Shabbat Adventures

  It was a “hallelujah” moment - crossing the Arkansas River bridge into my home state. Winding through the Ozark Mountains, through a tunnel, watching the hills dotted with fall color glowing in the sunset, then topping a hill overlooking the city lights, there in the valley lies Fayetteville - my birthplace.  The house beneath those beautiful maples is where my parents lived. My sister still lives across the street and my niece next door. My parents developed this neighborhood and named streets after us. One is Jana Place (my claim to fame).   Fun fact: We’ve been in 15 states, 15 National Parks in 16 weeks and traveled 14,000 miles.  In our trek across Texas we loved spending a few days with Jeff’s cousins - Cherry, Tomi and Gary (from left).  This is our Fayetteville fam! On the left - Lisa and Dan (sister and BIL) On the right - Josh and Staci (my niece) and their kids - Emeri and Eli.  A quick peek of the U of A campus  A Sunday afternoon of “tre...

We have arrived in Texas. One big state away from HOME! This is our last NP - Big Bend. And this is the Rio Grande River. To hike to it we drove past border checkpoints and border control vehicles. The wall of rock you see to the left is Mexico and the wall of rock to the right, Texas.  We’re still in the desert y’all and honestly, ready to move on. Thankfully even the cacti are changing colors.  Unique to this park - roaming horses outside the windows (this is Texas after all).  And everything is bigger in Texas, right? One thing we did NOT expect to see is an Arkansas Razorback. A sure sign to head home, I thought. However, it was not a wild boar as Jeff thought. Turns out it was an R.O.U.S. If you don’t know what R.O.U.S.s are you need to see the movie Princess Bride. Rodents Of Unusual Size - yep, it’s a big rat (javelina). This is Texas.  Texas, like the desert, has its beauty. For instance, family. Now we are in Abilene with my cousin Louella. She is 84 and dyn...

  Sometimes when your plans fall through, the Lord surprises you with something better. Next on our schedule was Petrified Forest NP. It’s the first time we’ve been affected by the government shutdown. The park was closed. We passed Sedona, AZ on the way there and decided to backtrack. I’ve heard about Sedona from several friends and have seen their pictures of this iconic spot, The Devils Bridge (Jeff and I don’t think the devil should get credit for this). Don’t miss the tiny  person on the bridge.  Jeff had the brilliant idea of making the hike to the bridge shorter.  A little off-roading  This picture says it all.  This place was like an oasis in the desert.  Our second detour came when Carlsbad Caverns was closed. Guadeloupe NP instead. Here we hiked through the desert to a natural spring - another oasis. We found a little bit of fall color.  The desert has its beauty but let me tell you we are eastward bound and I’m seeing HOME up ahead! Ark...

Beautiful, beautiful Zion! Do you know the old hymn? Well, Zion National Park is aptly named. There are other biblical references here which I will show you. These mountains are called The Patriarchs. From left to right - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  The center mountain is called The Great White Throne (from Revelation 20:11). You can bike on the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive through the park. No cars are allowed. Occasionally you have to pull over for the tour busses.  The scenery along the road is breathtakingly beautiful.  But I can’t wait to show you our side trip to Antelope Canyon! There it is! Not impressed? Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon that you can’t see from the surface. You have to climb down into it. Going down. Just wait for it… That was my first photo. I took 125. Even Jeff took pictures- 12.  Surely God made this place for modern day photography. These colors only show up in pictures.  It doesn’t look real, does it? Our Navajo guide took our picture w...

  I wasn’t expecting this. I thought one look and the Grand Canyon would be in the books. It was mesmerizing. When I thought I’d seen enough, I was drawn back in. It was like gazing into another world.  It was exhilarating to get up at 5:30 am and watch the sunrise over the canyon. I wanted to break out in song, “How Great Thou Art”. And so I did. Silently in my head. I also said to myself Psalm 19 (and to the Lord).  Being there for sunset was just as majestic.  Hiking into the canyon was another level. I love being up close and personal with the creation rather than stopping at viewpoint with a guardrail. Heights scare me a bit so I can only peer over the edge momentarily. I’m a wall hugger on these switchbacks.  We had a woodsy campsite where the elk passed through.  Jeff captured this buck “trumpeting”.  On to Zion NP View from camp More on this next week…now I keep hearing in my head “We’re Marching to Zion”. 🎶