A Tour of the Southwest

My recent road trip from Colorado to Arizona was fantastic! It's hard to beat the scenery, especially in the autumn. The photo above was taken at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. The camera self timer worked great!

I camped overnight at Arches, which included a couple of surprises. First, there was a huge full moon, which cast gorgeous light over the rock formations. Second, I woke up the next morning to a mouse in the trunk of my sedan! I named him Desert Harry and he caused quite a commotion and delayed my departure to Flagstaff. He is the main subject of my current essay-in-progress. I don't have a photo of Desert Harry to post, because he was very quick and ended up behind the upholstery lining of my trunk...

But I do have a photo from the Park Avenue trailhead, which I stopped at for a quick visit. It is very aptly named:

On the way to Flagstaff, in the middle of nowhere, I discovered a tiny art gallery that had this truck parked out front. I love old trucks. I wanted to exchange my Subaru for it, but instead I bought something at the gallery: a little sheep made from mud by a local Navajo woman.

Finally, I made it to Flagstaff, where I attended a science writing conference. I met interesting people from California, Arizona, Minnesota, Vermont, and even my home state of Colorado. I'm looking forward to building a portfolio of science clips over the next years.

On my way back to Colorado, I drove through northern New Mexico and camped at the Ojo Caliente Hot Springs. Wow. Are there any words to describe this place? The contrast of colors and textures blew me away: red rock, indigo sky, yellow Cottonwoods, green pine trees. I love the footprints in this photo:

It was hard to go home, but of course I was thrilled to see my family! (They were sick with the flu the whole time I was gone.) I'm excited to return to some of my favorite places on this trip for in-depth explorations. For example, I want to hike the backcountry of Utah and New Mexico. I always love having adventures to plan!