Although I spent the night near the shores of Lake Powell, which is supposed to be beautiful, I arrived in the dark, and left the next morning before the sun rose over the horizon, so its beauty will have to be reserved for another day. I had 370 miles to cover today to see three beautiful "official" places, plus countless other "unofficial" ones.
I have never been through, let alone explored, the canyonlands of the Southwest. It is vast:
and there is beauty everywhere, not just in the "National Parks":
and when I say vast, I mean VAST!!!
the buttes of Monument Valley were fun to see:
But there is real poverty in the lives of the people who live amongst such beauty:
I know Deede would like to see this sign (actually she probably did - they came through Monument Valley on their Bike3000 journey)
And then another warning - hey, how dangerous can it be?
Well, this is their idea of guardrails:
for these kind of roads!!
This is Hwy 261, and has to be one of my favorite roads - it is dangerous: cliffs on one side, overhanging boulders on the other, and spectacular views!
and a crashed car at the bottom of the cliff:
This is the Owachomo Bridge in Natural Bridge National Monument:
Arches National Park is about 4 miles north of Moab, Utah, and it was about 30 minutes before sundown when I got there.
The rock formations are beautiful:
and the views take your breath away, especially in the lighting at this time of day:
This is a view of the North Window arch (on the left) and the Turret Arch on the right. It is taken from far away, and the car provide a sense of scale:
and this is a shot of the North Window with people in it, providing scale
You can see there is not a cloud in the sky - beautiful blue! This is a shot from the east side of Turret Arch:
and this is from the west side of Turret Arch, looking east through the Arch and through South Window:
At Panorama Point I was able to get a picture of the car with 1) the rising moon, 2) the snow-capped mountains in the far distance, 3) the red cliffs in the near distance and 4) the desert in the background - pretty pretty cool!!
I was running out of daylight, and reached the Delicate Arch viewpoint just as the sun was sinking behind the mountains:
At that time (5:15) I got back in my car and headed for the exit - in this part of the country, there is not a lot of "twilight" - when the sun goes down, darkness quickly follows. I just shook my head because some cars were still coming up the Park road while I was exiting - I don't know what they expect to see - it is going to be pitch black in 20 minutes! It took 30 minutes to get to the park entrance/exit, and my Super 8 Moab was 4 miles down the road - thank you God for a truly beautiful day!
Music today:
I feel the longing to listen to Jackson Browne. His early albums have lots of travel imagery, and his co-written "Take It Easy" is iconic for anyone traveling through this area:
Well, I'm running down the road
tryin' to loosen my load
...
Well, I'm a standing on a corner
in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see
I heard/recorded Jackson Browne when he did a live acoustic radio show on WMMR in Philadelphia my Freshman year, and "Doctor My Eyes" was in play on the AM radio I listened to when I went cross-country that following May and June. So today comes kind-of full circle.
Jackson Browne - Saturate Before Using (1972)
Jackson Browne - For Everyman (1973)
From that album (song "Our Lady of the Well") come the lyrics:
But it's a long way that I have come
Across the sand to find this peace among your people in the sun
Where the families work the land as they have always done
Oh it's so far the other way my country's gone
Jackson Browne - Late For The Sky (1974)
Jackson Browne - The Pretender (1976)
Jackson Browne - The Naked Ride Home (2002)
From that album (song "Sergio Leone") come the lyrics:
When he rode out in the desert he was quoting Hawks and Ford
He came to see the masters and he left with what he saw
What he stole from Kurosawa he bequeathed to Peckinpah
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