The trip cross-country was a spontaneous one. It sprang in part from working incessantly for over ten years and was facilitated by an ad to “See America in a Hertz rent-a-car”. I had heard about the Canyonlands in Utah from many friends who had driven out west and hiked these red rocks on summer vacations. They would talk with reverence about the range, colors, and overall majestic qualities of these mountains. After reading the rental ad further, explaining terms and most importantly the inclusion of unlimited mileage, it became apparent that I too should see America. Surprisingly, walking into my office the next day to explain that I would be gone for a month on a cross country trip - with the dog in a rent a car – was not too difficult. After much discussion and disbelief, my managers and I agreed to a return date and the car was picked up from Hertz three weeks later.

It was the beginning of November, and the stops driving West were carefully planned with Mapquest and Let’s Go USA websites. Glossing over the blizzard near Salt Lake City, the trip was an easy one and it took about a week and a half to arrive in Kanab, Utah. November is not a peak month for tourists to see the Grand Canyon. Vast parking lots that are up to a three hour wait in summertime are completely empty now. Signs and barriers warning about ice are everywhere, and the steeper, more dangerous trails are closed. It was like having a nature wonderland to yourself and the random other travelers you would run into. There was a camper with Germans, two buses filled with Korean tour groups, a church group, and a few carloads of people like myself, who finally took the time to visit these canyons. Bryce canyon was the first stop. The area is open all year long and for the $25. entrance fee you can drive the scenic roadway, or venture onto one of the many hiking trails still open. I had plenty of water on hand to counter the effects of altitude, but since traveling alone, still snaked the trails closest to the parking lots. What was most surprising was the scale of everything. No matter how many people tell you how vast the mountains are, actually looking out and seeing the varieties of ancient rock formations is an unreal experience. Hoodoos in Bryce canyon are rows of banded, sedimentary rock formed over thousands of years by ice, water and wind. Their deep red color comes from the iron ore common to the area. The Amphitheater is formed from layers of both white and pink limestone and can drop up to 2,000 feet. Along the drive there are scenic overlooks where these renowned formations are highlighted: Thor’s Hammer, the Natural Bridge, Bryce Amphitheater, Inspiration Point, to name a few.

The next day, I decided to drive to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon was originally founded by President Theodore Roosevelt, and officially became a national park in 1919. This area is far less dense than the forests of Bryce Canyon, and provided miles of unobstructed views. Once again, the fishing and hiking parking lots were virtually empty aside from Indians with their small tables of souvenirs. One man whose table we stopped at told me that my dog looked more like a bear. He also went onto explain that the bear spirit provides an invitation to the West. His table was filled with beautiful, carved rock animal fetishes – small protectors for their owner. I asked him what the traveler fetish would be and he said that it was the turtle. I picked out the bear and turtle fetishes and watched as he sewed them onto a dream catcher, a circular web made from deerhide, twine, with feathers that keeps your dreams from escaping while you sleep. I spoke to some of the Indians about their families and about their crafts. There were many varieties of horsehair pottery, clay pottery, jewelry, fetishes, dreamcatchers, and beadwork. The glazes and images used on the claypots varied. Some had renderings of feathers or staircases for protection, others looked like a split flower vase and were for weddings, while the majority had animal images. I fell in love with the small animal fetishes learning that they originally started thousands of years ago as twig animals and only later were carved from stone. Hopi, Navajo, Havasupai, Paiute, Zuni, among others, are all tribes who have made their home throughout the years in the region. My new dreamcatcher, symbolic of a “traveler heading west with her bear”, hung from the rearview mirror and protected us for the remainder of the trip.

To this day, I don’t know why I was even reading through car ads that long-ago weekend, or why the thought of renting a car to drive around the country was a sound idea, but sometimes a little bit of insanity pays off. If there is a tough day at work, I can now look back and think of the day that I was standing at the top mountain on a freezing cold November morning and saw nothing but beauty for miles around.