old Faithful Inn in the heart of the park. It is a National historic landmark and the world’s largest log cabin structure. It was built of native logs and stone at the turn of the century. You can see Old Faithfull erupt, standing right in front of it. Walking in, we found a historic lobby with a fire going. A large lobby and yet very warm, cozy, and comfortable.

Old Faithful Inn
In front of Old Faithfull Inn

From Yellowstone, we left for the spectacular Grand Teton National Park. On the way, we stopped for a photo op of Firehole Falls, which rushes through Geyser country. Its waters are warmed by hot springs along the riverbed. A shot of Firehole Falls was well worth treasuring forever.

Yellowstone National Park
Firehole Falls on the Firehole River

Grand Teton National Park occupies the majority of Jackson Hole valley. Craggy peaks of the Grand Teton Range looked like shiny silver, jeweled celestial neckless – its peaks rising as high as 7000 feet off the valley floor simply left us dumbfounded. We were offered a scenic boat trip down the river to catch the most dramatic and varying views of the Teton skyline, sections of the river, and surrounding terrain, making the experience overwhelming while meditational. I think this boat trip seemed like the most essential part of the trip – It is the way to do it.

Craggy silver Peaks of Grand Teton Range

Look out for more on National Parks.

Covered Wagon Cookout and Wild West / National Parks

Covered Wagon Cookout and Wild West

Covered Wagon Cookout and Wild West

Our trip to Wyoming at the beginning of the National parks trip continued on to Jackson, Wyoming. We drove south to Jackson, a small city In the Jackson Hole valley of Wyoming, from Grand Tetons. A beautiful evening trip with The Horse Drawn, Covered Wagons to dinner and a show was planned in Jackson. We got in an actual covered wagon and rode out to the cookout area. It was an exciting experience.

Covered Wagon trip in Jackson, WY
Covered Wagons on the way to Cookout and Western show

When we got there, they were in the process of setting up a variety of elaborate barbeque items on the tables for an outdoor cookout. Since it was a Buffett, we were asked to get in line to help ourselves to the food. As we went through the chow line, I helped myself to a lot of food. In fact, when I reached the end, I wondered how I was going to eat it all. Everyone filled their plates with food and settled down to a sumptuous and fun meal. The eating continued until the show started. 

The Band was ready to entertain with great Western music just like it was shared at nights around the campfire in The American Old West, also known as the Wild West. This also refers to the period of the latter half of the 19th century. 

Entertainment just like in the Old West.

The show was delightful. Other than the beauty of the area, my opinion is that I can’t say enough good things about the whole experience. In the end, we went back to the hotel. We all loved the covered wagon trip to and from the place set up for dinner.

Not only do I highly recommend this trip for everyone visiting the area, but I would go back there in a heartbeat for this awesome family vacation in and around Wyoming.

National Parks / Travel Blog

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite National Park

El Capitan, Yosemite

Yosemite National park had been on our list of places to visit. We heard so much about its breathtaking beauty that we could not wait to be there.

We went to Yosemite by way of Lake Tahoe which is a major casino place. After a couple of days in Lake Tahoe, we drove to Yosemite on HWY 120 or Tioga road through Lee veining, a small town where we stopped to eat chili and hamburger for lunch.

Sierra mountain range surrounds Yosemite Valley and protect the whole village. Power of nature is omnipresent in layers, stacks, and folds of these mountains. These daunting, loftiest granite domes become more awe inspiring as you travel higher and higher on the roads cut through these unrelenting range of huge granite cliffs of all shapes and sizes.

There is no vegetation on these cliffs which are very popular with the climbers. We spotted 3 or 4 climbers during their climb on one of the mountains making us realize how insignificant man is in the backdrop of sheer drop of these rocks on which they were clinging like ants.

Me against the backdrop of El Capitan

And yet hundreds of cars travelling on the roads cut through by immense man power was an evidence that man has not only challenged but conquered nature at least to a large extent. Sierra mountain roads go up to the elevation of 9900 feet. While climbing the mountain is a challenge, coming down is a religious experience because one cannot but think only God could have made it possible for man to achieve this incredible feat.

Valley floor has as much variety of vegetation as there is beautiful scenery around, while pines compete with the mountains for their share of sunshine by growing taller and taller. Even the bushes, and grass around them seemed luscious and green. The greenery is a source of oxygen for all the living things around, but the strange thing is that the evidence of death is very real in the form of dead tree trunks scattered all over the ground. The dry hard wooden trunks with their brittle bark which covered and protected the living trees was now tired and broken. Thousands of branches, twigs, cones and other dry material was lying on the forest ground displaying nature’s powerful creativity.  Huge trunks lying on the ground were as awesome as the ones, which were standing magnificently tall.

Death and destruction does not, somehow, spell sadness, and mortality, but a hope for new life (reincarnation) by becoming part of the land; by becoming a resource for innumerable human endeavors, such as construction, textile, medication and more; and by becoming a source of food for the coming generation of birds, insects, wild life and even humans. To add to that, their presence on the ground lends itself to reducing the impact of heavy rains and preventing soil erosion, while eventually making way for future life by providing space.

Gaint Sequoias, Tunnel created by fire

Our sight-seeing tour included Mariposa Grove of giant Sequoias which is located 36 miles south of Yosemite Valley. We went there via Wawona road (HWY 41). It offers fantastic sightings of huge redwood Sequoias. Their incredible girth and height is not the only thing to be in awe of, but their life span, strength, and majestic presence blows you away. Some of those trees have been in existence for thousands of years. They are so strong that some even after being hit by lightning, and after being in serious fires are still strong and sturdy. One of the fantastic phenomenon is that they have been used as stables, and shelters etc. Some trees have burnt right through and have a hole through the center. If you go in the opening, you can see the sky through the tunnel created by the fire. And yet the tree is still alive and standing for years and years. California tunnel tree in the Mariposa Grove is a tunnel through the bottom part of the tree and is one of the tourist’s delights and a popular destination within the park.

Also virtually every visitor who comes to Yosemite National Park spends at least some time at Glacier Point, drawn to the breathtaking views. On this four-hour tour, you’ll go from Yosemite Valley to Glacier Point—a 3,200-foot elevation gain.  Be sure to bring your camera to capture awe-inspiring photos of Yosemite’s famous waterfalls and the distant High Sierra mountains.

While there, we went on another adventure. We took a bus with a group of people from Yosemite valley to Glacier Point.. We spend time enjoying the breathtaking views and exploring the area. But instead of taking the bus to come down we decided to climb down. No one discouraged us or even hinted that it may not be a great idea. And we did not realize the audacity (or even stupidity) of this move. We neither carried water nor had any company. As we continued to climb down, the path was narrowing and in places was steep and slippery. We couldn’t turn back and had no choice but to carry on the descent carefully. We were neither afraid nor tired so we kept going. Throughout this adventure we saw two or three couples who were either climbing up or down which gave our move a legitimacy.

Glacier Point, 4 mile trail

At one point we got very thirsty but saw really clean spring water running down the mountain side from which we drank. By the time we got to the valley, it was almost 7 pm. It took us six hours to come down that mountain. Jaffer went to the hotel and went to bed straight away. But I showered, and went down to the valley to get some dinner in a nice restaurant. I had a really good meal, came back and went to bed.

Looking back now, it seems really amazing that we were able to do something which sounds almost impossible or even suicidal. In any case, it was an adventure well worth recording for posterity, at least, with a hope that our children and grandchildren will someday read and learn about our escapades.