Bryce!

Brent, Colleen, Frances, Hayley, Merritt, and Nate woke up at 5AM this morning to catch the sunrise over the hoodoos in Bryce Canyon. We were rewarded with a few minutes of spectacular dawn light, which we exploited to publicize ourselves:


We then struck out for Zion National Park. After driving in through a tunnel carved parallel to the side of a canyon, we split up, with some folks presenting to the public in the morning while others took a hike up through the Emerald Pools. We thought Emerald Pools might be series of beautiful, aquamarine swimming holes to provide an escape from the desert heat; sadly, the name was coined because they are green with thick algae. In the afternoon, we switched, with the presenting group going and exploring the weeping rock and the algae group presenting at Zion Lodge. Weeping rock was named for the water that seeps out of it, which we learned fell on the plateau above a milennia ago and has been percolating through the sandstone

The real story of today, though, was Lucas coming into his own as a man--nay, as a stud. He got hit on ruthlessly all afternoon, at times attracting a veritable bevy of ladies with his wholesome good looks and quiet charm. Bravo, sir.

- nate

Frances calls forth the morning in Bryce.

Floodgates status of the day: questionable.