Colorado plateau, part 2: All earth’s colors

I once heard a man speak about his personal life-after-death experience … he had a terrible accident, flat lined and a medical team eventually got his heart beating again, but he remembered what happened during the few minutes he was dead, when he says he went to heaven.

He explained heaven has colors that don’t exist on earth. That blew my mind and the thought has stuck with me for more than a decade. I’ve tried many times to think of what a color would look like apart from the ROYGBIV rainbow, but I just can’t. My mind can’t conceive of a color independent of the colors I already know.

I’ve remembered that a lot lately because of the rich and varied palette we’ve seen over the past week or so. Sometimes the bright and lovely hues live in places you expect, such as sunsets, but mostly I’ve been blown away by vibrant rocks.

This thinking started when we went to Capitol Reef National Park, which the Navajo people called “land of sleeping rainbow.” The whole place was vivid and lovely, and the rocks there were so different than the rest we’ve seen, striped with gorgeous hues of red, cream, pink, brown, gold, purple and some that even look a little green. As always, pictures don’t do the place justice, but I’m posting some anyway.

Capitol Reef is REALLY remote, but the scenery on the drive to the park is beautiful, and so different from what you see when you arrive.

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Next we went to Bryce Canyon, which was really cool because there were incredible formations to look at when you gaze down into the expanse of the canyon. These rocks that reach heavenward like narrow towers are called hoodoos, and they’re cool when you spot one alone, but breathtaking when packed closely together by the hundreds.

It snowed while we were in Bryce Canyon – news that thrilled our two oldest nephews and prompted them to request a visit. They get a postcard from just about everywhere we go, yet it’s simple snow that captured these Florida boys’ imaginations … visit any time, angels!

So many hoodoos!

Chipmunk!

Did I mention it was cold?

Better!

Snow-covered trees on our hike … so lovely.

Still stinkin’ it up in the selfie department…

A little better …

The town of Bryce Canyon city was adorable, and they had this nightly western show, which was fun.

Zion National Park, Utah
From there it was on to nearby Zion National Park, which as you’ll see in the pictures, is gorgeous, too, but what stuck out to us about Zion is how it’s really a social gathering place. There’s a large grassy park outside the lodge, where dozens of people were just hanging out – playing Frisbee, drinking beers, eating ice cream, napping in the shade. Unlike the rest of the parks we’ve visited — which have restaurants, visitors’ centers, hiking trails and parking lots but no space for leisurely joining together — this one seems designed around the experience of staying a while. I thought this was a pretty genius choice on the part of park planners.

It also made me feel less guilty for partaking in what’s becoming a bit of a habit for me on the trip: a midday nap in a park. These siestas are most delightful outdoors, but sometimes I settle and nap in the car on our way home. Toyo is a tolerant travel companion and driver.

View from a bridge we crossed on our hike.

Hiked to this baby waterfall … view from underneath.

This UV protection demigod is one of my favorite people to watch … we’ve seen him at two parks and he’s always in this exact outfit, including gloves and socks with sandals. He’s the spirit animal of about a dozen people I know – not me, because I get a strange, sadistic enjoyment from the occasional sunburn.

We’ve seen a lot of these airbrushed vans, always with a different and creative scene.

Lodge and part of the big, grassy park.

More of the big, grassy park.

The Grand Canyon
I don’t even know what to say about this except that the hype is real, y’all. This giant hole is incredible.

We hit the North and South Rims because both sounded cool and we couldn’t decide on just one, but here’s the quick scoop on the North Rim vs. South Rim debate if you’re thinking of a trip: The view from both sides is equally amazing. The North Rim is about 1,000 feet taller than the South, but when looking down into a mile-deep rock cavity, I can’t tell the difference. The South Rim gets much more tourism, which means there are various restaurant and accommodation options, so if you’re staying a while, that might be the way to go. The lodge at the North Rim is wonderful — we went both days — and they have a lot of free-standing cabins that we thought were super cool. If we go back, we’ll hit the North Rim because those cabins are just our style, but one truly can’t go wrong either way.

Now, back to the canyon itself: The colors here are incredible, too … obviously at sunset, but also just in general. Part of what helps you fathom the great width of the canyon is that the colors of the rocks you see when you look out, are “faded” versions of many of the colors you see when you look straight down. This is largely because of the distance, and partially because of pollution. Fortunately, we were there on very clear days, here are some of our pics.

Sunset at the North Rim.

A budding master at work.

Terrible view from the terrace at the North Rim lodge.

This is one of my favorite signs ever … I just love the artistry, note the sunburn and splashing vomit. For the record, I don’t think the fact that this happens to people is humorous, just this particular rendition.

We think this is an elk? Corrections or confirmations welcome.

Part of the Bright Angel trail…

South Rim.

I think this picture comes closest to capturing the size of this beast. Follow the deep part of the canyon from the middle of the picture up and to the right. It just goes on and on…

Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, Nevada
Vegas isn’t in the Colorado plateau, but it’s geographically close and colorful in its own way, so I’m including it here. We barely took any photos and we aren’t big gamblers, so there isn’t much to report or show, except that Circus Circus — Vegas’ classiest hotel and casino in 1968 — has an RV park attached to it and it’s exactly what you think it would be: asphalt with RV hookups adjacent to the parking garage, with a small pool ,which “hotel guests are not permitted in, if they come here, we tell them ‘No, go to hotel pool.’” That’s a direct quote from the check-in lady, and now I’m sad I didn’t get a pic of each pool so you can compare them and see how ridiculous it is to think anyone from the hotel would ever have wandered our way.

I briefly talked to my uncle Bill about these fun accommodations and he likened it to a hibachi grill, which I think is a pretty funny and accurate comparison. This asphalt is hot, hot, hot, and we were grateful for air conditioning.

Regarding the Hoover Dam, our design and architect friends in Austin informed us that people suspect that the concrete on the inside of the dam might not be dry yet, which I thought about while we were there and realized this whole thing is much more of an engineering feat than I can comprehend. Cool bridge, too.

Hoover Dam

Another one for the books …

Our sweet campsite …