Thursday, August 25, 2011

Just a Taste

A couple of weeks ago we took a side road, one we'd speculated on taking a number of times in the past, but never had the "time" to do it.  Yet, this time we did!  We actually visited Arches National Park.  And loved it.  It seemed like we'd raced through in the 4 hours we spent being awed at every turn.


These rock figures make me think of sentinels, with a Star Wars kind of look, sort of.

There are several formations in the park that perform various types of balancing acts--like this one above.

This is another of those balancing stones that we saw from various angles.

Low and behold, this is an actual arch in Arches National Park.  Those tiny little figures right under the arch are really people!

I love this tree---in this setting.  There were others that captured my eye, but I just love this one.

This arch was only visible to those who hiked to see it.  There was a deep ocean of sand to wade through, a very hot ocean of sand, I might mention, except for the shaded areas.
Whereas the majority of the rock formations, if I understand it all correctly, are made of sandstone. So, one is not so surprised to find a lot of sand hither and yon, if you know what I mean.

Husband suggested that if we REALLY want to see it properly, we need to spend a few days there and take the longer hikes to see some of the arches we couldn't really see or see very well from the road.

These pictures are just a smattering few of the ones we took.  Now if we were really good photographers . . . well, you can imagine.  Nonetheless, it was a gorgeous day.  I was totally captivated by the enormity of it all.  It was beautiful.  And, again, I think I need a geology professor to be friends with.  So I can pick their brain.  I have so many questions.

5 comments:

BB said...

WOW - that all looks amazing! You guys really have some impressive scenery over there... are you far from the hurricane action? Sure hope so.
:-)
BB

Mary O. Paddock said...

Great pictures, PW. I love the fifth shot--the one of the of the arch

Pencil Writer said...

Thanks, Mary and BB.

I thought of the great big red "mountain" in, I think, central Australia, in its monolithic greatness even as we were viewing our own mountains in Southern Utah, actually. So you have some amazing scenery right where you are, as well. Love your photos of it all!

And thanks for asking about hurricane Irene. We are, thankfully, not anywhere near the east coast. We are, however, much closer to the Gulf of Mexico, where we can (and have) had more experience with hurricanes lately than we'd like! Louisiana is pretty central US, though in "the deep south". A trip from here to the coast of North Carolina, where I think landfall is still anticipated, it would probably a full day's drive--like 24 hours of driving. (It is beautiful out there, too! Love the coast, except for the horrific storms . . .)

I do pray for and worry about all those potential millions of people who will be affected by that monster storm. They can do so much damage over such a huge area that it's really hard to comprehend.

We are in the neighborhood of 3 hours drive to the coast, and we're really close to the eastern border of Texas. We don't catch any "wave action" this far inland, but the huge winds, including the tornadoes that spin off and deluges of rain--that we have had.

Y'all have a great day!

Bob said...

Great pictures; thanks for sharing.

Watching the news about Hurricane Irene as I write this. Really amazing. We could use a dose of that rain here in Middle TN.

Pencil Writer said...

I hear ya, Bob! We are in a great rain deficit here as well, even though we got about an inch or so the other night. When the temps are 100 or more with a heat index of 108, 109, etc. Ouch. Feels like the desert! Crazy with the weird weather patterns, an earthquake, for Pete's sake on the East Coast, and now a huge hurricane up that way? Think we're getting wake-up call after wake-up call?