Into Utah

If you are not interested in rocks and National Parks the next weeks are going to be pretty boring.  I'm going to be gushing over how beautiful our country is and how lucky we are to live here.  My first stop this morning was Colorado National Monument.  It is so amazing to see the layers of sediment turned to stone so clearly.  You can see how over time they were twisted and tortured into the most beautiful patterns.  The colors are so striking and almost every layer has its own color or tone.  Many of the most interesting forms are created by water over millions of years.  They are still being changed.  Every winter they stones go through the freeze/thaw process.  This causes cracks which either breaks off chunks of rock or opens cracks for more water to get in.  You can also see where there has been shifting of plates and slippage between them.

My next stop was in Utah, Arches National Park.  I have a Senior Pass which saves me a fortune because every one a these National Parks costs $10 per vehicle entry fee, but is free for me.  I was all excited about seeing all sorts of arches but it wasn't to be.  It was an all right National Park, it couldn't hold a candle to the Garden of the Gods.  I really enjoyed driving through the park, every turn was a beautiful vista even if there weren't beautiful arches.  As I drove along I wondered why some of the layers were so red with iron and others had no or little iron in them and were pale.  I thought these looked like the 3 Magi.

As I drove between Colorado and Utah I kept looking out at the desert wondering why there were no cacti.  I don't know what determines when there are cacti and when there aren't.  There were bushes and scrubby grasses, some yellow flowers and long stemmed orange flowers but not a succulent or a cactus.  I'll have to ask a Ranger at one of the Parks.