like another planet

 

Arches National Park was breathtaking.  It is impossible to capture the power and awe of these massive red rock structures with a photograph.  They just aren't done justice.  It is not just the scale and look that can't be captured, but the feeling that is invoked by seeing, sitting, touching, and breathing amongst, these mammoth structures. 

Canyonlands was like a world unto itself.  We only saw a portion of the park (Island in the Sky), and we only stood on the edges of the canyons, looking down: awestruck, gobsmacked.  I felt like I was seeing an alien planet.  Or perhaps I truly felt that I am on a planet.  That our planet is not just cities and shops, internet and television.  It is something much more archaic; much less human.  It has been formed by forces far beyond our control.  I felt reminded that my life is only a miniscule presence in an infinite, whirling universe full of planets, stars, and space.
 I felt humbled.  I felt awed.