Natural Bridges National Monument

Two days with Ryan and Sam at the park with the intent of taking some time-lapse photography of evening-turning-into-night-star-photos. 

Unfortunately that didn't happen because of a storm, which Ryan caught on his camera.

(I'll post link to his photos once they are up, because you will want to see them - incredible!)

Here are my photos from the trip, taken on Ryan's (formerly our Dad's) Nikon D70 with a 42mm lens. 

Photography is one of those things that I love that I haven't really done much about, but I think I just might start picking it up.

Ps. I only cropped one of these photos. Be impressed.

By the way, Ryan is letting me hang on to the camera for a bit.

Expect more photos of higher quality than you're used to on this blog (aka, my ridiculous pull-out-the-phone pictures).

And now: the weekend.

Enjoy.

 We woke up early (explained below).  I wish I had taken the camera with me morning of day #2 while I walked through the mesa, about an hour earlier than this one.  It was one of those beautiful mornings that will be placed in my memories next to other beautiful mornings I intend on remembering fondly the rest of my life.

 I began documenting.

 Then Sam documented.

 Sand is deceiving and we all woke up between 6 and 7 in the morning because it was so uncomfortable - next year I'm thinking I'll bring a full blown queen sized mattress.  Just kidding.  But not really.

Costco muffins. Delicious? Yes. Did I gain weight? Probably. Was it worth it? Duh.

 8am and already having fun with the camera. Finished "One Day" finally, also. I didn't like it, but I liked it.

 The beginning of the hiking/photographing adventure for the day.

The first of many self portraits. This one is in focus.

 This one? Not so in focus, so I played off that with the editing. And the note? You know who "u" are.

 Ryan. Enjoying the sand.

 See the top of the bridge? By the way, that is a cliff. Basically.

 The Bridge -whatever the name is- can fit the SWKT under it. Yeah, huge guys.

 Gorgeous, no? I was loving every bit of it.

 Turn back?  Yeah right.

 Not a trail? Whatever... 

 So, naturally, I left the boys in the dust.

 I thought it was a good idea. Gorgeous views sometimes require the breaking of rules, and I'm all about breaking rules.

 Growing from the underside of the huge boulders? How? Ah. Cool.

 See?  Looks bigger now, huh?

 This was actually kind of nerve wracking because I thought I was convinced I was going to fall and die, but it was worth it because I wanted everyone else to see what I saw. And now? You're seeing it.

Sam. This was the third ladder we climbed down to get to the bottom.  There were also stairs carved into the rock in a few places.  Utah is kind of awesome.  Also, there were some european families there.  We passed by one from France and it made me want to go there much more than I already do.  Europe is calling my name.

Bridge = huge.  And Ryan.  And water from some recent storm.

 Oh, look... another ladder. 

Signs pointing to bridges. How interesting. 

Ryan. Brother of the weekend. He turned 24 today, by the way. What a stud. :)

Favorite picture of us to date.  My girlfriend saw this on FB and she got excited until she realized it was my brother.  Yes, I am still very single. 

 Underside of bridge. You should go. It's worth every hour of driving and every minute in the sun and every step to the bottom.

 Cactus. Umm, hello? Cool. I've really only seen this in window sills in Seattle. 

 I had to remind Ryan that I like to document things. Please enjoy the expression on his face as much as I do. And yes, I am aware that he is giving me that look. Still, I enjoy it.

 Lake Powell.  The only experience I have had here happened last year when we drove down here to take star photos (like this time - which also didn't work exactly as planned this year, but still ended up being great). We ended up sleeping on a little runway out there.  This time we went to go jump in. It took ten minutes of me sitting on my butt on that little shallow ledge in some shorts and a little tank top to get the nerve to take the plunge. I always want to get out and swim, but the water always scares me. It's like jumping off a cliff. But, don't worry, I did it. We swam quite a way out there and I think some of those moments were my favorites for the whole trip. Floating on my back with the sun shining on my face was just perfect. I wish I had ten more days like it. Or maybe just three. Three would be nice. I have to limit my sun exposure, you see. Okay, enough about the water.

Ryan represents the both of us. Sam was asleep in the tent for hours while Ryan and I suffered in the heat. There was no relief from it for hours. I hated life. I really did. I would rather have been dead for a couple of hours. Just kidding. Kind of. Not really. Later on when it was about 86 degrees, we finally felt like it was cool. It was just so hot. All day long in the heat. And then there was thunder, gorgeous lighting, and rain (at which point we sat in the car and watched "Community", which everyone needs to watch - hilarious). But man, the heat was ridiculous.  I am so ready for fall.

- - -

{Regular sized font means the end of all the pictures.}

I just loved the weekend, and tonight I threw a little dessert-get-together in honor of Ryan's 24th Birthday. 

We shared Breyers French Vanilla ice cream, fresh organic strawberries, and Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownies with some of his (and my) closest friends.

Overall, it was a lovely end to a lovely weekend.

I hope anyone and everyone who sees this had an equally great weekend. :)

ttfn!

-xxL