The last month has been a whirlwind. I was only home for nine full days in July, and half of those were spent entertaining delightful guests from out of town. I spent the last week and change purchasing my father’s old Honda Civic (my 3rd Civic in a row, the only type of car I’ve ever owned) and then driving it from Ohio to California. It was a beautiful trip, my only regret is not spending an additional day or two in Ohio and seeing at least some of the many wonderful friends I have back there. Still, I’m glad to be home.
Pictures are being uploaded to Flickr. Most are there now, except for the ones from Bryce Canyon. I only spent an afternoon there, arriving along with spotty showers. As I hiked around and took about a hundred photos, all of which probably look kind of the same, the storm increased and the lightning neared. I ended up hiking more than I intended (a tour group was headed towards the guide’s favorite spot in the park, so I joined them and then ended up going further into the canyon once I figured out the trail looped up to near my car), but it was nice to do some walking after all the driving. By the time I was filling my water bottles for the trip out of the park, the rain was a constant shower. As I twisted the cap on the second bottle, a nearby (less than a mile according to my shaky count) lightning strike caused me to walk quickly towards my car and watch as the rest of the tourists came streaming down the walkways towards shelter. The storm turned torrential for a few moments thankfully just after I hopped inside.
As I left the park, the rain let up a bit and I took some video at Fairyland Point. Just a quick pan, but until I get the energy to sort through the other Bryce shots, this will have to do:
It was a neat trip. Arches is a magnificent park, well worth a couple of days. Bryce is also very cool, although I was happy to allot only an afternoon. I even managed an afternoon tour of Boulder, courtesy of the ever-delightful Robin. I spent various nights at the houses of grandparents, aunts and uncles scattered across the country, which was a lot of fun and a good way to hang out with some people I usually only see in large family gatherings. All that being said, it will be good to see Christy tonight and sleep in my own bed again.