ol' man gunnison's black canyon

nope, not a diving board

there's my chip chip.

this hike had mountain views.

jarrod and cecca engage in conversation with their imaginary friends.

off she goes.

like usual, jarrod and cecca did not like what their imaginary friends had to say.

now that's a great meal.

canyons can be beautiful, if you give them a chance.

jarrod and cecca share a laugh.

jarrod points out the g-spot.

another example of how good bear parenting is crucial, especially during the hormone-fueled teenage years.

the painted wall. this cliff is supposedly the highest in colorado, reaching close to a half-mile in length.

jarrod practices his dance routine yet again.

mesa verde to you!

disappointed, jarrod expected mesa verde to be a salsa.

where's the salsa? perhaps beyond these 3000 year old walls?

nope, no salsa.

jarrod begins to accept the fact that salsa will not be served at mesa verde.

cecca considers some design ideas to spruce the place up a bit.

jarrod locates one of many trick windows.

the historically important cliff dwelling whose name escapes me. moonbeam house?

there's my chippy!

canyonlands, with just a dash of riverbed

i promise to never poke you with cactus parts... unless i find them.

jarrod finds some cactus parts.

this guy's got some nerve!

jarrod finally finds a tree he can get along with.

just a quick nap to sooth the bag

we shrunk cecca down to human size for this photo.

i know we parked around here somewhere?!

there's the sass...

and here's the class

cecca balances on a tree... it was a bigger tree.

don't step into that vortex... 

see if you can guess why they call it "wooden shoe monument". (hint: it's cause one of the rocks looks like a wooden shoe)

capitol (reef) punnishment

we saw petroglyphs in capitol reef national park, cecca couldn't help carving her likeness into the rock... silly cecca.

jarrod admires his face in the reef.

we came across a small mormon school house (not in session), jarrod tries anyhow.

there she is...

now careful jarrod... don't get your head caught in that crevasse!

they say this is where the ancients kept their canned meats.

get outa there... that's just gross!

we superimposed the ground in here so you wouldn't get scared.  get down from there you rascal! 

don't think bryce, it's alright

jarrod serves bryce canyon on a platter

jarrod finds the lever that activates the technicolor.

cecca does her best impersonation of the rock formation.

there's my chippy.

this was one of our favorite hoodoos (the ridiculous name bequeathed upon these bizarre formations, probably by some half-drunk mustachioed man in the 1930's)

cecca waits patiently for the door to open.

jarrod practices his dance routine.

this is what happens when you ask a little person to take your photo.

cecca considers not going that way.

this tree made a commitment and stuck with it.

woah.

this hike was advertised as "the most beautiful 3-miles in america" and as far as we could tell, it was.

where's cecca?

cecca surveys her kingdom.

omg.

jarrod finally lets cecca use the polaroid.