I’m here in Denver for a few days to surprise a friend who is about to have both a birthday of her own and a birth day of a new baby. Haven’t mentioned the details, because it’s been a surprise months-long in the planning, and I didn’t want to risk word getting out.

After Capitol Reef today and Kanab before that, and the glorious afternoon hike along Calf Creek in Escalante, I’ve been soaking up the awe-inspiring geology for a while now. I’ll be sad to leave it behind, but there’s part of me that’s looking forward to heading home to see how the next phase goes.

A very satisfying sensory day, indeed. Not least of which was the shower and moisturizing lotion I applied back at my little Kanab studio on my last night here.

Between this and Monument Valley, the Navajo Tribal Parks are where it’s at: best managed, best crowd control, clearest visitor policies, and best decision making that puts the preserved land first.

“You’re allowed to go out and be you rather than something fixed. The world is changing, and we’re all part of remaking it… and we don’t have to follow the paths and patterns that we once had to follow.”

Words won’t adequately capture the breathlessness of hiking down and up Bryce Canyon in the thin mountain air, with snow flurries drifting out of the gray clouds in the bright blue sky, with the warm sun and cold wind that I remember fondly from my time living in Colorado

My arbitrary decision to stop to sit and read became a real pleasure that I want to hold onto. I sat down to eat and sip at my coffee, and a pair of women nearby struck up a conversation that started with a compliment on my bag and turned into a wonderful conversation

I’ve officially turned Eastward and bid the Pacific Ocean farewell. I’m happy to be leaving the city behind for the next week and heading out to the desert and mountains again. I’m feeling sad to shift phases of this trip to one that’s promising fewer friends to see. And I’m excited to be on my own in nature again.

Today’s post is a photo story in 3 museum exhibitions.

1. Alice Neel: People Come First

2. James Turrell, Three Gems

3. Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy

It’s been a long time since I’ve spent a whole day in an art museum, and I came away with the fuzzy-headed feeling of having soaked up thought-provoking and visually interesting material all day long.