BRYCE CANYON, UTAH

Bryce is a beautiful sight at sunrise, but I've never felt compelled to venture down in to the canyon much. I'm probably missing out. Maybe next time.



ARCHES NATIONAL PARK - UTAH

Speaking of my father, he first brought me to Arches National Park when I was 14. It has remained one of my favorite places on earth ever since. The landscape is just completely surreal. Like a Roger Dean rendering of Mars. Or if they ever do a live action version of René Laloux's Fantastic Planet, this is definitely the spot for it.



The best part about Arches may be that you can climb on most of the rock formations at will. There is something remarkably satisfying about hiking on a giant rock. I don't mean a pile of rocks. I mean one big rock (which Utah, and Arches specifically, is full of). There's just something very binary about the intersection of shoe and rock that you don't get from walking on dirt or grass or whatever. There is no negotiation between two surfaces. There is simply the rubber of your shoe, and the immovable rock. The rock is oblivious to your presence and makes no effort to secure or dislodge your footing. It just remains there, as it has for eons. The rest is up to you. As expected, Anne loved it too.







One of those big rocks I was talking about. The one on the left was roughly the size of a Carnival Cruise ship.



RANDOM OBSERVATION 03
Motel "fitness centers", if you're lucky, consist of an elliptical machine from 1985, a broken treadmill, and a set of pink 5lb dumbbells. Where oh where was my beloved, model-filled Soho Equinox.

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK - UTAH

On the following day we decided to do an easy morning hike in Canyonlands, followed by some rafting down the Colorado River in the afternoon. Canyonlands National Park is vast, and far less of a structured experience than Arches or Zion. Much of it requires a back country permit and serious hiking expertise and equipment. This is where the film "127 Hours" took place. We didn't have much time, so we chose a leisurely hike across a huge grassy savanna to the rim of the canyon. I tried desperately to resist the urge to be Terrance Malick with the wildflowers, but alas Terrance got the best of me.



We sat at the canyon'e edge and ate some trail mix. Down below, they call it "The Maze". I think you can access it on foot, by jeep, mountain bike, and perhaps canoe. They suggest 3 days minimum for finding your way in and out.



The afternoon rafting was delightful. I left my camera in the car for fear of it ending up on the murky bottom. We were placed in a raft with a few other families for the exceedingly pleasant 3-hour float down the Colorado. One kid in the boat kept yelling "Daddy! It smells like froggy's tank!"

Along the way we passed some sort of cowboy ranch and hotel that had a restaurant right on the river, so we went back there for dinner at sunset. The view from the dining room was awesome, but it was without a doubt the worst prime rib steak I've ever eaten. It tasted like an old soggy shoe recovered from a van down by the river. How any chef could mess up a steak this bad is beyond me. You could microwave it and it would have tasted better. Again, in American tourist destinations, standards for food change dramatically. But like I said, the view from our table was glorious.