Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

No dancin' tonight

I just don't feel like it.  I'd rather just post some photos of my trip to Utah...give a taste of how it looks as opposed to how it feels.
I found this along the south shore of the Great Salt Lake, not far from a marina and just the other side of the access road to I-80.  Not sure what it was about but it brought so many ideas to mind -- a one-time railroad stop abandoned in the middle of the Depression...a spa where people went to take in the waters of Salt Lake, thinking they were medicinal instead of just rank...or the rail car was a last-ditch effort to revitalize this stop, thinking people would come just to dine in it.  All broken dreams.
I was feeling kind of Frederick Remington when I toyed with this shot of the Colorado River...and sensed hints of the shadows of the Johns Ford and Wayne.  Seems they used this area as well as Monument Valley (150 miles to the south) to shoot their westerns.
Here is the actual coloring of the rocks that stretch for miles and miles and miles along the river.  A billion years of history exposed and tumbling down to be crushed slowly, slowly by the non-stop waters.  I was in awe of the Grand Canyon when I visited there...but this was like traveling back in time to see the beginnings of creation.
This is the view from the house where I did part of my packing job.  These cliffs keep running for miles past where I was standing...almost to forever.  Supposedly, there are cracks in them that are wide enough to walk through, so you could travel by foot from this spot to Moab, which is on the other side of the mountain.  Probably a day's journey...but something I'd like to try, sometime.  Hell, I climbed Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh just so I could see what it was like; why not this, too?

2 comments:

Writer said...

These are awesome photographs, Kyle. I love the first one the best. The juxtaposition of the natural with the ruined manmade is always one of my favorite views.

Hope you feel like dancing soon. :)

JamTheCat said...

Thanks, JP. I'm almost back to feeling frisky. Let's see what happens, tonight.