Bittersweet

After flipping the bird, I took a bittersweet cross-country trip with my brother back home to Kentucky.

I treated the trip like a continuation of my birthday trip this past November to the Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Lower Antelope Canyon, and Zion National Park. I think that if traveling professionally were an actual career option, that’d be my profession. I love everything about the process: researching, planning, packing (minimally), driving, and sightseeing.

Anyway, for this particular trip we hit up Bryce Canyon National Park, Monument Valley/Forrest Gump Point/Mexican Hat, Arches National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Y’all…pinch me.

Despite all of the bullshit happening in this country, there’s still a lot of hidden beauty. There’s so many places in this country where you can go and feel at peace in such an expanse of vastness. The stillness, calmness, and quietness that these parks offer are unreal.

Bryce Canyon: Bryce Canyon City, Utah. Not really a canyon, but rather a collection of amphitheaters composed of Hoodoo structures. They’re composed of a red, orange, and white rock which offers an ombre effect, visually. The rim varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet. I’m in pretty good shape, but even this high up, I felt fatigued, slightly nauseous, and had a low grade headache. Read more at nps.gov.

Monument Valley: US-163 Scenic, Mexican Hat, UT. Bucket List AF! I’ve always wanted to drive along US-163, pull up-hop out, and sit in the middle of the two lane road like a dumb tourist. I lived for every second of this moment. And, too, to finally be in the spot where Tom Hanks’s character, Forrest Gump, completed his run was also really cool (although why we get hype off of a scene in a movie that didn’t actually happen in real life I’m not entirely sure).

Arches: Moab, Utah. It was 103 degrees. We didn’t get to the park until 2:30 pm, the hottest part of the day. Being the adventurers we are now, we planned to do the Delicate Arch hike–only 3 miles roundtrip. The park ranger strongly encouraged us to reconsider. This man said it would be the equivalent of 130 degrees in direct sunlight atop the red rock with no opportunity for shade. Welp! You don’t have to tell us twice. Instead, we opted for the shorter hikes to Double Arches and Windows, and the quarter mile hike to the Delicate Arch viewpoint. Just off those hikes alone we consumed over 6L water combined. We’ll be doing the Delicate Arch hike another time and in a cooler season. Highest elevation: 5600 ft. Read more at nps.gov.

Rocky Mountains: Estes Park, CO. Colorado in general is a beauty! I’d never been to nor traveled through Colorado. It was sunny with clear blue skies during our drive, so everything was glistening: the green trees, the mountains, and the flowing streams along the highway. The National Park itself was an endless array of trees, mountains, and wildlife. Elevation and park roads ranged between 7,800 and 12,000 ft.

**Caution: the increase in elevation and change in altitude is no joke! Definitely take precaution if you plan to do any physical activity (i.e. hiking), especially if you have certain medical conditions.

I’m on a quest for something, guys. I don’t know what I’m on a quest for, but trips like these always inspire me to dream bigger and live more authentically.