Utah's National Parks Trip: Day 3 (Arches)

Image
Monday, our 3rd day in Utah, we headed out to Arches National Park nice and early. In fact I think we were through the gate by 7:15 or so after taking a quick photo by the park sign.  It's a very dramatic entrance to the park with switchbacks and high cliff walls and as soon as you turn the last corner all signs of civilization fall away. It was stunning.  I don't think you can see it but there is a car where the light colored rock meets up against the dark- that's the road   We drove straight to the very back of the park to an area known as Devil's Garden. We only hiked part of the trail though.   tunnel arch       The weather was perfect, sunny but cool and breezy. We saw a deer, a hummingbird, a blue bird, and some beetles and ants.  landscape arch longest arch in America at 306 feet opening; 6 feet in diameter at its narrowest point This is the point we turned around; I refused to climb up the top part of this trail on my hands and knees ...
16 comments

Meandering Through Mystic Aquarium

 We had a great time at the aquarium a few weeks ago and I took lots and lots of photos!  For some reason they uploaded in reverse so I'm actually showing you our trip backwards. 

We ended our day in the reptile building looking at frogs, lizards, and animatronic dinosaurs. 


This guy was extremely entertaining trying to climb the walls and the glass and he kept staring right at us.

Views of the piranha; there is an indented part of the tank where you can feel like you are standing in the middle of the river. 
 





While I love watching the fish, I found myself really fascinated by all the coral.  



I was also a little bit obsessed with the jelly fish and all the different varieties. 





A few of the tanks have beautiful stained glass sculptures inside.  They are so pretty. 


We watched the sea lions for quite some time as they were so active and playful! 



This penguin never left the corner of the glass and we were told he really loves being right up in people's faces. 






My favorites though are the beluga whales.  I tend to start and end each of my trips to the aquarium with a visit there.  The whales here love people and come right up to the glass to interact with everyone.  They love listening to music too if you hold your cell phone up to the glass they'll come right up to you. 



These two seagulls hung out in the parking lot all day hopping from car to car... luckily they didn't leave any "presents" for us.


Linking up with: Spread the Kindness, 





Comments

  1. Tamar SBApril 11, 2021 at 6:11 AM

    What a great aquarium! I need to put it on my list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michele MorinApril 11, 2021 at 8:20 AM

    I haven't been to Mystic since highschool! Gotta put this aquarium on the list!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JayneApril 11, 2021 at 1:22 PM

    Fab photos! My two boys love walking around aquariums. I think we will visit some more as things return to some kind of normal. Have a great week. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. NatureFootstepApril 12, 2021 at 3:22 AM

    beautiful. I would have loved to visit the palce. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dara @ Not In JerseyApril 12, 2021 at 9:09 AM

    I love aquariums!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Julie's Creative LifestyleApril 12, 2021 at 9:22 AM

    Looks like you had a fun time visiting the aquarium. Thanks for sharing your photos with us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. LyshaApril 13, 2021 at 8:45 AM

    Oh so much fun! I love how well jelly fish pictures always seem to turn out. Sea Lions are so much fun to watch. And penguins are just darn cute.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne April 13, 2021 at 9:14 AM

      I think the slow movement of the jelly fish work well with the slower shutter speeds for the low lighting photos.

      Delete
  8. NatashaApril 13, 2021 at 9:27 AM

    Oh, this makes me want to go back to the aquarium. Once Covid is over we'll have to do that because we haven't been for about five years. I love hearing the stories about how the animals interact with everyone. That's so fun!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Shelbee on the EdgeApril 18, 2021 at 8:12 AM

    Oh wow, Joanne, these photos are so amazing! I really enjoyed the jellyfish and coral ones. I need to find a nearby aquarium to take my kids. I think the closest one might be hours from here! Thanks for linking.

    Shelbee
    www.shelbeeontheedge.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joanne April 18, 2021 at 7:19 PM

      That's a bummer; I just love a good aquarium and tend to keep an eye out for them when we're travelling too.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

15 Family Restaurant Games

Image
When my boys were little and we'd take them out to eat I kept a small bag of toys in the car to grab on our way into any restaurant.  That way they would be entertained and a bit quieter while we enjoyed our meal. Now that the boys are older we don't keep a bag of toys handy but we do have few games we use to keep the boys occupied if they start getting bored or squirmy while we're waiting for our food or our check. While there are many phone apps, portable gaming systems and electronic games that could occupy my kids we prefer to use the time together at restaurants to connect with one another and so we tend to play games like: Hangman--   any restaurant that has paper place mats works well for this.  We take turns picking  a word and drawing our hangman stand then take turns calling out letters and seeing if we can solve the puzzle.   Tic Tac Toe-- This works best with pen on paper place mats but we have played making a grid with butter knives ...
Read more

Utah Trip By The Numbers

Image
I've always wanted to write one of these fun "by the numbers" wrap up of a vacation but usually blank on what numbers/facts to include-- but not this time!    8-- total days we were gone  7-- total nights we were gone  4- flights taken to and from Utah; Providence to Midway, Midway to Salt Lake City, then the same flights in reverse  1,253- total number of miles we drove in Utah with our car rental 5-- National Parks visited (Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, & Canyonlands)  2-- State parks visited (Dead Horse Point & Red Canyon) 4-- trips to the grocery store 0-- number of ice cream dishes/cones I ate   7-- Number of restaurants we tried for the first time  7-- Number of restaurants we'd go back to a second time! The food was fantastic everywhere we went 2-- Number of times we had to stop for cows IN the road 646-- Total number of photos Evan and I took combined (not counting those blurry or duplicate/deleted ones)  1- T...
Read more

30 History Movies for Middle School

Image
Ian is starting a new film study unit in our homeschool.  He loves watching movies and when I found the Thinking Tree Film Study Journal I just knew Ian would love the opportunity to watch movies as part of his homeschooling day. I set to work writing up a list of movies I thought he'd enjoy watching.  These are just some of the movies I found that I thought he'd enjoy watching as part of our history lessons. 1.   Secretariat -- A story about a horse that won the Triple crown in 1973; the first American Thoroughbred to win in 25 years. 2.   Captain Philips - A movie about the 2009 hijacking of a US Container ship by a crew of pirates. 3.  Sully- Based on the "Miracle on the Hudson" this movie takes us through the plane that landed in the Hudson river. 4.   A League of their Own - A fictional story of the All-American Girls Baseball League of 1943 5.   Gung- Ho -- When the Japanese re-open an American auto plant the wo...
Read more

Favorite TV Shows Growing Up in the 80's and early 90's

Image
Do you remember the TGIF lineups on Friday nights? I can remember planning sleepovers and time with friends around TV Show lineups of our favorite shows... or else trying to set the VCR to record our favorite shows if we weren't going to be home. And through the years I had SO MANY favorites! Growing pains aired in 1985 which put me around age 8 and it stayed on the air until I was 15 or so; I'm pretty sure most people in my age group watched mostly for Kirk Cameron and all his antics.  I still have a soft spot for family sit-coms!  The Facts of Life aired when I was just 2  and stayed on the air until I was 11 so I'm sure the episodes I remember so fondly were either some of the later ones and then reruns shown later on when I was old enough to watch from the beginning. I think everyone would have loved an Edna Garret in their lives.   Benson another sitcom that began airing when I was just 2 and was done by the time I was 9 (another one I must have watched mai...
Read more

10 of Our Favorite Ways to Serve/Eat Pulled Pork

Image
My husband makes pulled pork fairly frequently.  I started making pulled pork in the crock pot years ago and we've since tried a few different recipes (like this cranberry BBQ pulled pork ) but it wasn't something I thought about very often.  All that changed when my husband got a smoker as an early Father's day gift a couple of years ago!   Now, I feel like we have been eating pulled pork at least a few times a month (and when I say we I really mean they as I hardly ever eat any at all because I don't like pork or smoked meats).  He'll usually smoke up a few pork butts and shred them both then we eat some for dinner and sort the rest into a couple of freezer portions for easy, nearly ready-made weeknight dinners.  1. Pulled pork sandwiches -- The simplest way to serve pulled pork; everyone just piles the pork and cheese (perhaps coleslaw) on a bun.   2. Pulled pork rice bowls -- I cook up some white rice and veggies and everyone portions out th...
Read more