Beautiful Places

I've been very fortunate in my life to be able to travel a little bit and I've seen many beautiful places in the world. For some reason I've been a little bit reminiscent today and thought I'd share some of them with you.


This is Macchu Picchu, Peru. Zach and I took a trip this spring and hiked along the Inca Trail. It was incredible. The last day of the hike you arrive here. Walking among these ruins is like stepping back in time. Every time I've tried to describe with words what the hike was like, I end up saying words like incredible, amazing, and breathtaking a lot. There really aren't words to describe it. (Just as a side note, see the big mountain that sticks up behind the city. Ya, we climbed that too.) There were many other beautiful places we saw in Peru but Macchu Picchu certainly was the most aweinspiring!


This is Hacienda Manteles! It's an obscure little hotel stuck way up in the Andes mountains outside of Banos, Ecuador. We stayed there when I took my family back to Ecuador 6 months after I got home from my mission. It was very scary getting there. We drove and drove and just about the time we had decided that this place really didn't exist, there it was! There was a beautiful view of the volcano Tunguragua and at night we got to see the lava shoot up out of the top. I think it was almost an out of body experience for all of us. We couldn't believe we were actually there seeing what we were seeing. We're lucky we found it!


This is Sedgwick Meadow. It's a very special place for my family and our good friends the Gassons. It sits in the middle of the Wind Rivers mountain range in Wyoming. It's one of the most peaceful places on earth. The only thing you can do there is fish, nap, and listen to the wind blow through the tall grass. If I were Preston, I'd have some poetic way of describing this place but since it's me I'll just tell you that it's one of the most peaceful places on earth.



This is the Sacred Grove. It was really the inspiration for this blog. A friend of mine took this picture and gave it to me and every time I look at it I'm just amazed so I wanted to share it with all of you. We took a family church history trip when I was about 8 so I remember being in the Sacred Grove but I don't think I really understood the significance of the place. I actually think this is about what it looked like when Joseph Smith went there to pray. This picture was taken April 1st of this year. The trees aren't exactly what is portrayed in all of the paintings that we see but it just looks like such a peaceful place.

These are just a few of the beautiful places I've been privileged to visit. Not only are they beautiful but they are special to me and have lots of good memories that go with them. Thanks to all of you who have shared your beautiful places with me and allowed me to make them my own. I hope you guys will enjoy them too!