Are We Still on Earth?

When I think of Utah I draw a blank. Then I vaguely remember something about Salt Lake City. Then I spend a couple moments wondering if I’m correct and if it really is located in Utah. Then I inwardly shrug and wonder why I was thinking about Utah to begin with.

So when we finished at Mesa Verde, drove through the desert colours of Colorado, passed the lame 4 corners, we found ourselves in Utah. I was so amazed at the scenes around me that I didn’t even register that it was Utah until today. That’s two days late.

First the ground changed to red. Then rockscapes started to spring out all around us. Then the red earth showed us 10,000 hues, pastels, merging with autumn colours. We came around one bend and mutually gasped as we saw the hillside before us. Beautiful. A few miles in the distance, the storm clouds started to swell up. We came around another bend and recognized Monument Valley before we even knew where we were.

Perhaps an alien forcefield had beamed us onto another planet. If the moon hadn’t still been hanging in the sky, and a single sun hadn’t been hidden amidst the clouds, I would have been convinced this was no longer Earth. From a relatively flat desert ground, huge desert rocks stand heavy. And from those rocks emerge strangely shaped pillars. Giant stalactites in open air. Thick rocky needles pointing up at the storm clouds above. The scene was eerie, mysterious, and grew stranger and stranger the closer we came to the valley itself.

Once we passed through the gateway of rocks, the setting sun illuminated a base of swirling dust. The veil of sand held the rocks several metres above the valley floor. They were suspended in the air, glowing red with the last vestiges of daylight. As the sun sank below the heavy storm clouds, the light fell sideways and inexplicable shadows emerged. The rocks glowed as though fire-lit from the inside.

We drove on, eyes tired from the otherworldy exercise they had endured. New synapses aching in our heads. When the light disappeared, the snow started. Speeding through the falling mess of white we left the mysterious valley behind and found a place to rest amongst the desert rocks.

Let’s just say I won’t be forgetting where Utah is anytime soon.