Last Saturday, Paul and I got in the car and headed out west.

I brought a crochet project with me. The yarn is Berroco Flicker, which I couldn’t resist at Stitches. The pattern is one of my own that will hopefully be published very soon because I wrote it almost a year ago!  On the first day we stopped in Grand Junction for lunch and then went on to the Colorado National Monument, a beautiful little (by comparison) canyon, which I’ll post photos of to flickr one of these days.

Next, we drove through some pretty amazing scenery on our way to Utah.

We stopped in Moab for two nights and headed to Arches National Park, which has the largest concentration of natural stone arches. The most famous one is Delicate Arch, above, and we decided to hike it before sunset. Which was BRUTAL. Possibly because we’d already hiked two miles that day (and we usually are couch potatoes) and also because it was Hot. Really Hot. Deserts are good at that, but it was totally worth it and I felt proud of myself. I tumbled down some steps on the way back down, as I was declaring what I do and don’t consider a “real” hike, which was pretty funny.

Then we were on to the Grand Canyon for a couple nights. The first night had an awesome sunset and we also went to a lot of ranger programs– on caves, condors, fossils and geology. I love ranger programs and they were extra necessary in order for me to relate to the huge canyon before me. Did you know that the amount of land moved by water to form the Grand Canyon, if made into bricks of the same size used to build the Great Wall of China, would build a great wall all the way to Venus? Wow! Also, California Condors pee on their feet because they can’t sweat to regulate heat. I know you wanted to know, and that is why you should attend ranger programs when visiting a National Park.

The drive back was more of a chore so we got some fry bread at Four Corners. The monument itself is a bit bleak, and it was blazingly hot, but we couldn’t drive by without stopping in. Fry bread is like a funnel cake, sorta, and worth eating when you have the chance. Think of the four corners in the center of the fry bread as the replacement for the photo of us with our feet in a corner  of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

On a whim we stayed overnight at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado for our last night. This park is home to several ancient cliff dwellings from about 700-900 years ago, as well as earlier pit homes. We got up early to tour Cliff Palace and it was really awesome.

All in all, it was an exhausting blast, and a much-needed break. Plus, I’m 2/3 done with my sweater! How is summer (or, the end of it) treating you?