Here’s a pretty picture of Lake Powell.

That’s about all I have to say about that.  I can see how Lake Powell would appeal to some, but to us it was sort of a dud.  Sure, it was pretty but it was absolutely packed with tourists and there was nothing to do in the nearby ‘town’.  I think if we’d have rented a boat and headed out on the lake we would have enjoyed ourselves more, but we hadn’t really set aside time nor the energy for that.  We ended up leaving a night earlier than planned to get to Telluride, but that’s for later.

First I’d like to show photos from the reason this area was worth going to.

Antelope Canyon.

Yes that is real life.  It was pretty mind-blowing.

This is what you see when you arrive.

Just a bunch of red earth.  Once you look closer you can see cracks and crevices in that earth, but until you go down into the canyon, you have NO IDEA what lies beneath.

Sometimes you’d see browns and tans and beiges and then the sun would hit and everything would light up purple and red and orange.  The surfaces were as smooth as they look, almost silky or liked whipped cream at times.  I couldn’t believe I’d never seen photos of this before!

The tour was great (you can’t go in without a guide) and he was helpful with pointing out angles and light for photographs.  I could have wandered around down there all day.  It’s one of the most naturally beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

Here are some random images from around Lake Powell.

I know I griped on Lake Powell earlier, but the reason we went there was really for its proximity to Antelope Canyon and the Grand Canyon, both of which were amazing.  So thank you Lake Powell, for your location.  : )

Jon had never been to the Grand Canyon and when you’re already THAT close, you’ve just gotta go.  We went to the less visited Southern Rim as it was about 4 hours from Lake Powell.  We got up early to knock it out there and back in one day.  Little did we know what the weather had in store for us.

I’d been to the South Rim before as a teenager and remembered it being stereotypical Arizona and packed with tourists.  The Northern Rim was not like that at all.  It was quiet and very green and pasture like upon arrival, which was very unexpected.  It felt like we’d entered a midwestern state instead of Arizona.

We did some wandering before we sat at the restaurant overlooking the canyon to watch the sunset.  Once we realized we needed to head back, it started pouring rain.  Not raining, not misting…DUMPING. RAIN.  We headed out of the park and made it about 2 miles before it started hailing golf balls.  We pulled over with no shelter in sight and just cringed silently while we listened to Jon’s new car get pummeled with hail.  For over 30 minutes.  It was complete torture but we couldn’t move due to visibility.  Miraculously, the car wasn’t damaged.  I still don’t know how that’s possible. It was totally bizarre because just prior we’d been sweating it out in the heat and were headed back to complete desert.  Weird.

I tried loading the video I shot while it hailed, but I’m not tech savvy enough to upload it.  It sounds like someone smashing the car with 100 baseball bats.  Terrible.

I’m glad we went but at this point Arizona had worn us out.  We were thrilled to get back into Colorado to visit our long lusted after Telluride.  It did NOT dissapoint.

Telluride is a special place and was a perfect ending to our trip.  We got there a day early after bouncing out of AZ earlier than expected and used that time to just relax.  The scenery is breathtaking, the locals friendly, and the food and shopping is quite good.  If you’ve ever debated the trip to Telluride, swing through Denver first and I’ll go with you.  It MIGHT be my favorite mountain town (although Park City was pretty sweet) and I can’t wait to get back.

Unfortunately I don’t have a ton of photos because we were busy just chilling.  : )

I posted a lot of snapchats, but as I stated earlier I’m not tech savvy enough to get them on here.

We were in Telluride over the 4th of July so I do have some photos from the epic parade.

This itinerary is really good if you’re in Denver and looking to do a loop around the area.  Let me know if you need any tips as I turned out to be quite the psychotic little planner.  : )