Views from the road

Denver was a nice city, but not exactly what I had expected. It was great getting to know Lily's brother Sam. He brought us to some fun places: a great amusement park, the real Casa Bonita that inspired a South Park episode, a huge skate park, and we got to see his comedy routine at an open mic night at a bar. All in all, we had a great time with him.

Still, my experience getting work in Denver made me ready to head back on the road earlier than planned. I had to essentially jump through hoops while job hunting, only to land a job at a sub-par restaurant which frustrated me. More can be read about the fiasco on my food blog.

Nevertheless, my mood changed for the better by what we've been seeing in Colorado west of Denver and in the beautiful state of Utah. We've been to five national parks in the Beehive State: Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion, in that order (pictures to come, Arches photos are now up on Lily's photo blog). We've taken scenic byways wherever possible, which has provided some truly memorable rides. Here's some of the views from the road:

A view of the Rocky Mountains from a pull-off on I-70

Entering a canyon just west of the Rockies

We drive past the "Three Gossips", just inside Arches NP

A shot of the road at the bottom of one of the many canyons we drove through near Escalante

An ordinary sight on the road through Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Our first sight of a group of hoodoos as we approach Bryce Canyon NP

-Ben

Pugs!

We finally left Denver a few days ago, and will be posting an update with pictures soon. For now here are a couple pictures of Sam's pugs!

Here's Moo Shu looking so incredibly cute (don't forget to click the picture for the full size image - she's a lot cuter when she fills your entire screen!):
And Butters chewing on one of his favorite toys, a plastic hanger:

We will be posting more soon. We've been hanging out in Moab, UT and Arches National Park for the past couple of days and we took nearly 400 pictures already...!

-Lily