Brent and I got back into Columbus from vacation this morning, after “enjoying” the red-eye flight from Las Vegas. We had breakfast with Dr. J, then headed back home to some much needed rest. After snoozing a little bit, I have been catching up with snail mail, some of my e-mail (over 500 spam messages in my Yahoo account, this is getting out of control!), and other home-based activities.

I am planning on adding a feature to my website called the travelogue, and this will be where I go into my vacation in more detail. However, I do have a few thoughts upon returning. First off, the Grand Circle area (basically all the parks in the Colorado Plateau of northern Arizona and southern Utah), is astoudingly beautiful! Sure, you do seem to see the same red rocks over and over, and sometimes the formations do seem similar. But each park that we visited seemed to have unique features that made it a wonderful place to visit. Some were more remote than others, and some were clearly more developed and “family-vacation ready”. But, I found that when I took the time to appreciate the details and nuances of every park, I came to appreciate nature in a deeper sense. The desert holds a lot of beauty – and despite it’s harsh climate, its secrets can captivate and mesmerize. Another thing I noticed from this trip was the people. Sure, most vacations do result in meeting diverse and interesting people, but I have found in my travels that sometimes the more remote locations result in meeting friendlier people. At least people who seem more genuine. I think the people may have been a little more interesting when we went on our Colorado vacation in 2001, but I did enjoy meeting the people we did nonetheless.

I really did have a great trip, and it did allow me to find a part of myself that has been missing for awhile. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I can keep the refreshed and “alive” attitude I had out there. I haven’t been home that long, and I am already feeling the post-vacation blues. Nothing new there, of course, most people feel a little down after a vacation ends. But of course the fact that I have to be back to Cleveland tomorrow makes it worse than it would otherwise.  Hopefully I hear some news soon (and I may have another lead thanks to an email from an old friend – LenB), and I can start embracing some of my outdoor passions again. And to my many readers (ha, I kill me!), be on the lookout for the travelogue, I do hope to post it within the next week.