I'm back

Wow. It's been a crazy 2 weeks. My new job is going well, but working 2 jobs at the same time is wearing me out. I get up at 7 a.m., go to work, drive to my next job, get off work and drive home at 11 p.m. and go to bed as soon as I can. That's been my life for the past week. Not terribly exciting, but hey, it's keeping me busy.

Now for my report on my lovely camping trip (including photos). It was really nice to get away, but I always seem to forget that I never sleep much while camping. Something about sleeping in the hard ground with the wind knocking the tent about all night long isn't very refreshing. Other than that, it was great.

We spent one day hiking in Zion National Park (I'm on the left), which is beautiful but very crowded, and we weren't even there during peak season. The hike to see the Emerald Pools (at right) showed me just how out of shape I am.

The next day we traveled on a whirlwind tour of national parks through southern Utah. After Zion, we drove through Grand Staircase-Escalante, past Bryce Canyon and stopped for a bit in Capitol Reef.

If I had a chance to spend more time in any one of those parks, I would say Capitol Reef would be my preference. It was absolutely gorgeous, red rock walls on either side of you as you drive through the canyon. Absolutely breathtaking. While there we also say some ancient petroglyphs (left) carved on the canyon walls. I've always been fascinated by the ancient Americans and their culture. For a while I even wanted to be an archaeologist.

All in all, it was a great trip, though the best park about getting home after camping is taking a long, hot shower and scrubbing off several days worth of grime.

But in my head, I'm already planning the next weekend trip down south to spend more time in the desert. There's something so addicting about it, being surrounded by such beauty. Nature can be a terrible creature, but when you see it at its best, there's something so incredibly powerful and sublime about it.