Arches National Park
Arches National Park is exactly as its name implies – a park full of natural, rock arches. In my non-science brain, I understand the formation of arches as this. There was a layer of sandstone that formed porous rock. Below that was a layer of clay and sand that formed a less porous rock. Somehow salt from underneath both layers came up forming domes. With more shifts of the earth, a rock formed over the salt layer. Over time, rain eroded openings. Arches aren’t permanent and in 2008, Wall Arch eroded away. For it to be considered an arch, the opening must be at least 3 feet wide. Today Arches NP boasts over 2,000 of these formations. (more…)
Colorado & Utah (Including Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Rocky Mountain National Parks) Itinerary
I wanted to go somewhere that didn’t look just like home. For several years I had been researching the Grand Canyon, but flights were expensive. After talking to a friend who did a 2-week tour of the national parks, we came up with this 5-day itinerary. The focus was on the three Utah parks – Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef and we made Moab our base. The nearest airports are Salt Lake City and Denver. Since Denver was significantly less expensive and we’d get to explore some of Colorado, we chose that route. It sounds like a lot, but it worked and was the perfect amount of time. One more day and everyone would be getting cranky. Here’s our Utah and Colorado itinerary. Be sure to click on the hyper-links for detailed posts on each place. (more…)
Central Georgia Day Trip – Jarrell Plantation, Juliette and High Falls State Park
The sunshine was out – the first time in over a week. We had to get outside and do something. We headed down I-75 just about an hour south of Atlanta and did three distinctly different activities.
Jarrell Plantation:
Built in 1847, by John Fitz Jarrell, this plantation survived Sherman’s March to the Sea. As time went on and the family grew, more buildings were added, such as the 1895 House for son, Dick Jarrell and the sawmill in the early 1900’s.
At the visitor center, a 15-minute film describes the history of the plantation. Interestingly enough, one of the descendants continued farming on the land until the 1960’s. Fortunately, the family donated most of the buildings in 1974 to the state of Georgia to show others what plantation life was like.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the Tara or Seven Oaks type of house. Rather, the original 1847 House was just a one story house for the Jarrell’s and their seven children. The boys slept in the loft upstairs, while the girls had a room and the parents had a room. Later, the porch on the back of the house was enclosed making two rooms and a “honeymoon room” a room for travelers was added by enclosing part of the front porch.
My husband enjoyed that everything, especially the location of each of the buildings, was original. This was unlike Oconaluftee Mountain Farm Museum at the Cherokee, NC entrance of the Smokey Mountain National Park, where the buildings had been moved their from elsewhere in the area. Here, we could see how the house was built on the highest part of the property in order to get the best breeze.
