I’m not certain I can recall why I wasn’t in such a great mood when we got there. Maybe it was because the weather was a little less perfect than we’d been enjoying, or maybe I was just tired as this was slap-bang in the middle of our time in the US and what I really would have liked, was to have had my feet up in a luxury hotel someplace. Or at least to have started the day with an iced americano.

Let’s just say I wasn’t too chatty at 9am that day.

We drove the long, empty roads in the park and the feeling eventually started to lift. Walking along some cliff tops, a barely visible shower misted our arms. When the clouds drifted over, I noticed the reflected blue light in the depths of the canyon and my mind began to focus. Months earlier Andy had taught me about atmosphere when we went to a Monet exhibition. It changed how I see things and it made me feel part of the day as I stood there, surveying the views and absorbing the peacefulness.

Still tired, we drove back down to Moab just for an iced coffee. We even pulled off the freeway for another break an hour or so later. Andy had a power nap and I read a book with my feet perched on the dashboard. My mind occasionally drifted back to the enormity of the landscape that surrounded me and how I’d maybe like to come back one day to get to know it more intimately.