"Can we climb this mountain? I don't know. Higher now than ever before. I know we can make it if we take it slow, that's taking easy, easy now, watch it go. We're burning down the highway skyline, on the back of a hurricane that started turning when you were young, when you were young. And sometimes you close your eyes and see the place where you used to live while you were young." ~the killers

This is going to be a huge picspam post. Just warning you. I haven't had much to write about lately because I usually write about concerts/music, movies, Broadway, and that type of thing, but I'm in the west right now and not in New York, so there's a dearth of cultural events about which to blog. Hence my nature pictures.

My family just got back from driving across Utah. We went to like 5 national parks. The main focus (where we stayed for two nights) was Zion National Park; we did a lot of hiking there. We also went to Bryce Canyon and some other places on the way home. We did stay in Cedar City one night and saw two shows at the Cedar City Shakespearean Festival, which I appreciated. Oddly enough we didn't see any Shakespeare. We saw one of my absolute favorite musicals, The Secret Garden (which was very well done) and Noel Coward's play Private Lives (I'm not a fan of Noel Coward's but it was fine). I needed some theatre.

Here are some of my nature pictures. I have tons, but this is just a sampling. Click for enlargements:

We drove through the Four Corners, which is near where my parents live. My hands are in Colorado and Utah and my feet are in Arizona and New Mexico.
Here are a few in Zion National Park:

This is the trail we took to get to Angel's Landing. It's not for those who are scared of heights (you can see someone walking up the trail):

A bad attempt at using the self-timer:
Bryce Canyon:
A natural arch in Bryce Canyon:
Somewhere along the drive (it's one of the most scenic highways in America):
Somewhere else along the drive:
Natural Bridges National Park:

And on a completely unrelated note, look! KBell's on the cover of Cosmo! (In case you haven't been paying attention, I love her.) I wish they had given her a cover while Veronica Mars (my favorite TV show ever) was still on. That might have given it some much-needed publicity. Anyway, it's a cute interview.