Gulliver's Travels 03/20/2023

Dale Sievert

Ten National Parks and Other Wonders
Oct - Nov 2022

   In October and November my Brazilian friend and I took a six-week trip touring national parks and other beautiful natural areas, from the Great Smokies in Tennessee to as far west as Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona.  We drove over six thousand miles in my Toyota Tacoma, often sleeping in the back that had a camper shell.  We visited ten national parks, three national monuments, and some state parks.  Utah and Colorado were seen most extensively.

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Great Smokies National Park in Tennesse

Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas

White Sands National Park in New Mexico

Taos Pueblo in New Mexico

Cemetery at Taos Pueblo

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado

Rocky Moutain National Park in Colorado

Bowtie Arch near the Colorado River in Utah

Corona Arch, near Moab, Utah and the Colorado River

The Colorado River, near Canyonlands National Park.

Fisher Tower, near Moab, Utah and the Colorado River

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park in Utah

Landscape Arch at sunrise , 306-feet wide, in Arches National Park in Utah

Double Arch in Arches National Park in Utah

Dinosaur tracks near Moab, Utah

Dead Horse State Park, overlooking the Colorado River in Utah

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park in Utah

Newspaper Rock, indigenous petroglyphs near Canyonlands National Park in Utah

West Mitten and East Mitten in Monument Valley in Utah

Lower Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona

Upper Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona

The Toadstools in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Grosvenor Arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah

Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado

Epilogue

   This was a long, long trip, and most of these scenes I had seen before--but I never tire of them, especially those in my favorite state, Utah.  I sort of wish my great grandparents had continued moving west after emigrating from Poland to Newton in the 1860s, and instead, settled in Utah.  But I suspect that the Mormons would not have been too receptive to Catholics.  Speaking of Poland, I'll be visiting my ancestral family farm there in April, where my third cousin operates the farm.
  
   The next Gulliver's Travels will be from our trip to Guatemala last December.  Stay tuned.