paigeo119-blog

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Just when I thought my Friday couldn’t get any better...What a way to go into the weekend 💚 #luckygirl #friyay #fallflowers #bestfriday #romance https://www.instagram.com/p/BpIM58knrtG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1izsjbjz8829e

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Just when I thought my Friday couldn’t get any better...What a way to go into the weekend 💚 #luckygirl #friyay #fallflowers #bestfriday #romance https://www.instagram.com/p/BpIM58knrtG/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1qcnmqx3dh0cx

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The gifts just keep coming, more boxes today. My classroom library is filling up with all of my new books and supplies! Thank you to everyone and all the wonderful people who are featuring teachers and giving them the support they need. ❤️❤️👏👏❤️❤️ @imrosemciver @edroste @serindaswan @busyphilipps @kristenanniebell @constancezimmer @flynnagin11 @jvn #10featuredteachers #teacherlife #amazon #wishlists #fillthatclassroom #feelinglucky #thankful https://www.instagram.com/p/BoN1VIenVj9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1kjrvlcs797rs

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So this happened this weekend... Feeling so lucky and thankful to be part of #10featuredteachers The packages of books and supplies have been showing up this week and I cannot wait to share them with my class. A special thank you to @imrosemciver for featuring teachers and supporting us! And a shoutout to @edroste for starting the trend. ❤️ https://www.instagram.com/p/BoLNinsnokm/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1q616xasjnafe

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Loving this today. Lots of new things happening lately and I’m just going to keep going back to this ❤️ (at Whidbey Island)

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It’s back to reality, I’m in the throes of my new classroom setup and very thankful that I got to spend my summer recharging so I’m ready to go back to work and start my new adventure at my new school! #fbf #teacherwalkabout #capitolreefnationalpark #panoramapoint #summerbreak #teacherlife #classroomtransformationcoming #timeforkids #backtoschool (at Capitol Reef National Park)

[paigeo119-blog]

It’s back to reality, I’m in the throes of my new classroom setup and very thankful that I got to spend my summer recharging so I’m ready to go back to work and start my new adventure at my new school! #fbf #teacherwalkabout #capitolreefnationalpark #panoramapoint #summerbreak #teacherlife #classroomtransformationcoming #timeforkids #backtoschool (at Capitol Reef National Park)

[paigeo119-blog]

It’s back to reality, I’m in the throes of my new classroom setup and very thankful that I got to spend my summer recharging so I’m ready to go back to work and start my new adventure at my new school! #fbf #teacherwalkabout #capitolreefnationalpark #panoramapoint #summerbreak #teacherlife #classroomtransformationcoming #timeforkids #backtoschool (at Capitol Reef National Park)

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Bryce Canyon

I headed to Bryce from Zion and I was looking forward to it; my mom said it’s her favorite and it did not disappoint.  I didn’t have a campsite so I set out from Zion on the early side and went to go find one. I found a great site that was at the beginning of one of the camping loops and was in the shade all day, I was staying for three nights. My tent was kinda damp from Zion so I wanted to get it set up before I headed out on a hike in the afternoon.  I was in the process of doing this and cleaning out my car a bit as I was going so I had left my front seat door open and next thing I know this little chipmunk has crawled into the front seat of my car, sitting down by the pedals.  I wasn’t quite sure what to do and so I approached my car hoping it would just hop back out but no such luck, it went under my front seat.  Now, I have my car packed not overly full but there is stuff everywhere as I need it so I had to open all of the car doors, get my hiking poles and work on poking underneath the front seat and moving everything out of the back seat to beside he car.  I didn’t see the chipmunk run out, I heard it make noises as I was hitting the pole everywhere but by the time I had everything out of the car it wasn’t there anymore; at least I couldn’t find it.  So I finally had to just assume it made it out and hope that it wasn’t still in there and going to attack me on my next drive somewhere.

For the afternoon I decided to do Peekaboo Loop, it was about five miles long with some serious uphill climbs happening.  There was a lot of sweat and I was wiped by the time I was done.  Just my luck though, there was a shower at the general store so I took one and then headed to my tent as of course a rain storm had appeared.

The next day I started out really early as the park gets pretty busy and you can’t park places. I did the whole length of the park stopping at the different viewpoints and then hiked the Pinecone loop up at the point and then went down and did a loop that included Navajo and Queen’s Trail Loop combination. It was a great hike but there were a lot of people. This is where I got snapped at for walking through people who were taking up the ENTIRE trail because they were taking picture and feeding a chipmunk!!  Sooooo irritating, everywhere you go there are signs hat ask you not to feed them and it’s a $100 fine for doing so; but every tourist thinks it’s the greatest thing and takes about 500 pictures of them. This would be why a chipmunk crawled into my car, because people can’t follow simple instructions.  I do think there needs to be some sort of sign that explains trail etiquette to people too.  There have been groups that haven’t moved to one side and almost run me off a trail, a boy slammed into me on the trail in the Narrows because he wouldn’t move from walking three across so I could go by at the same time.  I also watched someone take a little old man’s spot in the shade because she pushed by, some people are just plain inconsiderate, the trails are very wide and it is easy to move to single file or even two people across so someone else can also use the trail at the same time.  I finished the day at Mossy Cave which was a quick little trail that you got to see a mini waterfall and a cave with all sorts of plants growing in it.

My last day at Bryce I did the Fairyland loop, and I did this loop about half in a thunderstorm.  It is pretty long about 8 miles so when you start if a storm moves in you don’t really have a chance to stop.  I moved along at a pretty good clip and then when it started to rain and there was pretty good flat and downhill spots I went for a little trail run, it wasn’t so bad and I got done quickly with the addition of that.  By the end I was dripping and got myself another shower and then headed to my campsite to weather the storm that had moved in once again.

Moving on tomorrow!

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Day 23, 24, and 25 – The Car and the Chipmunk Bryce Canyon I headed to Bryce from Zion and I was looking forward to it; my mom said it’s her favorite and it did not disappoint.  

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I had a long day of driving and I had one night where I didn’t have a campsite when I got to Zion.  When I got to town they were having a major afternoon monsoon, also all of the tent campsites not in the park were about $50 a night which is a lot so I found myself a hotel for $50 and did some laundry, took a hot shower and escaped the rain.

The next day I headed to Zion.  I checked into my campsite and couldn’t figure out where it would be shady at my site in the afternoon so I waited to set my tent up. It was perfect though as it was right next to the visitors center as in Zion to get most places you need to ride the shuttle and it was a two minute walk for me to get there, especially since all of the lots were full on all days the majority of the time.  There were a lot of tourists at this park and it seemed not a lot of places for them to go, especially if you weren’t a hiker.

Coming into the park I did the Canyon Overlook Trail which gives you an amazing view of the entire canyon from the side of the park where you can drive through and see a lot of scenery and especially those who have come out to climb in the park.

Then I hopped on the bus and went to Weeping Rock.  It was a quick jaunt from the bus stop to see it and then I extended it and went on the Hidden Canyon Trail.  The trail was only about 3 miles but holy cow it was intense.  About a half mile in and I was already pouring sweat and had to get out my mini towel so I could wipe it from my eyes.  The trip was completely uphill and included lots of switchbacks, along with a very steep set of stairs, and finally a cut out in the side of the rock that had a chain along the path to hold on to for gripping.  I hadn’t even made it to the top and had gotten my mini Gatorade out and completely guzzled it in what seemed like one gulp. I made it to the end though and going up high above the canyon was an amazing view and then when you went into the hidden canyon you escaped the heat and could sit in the shade and rest, I sat and ate my orange and downed more water from my hydro pack; while sitting there the thunder started.  It was more thunder that shook the ground and you could see the dark clouds moving in.  I quickly descended down the trail, racing the rain monsoon that was coming along with thunder and lightening.  I got back on the shuttle and a couple of stops later the downpour started, we had to shut all of the windows in the shuttle even though it was warm because it was raining so hard!  It’s kinda hard to hike when there is thunder and lightening where you have no shelter so I went to an afternoon movie and then came back to my campsite later after the storm and set up and went to bed.

The next day I caught the bus up to the Narrows.  I went pretty early in the day because it seems that storms have been moving in each afternoon around and I didn’t want to be stuck in there during a flash flood.  There were a lot of people heading up to the trailhead and I had to wait for at least five or six shuttle buses to even start my trip up.  This meant there were a ton of people at the start of the trail and a lot of them weren’t prepared to be going through.  I had worn he appropriate shoes for water and had brought my hiking poles so was pretty set.  You need the poles or a walking stick so you can figure out where the rocks are and keep yourself planted in the water as most of the hike is done directly in the water.  Once I got at least a mile up the people thinned out and it was much more enjoyable.  I went on up the Narrows until I hit the waterfall and then headed back because I could hear the storm rolling in from afar just as it had done the day before.  This hike maybe because it was in water didn’t seem like it was as long as it was, it didn’t feel like I had done that many miles.  After I hopped back on the shuttle I got off at the lodge and went do the lower Emerald Pools.

There were a lot of trails that were closed because they had been washed out.  I can understand that especially from the storms I witnessed, the rain comes fast and plentiful along with a good amount of wind sometimes.

It ended up not being as rainy as before so I could still be out of my tent for the evening.

On to Bryce Canyon from here!!

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Day 21 and 22 – Zion I had a long day of driving and I had one night where I didn’t have a campsite when I got to Zion.  

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Arches...You never disappoint, even when it’s 105 and there are way too many people. #summervacation #teacherwalkabout #idhikethat #womenwhohike #delicatearch #devilsgardenloop #primitivetrail #somuchsweat (at Arches National Park)

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When the pizza is so good you go back for another meal...Lucky I did, some very nice locals bought my dinner and gave me great hiking and secret spot advice. #escalanteoutfitters #teacherwalkabout #summervacation #pizzaallday #localsarethebest #localadvice

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Some more instances of Utah being gross...This was one of my favorite places to hike #teacherwalkabout #summervacation #brycecanyon #campinglife #idhikethat #womenwhohike #justalittlethunderstorm #sweatingallday #didallthehikes #peekabooloop #fairylandloop #hoodoosfordays (at Bryce Canyon National Park)

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Grand Canyon Southern Rim

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Day 19 and 20 – Another Storm Anyone? Grand Canyon Southern Rim

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When being a teacher comes in handy camping...It’s the little things 💛 #teacherwalkabout #summervacation #campinglife #brycecanyon #sunsetcampground (at Bryce Canyon National Park)

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When being a teacher comes in handy camping...It’s the little things 💛 #teacherwalkabout #summervacation #campinglife #brycecanyon #sunsetcampground (at Bryce Canyon National Park)

[paigeo119-blog]

When being a teacher comes in handy camping...It’s the little things 💛 #teacherwalkabout #summervacation #campinglife #brycecanyon #sunsetcampground (at Bryce Canyon National Park)