live your adventure {part 2: the heist}

First outfit: Tank top: Anine Bing; Jeans: True Religion; Boots: Isabel Marant (from a few seasons ago, but similar style here); Bandana: H&M; Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

Second outfit: Tank top: Eddie Bauer; Leggings: Eddie Bauer; Shoes: Nike

Third outfit: Tank top: Anine Bing; Skirt: Lord & Taylor (similar style here); Hat: Gladys Tamez; Sunglasses: Ray-Ban; Necklace: Jennifer Zeuner

Forward Note: If you want to see more photos, simply click "Read More" below the text here...

Part Two: The Heist, AKA, Where Our Heroes Take the Money and Run

If you're just joining our Utah adventure now, you can see PART ONE here. If you're up to speed, welcome! Kick your feet up and stay a while. Here's where it gets good.

The scene: So where were we? The middle of Utah with spotty access to GPS, but we had our sights set on visiting all 5 National Parks in the state: Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion and Capitol Reef. Lofty, yes, but luckily, we had our trusty Mustang and a lot of good music to listen (and sing along) to.

Up until then, I had never been to Utah but I truly don't think there's a better way to describe Utah than looking at just how vastly different each of it's National Parks are. Where one boasts dramatic red rock vistas, with an almost lunar-like aesthetic, the next can be heavily forested, with classic goldenrod fall colors, classically picturesque to say the least. Utah is just as serenely beautiful as it is oddly mesmerizing, the landscape changing in just the matter of a few hours drive -- one of the biggest reasons I fell in love with it immediately. 

My personal favorite? Zion, hands down, which you can see in the photos where I'm wearing workout gear here. For those of you who have been to Yosemite before, there's something about Zion that reminded me our great Northern California park. Vast, majestic, nestled amongst towering peaks, rolling forested hills and cascading waterfalls off stark, dizzingly high cliffs. And then there are the Narrows. 

The minute our Air B&B host brought up the Narrows, I started a Google Image frenzy. And for good reason. It's breathtaking. It's a hike that follows the north fork of the Virgin River, stretching for about 4 miles, and for about a third of it, the river runs canyon wall to canyon wall, meaning, yep, you get right into the river. Water levels depend largely on recent rainfall so it's highly encouraged that you check with park officials before heading out, as flash floods can, and do, happen often.

Lydia didn't join me for this part of the trip, so I embarked out on my own. And in a weird way, I was happy to. Not many folks were out on the river that day -- and after about 20 minutes of heading upstream, I was completely alone, this small little speck next to canyon walls that reached vertically as high as 100 feet at times. To say it was humbling would be an understatement, especially as the sun started to set, the light changing rapidly around me, with only the occasional bird passing overhead. It was a quiet I had never experience before. And while I was hiking, I kept thinking of Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire." Admittedly, he wrote the book while he was serving as a ranger at Arches National Park, not Zion, but the sentiment of this particular work of his still rings true, especially this quote:

"Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirt."

After heading upstream for about an hour, I turned around to meet Lydia again and make our way back to our comfortable room back in town. But not before vowing to myself to visit more National Parks in 2016. 

Photos by Lydia Hudgens

This post was in collaboration with Eddie Bauer. As always, all opinions and styling are my own. Thank you for supporting all This Time Tomorrow collaborations!