The days following the Mt. Charleston expedition included more than a little pain and suffering. This was mainly from my calfs, which felt as hard as a pair of juggling pins and ached like a Charlie’s Horse whenever I flexed them more than a few degrees out of their relaxed position. I swear: walking on level ground makes you a wimp.
But the pain didn’t stop me: Sunday night Sophie flew into town. On Monday morning Sophie and I hit the title company to close our house. Then we drove up to Bryce Canyon in Utah.
I’d never been up that way before. It’s about a four hour drive — on the way we took a leisurely drive through Zion as well, which is remarkably beautiful. I remember driving through middle and northern Utah back in 1997 on our way to San Francisco, and it stood out then as well. This state has some of the most dramatic landscape I’ve ever seen.
We stopped at a restaurant that featured “Ho-Made” pies. A good gimmick that worked for us. They also had some amusing signs on the wall advertising various beers: an “Evolution Ale” that proclaimed itself to be “Darwin Approved” because it was made in 27 days instead of seven, and a “Polygamy Porter” that asked “Why have just one?”. The food was what you’d expect — average at best, but the pie was pretty darn good.
We stayed at a place right outside the park that had a log cabin look on the outside and standard Best Western rooms. There was a buffet there that featured below average food, but it didn’t matter because Bryce Canyon is so damn cool.
I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, but Sophie has. She likes Bryce better. It’s a lot smaller, but it seems big enough in my book, as far as canyons go, and the rock formations are a lot more interesting, from what I can tell. I also like that it’s small enough where you can take a casual hike down into the canyon itself. Which we did, despite my aching legs.
The hike down and back was only 2.6 miles with a bit less than a 400 foot elevation change (400 down, 400 back up). And the trail, though steep at points, was wide and comfy. We took our time and Sophie got a lot of great pictures. I’ll refrain from trying to describe the place and let you look at her shots.
Oh: as a side note, I think the Apple web gallery is pretty neat. It’s heavy, but the usability is good. In fact their “mosaic” mode is _very_ similar to the interface of the web gallery I put together just a few months ago for Sophie’s Photography Business. I’ll stop short of crying patent infringement, but I will smugly say that great minds think alike. Overall the Apple web gallery is a much more comprehensive package, but I still like the speed and simplicity of mine. And the keyboard controls 
But back to our adventure, which at this point was winding down: we came back from our day touring the canyon and had another meal at the mediocre buffet before heading back to Las Vegas. Driving the windy mountain roads at night is a bit unnerving, but once we got out of Utah it was smooth sailing.
Sophie and I love exploring so much. We both have hopes to include lots of travel and adventure in our future.
And the next day was halloween…