Left the beautiful Grand Canyon. I’m not sure if its beauty, its breadth, or its magnitude has been fully realized by me yet, but I do know it has left me in awe. Everything they say about it is true, including that words cannot describe it. You have to see it.

Drove about 5 hours up through northern Arizona through low desert, bare with scrub brush and colored hills. The hills, all lined and exposed with various colored layers of sediment standing as a testament to the erosive qualities of the wind and the rain. Long stretches of straight highway where you could see for miles and your thoughts drifted up into the blue sky. Passed through an American Indian reservation or two but there wasn’t much to see from the road other than some hastily created stalls selling Indian pottery and such. Much of the homes near the road were quite run down. We didn’t get into the reservations but I’d really like to know more about how they are set up and operate. We gradually gained altitude up through the high desert until around seven thousand feet we were in pine forests again. What a change. Not for long though, as the road followed the high ridge and then we descended down the opposite side of the hills and headed into southern Utah. We stopped for diesel, food, and propane in the first town we came to and then headed up again into the high desert with our sights on Zion National Park. We were not surprised on our arrival to find that the campgrounds in the park were full. It was a Friday. Even in the beginning of November these gems of our National Park system are busy. So we located a campground around a half mile from the entrance and set up our stay. It was in the high seventies during the day but as the sun slowly slid down towards the first edge of the western mountains around us, the air cooled and we started to get wood ready for a fire. I walked out into the brush to collect some flat rocks to build up a rock wall around our fire pit. It’s dry here and the fire ring is surrounded by lots of dry grass and trees. No need to set the desert on fire trying to warm ourselves up. The fire pit wall grew to over a foot high around. That’ll do. It gets dark early now. By six o’clock, the first stars were starting to appear and our fire was starting to serve its purpose. Laurie had the dinner going and we sat down around the fire to eat. The fire was doing a decent job of holding off the cold and the breeze which was starting to be the focus of the evening. Darkness fell quickly, the sun making a hasty retreat behind the western range and leaving a soft blue glow as its departing gift to us. We finished our dinner and tossed our paper plates into the fire, standing close together to supplement our warmth. It was quiet with the exception of the crackling of the fire and the sound of the wind. The smoke from the fire drifted upwards and we watched it as far as the light from the fire could take it and then it disappeared into the darkness and led our eyes to the stars above, which had gotten brighter while we were eating. Like diamonds on a black velvet background, they hung over the dark silhouettes of the surrounding hills. To our left, a bright half moon started its trek across the night sky. How lucky. How fortunate are we. Standing here in the desert night, watching the parade of the ages, warmed by a dancing fire, next to my love, feeling the desert breeze, mesmerized by the lights of the heavens. Never take it for granted. This moment is enough to stop time. You imagine for this instance, there was nothing before and there will be nothing after. It is that perfect.