Picture
Picture
Yup. All thoughts of chilly Pacific Northwest rain are behind us. We are warm, dry and hot in a good way. 

So... the thing with Moab. Have you ever known anyone who went there? They gush and gush and, frankly, won't shut up. Why? Because this place is truly FANTASTIC. 

There are about 5,000 things to do here, and all of them involve the stunning beauty of the land. Now, as I have often confessed, I am not a terribly athletic person. I'm more of a gentle hike than a vigorous mountain scaling type. That said, Moab is so inspiring even the most timid of sorts would just have to get out in it. 

The scale of the place alone is humbling. The vivid colors. You just can't laze about when there is so much to see. As one of our native guides put it, "There are lots of crazy ways for tourists to get themselves killed here." Which normally would register horror with me. But, somehow, I get it. Ummm...not the getting killed part. But the thing that locals forget or can't see- people who are here for a short time just have to get as much of this intensity as they can in their terribly abbreviated visit. 

Perhaps if you are weaned on these majestic vistas, and have all the time in the world to amble about in them, you can calm yourself. But if you are merely visiting, the urge to throw, to toss, yourself up the bluffs, via rope, jeep, mountain bike, or on foot or whatever is so compelling... that you just go do it. 

I'm sure the few surviving old moths tell the young moths the same thing about the flame. 

Picture
Picture
Here are my exhilarated mountain bikers. Being the bio-nerds they are they geeked out all the way up on the cool plants. It seems we hit Moab at a wonderful time- still lots of green from the spring cool. It made the whole place resemble a red-headed green-eyed movie star. 

The wildflowers were also amazing. Our friend Chris told us the locals said they were seeing wildflowers they had never seen before this year- in 20+ years of living here in one case. 

Desert beauty is particularly compelling, I think, because it does not come effortlessly for the plant.


As you know by now, I like a fighter. 

Picture



Leave a Reply.