A few days after Christmas I left for Utah to start my new job. However, it is uncharacteristic of me to go anywhere and not make a vacation out of it. After being stranded for New Years in Amarillo due to snow our first stop was in Northern Arizona in Canyon de Chelley National Monument.
After a day in Chinle, Arizona we moved on to Monument Valley, the site of several famous
western movies and many others that take place in the desert. The views were spectacular as the monolith monuments rise sharply out of the desert like sentinels standing guard over ancient Indian lands.
Our next stop would be on of my favorite places, Moab, Utah. The adventure capital of the world provides endless opportunities for climbing, biking, hiking, rafting, and exploring. However, for two under-the-weather adventurers we did little more than auto tour the area. We went to Canyonlands and Arches National Parks. We tried to focus more on understanding what we saw rather than just seeing as much as we could. I bought an ecology book and tried to identify plants and rocks and such.
Chelsie flew home on Saturday after a short stint in Salt Lake City where we toured the campus of the University of Utah. Chelsie is planning on attending graduate school here in the city. It was a wonderful trip full of diversity and much learning.
Since Chelsie left for home to start the spring semester I have been clowning around with Matt in the vast expanse of sand and rock from Las Vegas to St. George. We spent our first night camped out on the shores of Lake Mead and then made our way to our new home, St. George. It is a nice city about the size of Bloomington and everything is new and modern. We have found all the amenities of home here except that of a good bookstore. Otherwise things are quite nice. We headed out to Zion National Park to spend an afternoon but, have mostly been preparing to start training for our job on Friday. Today we hiked into 
Johnson's Canyon on a short walk to try to regain our hiking legs. Living in the truck is working out nicely. It is a bit different than we both anticipated though. Mostly the smell is worse. Every morning I wake to the rudeness of water dripping on my face from the condensation of the topper. Matt is also a bit of a snorer which causes my "arm spasms" to act up promptly striking him in the back. Living life as a homeless is pretty fun so far though. 
Today we showered up in the St. George Recreation Center for a dollar. You just have to be creative to find a way to what you need. Also if you are viewing please leave comments. It is nice to know who my audience is. Curt 
