Day 9: Painted Yellow, Pink and Turquoise

Lovely taxidermy at the Salina, Utah supermarket

Still fascinated by the road....

...and the endless peaks.

Oh the buzzing of the bees and the cigarette trees... Big Rock Candy Mountain.

American forms.

The lady at the cafe (from Massapequa, Long Island, by the way) told us that it's easy to find espresso due to the large influx of European tourists.

Big, fluffy clouds.

More quirky buildings and signs.

Thanks to the trek in Arches National Park without sunscreen, this was my look for a few days (eek!)

One year national park pass, yes!

The colors were really unbelievable. I'm not sure if this is technically considered the painted desert, but it sure looked like art.

So hot, the street sweats!

Any modern structure against these rock formations seemed so bizarre and out of place, to me, as if the background is from another time or reality.

Lumber.

We stopped at the only rest area on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, where were told that even though there's only about ten miles between the North and South Rims, it's almost a four hour drive... whoops! Didn't realize that when we booked a campsite in the South.

Looks like there had been some fires already...  there were stretches were miles long, but also had grass, so who knows how long ago it had ocurred.

Our first glimpse...

Even though I knew I had most likely taken the same photo fifty times, I kept shooting just in case. Its often rainy on the North Rim, which is higher in altitude than the more popular South.

There were warnings about lightning striking-- if your friend's hair is sticking up in the air, it could be cause of a strong electromagnetic field.

Drying off for a second at the North Rim's happening lodge, which included restaurants, a ton of tourists and its own post office.

Feelin' free...

Stumbled into these guys...

Come on in!

The Navajo Bridge.

Raul was literally in awe, trying to figure out how humankind could construct such a structure. It makes you thinking about the idea of manifest destiny, the determination of people who came to "conquer the Wild West". And, of course, how that affected those already living there-- here, we crossed into Navajo Territory.

I could not imagine living in such a dry and hot climate, but the scenery ain't half-bad.