Christmas Vacation - Part 2

One of the best days Erin and I had on our vacation was in Sedona.  The weather was cooperating with beautiful blue skies as we had the opportunity to see the beautiful rock formations with my family.  We enjoyed two hikes in search of the famous Sedona vortexes.  For lunch we stopped at the wonderful "Red Planet Cafe" with decorations from out of this world.  There were so many beautiful pictures taken that I decided to post them in their own section on Picasa.  Click here to see them.  My brother, Michael, and Erin took many of these pictures.

The next day it was time to say goodbye to my family as Erin and I got back on the road.  We decided to drive through northern Arizona to Moab before heading back to Denver.  On our way we crossed through Navajo territory to see fossilized dinosaur prints and Monument Valley.  It was all beautiful territory and I wish we would have had more time to spend there.  However, our timing did allow us to get some gorgeous photos of the sunset.  Everything, it seemed, was going great.

Then in Utah, as the night turned dark and desolate, just outside of Blanding we hit a deer laying in the road.  The oncoming cars tried to warn us by flashing their brights, but by the time we saw the deer it was too late to swerve.  So I gritted my teeth and drove over it.  The worst part was the that its head was facing us and the eyes were shining in our headlights (even though we confirmed at the gas station a little down the road that it had been dead for a few hours).  Fortunately it didn't do too much damage to the car, but it was tragic to view and left a horrendous smell.

The first order of business next morning in Moab was to wash the car.  While that helped we still needed an air freshener to control the smell.  Fortunately we had the glorious views of Arches National Park to distract us.  The ice was too slippery and our time too short for us to experience much of the park, but it was nice to see it and plan a return trip.

Finally, after another long day of driving we made it back to Denver in time to have dinner with Erin's parents.  We finally returned home exhausted, but content in a wonderful trip.