Ugh. Here is the deal. I started writing this blogpost! I got a whole day into it. It was amazing. There was a Harry Potter metaphor. You would have loved it. Some of my best work. But alas, Wix has decided to delete this work, so I have defeatedly decided this blogpost will be mostly pictures.
Actually, I will make the Harry Potter metaphor for you. I was too excited about it to let it go this easily.
So, in the third book Harry is learning how to conjure a Patronus. Well, to conjure a Patronus (big animal that comes out of your wand to fight off scary soul sucking things called Dementors) you need to think of really happy thoughts. The happier the thought, the stronger the Patronus. Harry has been trying for months to conjure a Patronus that's good enough to fight off a Dementor.
So, there’s this moment in the third book, the Prisoner of Azkaban, where Harry has just won the quidditch cup for his team. The quote in the book that goes, “If only there had been a Dementor around … As a sobbing Wood passed Harry the Cup, as he lifted it into the air, Harry felt he could have produced the world’s best Patronus.”
This very extended explanation is all to say that as I biked down the perfectly packed gravel mountainside of Utah into Escalante, Edge of Seventeen blasting in my ears, I felt as though I could have produced the worlds best Patronus.
It is very rewarding, very joyful, to rip it down the mountains you so laboriously climbed up. Okay that is the metaphor. And those are all the words I have for you. Now pictures. And brief captions.
Day 62: Rest Day, Capitol Reef
Bread, Pesto, Cheese. Goats, Goats, Goats. We had a really good lunch at a local goat farm.
Capitol Reef National Park! Named for rocks that look like the capitol building and also for a similarity to coral reef formations.
Dinner at Curry Pizza. Famously visited by Guy on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. They had the 10 minute clip of him coming playing on repeat. Also, important to note that Guy did not visit this location of Curry Pizza, but the one in Salt Lake. Still very exciting. And the pizza was great.
Day 63: Capitol Reef to Escalante, 70 miles, 6000 ft up and 6000 ft down (world's best Patronus day)
Cool plants. First equisetum, this very cool/ancient plant I learned about in a plant biology class I took this past semester. And also lupines, which are my favorite flower! Mostly because of this book.
Bison! Domesticated! We may have eaten some of their friends, as you will find out shortly in this post :(
Biking into scenery that looked like a freaking painting. Also cute lunch.
So much ice cream for not so much money. This whole thing was $2.39. Thank you Utah. Also Maxwell and Franklin shared a bison burger. Sorry bison friends :(
Stunning campground on a lake. Franklin, Maxwell, and I went for a sunset swim.
That is all for today.
xoxoxoxo,
Sim1