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selenakWe had a great hotel, directly at the Colorado River and also as it turned out with its own small film museum, since everyone since everyone and their script girl stayed there since the silent movie days. I wasn't surprised that not only Westerns but sci fi movies were shot in the area, because there was an alien quality to the landscape, no question. Though I swear none of the rocks hunted me down and made me lose my shirt.
Here's the view we had at breakfast:
Speaking of, we must be one of the few tourists who didn't gain any weight in the US. This was due to my father's policy of letting us eat much for breakfast and then, with two or three exceptions during our 16 days of travel, only nuts & fruits for the rest of the day while we drove and hiked many a kilometre, excuse me, mile. I can recommend it. It helps feeling great after the holidays, plus it makes it easier to climb mountains. More about this later. Have another look at the Colorado:
The Colorado wouldn't leave us from this oint onwards. Now there are three natural parks in the area. We started with the one named after a dead horse and moved on to one simply called Canyonlands. Bear in mind that what you're now seeing isn't the Grand Canyon, which is what people assume when I show them these photos (the Crand Canyon gets its turn tomorrow or so). Here's what the Colorado looks like running through Canyonland:
Meanwhile, Dad was busy taking pictures as well:
This wasn't as dangeous as it looks like. As you can see here, the rock on which I'm sitting is a few metres away from the rim:
My mother felt a bit shaky making this picture nonetheless:
Something this area is full of is amazing natural arches.
This place is called "Island in the Sky":
And then we got to Arches' Park. Check out the rock that looks like the famous bust of Netertiti in Berlin:
And yes, they shot the rock planet sequence of Galaxy Quest here:
Just to give you an impression of the size of everything, those tiny dots are humans:
The Fiery Furnace:
The most famous of all arches, of course, is the "Delicate Arch". You have to climb for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on which shape you're in, before reaching it. (Again: thank you, Bad Brückenau!) Be sure to take enough water along. It's so worth it. Some of the photos are with and some without humans, so you can imagine the size:
My parents under the arch:
Sidenote about my parents: the whole Aged Parents appellation is supposed to be a Dickensian joke, because they married when they were 20 and 22 respectively and I came along 11 months later, so I almost always had the youngest parents of people my age. But now they're 66 and 64 respectively, and at one point during this trip, they voiced one reason for it: they wanted to do it now because they are not sure they'll be able to do it again in years to come, physically, I mean. So I'm really glad everything went so well and they enjoyed the hell out of it.
Yes, I was a bit worn out, too:
But just look at this arch:
And for our dinner (this was one of the three occasions when we had dinner), back at the Red Cliffs Lodge, we had this view again:
I swear I saw the most glorious sunsets around on that journey.
Here's the view we had at breakfast:
Speaking of, we must be one of the few tourists who didn't gain any weight in the US. This was due to my father's policy of letting us eat much for breakfast and then, with two or three exceptions during our 16 days of travel, only nuts & fruits for the rest of the day while we drove and hiked many a kilometre, excuse me, mile. I can recommend it. It helps feeling great after the holidays, plus it makes it easier to climb mountains. More about this later. Have another look at the Colorado:
The Colorado wouldn't leave us from this oint onwards. Now there are three natural parks in the area. We started with the one named after a dead horse and moved on to one simply called Canyonlands. Bear in mind that what you're now seeing isn't the Grand Canyon, which is what people assume when I show them these photos (the Crand Canyon gets its turn tomorrow or so). Here's what the Colorado looks like running through Canyonland:
Meanwhile, Dad was busy taking pictures as well:
This wasn't as dangeous as it looks like. As you can see here, the rock on which I'm sitting is a few metres away from the rim:
My mother felt a bit shaky making this picture nonetheless:
Something this area is full of is amazing natural arches.
This place is called "Island in the Sky":
And then we got to Arches' Park. Check out the rock that looks like the famous bust of Netertiti in Berlin:
And yes, they shot the rock planet sequence of Galaxy Quest here:
Just to give you an impression of the size of everything, those tiny dots are humans:
The Fiery Furnace:
The most famous of all arches, of course, is the "Delicate Arch". You have to climb for about 45 minutes to an hour, depending on which shape you're in, before reaching it. (Again: thank you, Bad Brückenau!) Be sure to take enough water along. It's so worth it. Some of the photos are with and some without humans, so you can imagine the size:
My parents under the arch:
Sidenote about my parents: the whole Aged Parents appellation is supposed to be a Dickensian joke, because they married when they were 20 and 22 respectively and I came along 11 months later, so I almost always had the youngest parents of people my age. But now they're 66 and 64 respectively, and at one point during this trip, they voiced one reason for it: they wanted to do it now because they are not sure they'll be able to do it again in years to come, physically, I mean. So I'm really glad everything went so well and they enjoyed the hell out of it.
Yes, I was a bit worn out, too:
But just look at this arch:
And for our dinner (this was one of the three occasions when we had dinner), back at the Red Cliffs Lodge, we had this view again:
I swear I saw the most glorious sunsets around on that journey.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 04:46 pm (UTC)And good that your parents are doing this now rather than have the regrets.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-02 09:10 pm (UTC)How far back does the erosion go? Is it ancient or relatively modern?
no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 05:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-03 07:22 am (UTC)What I'm interested in is the erosion. The kind of gullying that leads to deep canyons can develop surprisingly fast in some kinds of rock. Flash floods (sometimes caused by lack of surface vegetation) can erode a hundred metres in a week if the conditions are right.