From Desert to Canyon to Country

 

The first leg of my road trip is complete! Four states were conquered today- California, Nevada, Arizona aaaaaand Utah! The Mojave Desert drive through California and to Las Vegas frankly was not that thrilling. This is partly because I have already endured this route numerous times before and partly because the road to Las Vegas is just plain dull.  Only someplace as exciting as Las Vegas could convince anyone that driving through a scorching hot, barren and dismal desert is something desirable. Christopher and I stopped at the In-N-Out in Las Vegas to say good-bye to the company I worked for and will miss dearly and then we were on our merry way through the Nevadan desert.

After getting rather lost in Mesquite, Nevada (not all of the streets lead to the freeway in case you were wondering) we saw several interesting canyons in Arizona. There was something strangely primitive about the formations. I was reminded of various disaster scenes from The Land Before Time and could picture Little Foot desperately searching for his tree stars. We soon passed the Utah state line and almost instantly began traveling through cattle country.

Christopher and I are currently stopped at a campsite in Beaver, a very small town about two hours northeast of St. George. Although we are only a few hundred miles from home, we have already encountered a little culture shock. The restaurant where we ate dinner served fried Oreos and cheese curds. While this is considered strange county fair food in California, these offerings are quite common in Utah. Country music is played in most businesses and many homes have a horse or two roaming on their property.  It is a very different world from our native Southern California.

Tune in tomorrow to see my adventures in Denver!