Tales of the Traveling Tote #28 and A Giveaway

Welcome to our September edition of 

Tales of the Traveling Tote, where 

ten adventurous ladies love to explore and 

share their adventures with you as they 

bring along their MacKenzie-Childs 

totes.

Guess where Miss Madi K is?  No, it is not on 

an airplane!  She is taking her first ever 

helicopter ride!!!  A couple of summers ago 

she got to pose by a helicopter before I took 

a ride, but she wasn't allowed onboard.  

This time she got to come along!

Miss Madi K has had quite the summer.  We spend 

most of our time during the summer back and forth 

from Lake Powell, and although that is spectacular, 

I have lived here in Utah since I graduated and came 

out to BYU for college, and have not seen all of the 

Five National Parks that we have in Utah.  My husband 

has gone to all of the parks as a Scout Leader, so this 

year I told him I wanted to hit some more of the parks.

Last year we had the good fortune of biking through 

Zion's Canyon.  Since the number of tourists were 

extremely limited last year in the National Parks, 

it felt like we had it all to ourselves.  This year we went to 

Bryce Canyon, which is just under 10 miles from where 

my mother grew up in Tropic Utah.  

We decided to start our adventure with a helicopter ride 

over Bryce Canyon.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  

We had participated in a family reunion many years ago 

down in Tropic, but somehow we didn't make it to Bryce!  

It is a park that is so unbelievably gorgeous.  Of course, 

pictures do not capture the majesty of Bryce Canyon.  

The helicopter pilot gave us a great tour and 

overview of the park.

Afterwards the pilot told us to go check out the 

last remaining airplane hangar from the WPA 

during the Great Depression.  The second to last 

one was in Boise, Idaho and it burned down last year. 

It is a beautiful old building with several airplanes 

parked in it.  Miss Madi K looks so good up 

against the old logs.

Next we headed in to Tropic to see my grandparents' 

graves and drive through Tropic.  

It still isn't much of a town, but 

has quite a few restaurants that 

support visitors to Bryce Canyon.

On the way back to Bryce we stopped for a 

short hike to Mossy Cave.  The hoodoos or rock 

towers in this part of Utah are spectacular.  

Hoodoos are also called Fairy Chimneys. 

 

Mossy Cave is a place my mom would have 

hiked to growing up.  She was born and raised 

in this area and moved to northern Utah during 

WWII for employment.  She married my father 

during WWII and then they moved to Wisconsin 

after the war ended.  My mom also worked at 

the Lodge in Bryce Canyon during summers.  

This whole area was her stomping grounds.

This waterfall on the hike to Mossy Cave was 

the exact same color as the rocks.  The channel 

the water comes down was created by the 

early Pioneers to bring irrigation water 

down to Tropic.

Next we returned to Bryce Canyon to drive and hike.

Part of Bryce Canyon is known as Fairyland, and 

that truly describes it.  

You can't quite capture the depth and scope 

and colors, but of all of the National Parks 

in Utah, this is just magical. 

Every lookout had something fabulous to see.  Because park attendance was moderate we were able to drive everywhere rather than take the bus. 

The arches are breathtaking but

in many areas the drop offs are a little scary.

We hiked down into Wall Street.  There is nothing 

like being down amongst the hoodoos and 

towering walls. 

Then the next weekend our oldest grandson had 

a pre-season game down in Southern Utah at Moab.

Moab is a little over 3 hours south of us 

and we have been down here for Glamping 

and side by side rides before, but I had 

never been to two more National Parks 

just outside of Moab. 

  

We decided we would go down for his game and 

on the way down and back we would hit two more 

of the Mighty 5 in Utah.

Our stop on the way down to the football game 

was at Arches National Park. It was just four miles 

outside of Moab.  This is the original 

log home that a family settled in.  It is 

beautifully preserved, although weathered.

We didn't have much time before the 

game started, so we raced up to 

the main arch in Arches, which is Delicate Arch.

Delicate Arch is featured on some of Utah's 

license plates.  You can see someone standing 

next to it to give you an idea of the scope 

and size of this arch.  It was pretty much uphill 

the whole way, but since it was just before 

sunset  it wasn't a bad hike.  We raced down 

the hill to make it to the game. 

This was the view leaving the park.  The variety of 

red sandstone is so spectacular in all of 

this surrounding area.

We raced over to the ball field and although we were two 

minutes late, they had already scored and scored again 

as we walked up. His team beat Moab 

51-6. 

 He is just a Freshman, but he was 

able to get in on the second half of the game and 

catch three passes.  It was well worth the trip. 

The next morning we got up early because we wanted 

to see Canyonlands National Park, which is also 

right outside of Moab.  We had to race back home for 

another grandson's football game, but we were able 

to catch Mesa Arch in Canyonlands with the 

morning sun shining through the arch, and see a 

lot of the beautiful park. 

We left all three parks wanting more, and we plan on 

returning with our bikes and to do more hikes. 

Now, after living in Utah since I came to 

college, I can say I have visited all of the 

Might 5!  I did tell my husband that I 

needed to return to Capitol Reef National 

Park because we visited that too many 

years ago and I am pretty sure we 

didn't spend much time there.  

So Madi K has now visited 4 of the 

National Parks in Utah.  Lucky traveler! 

Now for our giveaway.  Visit Cherry Kay to enter 

our giveaway for these darling Halloween towels.

All of our travelers would love 

a visit from you, so click on the links below to 

see where they have been off to.

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women 

And stay tuned for our next adventures on Dec. 1st.  

Christmas adventures are always so fun.