Scouting out Manti

We had a fun little trip this afternoon to Manti. It was my first trip there and I was amazed by the beauty of the drive and the surprises we came across when we got there. We took some pictures and I wanted to share them. So for anyone else who has never been to Manti, you can have a little preview. You can see the Manti temple from Ephraim which is about 7 miles away. My first impression: it looks like a castle! A castle nestled in the hills of a peaceful little valley! As you get closer you can actually see the turrets and walls that make you think even more along the lines of castle. The castle of the Lord? As you drive up closer to the temple, I know there will be plenty of photo op spots for wedding photos. Here are three that are all along this side of the temple in the above photo. This is a set of stairs that I thought was amazing. Just sitting there with the beautiful stones.

Can't you just imagine the different poses and groupings you can have on this set of stones? It's pretty cool. Unless that's too cheesy for anyone, but I love it in my head. :)Then there are some benches just to the left of the group of stones(which were just to the left of the stairway to heaven).

A few blocks south of the temple is this chapel that looks like its made out of the same stone as the temple and inside those large windows, you can see what looks like an older portion of the building.

Another reason we went down was to look at potential hotels to stay the night before the upcoming wedding. We found two little bed and breakfasts in Manti itself(that were really the best options inside the little city). The first one is right across the street from the temple. The Manti House Inn is a cute little place that also has a restaurant that they run. It is in a very nice spot and is really cute. The banquet room was set up beautifully. (We got a shot, but it was kind of fuzzy). The second one was the Yardley Inn and Spa. It was really cool. Off the beaten path and we were lucky enough to have the owner, a cute little old lady, show us around. It made me want to stay there. So that was fun.

I think the other highlights of our trip besides the beautiful scenery that we didn't photograph at all, were finding this bird that Oliver couldn't identify in Manti (it's on the fence in the picture below), and then finding it again in Ephraim as we took a look around Snow College and the city park. I am still in the midst of finding out the name. just kidding...Oliver was right in his guessing and it is a Western Kingbird. And then of course, Evan and Ryan were much happier after getting out of the house to take naps on the drive down and then be out and about a little bit before driving back north. They are always a highlight of our trips.