Utah!

Dane and I shared the picture taking duties on this trip, but he is a far better and more patient photographer than I am. Chances are good that if you like the photo it is his.

The desert was in bloom:

This is an ancient grainery (place for storing grain) in the Needles District of Canyonlands.

See all that bumpy ground? That's cryptobiotic crust. It's a community of lichens, mosses, bacteria and other little critters that develops on bare ground. It helps stabilize the soil and takes decades to form. This is one of the best examples I've ever seem.

This is the backside of Castle Valley. You can see the "castle" in the middle of the photo way off in the distance.

Reporting from inside Caesar's Palace!

Would you believe it if I told you that we started the day in the middle of the Navajo Reservation, hit the Grand Canyon by 9:30 this morning, drove over the Hoover Dam, and ended the day in beautiful Las Vegas? Well, that is exactly what we did. Crazy? Yes. Fun? Absolutely.

Gotta go! Plenty more to do!

Viva Las Vegas!

p.s. To Regina: sorry I didn't let you know about our Grand Canyon appearance, but we were only there for about three hours, so it really wasn't worth your while to drive up from Tucson.

Slow internet update

Dane and I are currently sitting in a coffee shop in Moab, Utah sipping on delicious and overpriced fruit smoothies and using the slowest internet connection this side of the Rockies. I wanted to do a "picture blog," but this connection is going to make it impossible. I just spent 10 minutes sending an email with two photos. We'll stick with text.

Day 1: Bloomington, Indiana to Omaha, Nebraska.

We checked out of our apartment and left Bloomington about 10:30 am. The check-out went well. They were amazed we actually cleaned the place. We were amazed other people are so casual about getting their deposit back. We blazed through Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. We were excited to put all the "I" states behind us. We ended the night by bottoming out the car in the Super 8 parking lot. I don't think anything got broken.

Day 2: Omaha, Nebraska to Fort Collins, Colorado

Nebraska was more interesting than I remembered. We spent a lot of time listening to country music and really enjoyed the hourly livestock price updates and herbicide ads and we smelled some truly foul feedlots. Even though we spent a few hours in Wyoming, I don't think we ever stepped foot outside the car. Dane's amazing friends from college were our hosts for the night in Fort Collins. They took us out from two-for-one tempe burgers and ice cream. So yummy!

Day 3: Fort Collins, Colorado to Some Random Piece of BLM Land 20 miles outside Castle Valley, Utah and right next to the Colorado River.

We started the day by stopping at REI to return a jacket Dane didn't like and buy a new Camelbak for me. Then we drove through the snowy mountains. It was a tad terrifying, but Dane did a great job at the wheel. There's something about mountain passes with a car full of valuable possessions, snow, ice, and speeding trucks that is the opposite of relaxing. I was happy when we made it to the desert flats of Utah. We decided to take the scenic route to Castle Valley, our proposed destination for the evening. The road was AMAZING with very few people, few signs, and steep curves right above the Colorado River. We came across a place to camp about 8 pm, a little earlier than we planned to stop, but the site along the river was so inviting that we called it a night.

Day 4: Some Random Piece of BLM Land 20 miles outside Castle Valley, Utah and right next to the Colorado River to Big Bend Campground about 5 miles outside Moab, Utah.

We spent the day in Arches National Park! Beautiful and breathtaking does not begin to describe it. Dane and I took turns driving so we could take in all the beauty. We did about a 3 mile hike up one of the valleys and saw about 10 different arches. Now it's back to our campsite for dinner and relaxing.