Call me a pervert

(Elephant Man?)

After rock-gazing for about a week in Arches and Capitol Reef National Parks, I am now a confirmed pervert. These places are littered with obscene rock formations depicting women with large breasts, lovers in awkward poses, rotund asses, the occasional deformed face, ohhhh, and all those spires! (Wish I'd had Mona and Ari along for a running commentary.) And I'm not the only pervert, I'll have you know. Had a hilarious, off-color conversation with an Australian couple who said they've gotten some great ideas on how to improve their sex life and are planning to put together a PowerPoint of their favorite shots/poses to show their friends back in Sydney. Hmmm...there's an idea for the first day of school: "mis vacaciones de verano".

Okay, enough of that. After leaving Arches, I decided I was too sun-drained and energy-leeched to continue on to Canyonlands as I had originally planned (Sean, if I'd gotten your text an hour earlier, I mighta changed my mind!) so I headed to shady Capitol Reef instead. It's perhaps not as striking or grand as some of the other NPs in Utah, but still lovely...and about 15 degrees cooler than Arches. Fruit orchards, clear skies, near-empty campground, friendly euro-tourists in tiny speedos, red rock to the horizon, desolate trails - couldn't have asked for more.

Spent a lot of time reading, writing and exploring. Only went on one semi-long hike to test how my foot and knee would hold up. First 5 miles were okay, but I felt every step of that long, last mile! Am worried that I may not be able to do some of the longer hikes I'd planned for Zion, but will take it easy for a few days and see what happens. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!