Hoodoos and Hiking in Bryce Canyon National Park

Hoodoos and Hiking in Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park is known for its hoodoos, those orange spires reaching up from the desert floor like spikes in an ancient god’s torture bed. Despite the well-recognized landforms, Bryce Canyon receives far fewer visitors than nearby Zion and Grand Canyon National Parks, so it’s worth visiting to avoid the crowds of summer.

Bryce Canyon is in southwestern Utah, an hour and 20 minutes northeast of Zion National Park, four hours and twenty minutes north of the Grand Canyon, and two hours and ten minutes southwest of Capitol Reef National Park, all worth the visit if you can spare the time. The nearest cities are Las Vegas, NV, nearly four hours to the southeast of BCNP, or Salt Lake City, UT, which is the same distance, to the north.

While visiting Bryce Canyon for five days this month, I was amazed at the formations our earth can take. Keep reading →

Zion National Park: A Mystical, Challenging Environment

Zion National Park: A Mystical, Challenging Environment

Zion National Park is a place that inspires religion, with its cathedral-like mountains and the restrained garden-like feel in its valleys. I wasn’t necessarily inspired to the local religions of Utah, but I could feel how this unique national park made me want to strive for something bigger, loftier, higher. For five days, I chose the park as my idol, worthy as it is.

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Batch Cafe & Bar: The One Place You Have to Visit in Tucson

Batch Cafe & Bar: The One Place You Have to Visit in Tucson

I recently visited Tucson, but I basically hunkered down and used the city for a work retreat. I worked on client projects, blogged and made progress on my own creative stuff. Still, the one thing I won’t neglect in any city is the coffee scene. I visited nearly ten coffee shops in my 11 days in Tucson and yet one stood out. Batch Cafe & Bar actually stood head and shoulders above the rest.

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Book Review: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

Book Review: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

As I made my way into the vast expanse of Big Bend National Park, I felt I was on another planet. I was totally unfamiliar with this landscape: the heat, the sun, the prickly plants, and, of course, the sand and stone.

At times, I felt the beautiful expansiveness of this protected area. At other times, death became a pervasive thought. As a pale-skinned Yankee, I couldn’t keep myself from thinking how dangerous this landscape seemed and how awful (and easy) it would be to die here.

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