Lila Off Leash

I really felt in my element at Lake Powell. I grew up spending my summers and vacations in Maine at my family's lake house so I truly feel at home on a boat and that's exactly how we explored Lake Powell.  In an attempt to sleep in, we aimed to leave the house at 8am MT to pickup the boat at 9am. We ended up hitting the road around 8:45am and drove a little fast trying to earn back some time. Luckily, Arizona is an hour behind standard Mountain Time because they don't participate in daylight savings so we ended up getting to Wahweap Marina right before it opened. Our skipper for the day, my friend also known as Captain O, checked us in, took the safety course, and got the keys for our 19ft power boat. This whole process took over an hour. We packed the boat, asked the staff if they had any recommendations, and off we went to explore the lake!  It's harder than we expected to explore a lake using a paper map. Luckily, we've learned that we have to download the Googl...

Angel's landing was the reason I booked a house in Utah. I saw pictures of the trail and said to myself, "I have to do that." Two months later, I made it happen! I was torn on making this it's own post or combining it with the rest of my Zion explorations but I think the significance it holds in my heart makes it deserving of its own post.  The trail was closed during the peak of Covid because it requires you to get really close to others as you scale the fin-like mountain and hold on to the same chain as everyone else to get up and down the cliff. I had hopes that it would open at the end of October once things calmed down. We talked to people at Arches who just came from Zion a few days before and said the trail was back open again but the maps didn't show it because they hadn't printed new ones yet. I was thrilled! Manifestation at its finest.  AllTrails rates this one hard for a reason. The switchback ascent up to the plateau is an extremely steep, long, a...

I'm convinced that Dr. Seuss got his inspiration for the cover of Oh! the Places You'll Go from the hoodoos at Bryce. It really feels like you're in his cartoon world when exploring this park because its so distinctly unique and unlike anything you've ever seen. We began our day at the visitor center and took the free shuttle to Sunset Point to begin our hike at the Amphitheater, giving this magnificent overlook of the hoodoos. After getting familiar with the map, we decided to create our own 8 mile loop by connecting the Navajo Loop Trail and the Peekaboo Loop Trail. We veered left at Sunset Point and headed down the canyon switchback style towards Two Bridges, which was a bit underwhelming to be honest so I didn't include a picture. I think I'm starting to get spoiled. This section brought us on a connector path to Peekaboo Loop Trail where we veered left again and started horsing around in the hoodoos.  " Today you are you, that is truer than true. There...

I got my feet wet with my first slot canyon adventure, both literally and physically! This Kanarra Falls hike may have convinced me that slot canyons are my new favorite thing to explore. They only allow 150 hikers per day so you have to get permits prior to arriving and schedule this trip in advance. Kanarraville is a little less than two hours away and the hike only takes about 2-3 hours to complete so we planned to do this after work one day before sunset (about 7pm MT).  The old access road leads you to the creek for about a mile, then you begin walking through the water and the canyon before you discover the first waterfall. The only way forward is to climb a makeshift log ladder. This was the most stable ladder of the three in the river. Throughout the canyon, we would come to openings where the slot canyon would break. The red rocks alongside the yellow, red, and green leaves gave a whole new perspective on fall. As a New Englander, I appreciate the beauty that changing seas...

This post continues describing the weekend spent in Moab, UT or was it Mars? Like I said before, if you haven't been yet, add this town to your bucket list. Give yourself 4 - 5 days because I could've easily spent more time exploring. Part 2 of the weekend below: Day 2 Continued After hiking all day, we grabbed some food and headed to Dead Horse State Park for sunset. It was my favorite sunset yet and you can see why below. The colors kept changing in the canyon and the clouds were reflecting the shades of sunset. Day 3: We continued chasing the sun all weekend. Time was precious on our final day in Moab so we were up with the sun in Canyonlands National Park. Mesa Arch was absolutely indescribable. The pictured below explain it all. Not pictured, are all the photographers posted up trying to capture this moment. It was truly hectic trying to get this photo but we all respected one another and let each person take turns as quickly as possible while you could still see the sun t...

I may have spent the weekend exploring Moab Utah, but it felt like I was on Mars. If you haven't been yet, add this town to your bucket list. Give yourself 4 - 5 days because I could've easily spent more time exploring. I broke this post down into 2 parts because we had a packed itinerary, here's Part 1: Day 1: We woke up early in Denver to make the 6 hour trip to Moab, UT. The drive was absolutely gorgeous with Glenwood Canyon as a highlight. Trees were a vibrant yellow with rock walls on either side of the road and the Colorado River running through it. It was hard to capture a good picture in the moving car so I'll let your imagination paint the picture. Once in Utah, we opted for the scenic route State Route 128 that breaks off at Cisco and this is a MUST. The red rocks surround the Colorado River which you drive right alongside. We had the music bumping, the windows down, and couldn't stop saying "wow!" I hope this memory stays engrained forever. Afte...