Kolob in the fog

On Memorial Day, we were headed down south to visit family, but first we stopped by Kolob Canyons. It is just off the freeway and is a short 5 mile scenic drive about 20 minutes from our house. Mark has recently gotten into photography and had wanted to get pics of Kolob in the rain and the fog. (It has been positively freezing and rainy all month long.)

We weren't able to see all the peaks because the fog was so thick, but what we could see was amazing. So bear with me, there's a lot of pictures that all look similar, but I couldn't decide which ones were best. We played around with filters to cut through some of the haze, but I promise you, in real life, that is pretty much what it looks like there. Also, some of the pics are of the same spot but about half hour apart in time, so the lighting, colors and clouds were all different.

Mark's photos with his Nikon D50:

My photos with my Nikon Coolpix L830

 

 While we were at this parking lot, another visitor taking pictures kept exclaiming about everything, and his sister said, "I told you, nobody knows about this place, only locals." She is right! It is technically part of Zion National Park, but is much less busy. It is designated as a wilderness area, so they don't allow big groups on most of the hikes.

 

 

Photos with my iPhone4:

 

(no filter)

 

 (filter)

  

This is a panorama I took a couple of years ago--this is part of the park we couldn't see. Mark and I want to get a bunch of these pics enlarged for our wall.  Should look awesome if we can ever narrow it down to our most favorite shots!

Angel's Landing

Mark recently had an unexpected day off of work when a surgery cancelled, and decided to go to Zion by himself to do his favorite hike, Angel's Landing. It is a hike I will never, ever go on (you will see why) so I'm glad he took lots of pictures. You really do get a spectacular view of the park when you go 1,488 feet straight up from the canyon floor.

 

 

 

 

 

Walter's Wiggles switchbacks

 

 Oh look, a sheer cliff with a thousand foot drop! Cliffs and I do not mix. (And people do fall off and die every year.)

 

 The trail ends once you get to the very top edge of that giant isthmus with cliffs on both sides. 

800 foot drop on one side, and 1,200 foot drop on the other. NOPE.

 

The last half mile of the hike was so crowded that Mark didn't have time to finish (I had a dentist appointment and he needed to come back to do school pick up and babysit) so he stopped at Scout Lookout and then ran back down.

 

 But the view was still magnificent!

New jewelry listings

In two weeks, we are all flying to North Carolina for a family reunion. I've had several massive to-do lists to work on, and "make jewelry" was not on any of them. But I'd bought some beads recently (it's a habit) and once I sat down to make something with them, one thing led to another, and I ended up making 5 adult bracelets, 8 pairs of earrings, a pendant and 14 baby bracelets!

So here they are on my etsy shop, you can click on the links if you want.

Alana baby bracelet

Made with natural white shell beads.

 

 Rosa baby bracelet

Made with white and rose quartz beads.

Mei baby bracelet

Made with Czech beads and Swarovski crystals.

Annalise baby bracelet

Restock-- a tiny bit different than the original. Made with Czech beads and Swarovski crystals.

Lark baby bracelet

Made with turquoise glass beads and copper.

Sierra earrings

Made with turquoise glass, copper and aqua magnesite beads. I actually already sold these to a lady in Sweden.

Sonnet earrings

Sonnet pendant

Sonnet bracelet

Made with rose quartz and silver plated findings.

Lia baby bracelet

Restock of my minimalist silver plated baby bracelet.

 

Indian Elephant earrings

Restock of my most popular earrings. I get the charms from England and have sold 18 pairs so far! (Most things in my shop, there's only ever one available. Not so with these.)

Andalucía bracelet

Made with turquoise dyed howlite nuggets.

Now on to my next project!