Motorcycles Are Awesome!
Mood:  happy
Last weekend was one of the best I've had since we moved to Utah. Ted and I loaded up the motorcycle (a red Honda CB1100F) Friday morning and headed south. I've never gone on a trip without taking everything in my bathroom - hair dryer, curling iron, makeup, mousse. This time I didn't even take my hairspray! Just an extra pair of jeans, two t-shirts and a bathing suit. The day was hot, but after the first 40 minutes we got off the interstate and then the fun began.

Our destination was Torrey, Utah. But when you're on the back of a bike, the ride is the goal! The air in the mountains was considerably cooler, and I was glad for the new leather jacket Ted bought me for Mother's Day.

Our hotel was right at the edge of Capital Reef National Park, and the view from our balcony was stunning. There are no words to describe the big red mountains like something out of a western movie. The formations reminded me of castle turrets, and I realized that the medieval architects who designed palaces must have been trying to recreate what God has done there. Big, towering spires with multi-colored layers of rock really do look more like a reef than the mountains that surround our home in Salt Lake City. And the land is movie-like too - the only vegetation are small scraggly scrub bushes dotted here and there across wide sandy plains.

Saturday was a perfect day to be on a motorcycle. We took off around 10:00 to ride up over Boulder Mountain to Escalante. One puffy little white cloud put in a brief appearance in the morning, but he quickly realized his mistake and made a hasty retreat, leaving a sky full of unbroken blue. We rode across a wonderful ridge called Hell's Backbone - huge canyons on either side of the road at the top of the mountain beyond Boulder, Utah.

At the top of Boulder Mountain we found a completely different world. Here are the majestic rocky peaks, deep ancient forests and cool green pastures. Again, we were thankful for our leathers up there. We rode by pastures abundant with a heather-like purple wildflower that made me burst into song, "From purple mountains majesty, across the fruited plain. America, America, God shed His grace on thee!" And we passed a forest of aspen trees. Have you ever seen a whole forest of aspens? They tower way up into the sky with leaves that branch out only at the top, leaving their long, slender silvery white trunks naked. It reminded me something out of Dr. Seuss - I expected to see the Lorax step out from behind one of them! Since there was almost no underbrush, I could look through them and see a long, long way - just like Jill and Eustace in Aslan's country beyond the world's end.

From Escalante we took a windy road through a canyon called Burr Trail, and I kept making Ted stop so I could take pictures. I knew they wouldn't come out - nothing manmade like film and cameras can begin to capture the astounding beauty of God's creation. I do have a few nice ones I'll post on my website, but they don't begin to reflect the majesty we saw or the awe we felt. On the way back we stopped to have an ice cream cone with some of Ted's friends, members of the Utah British Bike Club, we found along the way.

Then we went into Capital Reef National Park and saw rock art! They're petroglyphs carved into the sheer rock cliffs by the Anasazi over a thousand years ago! I did get a picture of them too - again, it just doesn't do justice to the real thing.

Ted and I enjoyed great food, stunning scenery, invigorating rides, and relaxing times in the pool. And we were with each other. What more could we ask?