Friday, October 04, 2024

Mars-scape

We took off early in the morning for a long day of travel. Two stops in Colorado (Denver, Grand Junction), and then we picked up a rental car to drive into Utah.

I started ooh-ing and aah-ing from the plane because the landscapes were so wild, rocky, and red—it was a bit like being on Mars.

(We found out early that the rental car we’d been “upgraded” was a big PITA—it was cool to climb into it via a running board the first time. But after that, every time I got into it, I felt a bit dirty—like I was going out to colonize some part of the world. It was way too big for just us and our backpacks and ALSO really difficult to find parking for it or to back out of parking for that matter. I immediately ceded all responsibility for driving to Big A for the rest of the trip.)

Our hotel suite was practically at the entry to Arches, so we took a quick trip through the park; I took hundreds of pictures and not even one came close to representing the breathtaking beauty and scale of what was before my eyes. We found some (Boss Day) dinner at the food truck court and then watched Will and Harper. We were tired and fell asleep at different times during this sweet documentary and had to fill each other in the next day as we hiked. Maybe we’ll watch it with the kids sometime? Half the movies on our family list of rewatches feature Will Ferrell, who AFAIK, is an international treasure. 

Pic: One of the many massive red cliffs inside Arches National Park. One of the hundreds of pix I took. #LaterPost 10/9.

11 comments:

StephLove said...

Beth and I traveled to a lot of western national parks in our 20s as part of our travel-to-all-50-states-together project ( which took from 1987-2005). I loved Arches.

NGS said...

We are so lucky to have these national parks and I'm so excited to see all your photos of it.

Jenny said...

AHHHHHHH!!!! You just took my dream vacation! I want to go to Utah so badly! I'm eagerly moving on to read the next post...

Nicole said...

Breathtaking!!!

maya said...

What a great project for you and Beth, Steph! A and I just decided we want to do as many National Parks as we can--let's see how far we get... I loved Arches too!

maya said...

Thanks, Gillian!

maya said...

Engie--right!? I said something like this, and A said wait till "you know who gets elected." Yikes.

maya said...

Jenny--you said this earlier, so between the hurricane and that you were on my mind a lot. Lots of great trails, you really would love it!

maya said...

Nicole, truly!

Nance said...

Gorgeous. What a trip!

I call these huge SUVs Urban Assault Vehicles. I don't know how (or even why) most people drive them, let alone park them.

maya said...

YES! Assault vehicles is the perfect name for them--they are so heavy and dangerous. I've been noticing more reports of trucks being driven into protest and picket lines sometimes accidentally and sometimes accidentally on purpose... https://www.fox47news.com/neighborhoods/jackson-hillsdale/1-killed-several-injured-after-truck-crashes-into-eaton-aerospace-picket-line

Corinth, Epidaurus, Mycenae, Nafplio

I've even had students named after Greek philosophers before, but oh--the thrill of hearing "Aristotle!" or "Chimera!...