come to Zion, come to Zion; And within her walls rejoice

[cahn]

Got back from a most lovely vacation in Utah! Relative-wise, saw my family and some old friends of my dad in Provo, where my dad accepted an award from his old undergrad department. Because he is so very cool! Yay dad! And I'm glad they realized that. Also, saw D's aunt and uncle in Ogden, which was fun.

National-park/monument wise, hit Zion (which D really likes and I like okay) and Arches (which I love and D likes okay) and Bryce (which both of us think is really impressive but don't love); quick drive-throughs of Canyonlands (which we both really want to return to with more time) and Capitol Reef (which really suffers a lot from being next to more extravagantly impressive places); and Escalante (which we both loved, not least because it was civilized enough-- we don't have a 4WD-- while still being relatively wild and remote, as opposed to, say, Bryce, which is filled with railings and paved paths and tourists). Also, Snow Canyon State Park, which was really, really cute.

Things I learned:
-Even if the weather report says it will be in the 80's, pack warm clothes anyway.
-Camping in smaller national parks is... actually... really cool. (And sometimes cold, if one has not packed the aforementioned warm clothes.)
-Going to see stunning scenery when the days are relatively short actually makes for better photographs, as one is able to wake up for sunrise. Also, fewer people.
-Trying out one's new wide-angle lens adapter before taking it on a long trip would reveal things like its tendency to flare beforehand.
-Polarizers are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
-Actually, polarizers are better than sliced bread. Hunks of bread torn off La Brea Rosemary and Olive Oil bread are quite excellent.
-I gotta give Moon guidebooks another chance. The Utah one was quite good. (I'm generally a Lonely Planet person.)
-State parks can be really neat, especially if you're in it for interesting textures and fun rock clambering, and don't particularly expect spectacular large scenery.

Also, a book rec. If you go to Utah and are interested in photography, check out Photographing the Southwest, Vol 1. This book totally saved our pictures of Escalante slot canyons (see the userpic!). Even if you don't want to gear your trip towards photography, it's got some great descriptions of interesting scenic places and has fabulous pictures, so I'd recommend it just as a nice second travel-book (you may want one of the more standard ones with accomodation/restaurant info for a primary travel-book) and/or memento of the trip.

Comments

[ase.livejournal.com]

It sounds you had a really good vacation. Congrats to your dad!

Going to see stunning scenery when the days are relatively short actually makes for better photographs, as one is able to wake up for sunrise.

Ha. This, to no one's surprise, a resonant thought for me. Was this your first chance to use the polarizer with your camera?

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

Yeah, this was the first trip out with the polarizer-- I think I may have mentioned that I have not quite made the leap to a DSLR, and currently have a Canon G7 (which I love). I finally about a month ago got the adapter so that I could use the filters we have for the old film SLR (as well as the wide-angle adapter which I also bought).

(Why, yes, at this point one might really as well get a DSLR (it'll probably be a joint Christmas gift for both of us), though I do enjoy having something that can fit in my pocket and that can be taken easily on rock scrambling, but still has easily-available manual functions (I get so impatient even with aperture priority mode... it never reads my mind! what's the deal with that?! Dave's current camera is a PS which has essentially no manual functions, and he has all sorts of tricks to get it to do what he wants-- it would drive me insane!))

[ase.livejournal.com]

You've mentioned your G7, yes. I'm glad you're enjoying it! I've done my share of messing with point and shoot "manual" settings - I want dials and depth of focus in my next camera. But having something that travels well is important on the field trips, too.

[charlie-ego.livejournal.com]

Ah, but it does have a dial! The only reason I actually bought it. I'm never going back to non-dial manual settings again.

Though, yeah, I would so love to have a fast lens... and ISO that actually worked higher than 100... well. One of these days!