Back in the 'Nut

Minus one pillow, a hat, a sock, a little bit of sanity, and a lot of our health, we are back home in Walnut Creek - for about a week. We didn't make it to Moab and Canyonlands, but improving Chris' future employment prospects (by way of a job fair invitation) seems like a legitimate exchange.

After heading out of Zion, I somehow caught a nasty sinus infection/cold. I usually pride myself on my 'immune system of steel,' craftily dodging the Petri dish of viruses that come through the office. But somehow this cold knocked me down in one fell swoop. As we headed to Bryce Canyon - ascending from 4,000 to 8,000 ft - my head felt as though it were in a vice. While Chris was entranced with the unusual and colorful rock, I barely got out of the car for more than a couple of minutes. That night in Page, Arizona, I told Chris - through the haze of Sudafed and Nyquil- that my sinus was so congested, my teeth hurt.

Ok, I guess it wasn't that bad. But I can't stand being sick, especially on vacation. After a couple of days, my cold finally relented, and we were able to take in the awesome sights of Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

Flagstaff is a fun town. I've heard people say that it is nothing more than a gateway to the Grand Canyon, full of cheap hotels and tour companies. While the hotels are reasonable, there is a lot to do in Flagstaff, and I really admire how they have preserved their old downtown area. Instead of strip malls full of stores that you can find in any city, they have kept the old diners, breweries, art galleries, and bookstores. On the day we arrived, we were able to go to the Lowell Observatory (http://www.lowell.edu/), where Pluto was discovered. In the evening, around 8 pm, crowds of people gathered there to look through their huge telescopes at some star clusters. We took a look through their 24 inch refractor at M15, a globular cluster within the Milky Way, and through some portable telescopes (12 inch reflectors, I think) at the Andromeda galaxy. It was very cold up there on the hillside, but well worth it, for some awe-inspiring views of some very, very far off places (beyond the range of our over-loaded Toyota Camry).

The next day, telling myself that I was totally healthy again, we drove out to Oak Creek Canyon, about 20 minutes south of Flagstaff. At the parking area, there were tons of tourists taking in the view of the bluffs and checking out the many jewelry vendors. It had been a long time since I climbed on Basalt, probably not since I lived in Portland, OR, but I was up for the change - until we started out on Mint Jam 5.7. I can appreciate an area that has hard climbs and stiff grades, but it seemed to be covered in a layer of dirt, with cacti growing from inconvenient places all the way up, and giant wasps hovering perilously close to us both. At any rate, Chris made short, proud work of Everyday Five Three 5.6, a peculiar climb involving awkward chimney moves, and we called it a day.