Great shot; great place. I visited it in 1978 with my family when I was 18 and we were camping our way across the American West (we lived in North Carolina and had never visited the West before). We were all just kind of wandering through the woods on the canyon floor when an adult doe walked up to my then-10-year-old sister, sniffed her, and then walked off as if nothing had happened. We were all just blown away.
wildlife, if not starving can be surprising, at times, depending on stranger's energy and their way of approaching. Our family home was close to a wild life area that sadly no longer exists. Without my parent's knowledge, at the age of six, I began hiking into the wild hills. Populated by rattlers, lynx, clean up crews of birds and mountain lions, I was fascinated. So many amazing stories... Actually, one was mine. I'd hiked up a hill on a hot summer's day. At the top, I crawled under a massive rock that created a shadowy retreat. Checking to see if there were rattle snakes and finding the space empty, I crawled into the shade. While resting, I had the sudden feeling that something overhead. Crawling out to take a look, I came within a couple of feet of a large mama mountain lion. Both of us were surprised, staring at each other 3 or 4 minutes. I could tell from her teats that she'd recently given birth. Perhaps, as a mother face to face with a human child, we stared at each other. Finally, without sound or agression, she backed away and disappeared into the brush. Years later, I told the story to a Native American man, who, in turn told me, she was my first spirit animal. That I'd been honored.
I've had some incredible experiences with spirit animals... a black snake, a giant moth.. I sense it's because I've sat ceremony with the native americans..and feel close to them in spirit.
Enjoy your travels through the Southwest Heather and Buddy. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands and Arches are some of the most beautiful and spiritual places I have ever been to.
Karen, you are sooooo right. I have been to all of the national parks in the west. They are spectacular. In my many visits I have encountered Europeans who are dumbstruck by what they see. Going into Arches Natl. Park, Shelley's poem, "Ozymandias" came to my mind. It is, IMO, one of the great poems in the English language. In Luxor, in 2008, I had the thrill of personally seeing "that shattered visage."
That The Pandemic pushed people out into the solitudes of nature was an ironic delight, rediscovered is nature’s majesty , we can’t claim such gifts..but “spiritual” may hint of how Divinity is from within -Appreciation -of our Mother Earth…to be able to travel ,enjoy, relax, share… may all do so at least through a picture , gift from another🫶
Yes, indeed, Karen. I visited them and also took the eight-day raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, all on Smithsonian Institution wilderness trips in the early '80s, and I am forever grateful for having been able to do that.
This is the Double sonnet I wrote in 1980. I have to share it in two comments. Both won't appear in one.
Thank you, Mim. I know an artist (sculptor, painter), who put down his brushes and said something similar. I hope for both of you that you will find yourselves again inspired.
Oh! And there is also Bears Ears and Grand Stairs Escalante National Monuments that Trump reduced by half, opening up nearly a million acres of beautiful l, paleontological sacred land for coal mining, mineral exploration and oil and gas drilling. President Biden reversed Trump’s ruling and restored the protection of these lands. I spent time there in the 90s and it broke my heart when Trump and Criminal Zinke stole this incredible land to be destroyed. Thank you President Biden for returning it.
In early October, 2021, my friend and I checked out from Goulding's lodge in Monument Valley. All rooms are oriented for the best views of Monument Valley and north across Valley of the Gods to Cedar Mesa, across which we could see the Bear's Ears from our room. The morning we checked out, I saw the news that President Biden had restored both the Bear's Ears and the Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument. Took my breath away! Best going away gift ever!
Buy a National Parks Pass and a tent. If you are 62 or older you can buy a lifetime pass for $80 that will get you and everyone in your car into any National Park and give you half off camping fees. Most National Parks have "rustic" camping areas which are great for tent camping.
Good advice. We hardly ever can plan ahead and have a limited time frame, two to three days at a time. So we pack up our tent, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and just head for the mountains. Half the fun is finding a new camping ground we haven't been to. It's the adventure of it. We are fortunate that several camping grounds are within an hour of home, State, Federal, County with lots of tent sites. Drinking water? Go to the hand pump and carry it. The more primitive the better, we say.
I recommend camping in a tent instead of hauling around an RV with a gas eating hog. Besides, as my family says, "Going camping? Use a tent, cook outside, hit the sleeping bag early. Nothings better than waiting for a home brewed cup a coffee or hot chocolate in the early morning. Teaches one the finer things in life". We can make coffee over a campfire with the pot sitting on the rock fire pit and cook on it, too. Nows, that's real camping and it affordable.
I taught many Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, my Air Force son-in-law, too. When he went to military survival training, he knew all about it. When he comes to visit, we cook outside on a campfire. He loves it , looks forward to it and thinks I am a really cool old lady.
I don’t know Frank. We drove around to all of the parks and stayed at some hotels in nearby towns. I don’t remember it being very expensive, of course that was 30 years ago so that may have changed. We did a lot of cycling there and it was amazing.
I want to visit the Hopi Rez next time I'm in the area. Years ago, when the Karmapa... head of the Buddhist red hats visited their Rez, the Hopi asked the Buddhists to pray for them... they were desperate for rain after a years long dry spell. A friend of mine was on the mesa where they were standing. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a small cloud appear. As it came closer it grew larger. And then it started to rain!
Me too! Love the beauty of Utah. This country, and I am most impressed by the beauty of the Southwest and Alaska, should not be underestimated for what it has to share to open minds and hearts. there is so much there.
Welcome to my world. I grew up footloose and free in the SW National Parks in the early 1950s. My dad was the chief NPS photographer for the southwest region. I lived for months at a time at Grand Canyon, Chaco, Bryce, Mesa Verde … and Arches and Monument Valley, which were not yet parks in those days. I was Huck Finn with red dirt instead of water. Free to wander from dawn to dusk in the world’s most beautiful country. I was born in Santa Fe, and that was home when we weren’t in a park. It’s still my spiritual home. It’s God’s Country.
Now I’m an old man living in Portland (the one in Oregon) and read your letter every day. You’re one of the voices keeping me sane. Keep it up. Historians can save us.
Like Historians can save us. I live in Scio, Oregon and am an elderly lady born during WWII. I cannot believe that Republicans backed by Trump MAGAS are withholding money for Ukraine. I remember hearing as a child about the German and Italian Nazis and Japanese trying to conquer the world. I remember that my dad, my uncles were all in the military. They were defending democracy in the WORLD. I don't like Trump saying, "Let Putin do what he wants to EUROPE." Is Trump a Nazi? Today Russia sent two missiles into Poland. Putin stated to the Russian Duma that he intends to re-establish the USSR. That means, there goes Poland, The Balkan Countries, there goes Ukraine, there goes the former Czechoslavaki and Eastern Germany and all the former Satellite Countries of the USSR. As far as I am concerned, Putin can have Belarus and Hungry, more power to him. Putin can deal with them. Is the USA going to stand around and bow down to Russia and Trump's bestie, Putin? And Trump other "good friend" Kim Jong Un of North Korea? This is personal for Jack from Portland, Oregon. Jack how do you feel about N. Korea shooting off missiles toward the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska. It makes me upset, angry. How about you?
I’m a child of WWII myself, Diane. My Dad was a survivor of the Bataan Death March and 4 years as a POW. Mom was a WAC nurse. I was born in 1947 and the war was much present in my house when I was a kid. And now fascism has come home. I agree with most of what you say. I celebrate historians because they are our collective memory and guided by truth.
Last time I was at Zion, was after ski season in Sun Valley, Idaho where I worked on the Pro Ski Patrol, taught Italian, French ( to Margot Hemingway), and guitar and put up a house on 280 acres and we had horses.Three of us took off for Mexico in a VW bus with a stop at Zion. We hung out in Nogales for a bit and one day a Mexican put a gun to our heads (thanks to Nixon's "Operation Intercept" program) and before we knew it we were in prison with rapists, counterfeiters, murderers and drug dealers, everyone shooting heroin in our cell. Some years later I became a tennis pro on Cape Cod and bought an ancient 40 acre farm in Maine with its own cemetery. My oh my, how time rolls on.
I've been asked that a thousand times. I've had a character in a novel based on me and I have written a lot of ideas and stories but never consolidated them into a book. I've published articles on music and sailing. I've lived in Istanbul, Maui, Provincetown, Sun Valley, Tahiti, Maine, Steamboat Springs, Squaw Valley, Seattle, Lo de Marcos Mexico, South Lake Tahoe, Melaque Mexico, Mexico City, Alaska, (10 years fishing) and have sailed the Pacific, South Pacific, Gulf Islands, Cape Cod, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Labrador Sea, both coasts of Central America etc. Getting out there like that certainly provided fodder for some stories. I've been a Private Investigator for 30 years with work in about 25 countries including a recently finished 12 year marathon job in Russia, and that alone exhausts my imagination. My dad wrote 10 books. I wish he was still around to advise me. But truly the stories lie within all the characters I met in those varied worlds. I did nothing more than put myself out there to observe.
Seriously Brent, you must have the writing gene as well as traveling and occupational ones. Amazing!
If possible, do attempt a book? I have a very very close friend in VT now who started a 6:30am zoom writing group. No $$ to join it. It’s apparently very informal; knowing her it would be!
It may be more than any one person can digest into a memoir. I understand perfectly why you would wish your father’s advice. Wishing you all good luck with deciding what to write from your vast experience and how to tell the stories.
Kathy. I was living on Maui, farming bananas, writing a music column for The newspaper, and playing guitar in clubs. I was about 35 then and most of my friends were settled and earning $$$. I went back to the mainland then sailed back to Hawaii. Lost the rudder 1000 miles from Hilo. So I said I need to make some $$$ at 35 years old. So I seined for salmon in SE Alaska and Puget Sound and seined for squid in the Channel Islands off Ventura. Had a few runs in Bristol Bay too. Saved all my money, cashed out of my boat to care for my dying father, put all the money into Austin real estate and took off sailing again for two years. So that's a brief description of the fishing
Keep an eye out for the condors. They are magnificent! Enjoy your trip. You certainly deserve some time for your self. Thank you for all you do to keep us informed and inspired. Barbara from Wyoming
I’m a fan of your writing. And live in UT, in Cottonwood Hts. Zion is amazing as is much of UT. Politics here mostly as red as red rock country, sadly. Working to change that but it’s a long haul.
That’s what broke my heart about the Grand Canyon area. Also Idaho. Seems to be the anti-government nexus. They don’t seem to know that the Teddy republicans have been gone for a century and the ones since Nixon constitute a destruction derby.
Remember Kennedy accelerated American military intervention in Vietnam, and Johnson upped it in 1964 - Gulf of Tonkin - Nixon did try to bomb his way to a negotiated peace, and eventually that's what happened, when it was long clear US sponsored government had lost the war. they never could stand up militarily to the "north", and look at Afghanistan - warlords never could pull it together.
I was born and raised in beautiful Utah. Left nearly 40 years ago, 20+ years in the DC area. Ready for my final move, but will not return to Utah partly because it is soooo Red. Going to a bluer state, but Utah will always be home.
You picked a good time to leave Maine. We’re getting hit tonite by icy rain that’s especially bad along the Midcoast. CMP will have their work cut out for them when the sun rises.
If you get a chance, stop by Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah. The scenery is colored so vividly that I regretted traveling there alone -- many times there I wish there was someone I could turn to and say, "Do you see that, too?" Almost hallucinatory...
Great shot; great place. I visited it in 1978 with my family when I was 18 and we were camping our way across the American West (we lived in North Carolina and had never visited the West before). We were all just kind of wandering through the woods on the canyon floor when an adult doe walked up to my then-10-year-old sister, sniffed her, and then walked off as if nothing had happened. We were all just blown away.
Little treasures are everywhere…
ah the innocence of the unthreatened!
Oh funny , Lex! Envisioned perfectly , my first laugh on Palm Sunday. Blessings🫶
wildlife, if not starving can be surprising, at times, depending on stranger's energy and their way of approaching. Our family home was close to a wild life area that sadly no longer exists. Without my parent's knowledge, at the age of six, I began hiking into the wild hills. Populated by rattlers, lynx, clean up crews of birds and mountain lions, I was fascinated. So many amazing stories... Actually, one was mine. I'd hiked up a hill on a hot summer's day. At the top, I crawled under a massive rock that created a shadowy retreat. Checking to see if there were rattle snakes and finding the space empty, I crawled into the shade. While resting, I had the sudden feeling that something overhead. Crawling out to take a look, I came within a couple of feet of a large mama mountain lion. Both of us were surprised, staring at each other 3 or 4 minutes. I could tell from her teats that she'd recently given birth. Perhaps, as a mother face to face with a human child, we stared at each other. Finally, without sound or agression, she backed away and disappeared into the brush. Years later, I told the story to a Native American man, who, in turn told me, she was my first spirit animal. That I'd been honored.
That's an awesome story.
I've had some incredible experiences with spirit animals... a black snake, a giant moth.. I sense it's because I've sat ceremony with the native americans..and feel close to them in spirit.
Spectacular! Enjoy the scenery, the hikes, the fresh air, the company and being disconnected from the rest of the world for a bit!
And re-connected to your personal America again. Astonishing place, and this is what makes it great.
If you’re heading to Sedona, AZ let us know. You have a ton of fans here who will help you explore the red rocks! Democrats of the Red Rocks
Is Tucson on your agenda, or anywhere near? Speaking anywhere in AZ?
If she was anywhere near Tucson last night she got to experience a desert wind and rainstorm! There's probably water in all the creeks this morning.
that include Red Dems?
Enjoy your travels through the Southwest Heather and Buddy. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands and Arches are some of the most beautiful and spiritual places I have ever been to.
Karen, you are sooooo right. I have been to all of the national parks in the west. They are spectacular. In my many visits I have encountered Europeans who are dumbstruck by what they see. Going into Arches Natl. Park, Shelley's poem, "Ozymandias" came to my mind. It is, IMO, one of the great poems in the English language. In Luxor, in 2008, I had the thrill of personally seeing "that shattered visage."
That The Pandemic pushed people out into the solitudes of nature was an ironic delight, rediscovered is nature’s majesty , we can’t claim such gifts..but “spiritual” may hint of how Divinity is from within -Appreciation -of our Mother Earth…to be able to travel ,enjoy, relax, share… may all do so at least through a picture , gift from another🫶
Yes, indeed, Karen. I visited them and also took the eight-day raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, all on Smithsonian Institution wilderness trips in the early '80s, and I am forever grateful for having been able to do that.
This is the Double sonnet I wrote in 1980. I have to share it in two comments. Both won't appear in one.
June 17 and 25, 1980
I’d choose my time to climb the Grand Staircase
in June, when sunbright day stretches to night,
short and windy cool. I’d stand at the fence
on the darkened North Rim and look as light
flares, orange as the rising moon, from camp-
fires far below. I’d follow switchbacks
down Navaho Loop and turn off my lamp
in the dark, in silence to watch star tracks
move across the sky. I’d travel a mile-
long tunnel, whose windows admit visions
of bright canyon walls, to walk just a while
on slickrocked Arch top. I’d make provision
to see bristlecone pines on crags aslant:
Startling, majestic, gnarled and defiant.
Startling, majestic, gnarled and defiant,
bristlecones stand atop Yovimpa Point.
Some are young, some mature; some are dying,
some dead; others are fallen. All are joined
On one plateau: clusters of unbowed boughs,
stark against impassive sky. They’ve defied
subalpine winds. Timeless trees! Under clouds
that yield sparse moisture, living pines abide.
Soft leaves brush the air green. Roots reach, curl,
sand-cradled, seeking life. But countless years
must fell some. Uprooted they lie, a swirl
Of abstract patterns, grey and brown, that pierce
The air with motion that even death can’t quell.
Atop Yovimpa Point, bristlecones dwell.
Beautiful! Am I the last to know that we have a poetess in our midst? Thank you, Mim Eisenberg, for painting that landscape with words!
Thanks very much, Virginia. I'm afraid the muse has disappeared for now. If only I could go back to the Southwest for a visit or two or ten.
Thank you, Mim. I know an artist (sculptor, painter), who put down his brushes and said something similar. I hope for both of you that you will find yourselves again inspired.
Thanks for the encouragement, Virginia.
That is beautiful Mim! Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you very much, Karen. I appreciate your kind words.
Agreed!
Oh! And there is also Bears Ears and Grand Stairs Escalante National Monuments that Trump reduced by half, opening up nearly a million acres of beautiful l, paleontological sacred land for coal mining, mineral exploration and oil and gas drilling. President Biden reversed Trump’s ruling and restored the protection of these lands. I spent time there in the 90s and it broke my heart when Trump and Criminal Zinke stole this incredible land to be destroyed. Thank you President Biden for returning it.
My heart stayed broken for the land and the wildlife. The cruelty and greed knew no bounds. They still don’t
Put the Dems back in 2024!
In early October, 2021, my friend and I checked out from Goulding's lodge in Monument Valley. All rooms are oriented for the best views of Monument Valley and north across Valley of the Gods to Cedar Mesa, across which we could see the Bear's Ears from our room. The morning we checked out, I saw the news that President Biden had restored both the Bear's Ears and the Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument. Took my breath away! Best going away gift ever!
What a wonderful experience Judith!
Republican Greed out to rape our National Wild Lands. Thank you Biden.
Yup.
for me, a maybe someday! Karen, any recommendations on a budget excursion?
Buy a National Parks Pass and a tent. If you are 62 or older you can buy a lifetime pass for $80 that will get you and everyone in your car into any National Park and give you half off camping fees. Most National Parks have "rustic" camping areas which are great for tent camping.
Good advice. We hardly ever can plan ahead and have a limited time frame, two to three days at a time. So we pack up our tent, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and just head for the mountains. Half the fun is finding a new camping ground we haven't been to. It's the adventure of it. We are fortunate that several camping grounds are within an hour of home, State, Federal, County with lots of tent sites. Drinking water? Go to the hand pump and carry it. The more primitive the better, we say.
I recommend camping in a tent instead of hauling around an RV with a gas eating hog. Besides, as my family says, "Going camping? Use a tent, cook outside, hit the sleeping bag early. Nothings better than waiting for a home brewed cup a coffee or hot chocolate in the early morning. Teaches one the finer things in life". We can make coffee over a campfire with the pot sitting on the rock fire pit and cook on it, too. Nows, that's real camping and it affordable.
I taught many Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts, my Air Force son-in-law, too. When he went to military survival training, he knew all about it. When he comes to visit, we cook outside on a campfire. He loves it , looks forward to it and thinks I am a really cool old lady.
I don’t know Frank. We drove around to all of the parks and stayed at some hotels in nearby towns. I don’t remember it being very expensive, of course that was 30 years ago so that may have changed. We did a lot of cycling there and it was amazing.
I want to visit the Hopi Rez next time I'm in the area. Years ago, when the Karmapa... head of the Buddhist red hats visited their Rez, the Hopi asked the Buddhists to pray for them... they were desperate for rain after a years long dry spell. A friend of mine was on the mesa where they were standing. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw a small cloud appear. As it came closer it grew larger. And then it started to rain!
I agree totally. They are all amazing, individually stunning, and humbling.
Me too! Love the beauty of Utah. This country, and I am most impressed by the beauty of the Southwest and Alaska, should not be underestimated for what it has to share to open minds and hearts. there is so much there.
/here.
I agree! We haven't seen much of Zion. We have to go back!
Welcome to my world. I grew up footloose and free in the SW National Parks in the early 1950s. My dad was the chief NPS photographer for the southwest region. I lived for months at a time at Grand Canyon, Chaco, Bryce, Mesa Verde … and Arches and Monument Valley, which were not yet parks in those days. I was Huck Finn with red dirt instead of water. Free to wander from dawn to dusk in the world’s most beautiful country. I was born in Santa Fe, and that was home when we weren’t in a park. It’s still my spiritual home. It’s God’s Country.
Now I’m an old man living in Portland (the one in Oregon) and read your letter every day. You’re one of the voices keeping me sane. Keep it up. Historians can save us.
How lucky you were, and are
Like Historians can save us. I live in Scio, Oregon and am an elderly lady born during WWII. I cannot believe that Republicans backed by Trump MAGAS are withholding money for Ukraine. I remember hearing as a child about the German and Italian Nazis and Japanese trying to conquer the world. I remember that my dad, my uncles were all in the military. They were defending democracy in the WORLD. I don't like Trump saying, "Let Putin do what he wants to EUROPE." Is Trump a Nazi? Today Russia sent two missiles into Poland. Putin stated to the Russian Duma that he intends to re-establish the USSR. That means, there goes Poland, The Balkan Countries, there goes Ukraine, there goes the former Czechoslavaki and Eastern Germany and all the former Satellite Countries of the USSR. As far as I am concerned, Putin can have Belarus and Hungry, more power to him. Putin can deal with them. Is the USA going to stand around and bow down to Russia and Trump's bestie, Putin? And Trump other "good friend" Kim Jong Un of North Korea? This is personal for Jack from Portland, Oregon. Jack how do you feel about N. Korea shooting off missiles toward the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska. It makes me upset, angry. How about you?
I’m a child of WWII myself, Diane. My Dad was a survivor of the Bataan Death March and 4 years as a POW. Mom was a WAC nurse. I was born in 1947 and the war was much present in my house when I was a kid. And now fascism has come home. I agree with most of what you say. I celebrate historians because they are our collective memory and guided by truth.
Last time I was at Zion, was after ski season in Sun Valley, Idaho where I worked on the Pro Ski Patrol, taught Italian, French ( to Margot Hemingway), and guitar and put up a house on 280 acres and we had horses.Three of us took off for Mexico in a VW bus with a stop at Zion. We hung out in Nogales for a bit and one day a Mexican put a gun to our heads (thanks to Nixon's "Operation Intercept" program) and before we knew it we were in prison with rapists, counterfeiters, murderers and drug dealers, everyone shooting heroin in our cell. Some years later I became a tennis pro on Cape Cod and bought an ancient 40 acre farm in Maine with its own cemetery. My oh my, how time rolls on.
Wow! Have you written a memoir?
I've been asked that a thousand times. I've had a character in a novel based on me and I have written a lot of ideas and stories but never consolidated them into a book. I've published articles on music and sailing. I've lived in Istanbul, Maui, Provincetown, Sun Valley, Tahiti, Maine, Steamboat Springs, Squaw Valley, Seattle, Lo de Marcos Mexico, South Lake Tahoe, Melaque Mexico, Mexico City, Alaska, (10 years fishing) and have sailed the Pacific, South Pacific, Gulf Islands, Cape Cod, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, Labrador Sea, both coasts of Central America etc. Getting out there like that certainly provided fodder for some stories. I've been a Private Investigator for 30 years with work in about 25 countries including a recently finished 12 year marathon job in Russia, and that alone exhausts my imagination. My dad wrote 10 books. I wish he was still around to advise me. But truly the stories lie within all the characters I met in those varied worlds. I did nothing more than put myself out there to observe.
If you are still in Maine MWPA (Mainewriters.org) might inspire and offer good guidance for that memoir that begs to be written.
Just WOW, just a travelogue would be impressive, add characters and you have a tome, or two. You must be older than I am…
Seriously Brent, you must have the writing gene as well as traveling and occupational ones. Amazing!
If possible, do attempt a book? I have a very very close friend in VT now who started a 6:30am zoom writing group. No $$ to join it. It’s apparently very informal; knowing her it would be!
I’m ready to turn pages in your memoir!
It may be more than any one person can digest into a memoir. I understand perfectly why you would wish your father’s advice. Wishing you all good luck with deciding what to write from your vast experience and how to tell the stories.
Would love to hear more- esp about Alaska fishing.
Kathy. I was living on Maui, farming bananas, writing a music column for The newspaper, and playing guitar in clubs. I was about 35 then and most of my friends were settled and earning $$$. I went back to the mainland then sailed back to Hawaii. Lost the rudder 1000 miles from Hilo. So I said I need to make some $$$ at 35 years old. So I seined for salmon in SE Alaska and Puget Sound and seined for squid in the Channel Islands off Ventura. Had a few runs in Bristol Bay too. Saved all my money, cashed out of my boat to care for my dying father, put all the money into Austin real estate and took off sailing again for two years. So that's a brief description of the fishing
Love it!
how long before they let you out?
Keep an eye out for the condors. They are magnificent! Enjoy your trip. You certainly deserve some time for your self. Thank you for all you do to keep us informed and inspired. Barbara from Wyoming
Day of the Condor.... i love how many have regaled themselves in this part of the country.
Great place! Try to see Bryce Canyon, if you haven’t been there.
It is almost other worldly.
I’m a fan of your writing. And live in UT, in Cottonwood Hts. Zion is amazing as is much of UT. Politics here mostly as red as red rock country, sadly. Working to change that but it’s a long haul.
That’s what broke my heart about the Grand Canyon area. Also Idaho. Seems to be the anti-government nexus. They don’t seem to know that the Teddy republicans have been gone for a century and the ones since Nixon constitute a destruction derby.
Chile, Vietnam.. include Nixon.
Remember Kennedy accelerated American military intervention in Vietnam, and Johnson upped it in 1964 - Gulf of Tonkin - Nixon did try to bomb his way to a negotiated peace, and eventually that's what happened, when it was long clear US sponsored government had lost the war. they never could stand up militarily to the "north", and look at Afghanistan - warlords never could pull it together.
I was born and raised in beautiful Utah. Left nearly 40 years ago, 20+ years in the DC area. Ready for my final move, but will not return to Utah partly because it is soooo Red. Going to a bluer state, but Utah will always be home.
I guess that brings to mind How the South Won the Civil War.... a little misleading, but carries a punch.
Must be great to see the world through Buddy’s eyes.
Artful framing of the famous southwest sky as the background element.
Safe and happy travels.
A favorite place! Enjoy the beauty.
So awesome. The colors and the majesty. So humbling. 😌
Felt like Looking at massive wisdom
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park near the Utah +Arizona Border ,.. Painted by the steady wind.
You picked a good time to leave Maine. We’re getting hit tonite by icy rain that’s especially bad along the Midcoast. CMP will have their work cut out for them when the sun rises.
If you get a chance, stop by Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah. The scenery is colored so vividly that I regretted traveling there alone -- many times there I wish there was someone I could turn to and say, "Do you see that, too?" Almost hallucinatory...
Someone to share our hearts with, what I miss most…