Our Utah Adventure: Day Three, Part V: Bryce Canyon "Wall Street"

 This is a continuation of a travel series to Utah.  To start at the beginning, go  HERE.  The rest of the posts in chronological order are HERE,  HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE!

In my last two travel posts before I took my Holiday Break, I shared our adventure hiking the Queen's Garden Trail and Navajo Loop.  Today I will cover the last trek of that hiking adventure:  Wall Street!  Wall Street is the best trail in Bryce Canyon of the one's I hiked, and possibly the most famous.  It is named Wall Street because the narrow trail is surrounded on either side by tall hoodoos that remind one of the New York Skyscrapers.  This first photo shows the start of the trail from the top looking out into the canyon.

Wall Street is part of the Navajo Loop.  For safety and best views it is recommended to start at Sunset point and go down into the canyon, then take Wall Street back up.   We started from Sunrise Point, hiked the Queen's Garden Trail, hooked in to the Navajo Loop, and finished with Wall Street.  

You can reach Wall Street via the Navajo Loop in .3 miles (or 10 -15 minutes).  If you take the longer way like we did from the Queen's Garden Trail it is 1.25 miles to Wall Street (or 25-30 minutes).  Both routes have an elevation gain of 500 feet and are described as "moderate".

It is a steep hike up Wall Street, but the views are much more incredible hiking up and looking at the canyon and steps above you than if you hiked down.  It's also considered safer by the park and is recommended as many people have been hurt slipping on their way down the canyon.

The stairs and unique stone doorways made me think at times that I was in an archaic middle eastern city and not a national park.

Depending on the time of day you are hiking Wall Street, the lighting constantly changes the look and feel of the trail.  We were there late in the afternoon, and it was our last hike of the day.

It was fun to reach the top and look down at how far we climbed.

Of course my son had to explore every single nook and cranny!

The Wall Street trail is only open during the summer because it is so steep.

You can really get an idea of the magnificent scale of this place when you look at the picture of all the people below and how small they are in comparison to the rock formations surrounding them.

Be sure to spend some time on a "StairMaster" or Tread Mill set to a high incline, as you will definitely be working the thigh and glutei muscles!

It's really something else to be in the bottom of this canyon and look up into the sky!

Once you reach the top, be sure to spend some time looking down to see how far you've come, and also go to the scenic lookout of Sunset Point and see this gorgeous canyon view!

After finishing Wall Street we were done for the day!  After all, we spent the morning in Zion National Park hiking the Canyon Overlook Trail, then we drove to Bryce Canyon and hiked three trails!  That was enough walking for us!  We took the shuttle back to our hotel, cleaned up, had a nice dinner, then soaked our weary bones in the hot tub.  The next day, we were off again for our last and final trail in Bryce Canyon:  Peekaboo Loop!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

How To Add Interesting Detail To A Simple Card With Stitching

It was my husband's birthday in December and I made him this handmade card and gave him a pair of very nice work gloves which he requested.  Making a card for a man is always hard, especially if they're not into hunting or sports.  And it becomes increasingly difficult when you're making a card year after year for the same man;  you begin to run out of creative ideas!  So as usual, I perused Pinterest for ideas but I really didn't find anything.  Next, I started paging through an old card-making book of mine and found a sketch very similar to the card I ended up making.   It was very simple, but the stitching made it more interesting.  Since I was pressed for time during the holidays (as I usually am) I decided to give it a try.

It might be a little hard to see in the photo, but the top and bottom grey and white border is sewn on and so is the candle and candle flame.  I used a small piece of twine to represent the wick.  I glued the green panel and grey and white border to the card base, and I hand cut the candle pieces and glued them in place before using my sewing machine to sew them onto the card.

The "make a wish" sentiment is a die cut from My Favorite Things.  The stars were made with a Cuttlebug die.

When hubby first opened this card he opened it upside down and was a bit perplexed.  He wasn't quite sure what it was. 🤣. It was not the typical card I make for him.  I just chuckled and said "Sorry!  I'm running out of ideas for what type of card to make for you!"  I'll have to try harder for Valentine's Day.  But he appreciated the gesture nevertheless.  I think he eventually realized how much work goes into even making a simple card!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Grandma & Me: "Winter Blues"

I am back from Holiday Break!  I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years. We attended a wonderful Christmas Eve service at our church and we had a lot of great meals!   I had all my children and grandchildren home with me for a full week; we had so much fun just hanging out at the house.  It was the first Christmas that Alethea was really old enough to appreciate gifts.  I gave her a "Princess Jasmine" toddler doll.  Oh my!  If you could have seen the expression on her face when she opened it.  It was priceless!  She started singing "A Whole New World" once she realized who the doll was.  It was so cute!

  My kids gave me some nice gifts from my Amazon wish list I can't wait to share with you.  Hubby got me a new Mac!  After years of using a MacBook Pro lap top I went back to a desktop.  I still have my Apple iPad to use when traveling or when I want to lounge.  It's nice to have a desktop again because at my age I need the bigger screen! 🤣

We did two photo shoots with the kids when they were visiting:  today's  "Winter Blues" one and a "Valentines" shoot that I will show next month.  As usual, it was a challenge photographing both a toddler and a baby at the same time, but I think we got some cute shots! We used lots of props, and snuggled, giggled, sang a few songs, and made lots of funny noises to keep the kids entertained and smiling!

For our "Winter Blues" photo shoot, we all wore blue and white.  I wore a new cozy periwinkle sweater from TJMaxx with my white jeans and silver loafers.  Alethea wore a pretty blue T-shirt from JCPenney that has ruffles on the chest and sleeves and flecks of silver glitter scattered throughout.  She paired her blue top with a sparkly, white tulle skirt and silver shoes.  Atticus is wearing a new outfit I purchased for him for Christmas.  It's a super cute set from Carters that includes an adorable onesie, sweat pants, and a jacket.

The jacket has a hood and zips closed.  I think he will get a lot of use out of it as it's so neutral he can wear it as a spring coat with lots of other things.

I just love the little panda bear peeking out from the pocket.

On one of the legs is a lion, isn't he cute?

The onesie is white and says "One of a kind".  I love that!  

We used pine cones and these pretty snowflakes off my Christmas tree as props for this winter photo shoot.

Alethea always looks so beautiful in blue because of her gorgeous blue eyes!

 Atticus's eyes are blue too, but a much deeper, darker blue than Alethea.  He also looks great in blue!

When I looked at these photos I couldn't believe they were my grand babies.  They look so different than me!  They both have such pale skin and blue eyes, and I have dark hair, dark skin, and brown eyes, but they are my grand babies and I love them to pieces!

Alethea loves playing with the "magical pocket door" of this guest room.

Alethea is 2 1/2 years old.  She talks constantly!  It's so fun to converse with her.  The things she comes up with!

Atticus is 5 1/2 months.  He smiles, giggles, laughs, and is still the most content "chill" baby.  Whenever he sees you or you show any attention his way, he bursts into a huge smile!  He really started "babbling" the week he was visiting us too.  We wondered if it was because of all the extra conversation he was hearing.

It's always sad to say goodbye when we part, but I was happy to have a clean house again and have things return to normal too.  We will be seeing a lot more of them in the next few months than we usually do, so it wasn't as hard to say goodbye as it usually is.

I couldn't find my "new" sweater on-line, but be sure to check your TJMaxx stores.  It is such a soft and comfy sweater, and I love the shade of blue.  Alethea's clothes are all old, but I will link to similar items below.  Atticus cute outfit is still available at Macys!

Blue Sweater - TJMaxx, similar HERE, White Jeans - Charlotte Russe, old, similar HERE,  Silver Loafers - Macys, old, similar HERE, Carters Baby Boy 3-PC set - Macys,  Toddler Girl White Tulle Skirt, old, similar HERE,  Toddler Girl Silver Shoes, old, similar HERE, and Toddler Girl Blue Top, old, similar HERE.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!