More Adventures in the West 

Bryce Canyon National Park 

Our travels with Joyce, Alan and Kate continue from Capitol Reef National Park to Bryce Canyon National Park. The thin air at 8000’ leaves us short of breath as we hike down and then up among the cliffs and towers.  

The high elevation creates the climate that forms these pink cliffs and columns – hoodoos.

    
On Peekaboo Loop

   
Thunder in the distance                                                    View from the rim

   
Climb up between the walls                                         Queen Victoria on a pedestal
 

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument 

This park’s title says it all. The Florissant Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation noted for abundant and exceptionally preserved insect and plant fossils found in mudstones and shales.  These fossils reveal the story of a very different prehistoric Colorado resulting from numerous volcanic eruptions.

    
Pine cone fossil                                                              Mouse-sized opossum fossil                 

Fish fossil             

 Stumps in Stone
About 34 million years ago the Florissant Valley in Colorado was buried by volcanic eruptions. Hugh mudflows buried all but the largest redwoods in 15 feet of volcanic debris. Entombed in silica-rich mud the ancient tree stumps slowly turned to stone. Dissolved minerals seeped into microscopic spaces withing the cells and a stone replica remains.

    
Stumps of stone at least 12 feet in diameter                                                  Petrified wood chips

See “Shadows of the Past” at:
https://www.nps.gov/flfo/index.htm

 
Scenes of Colorado

     
Fishing (and Catching?) on the Colorado River                                      Aspens on Buffalo Mountain

   
Moose crosses our path                                                  Colorado State Flower

 

Quilt Town USA 

During this trip we made our second visit to Hamilton, MO a.k.a. Quilt Town USA, home of the Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Hamilton, MO, the birthplace of J.C. Penny, until a decade ago was a quiet, rural community. However, in 2008 the Missouri Star Quilt Co was founded by Jenny Doan and family. The company has blossomed into what we quilters know today – a multitude of fabric, notion and craft shops visited by quilters from all over the world.

Quilts! Quilts!

Quilted barn

See:

https://blog.missouriquiltco.com/quilt-town-u-s-a-a-history-of-hamilton-missouri/

 

This season’s trip has ended but look for more in the new year as again we will be on the road for new adventures.

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