Death Valley

This was the unplanned part of our trip. originally we were planning on going right home from Zion but sort of last minute we decided to make a detour to LA via Death Valley. It was definitely worth it :)

 Going from Crater lake (elev 7000ft) where the temp was below freezing to Zion(elev 4000 ft) which was pretty average 70-90 to Death valley(elev -282 ft) where it was 117 deg with wind that was possibly warmer was quite the shock. Even though death valley is completely desolate with hardly anything green or growing in it there was still a type of beauty there. I think I managed to capture it.

This was on our drive into the valley. It was still slightly green



 
 There is obviously a heat problem :)

 
It is still very colorful!

 
And there are people down there.

 
An awesome sunset...

 We were going to camp in death valley until we opened the car door... That changed out mind very quickly. So we drove back up into the mountains, stayed the night and headed for LA in the morning. I have a few ocean pics that I'll be posting next!

Zion

It was about a 10 hr drive to zion where we spent the night :)

The sunset on our drive into the park



The stars were so awesome!



A time lapse of the stars... 697 images. Its really cool at the end when the clouds come in :)



Anna and I hiked up to watch the sunrise... The light trail is a few hikers that came in later :)






An hdr that I put together of the sunrise.









The next day we hiked up into the narrows a little ways.. we weren't able to go far because we didn't have the right shoes or clothes...you kinda have to swim :) I really want to go backpacking in there sometime though :)

 Then off to Death Valley.... talk about an experience...

Climbing (Smith Rock)

Okay! .. here are some climbing pictures! It was supper fun and no one died so that was nice haha jk Noooo, the climbs were pretty easy so it wasn't really that dangerous.... Enjoy!

Getting our gear ready and trying to decide what to climb.... I think I took this picture but I'm not sure... it may have been Anna :)

 
Thats me leading the first climb (5.8/5.9 sport for those who know what that means) ;) Pic by Anna


 
Belaying Josh (I think this one was a 5.10 b+ or something like that.. don't remember) Pic by Anna

 
He was a pretty good climber :)


 So that pretty much wraps up Oregon.... we had a great time but sadly .... it all had to end :( We dropped Will and Merrie off at the airport, stayed a night with the Z's, headed to Boise and stayed a couple days with the Roberts and pretty much just chilled. I didn't take any pictures there so the next post will be Zion.......

Crater Lake

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Crater late was awesome! ....I almost didn't post pictures of it because I know I didn't really capture it... But.... I did so take these pictures and multiply by 10 and you might have the awesomeness of it .... God is SO good! :)

This was our view on the drive in.... after a day of too much awesomeness for one day this kinda just pushed it over the top.


The first view of the lake! This was my widest lens... its a big lake :)

Then it got dark.... and we tried to find a campsite.... and failed.... and ended up sleeping(or not) in the 4runner in the lodge parking lot... 4 of us.. kinda tight haha.... So we set our alarms(just incase we were asleep) for about 5am so we could catch the sunrise.


It was worth it .....?jk :)


On our drive back to Bend there was a cloud in the way but we drove through it.... thats kinda how tired we were :P

We made it to Bend and just chilled for the evening, played some vball, and the next morning we went climbing at Smith rock..... I havent decided what climbing pictures I'll be posting but they should be coming soon!

Oregon Coast: Day 2

So the next day we woke to a cold/misty/rainy morning. Cooked breakfast (Chicken Sausage/egg/onions and green pepper) breakfast barritos.... All on a backpacking stove ;) It was amazing! Then we showered, packed up and headed south. :)

Spent a few minutes on the beach :)


Would love to live there.


Lighthouses are amazing :)

Then we found our beach... after driving about 3 miles down a dirt road it opened up onto an awesome beach with almost no one on it! AND it was perfectly sunny for the whole 3-4 hrs we were there :) God was SO good to us :)


The squeaky sand was awesome. I have no idea what causes it :)


We built a castle and then watched the ocean wash it away..... that was fun. :)


Then we built a turtle



Then we headed toward Crater lake.... we kinda wanted to get there in time to set up camp and get some sleep which didn't happen but I'll save that for a later post ;)

Hey readers! :) In case you didn't know... Anna and I have been gone for 3 weeks on one of the most awesome road trips ever. It really was amazing(understatement) :) We were blessed and protected and basically just spoiled in a million different ways.... I mean... who travels over 5,300 miles without a single problem?  Seriously... I have nothing to complain about. The whole trip involved very little planning and even less stress :) Our trip went something like this... Denver, Boise, Bend, Newport, Crater lake, Bend, Boise, Zion, Death Valley, a completely unplanned week in Las Angeles, and then home. Annnd... I shot a few pictures along the way which I'll be posting in the next week or two. Here are some of the Oregon Coast.

This is some sort of dead Jellyfish or something... or maybe its not dead and that is just what it looks like. I thought it was cool! ;)


The sunset.... From what I hear this is kinda rare for the Oregon coast :)


Another shot of the sunset


Will, Merrie, Anna, and I... SO much fun :)


Anna and Merrie with the last of the sunset.

Thats all for now :) I'll be posting pictures of the next day soon .... We almost had a whole beach all to ourselves!

Fun post :)

Liking the new blogger interface.... clean and simple! Very nice :)

Found an Izzy bottle and some bottle rockets and was inspired.. here's the pics!

First try


The launch




Then I broke it :)