Our camper has been cleaned. Clean sheets are on its bed. A brisket is baking in the oven. Squash and tomatoes are marinating on the kitchen counter. All in preparation for leaving Sunday morning on vacation. Tomorrow morning we will pack clothes and food into our camper and drive off toward the Colorado Plateau.
The Colorado Plateau is, geologically speaking, one of the coolest places on the planet. Very little of the plateau is in Colorado. About 5/6 of its area is in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. The plateau is named for the Colorado River.
The Colorado River and its tributaries have cut deep gorges back through 600 million years of earth history to the Precambrian when large-sized life took over the planet. These gorges are so dramatic that each one is a national park, starting high in the north with Bryce Canyon and ending in the south with the deep Grand Canyon.
Between the Bryce and Grand Canyons is "The Grand Staircase," a series of cliffs named for the color of their rocks: Pink Cliffs, Gray Cliffs, White Cliffs, Vermillion Cliffs and Chocolate-Shinarump Cliffs.
Since there is little rainfall, there is little vegetation. Glorious rock formations dominate spectacular scenery.
Last year we recorded our trip with a digital camera. We are bringing that camera, but we are also bringing an easy-to-use Flip Ultra video camera. It is designed to record an hour of video and easily upload that video to YouTube. We plan to upload video to YouTube. Links in our blog will lead to our videos on YouTube.
Chris
Saturday, August 16, 2008
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