Ro says my blogging while on vacation is boring. Sorry. When I go "away" I try to be a tourist, and therefore less jaded than I usually am… so here are some boring notes from an occasional tourist.
Utah: Many times people, sometimes in the course of me doing my job which is closely related to tourism, tell me that they find Salt Lake City to be beautiful. I always say "Yes, it is." But the truth of the matter is thus:
Salt Lake is to Utah what an ugly, red-headed, pimply faced, uncoordinated fugly looking stepchild is to the Pitt/Jolie family. It's o-kay…when seen alone and from a distance. But when measured up against its wilder, scenic, majestic cousin, Southern Utah, it clearly loses the beauty pageant hands down, and here's why:
This is a very tiny, almost (when examined next to a park like Grand Staircase Escalante) microscopic national park named Cedar Breaks. It is where we went today. I adore Southern Utah. Arches, Dead Horse Point, Zion, all breathtaking with their weird and hypnotic hoodoos, windows, canyons and other geological formations made by wind and water. Soft red and white sandstone sculpted into fantasy figures that tweak the imagination. Chessmen, T-Rex, a trio of nuns, all fascinating to view, and they almost change shape depending on the angle and time of day you look at them. The beauty that surrounds you at times leave you awestruck and speechless.
Slave Driver- speechless! Well then you know it's some good shit.
On the way back to the campground we're staying at we saw this guy;
Clearly workin' it old school. Him, his horse, and his dog, herding the sheep.
And my apologies to any of you who may be ugly, red-headed stepchildren. Salt Lake really is beautiful...on it's own, alone, in a corner.
This is probably the ugliest picture I took all day, and it's the view of Panguitch Lake from our campsite
2 comments:
WOW! Great pics of camping. And of Chicago. I've been a bit preoccupied lately and it seems I've missed-- hell, I lost count of how many blog posts. Seems all I do is work and sleep. I envy your opportunity to go and see and do. Thanks for sharing it all.
I head to Mpls in a couple weeks. Maybe I'll steal my daughter's camera. And maybe she'll show me how to use it. ;)
ingst: inner angst; alternately, what you to do a deep dish pizza while in Chicago
Beautiful pix, SD.
I grew up around trees. Under trees. I love trees. First time I drove to CA, I was on the CB asking other drivers "Is there no shade left in the world?" They kindly told me of the palm trees in LA, which were the next trees on the route. Palm trees do not amount to a whole lot. More trouble than they're worth.
But after a few drives (and mind you, I-10 and even I-40 don't go to Utah) I learned to see how many different colors of beige there really are. And the nights! The stars, the cactus silhouetted against the sky--it may look hokey in souvenirs, but in real life it is downright spiritual. You can see why the Native Americans consider the land sacred. It feels sacred, if you have the least ability to recognize sacred when you come across it.
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