Utah in the Rearview Mirror
Utah may be only the 13th largest U.S. state by area, but within its borders we found diversity enough for an entire continent. Now that we’re leaving this remarkable place, we thought it fitting to spend a moment reflecting on what we saw here.
Impressionist Zion
The autumn colors that adorned Zion National Park’s rosy canyon walls looked to me like they were drawn from a great impressionist painting. In honor of that thought, I figured I’d try something new and show Zion as it might have been portrayed by Monet (or, more likely, one of Monet’s significantly less talented students). Original photos here, here and here.
I am Forrest Gump
Sometimes it’s hard not to feel a bit like Forrest Gump. No, not because I’m slow-witted (although that is often true, too) or a prodigious runner (which is decidedly never true) but because occasionally it feels like I’m unknowingly dropped in the middle of history’s great events.
Watching the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir practice isn’t exactly like giving John Lennon the starting lines to Imagine or being hosted by Richard Nixon at the Watergate hotel, but it felt a little out of body just the same – like I was witnessing something extraordinary that I had no right to be a part of.
Drink Utah
It’s hard not to be a little disappointed. From all we had heard about Utah’s liquor laws we thought going there would be like visiting some bizarre alternate universe where drinks could be served but not seen. So great was the hype about Utah’s toughest in the nation alcohol restrictions that we contemplated smuggling our own stash over the border like modern day Al Capones.
But our laziness bested our ambition, and we failed to stock our cupboards before arriving. At least, we figured, we’d accumulate stories about harried adventures navigating Prohibition-style liquor laws. What we found instead was all too ordinary, if only because most of the rest of the country is no less bonkers when it comes to booze.