star shots

This morning, I woke up to a few inches of snow blanketing Salt Lake City. I love snow but really only on my days off. Today I had to be at work working at 6am. The dark early morning hours scraping snow off my car wasn't so fun. I don't think many people saw the snow coming, or at least that it was going to stick and accumulate. The roads were a bit slushy and slippery, my least favorite thing about snow. I would have taken a good picture to show off the arrival of winter but it was dark. The snow is still lingering a bit, mostly in shady areas. It is interesting to see yellow fall leaves and snow simultaneously, does not seem quite right.

had to scrap all this off (some of it into my shoes)
before work.

As promised, I managed to snag a few star shots from Mark. In addition, a few non iphone shots of the trip as well. Enjoy!

group shot thanks to camera timers

big hole, tiny people

my favorite harper

starry night

milky way on the right

the brightest is Jupiter

there was little to no moon that night, all light was cast by the stars.
milky way at center
so lovely, so very very lovely.

I am so spell bound by God's handiwork. His creation gets so big and vast with the heavens and then so tiny and intricate on the other end of the scale. Yet, with all the detail and enormity, He knows us each by name. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and so very very loved. Pretty crazy.

early november adventure

For what will probably be our last camping adventure of the season, we made a quick trip down to the Moab area of Utah. It was a great, chilly night of camping and a warm Saturday of exploring. So glad we decided to go because this morning we woke up to snow falling.

Ingrid watching the snow fall this morning

 As I mentioned in the previous post, Davis has gotten into star gazing and it was a moon-less Friday night. Davis' enthusiasm for night sky watching has spread and for this trip we had six adults and one baby join in. The night sky was perfectly clear and being in the middle of the desert, we saw a whole lot more of the starry span than is usually visible in the city. Our friend Mark, the amateur star photographer was present again. I promise to one day post a few of his shots. We saw dozens of shooting stars, the Andromeda galaxy, and what we believe to be the moons of Jupiter. I am slowly improving my ability to point out certain stars, planets, and constellations. We all can't help but spend the night in awe of vast array of heavens and know that God is quite a lot bigger and more creative than we give him credit.

davis taking in the scenery

it went a long way out there

desert hole with snow capped mountains in the distance

Since we arrived after dark, none of us know what exactly our camp ground looked like. Nor did we know the spectacular view that awaited us. The area has a view of the Colorado River as it curls through the canyon lands of Utah. The area is called Dead Horse Point, for sad historical reasons, but clearly it is a beautiful and rugged bit of earth.

crusty campers in love and clashing flannel prints

wee harper and davis

Also, in this area is Arches National Park. We spend the afternoon doing a turbo tour of Arches, seeing rocks turn into bridges without man's intervention. Before moving to Utah, I honestly had no idea how many national and state parks it had. And so many of them are just incredible for so many different reasons. I keep thinking how little thought I have given my whole life to the beauty God put into rocks.

double o arch

delicate arch, graces the utah license plates

suuuuuper skinny arch

After Arches, we had a Mexican food fiesta feast with shared margaritas,  since we had some driving to do, in the town of Moab. With our bellies full, we headed back to the big city of Salt Lake.

I can't believe it is already November. We have some fun things lined up this month, much to look forward to!