Last week, I hiked along the Middle Emerald Pools Trail. This trail has been closed since the trail head was washed out in a flood in 2010. It was reopened last September after years of repairs and stabilization work in the trailhead area. It was close to sunset when I captured this image of the Virgin River looking towards The Great White Throne. This is also part of the Weekend Sky challenge .
This image is available as a print on Art Pal: Virgin River
Enjoy!
After visiting the World Trade Center, we walked all over Lower Manhattan in New York City. A couple of blocks from St. Paul’s Church is Trinity Church. This is the one featured in a recent Hollywood blockbuster film. Interestingly enough, the original was built in 1697 then destroyed in the Great Fire in 1776, the second church was built in 1790 and later damaged by a heavy snow storm in 1838 and later demolished to build the one standing today and dedicated in 1846. It is still an active parish with regular services and community outreach.
A brief history of Trinity Church.
Trinity Church is currently undergoing some structural reconditioning.
Trinity is the burial place of Alexander Hamilton, his wife and her family, and many other people from the time of the Revolutionary War.
A few blocks south of Trinity Church is the Bull of Wall Street, although it seems that it’s on Hollywood Boulevard and not Wall Street. It’s also nearly always heavily occupied by tourists that want their photo with different parts of the bull. Go figure, right?
Just around the corner from the Bull is the old Custom House which is now the Native American Cultural Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institute.
Across the street is Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty. It was amazing and awesome to see Lady Liberty. 
Coming out of the subway in another part of the city, the first building I saw was this one, that looks like it has a helipad next to the penthouse suite.
Just down the street is the Empire State Building.
Another subway ride away is Times Square.
The saxaphone player on the left was jamming out some hot jazz, so we stopped there for a while to listen. It’s crazy how many people are in Times Square. It reminded me of the crowds in Zion Narrows.
Looking for a place to enjoy lunch, we found Bryant Park. It has a nice pavilion for concerts, several cafes and a great view of the City Library.
Somewhere along the way near Central Park I found one of the oldest operating Jewish Synagogue in the country. 
I had a great time in New York, but this was just a stop over point to Paris and Normandy.
Enjoy,
Kelly
I made it home from my trip to France without too many difficulties. Luckily I still had my passport, prepaid airline tickets and hotel rooms. If you’re wondering why, see my last post on Paris and a Lesson Learned.
Anyway, I’m going through my photos from this adventure, and I decided to post some about every part of this trip (this is what happens when there are over 3,000 photos to sort through).
On arriving in New York City, it was decided to store our luggage so we wouldn’t have to drag it around the city all day. After negotiating the subway system (and seeing a string trio playing beautiful music at a station, another station had a rap performer), we made our way to the World Trade Center Memorial.
I know I briefly touched on this in a previous post, but I wanted to give this some more time because it is a significant place of honor in our country. Standing at the memorial was humbling and moving experience and a privilege to witness what these people went through on that fateful day. It must have been a harrowing experience for them knowing they might not survive the day, and many did not. To the families of those who perished and to the survivors, you have my deepest respect and sympathy.
The second image shows a special tribute to some firefighters that gave up their lives to save others. Thank you for your service, you will never be forgotten!
Not far away is the World Trade Center 1, aka, The Freedom Tower.
The other buildings surrounding the Freedom Tower are also part of the World Trade Center. It’s quite a complex.
Nearby is St. Paul’s Chapel, where George Washington dedicated America on 30 April, 1789. This church survived the attacks on 9/11/2001 when many buildings were damaged or destroyed by the falling towers nearby.
I found it interesting that the World Trade Center complex was built on land that once belonged to St. Paul’s parish.
On a plaque in the chapel above George Washington’s pew, it reads “Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that you will keep the United States in Holy protection.” source
Standing here in the shadows of these buildings made me realize that it’s important to remember George Washington’s plea to keep our hearts and minds in tune with Almighty God and to serve those around us with love and peace.
Enjoy,
Kelly
I’m participating in the online adventure travel and outdoor photography magazine Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggersThis week’s Challenge is: Clouds!
Do you remember as a kid looking at clouds to imagine the shapes and objects you could find there?
Here is a dragon!
Clouds also means lighting storms.
You normally see clouds in the sky, but sometimes clouds do strange things. For example, have you ever seen clouds below the rim of the Grand Canyon? At sunset, during the winter? Doesn’t happen very often.
Sometimes storms can build very quickly, especially here in the desert. Here is West Temple in Zion National Park.
Now, here is the same mountain ten minutes later:
A couple of minutes later it gets even thicker:
Within ten to fifteen minutes, it looks like this:
Finally it cleared up about twenty minutes later.
Looking at this storm was an awesome experience, since it has been a long time since I’ve seen a storm like this. What I found out later is that the town of Virgin, Utah was flooded out and some friends lost their homes from this flood.
I’m participating in the online adventure travel and photography magazine LetsBeWild.com’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge for bloggers. This week’s Challenge is: New Beginnings!
After looking at sunrises which signify the beginning of a new day, such as here at Monument Valley: 
or this beautiful day in the Gulf of Mexico:
Then there was this day in Galveston, Texas, which was the ending of such an awesome vacation.
Then I realized that there’s more to New Beginnings than just a new day. It means new life from old, such as this pine tree growing from an old stump.
Of course, it also means growing seeds for the coming harvest, like this pine tree growing new pine cones.
But then, I realized that these are all trivial, when it comes to us starting a new way of life. I had some friends get married this past fall (you know who your are! Congratulations again!). This is the best and greatest New Beginning, and having a child is the close second.
They are now expecting their first child, and I wish them the best! I would like to show you the wedding rings after their beautiful wedding ceremony on the front lawn of Zion Lodge in Zion National Park.
I know, it’s been a while since I’ve last posted. Of course it’s due to being really busy with work and life in the city. Anyway, I’m in the process of leaving Las Vegas (yeaaaahhhhh!!) and going home to Paradise! Namely Zion National Park in Southern Utah.
I’m getting back to my element of nature and the wilderness to get some rejuvenation to the soul. I’m looking forward to this move and excited about the prospects of what’s waiting for me.
I will also be updating more often of my adventures (and misadventures) now that I’ll be able to go hiking and camping again, since I haven’t done any hiking and camping after moving to the city. This excites me more than anything. I’ll be able to get out and be photographing again which I’m really looking forward to.
Kelly Guymon Photography 