Utah

Utah

Who would’ve known?….

Who would’ve know Utah was so beautiful?

From New Mexico I planned to drive across Utah and visit every beautiful destination I could find. I made a list of each place I wanted to visit and Cleo and I headed out on the road. What became clear to me was, while driving I get to see ALL of the infinite beauty of this world. When flying these are the locations, the in-between mountains, waterfalls on side of the road, beautifully built tunnels and train tracks that hug each turn of the mountain side, I miss all of these intricate details when i choose to take a plane directly to my destination. I guess theres a lesson there too.

Enjoy The Process. The in-between time it takes to get from point A to point B. The PROCESS is where the gems, lessons, epiphanies and wisdom are stored. The process and in-between time is our gift.

-Candyss

While on the road Cleo and I randomly drove past a beautiful resevoir with beautiful blue water. Cleo and I pulled off side of the road, to check out the resevoir and noticed families out fishing and enjoying the water so we pulled in, filled our backpack with doggy treats, a beach towel and fresh watermelon and lime juice.

Monument Valley

You know this last scene of Forest Gump? yea I was headed to that place. I’ve wanted to visit Monument Valley for a very long time, it is indigenous land of the Navajo people. Once cleo and I made it we went directly to our campsite “Goose neck state park” which highly resembles horse shoe bend. This park overlook a huge curved canyon with over a 100+ foot clip drip off. Talk about beautfiul, scary and intimidating.

Gooseneck state park costs 10$ a night. Whats mostly beautiful about this park is that it is surrounded by cliffs and is the best place for beautiful evening sunsets. The park is down the street from Mexican Hat statue and maybe 5miles Away from Forest Gump point. This location was perfect to come back too to the beautiful scenery after exploring all day.

When I planned to visit Monument Valley I was so excited that I completely forgot about the PANDEMIC, Covid 19. Apparently the indigenous people had been severely effected by the virus so the entire town was shut down. When I say nothing was open, I mean nothing was open except the state park i was staying in, mexican hat which is just a huge rock formation and the forest gum road, which is just a regular road in and out of monument valley lol. I was so disappointed but I still drove around and explored what I could of monument valley. Cleo and I explored a little bit of mexican hat before the temperatures rose to 107degrees and then took pictures at forest gump lookout.

PROUD BLACK WOMAN!!!!!

June Teenth. June 19TH is the day the slaves in the south particularly Texas were informed that they were free and slavery had been abolished. This news came to black people 2years AFTER slavery had been abolished. It was important to show my black pride on this day.

Mexican Hat

We came, We saw, We left early.

Salt Flats!!!

Did you know Utah had salt flats? and not just salt flats, on Bonneville Speedway you can actually take your own vehicle onto the salt flats and race or drive extremely fast into the ongoing distance. Also when the salt flats flood from rain they become a huge mirror of the sky. I’ve always dreamt of going to the salt flats in Bolivia so I was ecstatic to find out Utah had them. Death Valley National Park has salt flats as well but you are not allowed to drive on the. Cleo and I stayed at the salt flats for at least 3 or 4days. Watching rain storms form and pass, feeling the temperatures rise to 90 and drop to 40 degrees.

The Storm Will Pass.

Salt Flats in Utah were one of the first destinations that i sat still for the longest. The few days I spent there i noticed that EVERYDAY I had the oppertunity to watch a new storm form in the distance. Dark clouds would swirl and come together sending cold sprinkles of water to blow in the wind. What amazed me about watching the clouds form, is as quickly as the clouds formed is a quickly as they passed. Here I am in the middle of nowhere in the midst of a storm towering over me and literally watching it pass. As the days went on not only did i enjoy watching the storm form I enjoyed the process of watching them pass, I enjoyed KNOWING and TRUSTING that each storm would pass. My lesson was

My lesson was,

instead of getting caught up in the fear of a storm coming, enjoy being the OBSERVER. Be present in the moment of the storm, stand firm and literally watch the storm pass. Have faith and trust that it is not here to stay. The storm will come, serve its purpose and it WILL pass.

THIS IS ILLEGAL…..Kinda Sorta

Near the salt flats is a blue canal that has turquoise water, lined with white salt and sand. This canal has recently gained ALOT of attention via social media causing a huge rise in tourist attention. Although The Blue canal is on side of the road and easily accessable, it is illegal because it is on PRIVATE PROPERTY. It is a man made canal that was created to filter water……. blah blah blah I researched it prior to going but I don’t remember the details lol. What I do know is the water may contain many things and isn’t safe to swim or get into.

Also when accessing this canal you’d have to drive off side of the road possibly impeding traffic. You could definitely receive a ticket for this and trespassing even though there are no signs against trespassing on the the property. What I believe is happening is, the local law enforcement and company in charge of the canal are still trying to figure out how to keep tourists from going to the canal. The attention of it is VERY NEW, new as in march of 2020. So not fine line consequences have been set in stone TO MY KNOWLEDGE. So GO AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Arches National Park

One of my favorite places to visit are national parks and state parks. I also collect clothing, pins and patches from them to add to my van. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to visit arches national park but one thing i had to be aware of is that I had Cleo with me. Although dogs ARE allowed into national parks they are NOT allowed on the trials unless they are certified service dogs. Also many trails such as the ones in Arches are geared toward climbing rocks so it wasnt the best place for cleo to explore. So when we entered the park I was already aware that we’d have to find alternate ways to have fun.

As soon as I get into any park, I go straight to the visitor’s center lol. Gotta get my clothing, patches, pins and park map lol. While checking out the cashier told me to make sure I stay at the lookout tonight because it will be the clearest sky of the entire month. Aslo Arches National Park is considered a black out park which means only a few parks have complete clear dark pollution free skies which makes it much easier to see the stars and milky way. So cleo and I drove to the look out where we actually stayed about 2days.

The Lessons

The lessons are everywhere. The beauty is in everything. The guidance is in Nature. The protection is in spirit. The love is all around and the Power is within.

-Candyss.Love