~ZION NATIONAL PARK~ Utah

~Zion Entrance Sign (south entrance)~

Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229 square miles (590 km²) park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles (24 km) long and up to half a mile (800 m) deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The lowest elevation is 3,666 ft (1,117 m) at Coalpits Wash and the highest elevation is 8,726 ft (2,660 m) at Horse Ranch Mountain. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park's unique geography and variety of life zones allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals (including 19 species of bat), and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones:desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches.

~Weeping Rock~

~Rt. 15 Mountains- just outside Zion~

~Pa'rus Trail~

panoramic view from Watchman Trail

~Isaac Peak- Court of the Patriarchs~

~Emerald Pools~

~Emerald Pools~

~Court of the Patriarchs~

Base Wall- Emerald Pools

ARUBA

Guadirikiri ~ Arikok National Park

Aruba ( /əˈruːbə/ ə-roo-bə) is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela. Together with Bonaire and Curaçao, it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles.

Aruba, which has no administrative subdivisions, is one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, together with the Netherlands, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten which citizens share a single nationality: Dutch citizen. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, Aruba has a dry climate and an arid, cactus-strewn landscape. This climate has helped tourism as visitors to the island can reliably expect warm, sunny weather. It has a land area of 180 square kilometres (69 sq mi) and is densely populated with its estimated 103,000 people. It lies outside the hurricane belt.

Baby Beach sunset

Palm Beach sunset

Baby Beach sunset

snorkel trip from Palm Beach

Baby Beach shoreline

~Bushiribana Gold Smelter Ruins~

The Bushiribana smelter was built in 1872 by the Aruba Island Gold Mining Company to extract gold from the ore that was being mined in the nearby hills of Ceru Plat. It operated for ten years. Today, its remains are a stopping-off point for tourists on their way to view the Natural Bridge which collapsed on September 2, 2005.

RIU Grand Hotel

~One Happy Island~

Natural Bridge Area

This was one of Aruba's most popular attractions. The bridge was a formation of coral limestone cut out by years of pounding surf, and was one of the largest of these types of spans in the world. It standed some 23 feet (7 meters) above sea level and spans more than 100 feet (30 meters).

Natural Bridge Area

Malmok Beach

Guadarikiri Cave ~ Arikok National Park

Caribbean from air

~California Light House~

The lighthouse was named after a ship called the Californian, which has the distinction of having been in proximity of, and having received distress signals from, the Titanic, as she went down in icy waters in 1912. The Californian's radio operator was off-duty and asleep at the time of the disaster, and this small piece of bad karma perhaps sealed the Californian's fate. She went down in rough seas off the Aruba coast a few years after the Titanic sank, and to this day the ship is a popular dive site. Around the lighthouse are acres of stoned-filled flat land, and a area called California White Sand Dunes is very popular with kids who go dune surfing. Don't ask; it involves sliding down the dunes in any way that seems comfortable. Just wear strong jeans or trousers.

~Alta Vista Chapel~

The chapel was built in 1952 on the site of the original, and first, Catholic church built in Aruba in 1750 by a Spanish missionary, Domingo Antonio Silvestre. The bright yellow chapel is reached by a winding road lined with white crosses marking the stations of the cross. It is a special place for peace and contemplation, surrounded by the Aruban countryside.