Flaming Gorge

Have you heard of Flaming Gorge? It's an area about three and a half hours east of here. The scenery reminds me of Southern Utah (especially the reddish rocks) but it has a character all its own, too. We love to take little trips like this (we didn't even stay overnight). It's amazing how you can go just a few hours away and feel like you're in a whole different world! And this was a beautiful drive with lots of interesting things to see on the way,

such as this peaceful mountain reservoir

and this enormous wind farm.

The views are so dramatic from all angles!

There was a beautiful view area that overlooked the gorge and the reservoir.

Beautiful, and kind of scary because there were these deep fissures in the rocks. Some weren't that deep, but some looked like they went all the way down!  There were a couple of fences at the edges of the cliffs, but none for the fissures---just signs saying "Hold on to your children." We tried to.

The abruptness of the dropoffs just made the views that much more striking, though (and I don't mind heights, if my children aren't about to fall off of them).

Junie had some things to say about it all.

We made her sit by her namesake (or is she its namesake?), the Utah Juniper. Lovely, brave, resilient tree.

The way the river (now reservoir) cuts through and fills up the gorge is just amazing.

Another view from above, with pretty white arch bridge in the background

Later in the day, we drove around to a campground on the other side of the reservoir (one of the other sides---it snakes all along, in and out, up into Wyoming---I think I read the reservoir is 91 miles long!) and got our feet wet and threw rocks in the water, etc. It was a beautiful, beautiful evening---fast-moving clouds and changing light.

Tongue out in concentration

Happy baby

I like this picture, with all the children in their random and sometimes colliding orbits