On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
It’s day 10, our last day of First Timers Week. Let’s give a warm welcome to ljt. Road trip with Mom! (Or daughter, depending on your perspective.) The fall colors against the stones are amazing, but I can’t take my eyes off of the final image. Spectacular! ~WaterGirl
In 2018, my daughter took a temporary job in the SF bay area. She drove herself cross-country, with the expectation that she might stay in California for a while, but she knew almost right away that she belonged back on the east coast. So when it was time for her to leave, I offered to meet up with her and share the driving and costs, and do some sightseeing along the way.
We met in Salt Lake City on October 31, then visited 8 National/State Parks in 8 days. The official season ends in October, so there were hardly any crowds, and the weather was perfect. We finished our trip with 3 long driving days, with breaks to see Taos Pueblo one morning, and a short detour to Crystal Bridges Museum one afternoon. I flew home from St. Louis after 11 days, and she continued her journey, visiting friends in various cities over the next couple weeks.
It was an amazing experience. I took thousands of pictures–even the scenery from the highway was breathtaking at times. I hope to see some of these places again.
We spent our first full day in Arches National Park.
We were in Arches from sunrise to sunset. I could easily spend a full week there.
Next day we drove from Moab to Torrey, stopping at Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park along the way.
Day 3 was Capitol Reef National Park, then drive to Bryce Canyon in the evening. Spent day 4 hiking Bryce, then drove to Zion in the evening.
The fall colors in Zion were spectacular. After a day in Zion, we headed to Arizona.
In the morning, we took a guided tour of Antelope Canyon on the Navajo Reservation. Our guide, Rosie, showed me how to adjust iPhone settings for the best photos. After our tour, we headed to our Grand Finale…
Since we only had one full day, I splurged for an airplane tour of the Grand Canyon. Stunning.
Sunrise over Grand Canyon. An experience I’ll never forget.
Mary G
Wow. Spectacular. Send in more. Please.
p.a.
Yes. More. Thanks!
gkoutnik
I’m a total sucker for the beauty of our National Parks. Thanks! I found Ken Burns’ “The National Parks – America’s Best Idea” one of his best (along with “The West”).
For my mom’s 90th birthday, we (wife and I, two sons, mom) took a train from NY to West Glacier, rented a car and saw Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Mesa Verde and Grand Canyon. And cousin in Kingman AZ. The Border-to-Border, 90th Birthday Rocky Mountain Bash. Got back on Amtrak in Yuma, AZ and returned, with a two day stop in NOLA. One of the highlights of all our lives.
raven
Awesome
Amir Khalid
Wow. Just … wow.
Geminid
Thank you for the pictures. Makes me want to go see these places. I have travel time pencilled in this fall, so maybe I will.
Sab
I don’t know how to link, but a reminder that artist Amber Share @Amber Share Design has her wonderful national park one star twitter review project. E.g. Cuyahoga Valley is “Muddy, muddy, muddy, too much mud” and Everglades is “Miles and miles of nothing” with graphic designs to show the opposite.
SiubhanDuinne
Joining the “Send us more!” chorus. Those are just spectacular!
Sab
@Sab: She calls them “subpar parks
Sab
That Antelope Canyon photo: WOW!
BretH
Those photos lifted me away to a better place. Thanks!!
stinger
Thank you so much for gorgeous shots of amazing locations. Perfect timing on the sunrise in photo #2!
Sab
@Sab: “Them” being the series, not the parks.2
AM in NC
These are beautiful and made me so happy! A year ago March, My mom, my two kids and I flew to Colorado to pick up my sister and her kids and my brothers’ kids, rented a 12 passenger van and had a spring break road trip that was amazing. Moab, Arches, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde. And no phone reception for a decent part of the drive so all the teenagers were actually screen-free for a bit. I’d never been to those parks, and it was just jaw dropping and soul inspiring. Thanks for posting!
Auntie Anne
Please send more pictures. These are fabulous!
susanna
What a grand way to begin the July 4th holiday. It’s not about the politicians, it’s partially about the citizens, and it’s mainly about this vast, nourishing land.
arrieve
These are so wonderful. I’ve always wanted to photograph Antelope Canyon. Thank you, and more please!
Dmbeaster
I love Red Rock country. You can spend a week there, and do it again and see all new spots. The back country drives and innumerable slot canyon hikes are all amazing. I like to go in May when the weather is pleasant and the wildflowers are blooming.
HinTN
@Sab: Beat me to it! That it’s one of the most stunning photographs I have ever seen. I mean, the red illumination of the rock formations in Arches is pretty amazing but can’t hold a candle to the Antelope Canyon shot.
Albatrossity
Spectacular photos of some of my favorite places in the world! Thanks for sharing those with us, and I will join the chorus asking you to please share some more!
laura
@HinTN: add me to team Antelope Canyon – just stunning. The shading, the form, it’s just a wonder to see.
debbie
Absolutely stunning. I don’t know how anyone can pick a favorite. Thanks for sharing your photos of places I’ll never get to.
MelissaM
The sheer vastness and beauty is amazing. Beautiful shots! Thanks.
Miki
Wow. Wow, wow, wow!
J R in WV
OUT West there are so many amazing places with amazing views. Dinosaur National Monument startled us with it’s natural beauty, and then as we drove across a mesa we encountered a group of cowboys moving a big herd of cattle from one pasture on one side of the mesa to another pasture, miles away.
On the cattle drive, several of the young men had their little kids riding in their laps, tiny daughters and tiny sons, learning how to be cowboys and cowgirls, still, today.
We were Amazed!!
Thanks for these wonderful photos, please send more so Watergirl can share them with all of us!!! Me Too!!
frosty
Another wow! I’d never heard of Antelope Canyon, I’ll put it on my list.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Sab: “Joshua Tree” – “All you do is walk around the desert.”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@frosty: There a a lot of slot canyons throughout the deserts in the western US, I was planning on visiting the smaller one in Anza Borrego this past spring, but ya know…
@OP: Nice shots.
Sab
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Are you able to link to her website? I am a luddite so can’t. I just Google my way around the internet.
Acadia: “The water is ice cold”.
Haleakala : “Pretty average experience.”
Bryce Canyon: ” Too orange too spiky.”
Denali: ” Frozen wasteland of tundra.”
Cowgirl in the Sandi
Just amazing pictures of amazing places. More examples of how important it is to protect our wonderful country. Thanks!
Mike in Oly
These are great!! My husband and I are supposed to go thru that area on the way to Las Cruces NM next spring. Was planning on seeing several of those parks. Hoping we don’t have to cancel due to virus still being an issue, but pretty sure we will. :( Thanks for the beautiful pics!
Origuy
The reviews and artwork by Amber Share. Subpar Parks.
Her merchandise shop.
My favorite picture is the one at Zion with the trees in fall.
Sab
@Origuy: Thanks for the link.
Jay Noble
When I see pictures like these, I often wonder about the mindset of Eurpeans when they traversed these areas. How desperate or motivated they were to get the better life on the other side.
J R in WV
Sub-Par Parks….
;-)
really funny, much like the beautiful young woman lip-syncing Trump…
Then I realized she was quoting people who rated those parks with one star and said those things ~!!~
Amazing, the level of idiocy among Americans, I bet all those people voted for Trump, if they ever figured out how to vote at all.
‘Cause why would you want to go to all that trouble just to, ya know, vote? Right? Why would ya!??!
ljt
Thank you for all the encouraging comments! I had trouble selecting only 8 photos, so I will send in some more.
I highly recommend every one of these sites–even just a few hours at each left an everlasting impression. I love having the photos to remind me, but no photo or words can truly capture the scale and grandeur (Subpar Parks comments aside ;-)
Uncle Omar
Regarding the Arches…Please stay away for a while. Moab is a small town and doesn’t have the hospital facilities to handle an influx of sick people…which is not to say any of you folks are sick, but the town really is willing to sacrifice a year’s worth of tourist dollars to stay healthy. Second, a few days ago I recommended Ed Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” as a good book to read while stuck at home. It’s a series of essays Ed wrote while a Summer Ranger at The Arches, before it became a major stop on the tourist hit parade. My first trip there was a few years after Ed’s time as a Ranger while it was still possible to get a campsite just by driving in. No more. The talk around is that in the near future the park will be Zionized with a shuttle bus every few minutes that will drop the hordes at all the popular attractions. Dog help us all, the desert just can’t handle that many visitors. As the title of one of Ed’s books says “Abbey’s Road: Take the Other.”