Nothing steals the breath quite like the vivacious colors of the American southwest: the rusty red rocks provide shocking contrast to the azure waters which carve their ways. The sun beats down, 100 degrees at least, but I'm a desert child and feel right at home in the dry heat.
Originally I was supposed to fly back to Provo, but when Dallin offered to instead drive up together, I couldn't turn down the chance for an adventure. We left before 7 with lots of snacks and zero plans, ready to just be spontaneous and discover along the way. {I even wore my sister's swimsuit top because I hadn't packed hiking clothes.}
Our first spontaneous pull-off was Montezuma's Castle, 1000-year-old ruins of Native American cliff dwellings. We spent several hours driving through gorgeous wastelands, talking about everything and nothing till we reached Horseshoe Bend near the Grand Canyon. After a short hike to an incredible view of the Colorado, I had the bonus of chatting in German with a friendly tourist couple!
We picnicked above a sapphire Lake Powell.
From Page, we had a few options of roads to take and still hadn't made up our minds. We kind of randomly chose an interesting-enough-sounding location on our map and then off we were! Eventually we reached a rolling field of sandstone, abandoning the path entirely to explore a garden of natural gargoyles. Rocks balanced precariously atop one another to create an illusion of unreality in the real world.
Earth is crazy. It's beautiful and soul-rejuvenating. We arrived back at Provo at 1:30 AM, but it was too soon.
