Greetings from Glorious Utah
After the Chris & Marc's wedding Sunday evening, Sean & I drove to Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah. We agreed on renting some camping gear and sleeping under the stars rather than in one of the hotels around the Park. When I told Sean about the assorted guided walks and hikes, daytime ones to see geology and paleontology and flora & fauna, and nighttime ones with telescopes, I must have had some weird fanatic light in my eyes, because he just kind of chuckled and said he'd surrender himself to whatever I wanted to do. I just smiled and told him that he had to promise that I'd surrender to his desires the next time.
The wildlife here is incredible. Birds from Violet-Green Swallows to Golden Eagles; Horned Lizards (aka "Horny Toads"), one of my favorite herps (i.e. herptiles = reptiles & amphibians); Pronghorn (mistakenly called antelope); assorted deer. We haven't yet seen a coyote, and I've got my fingers crossed (and try to make Sean keep his crossed, too) to see a California Condor, one of the rarest birds on earth, and also one of the largest -- they weigh about 20 lbs and have wingspans of up to 8 feet.
One of the biggest draws of Bryce Canyon is the rock formations. Hoodoos are large (up to 10 stories tall) spires of sedimentary rock, primarily limestone, that have been formed by frost wedging and slightly acidic rain. I've never been huge on geology, but it's hard not to be here.
The best part: being able to share it all with someone who is truly interested most of the time and humors me the rest of the time.
The wildlife here is incredible. Birds from Violet-Green Swallows to Golden Eagles; Horned Lizards (aka "Horny Toads"), one of my favorite herps (i.e. herptiles = reptiles & amphibians); Pronghorn (mistakenly called antelope); assorted deer. We haven't yet seen a coyote, and I've got my fingers crossed (and try to make Sean keep his crossed, too) to see a California Condor, one of the rarest birds on earth, and also one of the largest -- they weigh about 20 lbs and have wingspans of up to 8 feet.
One of the biggest draws of Bryce Canyon is the rock formations. Hoodoos are large (up to 10 stories tall) spires of sedimentary rock, primarily limestone, that have been formed by frost wedging and slightly acidic rain. I've never been huge on geology, but it's hard not to be here.
The best part: being able to share it all with someone who is truly interested most of the time and humors me the rest of the time.