My 40th Birthday Trip!!!

We flew into Las Vegas to begin our adventure out west.

1st stop was Valley of Fire State Park an hour outside of Vegas. Still in Nevada.

We hiked to the Fire Wave, similar to the real Wave. Notice Josh in the background for scale.

Real cactus everywhere!

Sunny but not too hot for the dessert.

This place was beautiful and so unique.

Our 2nd hike was White Domes to a slot canyon. It was a shorter one but still very neat.

Random beautiful rock along the side of the trail.

What in the world!? Random giant rock formations everywhere.

Day 2. Zion National Park. The main attraction of our trip.

Hike to Angel's Landing. Josh's very favorite.

We decided to conquer the hardest 1st. I was terrified!

Single file passing. Holding onto the chain was ok but when there was no chain, YIKES!

Not the top yet. Fake smile.

View from the top!

Epic views on the way down. 5.4 miles total.

After lunch at the Zion Lodge we hiked to Lower Emerald Pools, a waterfall. Nothing compared to our NC falls. Then we took a short mile hike to Canyon Overlook.

It was cloudy and dark. We lucked out on rain. It was predicted every day we were there.

Day 3. The Narrows hike. The reason we came to Zion was by suggestion of my friend Stephanie. This is her favorite hike ever!

A gigantic slot canyon with the Virgin River flowing through the bottom.

Look how high!

No way!! There's even a waterfall, a few miles into the canyon.

We rented waterproof pants, shoes & socks. The hiking sticks were also necessary. I couldn't wait to get the pants off though.

Josh looks so small compared to the grandeur of this place.

On the way out. Yay, for sunshine.

Believe it or not, we had so much energy that we drove to Bryce Canyon National Park in the afternoon.

We got there around 5:00. Just enough time to hike the 3+mile loop.

Wow! Just Wow!

We'd never seen anything like this place before.

More unique rock structures.

They even cut doorways through the hoodoos along the hike.

My VERY favorite picture. On the way back up the loop. Notice the people on the switchbacks for scale.

We stayed for sunset.

Epic! That's the word we kept using.

Day 4. The Grand Canyon! The northern rim in AZ and another time zone.

We took the short hike out to Bright Angel Point.

It would've been more fun to hike into the canyon but we were lucky enough to see it before the rain came.

Josh must climb to the highest, most dangerous cliffs.

Checked off the bucket list. We were going to take a scenic drive to a few more small hikes with views but the rain started and didn't stop until the next day!

Day 5. Goodbye Zion.

Our very bright colored rental car. Hahaha!

Walking the Vegas strip to kill time before our flight. Bellagio foundation show.

Outdoor escalators & huge TV screens. Cool. We explored several of the fancy hotels along the strip.

The Wynn, my favorite hotel. All made from flowers. The Bellagio had something similar but was way more crowded.

It would have been more fun if one of us knew how to gamble or at least work the slot machines.

The opulent Bellagio women's restroom. Not a fan of Vegas.

Took a red-eye flight home. Couldn't wait to see the kids!!!