not bad for a hole in the ground

What else we could see was Dead Horse Point State Park and the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park.

View from DHPSP

I know it's not quite as impressive as the Big Ditch, the Grand Canyon, but dang if it's not amazing in its own right.  So many colors and you can see forever - both out to the horizon and down-down-down to the river below.

Brave little tree, determined to grow right there

(on the edge of a cliff)

We had lunch at one of DHPSP's lovely picnic tables and were entertained by the active and bold chipmunks who have clearly learned that picnicking people = food.  They were sorely disappointed when we didn't drop anything.

The Shafer Trail coming up from the White Rim

to the Canyonlands access road

I think I love this part of Utah so much because it is just so different than the New England landscape I grew up in.  Both are beautiful but I just love the openness of the sky, the quality of the light and the desert colors.

Self-portrait

That evening, our last in Moab, we had dinner out on the porch of Pasta Jay's on Main Street (we did have to ask them to turn the heaters on - it cools off quick in the desert once the sun goes down).  It wasn't the best meal ever - the pesto cream sauce on my gnocchi was salty and far too rich; the others, who had tomato-based sauces, fared better - but recounting the stunning scenery of the day more than made up for it.