When I travel, I like to have a fitting theme song for the adventure. It can and should change, depending on where and what the trip is. The ambience is so important to set the mood. For example a Frank Sinatra playlist would be great for a trip to New York, The Beach Boys for Southern California, a blues mix for Texas, and Johnny Cash for a trip to Nashville. The song style really needs to capture the personality of the location, so you can fully immerse yourself in the culture and totally experience it.

“They call me the breeze.
I keep blowing down the road.”

This song was playing a lot as I drove across the Colorado Plateau from Vegas, through Utah, across the border to Arizona, and back. The name is “Call Me The Breeze” by J.J. Cale, maybe not the best choice for the environment, but for the adventure and lifestyle, it was perfect.

In March 2016, after graduating from college, I completed my CELTA certification and was finally a professional English teacher. It was so exciting that I had to celebrate! So I came up with an idea: a ten-day solo road trip around The West. The idea was to fly to Vegas and rent a car. The next day I would stock up on groceries and drive off into the desert to visit some national parks and interesting landmarks. A month later, I was ready.

Zion National Park

My first stop was Zion, about two and a half hours away from Vegas. The park gets its name from the towering rocks that stretch up towards the sky, looking like they're reaching for the Heavens, reaching for Zion. The whole park is a stunning collection of ancient, gigantic rocks in the middle of the desert. It’s a pretty big national park with big resorts.. so of course I slept in my rented car under the beautiful night sky.. in a parking lot. The first night I was there, I just stared up at the sky. I had never seen the sky so clear without light pollution but that’s how it is in the desert.

In Zion, there’s a vast network of trails around the various monolithic structures. The most popular is called Angel’s Landing and it’s really spectacular, but way too crowded. It’s a good example of tourism gone wrong. It’s not an easy trail and even a little dangerous, people have died trying to get to the top of Angel’s Landing. But I must admit, the views are gorgeous. It’s popular for a reason. Zion ended up being my favorite national park in the USA. It’s truly breathtaking.

After I was finished with Zion, on day 3 of my trip, I started the drive northeast to Bryce Canyon. What’s really interesting about Utah is that along with neighboring Arizona, it creates one of the most unique landscapes in the entire world. I could feel that I was about to discover another spectacular sight.

Bryce Canyon National Park

I quickly drove into the park, trying to catch a glimpse of Bryce Canyon before the day’s light disappeared. When I arrived, the sun was setting, and it created the perfect lighting to snap a photo of the strangely-shaped rocks. You can see that photo at the top of this page.

It looked like I had set food on Mars. The rock patterns made me think that this is where space ships would land if aliens came to Earth. I was so excited to get into the canyon the next day, but first I had to find a hotel. It was too cold for the car.. So I stayed in Ruby’s Inn for the night. This hotel stands out in the empty desert landscape outside of Bryce Canyon, and it gives you that great western feeling: cowboys and guns, boots with spurs, and a classic old-fashioned general store.

After a pleasant stay, I was ready and refreshed for a big hike the next morning. Fairyland Loop Trail was the most attractive option, a 13-km (8-mile) hike down into the canyon and back up again.

Those strange rocks that you see in the photos are called hoodoos, which definitely has to be one of my favorite English words. They are extremely abundant in the Colorado Plateau compared to the rest of the world. Hiking around the Fairyland Loop Trail made me feel like an astronaut who crash-landed on a distant planet, mysteriously surrounded by a strange and foreign environment. Almost as if I were in a fairy tale.

After just a day in Bryce Canyon, I was back in my car, very tired from hiking, yet determined to continue on to the next destination. However, due to malnutrition and overexertion, I was starting to feel a little sick. Read about it in the next blog, the continuation of my adventure through The West.

The Enchanting Colorado Plateau

Zion National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park

The Navajo Nation

Lessons in Coexistence from Morocco and Spain