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. 

the colorado river

We set up camp along the colorado river.  Tucked into the valley, the river sang us to sleep.  

Springtime in Yellowstone

Arrived home yesterday after more than a week away.  We left the boy with his grandparents at the farm (so many adventures for a wee boy at the farm during springtime!), and traveled by car all the way south to Arches and Canyonland National Parks in Utah. 

Our journey took us along the edge of Yellowstone (the road passing through the park was still closed).  For now, traveling the outskirtting highway was beauty enough.  I made D. pull over twice near the orange-amber-rust underbush, as the contrast was too much to view only from my seat in the car.  I spotted a crisp river running along by the road.  We pulled off.  I crept down by the waters edge to dip my fingers in the icy mountain water.  There was wild sage all about us, it's silvery sheen complimenting the rusty shrubbery, lush forest and ivory snow. 

Just before arriving in West Yellowstone we encountered wild bison.  They sauntered about, cool and confident, indifferent to the people snapping photographs in awe.