At 9 am yesterday Pete and I got in our car in tiny Teasdale, Utah and headed back to LA. We had spent the week exploring some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. Zion and Bryce National Parks one expects to be amazing and they didn't disappoint. In spite of blowing snow and a high of 24 degrees on the day we spent in Bryce, we enjoyed every minute (although I will admit I had forgotten how quickly a wind chill of single digits will suck the heat from your body). Our off-the-beaten-path jaunt down to Kodachrome Valley State Park was another amazing day. The biggest-and-the-best, however, were two things we had never heard of until shortly before our trip.
"Scenic Byway" has to be the understatement of the century when applied to Utah State Route 12. The entire route is only about 122 miles long but it took us most of a day to drive it because we kept halting to take pictures and gape in awe. The route travels through the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument (GSENM), a decidedly unexciting name for 1.9 million acres of the most untouched and exciting land in America. We traveled from about 4000 ft elevation to over 9100 at the summit where the aspen and ponderosa pines were shrouded in snow. I can't begin to describe the unusual geologic formations and panoramas along the way. I think this road has to be the best-kept secret in America and perhaps it's a good thing. The visitor's centers throughout the national monument are also extremely informative and well-done.
Our other big discovery was another national park that was every bit as interesting and amazing as the more famous Bryce and Zion. Capitol Reef NP is a short jaunt from where Utah Rt 12 ends. We spent an entire day on the park's scenic drive and hiking on some of the trails, getting up close and personal with geology that leaves you speechless. It was a day I will never forget.
Our accomodation for the last two nights near Capitol Reef was a cabin in Teasdale, just a few miles from the park. Teasdale is a couple miles off the highway and has a population of about 200 people. There are 2 churches and no businesses in the village (unless you count the guy who does welding in his garage and has a sign by his driveway). There was nothing primitive about the cabins, though. The best feature was the wall of windows to the southeast, looking out on a rock hill...and on the best star show you can imagine! By shoving our bed about a foot toward the windows we could lie in bed, warm and comfortable, and watch the meteors, track Jupiter's progress across the sky, bask in the moonlight, and then once the moon had set and the sky was inky dark, be amazed at the brilliance of the stars. Pete got up around 4:30 and went out back to view with the telescope while I stayed in bed and used the binoculars, taking the term "armchair astronomer" to a new (lower) level.
One of the brochures that the state of Utah publishes has this motto on the front: Find. Solitude. Here. Nothing could have spoken to my heart more - solitude is exactly what I crave and our days there delivered on the promise. For the first time I can remember, I wasn't ready to go home when vacation was over. The entire population of Wayne County, UT is around 2500 people and there are about 2450 square miles of land in the county, giving them a population density of about 1 person per square mile. In contrast, Los Angeles County has just over 10 million people and an area of 4850 square miles, giving it a population density of over 2100 people per square mile. Each square mile in LA Co has about as many people as Wayne Co has all together! I know one person in LA County that would qualify as a displaced person - one who would feel much more at home up in Wayne county. Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam...
I'm not complaining about living in LA (well, not too much). I'm very thankful for the blessings of our life here and I have a long list of them. But times like last week remind me that my roots are in a very different kind of place and that the solitude and quiet of a different kind of life are my natural habitat. Sometimes it's nice to be reminded.
