Canyonlands, Natural Bridges, Lake Powell

After Arches, we traveled to Canyonlands.  The two parks are very close to one another, so it was not a far drive.  There are so many National Parks in Utah, that we never really ran out of places to see.  In fact, we spent so much time stopping, that we had to make up for it big time on the way to Vegas.  Either way, we saw some pretty cool stuff, so I can't complain about that!

Anyway, Canyonlands.  Canyonlands is basically a bunch of canyons.  Couldn't have figured that out, right?  There was one really cool arch there that hung off of a sheer rock face.  We couldn't get too close for fear of falling of.  We really didn't spend too much time here, because we were supposed to be making our way toward Las Vegas.

The arch is above my head, the ground is far, far below.

Our next stop was an ancient Puebloan ruin built right into the side of a cliff.  It was probably one of the coolest things we have seen so far.  It was amazing to see something so old in such good condition.

Next, we went to Natural Bridges National Park.  It was a little bit different than Arches (not as much hiking, yay!)  The main difference between an "arch" and a "bridge," in case you're wondering, is the way they are formed.  An arch is formed mainly by weather-based erosion, a bridge is formed by water erosion (like a river).  The bridges looked a lot more stable, and less precariously balanced than the arches.  They also didn't have the bright red color; they were more tan and gray.

Our last stop for the day was Lake Powell, where we were able to cool off in the beautiful water and set up camp.  As in the rest of Utah, the stars were gorgeous.  Without light pollution, it's amazing how many stars one can see.  The coolest part of Utah star-gazing was the Milky Way.  It would move across the sky as the night went on; I never realized it did that before!