Painted Desert

Rali's BFF Susan once said that she wanted to marry the wind.  The other day, Rali expressed that she, if I didn't mind her being polygamous, would like to marry a specific mountain we passed in UT.  Over the last few days, I have been considering marrying the Painted Desert.  

One of our guidebooks describes it as having "subtle beauty", which seems like a bit of a back-handed compliment, but it's actually spot on.  It's calming in its expansive footprint, its muted beautiful colors, and its changing terrain.  If only there were more water in the places where water has obviously been . . . with all these beds dry I find myself experiencing a low-grade anxiety.  This despite knowing that I am in a desert, after all (!), and that the myriad signs of water are proof that it will indeed come.  I hope you'll enjoy some of these pics.  

FYI, Rali's deep childhood interest in geology and my emerging adult interest in visual, vertical, physical history are PSYCHED with all we are seeing!  While the span of years is off by many zeros, we keep making connections between our time in Israel and our time here in the CO, UT, and AZ national parks as both have shown us layers and layers and layers of history.  Really incredible.

Cheers from the laundry room at the OK RV Park in Holbrook, AZ!  






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