and so it is...: Cliffs and Camping

I think it's safe to say that we saw a lifetime worth of beauty over this past weekend. I found myself gasping around every breathtaking turn as we made our way to our Utah campsite.

Views like these have a way of making you feel extremely small and insignificant and mysteriously whole and abounding- all at the same time. We pulled off on the side of the road to get lost in these emotions for a few silent minutes.

Pictures don't do it justice, but I attempted to capture it anyway.

If it was ever in question before, it was decided on this trip that I am undoubtably a mountain girl. The ocean is beautiful, but there is something about the smell of the woods and the stillness of the crisp air that will forever have a hold on my heart.

After finding our site and setting up our tent, we realized this was the first time Keane and I had ever been camping together without anyone else. We found that hard to believe since we have shared several memorable camping trips during our 10 years together, however they've always been in the company of friends or family.

After all these years, we are still finding "firsts" to experience together!

The hiking around our site was great. We quickly began exploring our surroundings and discovered we were near some very high, very jagged cliffs.

We watched as people far more adventurous than us, took the plunge off of this cliff below. The sound as they hit the water had us cringing.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect for our stay under the stars. There were no bugs and the wind must know to stop at the Utah border. Most of my camping experiences have required me to sleep in layers and stack blankets and dogs over me to stay warm. This was the first time we unzipped our windows and slept on top of our sleeping bags.

In the morning, we awoke to overcast skies and sprinkling on our tent. We ate breakfast and embarked on another hike before packing up.

Heading home gave us a different vantage point so we snapped some pictures of what we thought looked like a scene from Jurassic Park. I fully expected to see a pterodactyl flying above us as we passed through.