hoodoo, hoodoo you think you're fooling

a couple weeks ago, we made it down to goblin valley. cathy was in town, and the five of us had a great time.

 we climbed the hoodoos.

 sierra pretended to drive a wagon.

 b and i acted as if we were in front of the chicken coop.

 we climbed up the rock walls. w is especially good at doing that.

 we enjoyed having cathy/grandma with us.

 sierra basked in the sunshine. it was nice to feel warm for a change.

 look at that amazing view. the rock wall just crops out of the middle of the flat, flat desert.

 we find little slot canyons.

 w catches a couple lizards...

 and lets his marme pose with one.

after we were done at goblin valley, we decided to explor the san rafael swell. we had never been there before, and just saw a place that looked like it could be neat--so pulled off the road and started hiking in a wash.

  b and w climb a beautiful rock wall.

we didn't hike for very long when we thought we saw ancient native american structures up high along the rock wall. so we climbed up there to see what was there. we could tell it wasn't a grainery or any type of structure as we got closer, but once we got up to it, we were shocked and amazed. i squealed with surprise! we had stumbled upon some ancient american pictographs. they were so beautiful and interesting! 

 look at the snake--it appears to have blood dripping out of its mouth. and notice the bird-type figure to the left of the largest human figure.

 

 this one was amazing--the dots (in red and white) above the figures' heads are finger prints. you could actually see how someone had used their finger tip to make those dots.

 this was an interesting figure.

 the eyes on this one are unusual, which i liked. 

 a close-up of the bird-type figure.

 don't worry, i'm not touching the pictographs.

 this picture is now blown up and hanging on our wall. 

stumbling on these pictographs is hands-down one of the neatest experiences of my life. it was so amazing to find these old images--many of which still look remarkably fresh--and consider why they are there, what they mean, who put them there, etc. and, of course, to just appreciate them for what they are. it's amazing to me that they have lastest so long. sadly, you could see that someone or someones has tried to steal some of the images (carve them off the rock face). i'm grateful they didn't succeed. 

i love living in utah.