this thread is as good as any to put this...
we are on the way to Vegas/California from Denver and today drove west across CO and Utah on i70 with my driving stint starting after lunch in Grand Junction. driving across CO was a piece of cake, our first time on the western slope, very scenic, but...
HOLY SHIT i was COMPLETELY unprepared for the Utah leg of the drive.π²
i mean...just holy holy holy shit. Utah has officially taken my breath away. literally, and multiple times. for the first time EVER in my entire life i had an anxiety/vertigo/panic attack, a stretch of what felt like 80 miles or so, starting just west of Green River...i came thisclose to having to pull over. speed limit is 80(!) and i slowed down at one point to <60. an absolutely surreal landscape on all sides as far as the eye could see...at one point it felt like we were surrounded by deep giant canyons on all sides and i swear to god i was fighting not to drive right off the side!!
i had to focus on my breathing and attach my eyes to the trailer hitch of the vehicle in front of us and just could not even glance offroad...but my eyes felt like they were being pulled to the horizon! i felt like i was literally going to just yank the wheel off the interstate, and that feeling in turn caused near panic...this was that long stretch where there is nothing...like all the signs say 'seriously - there is nothing for the next 100 miles'.
nothing but my god the landscape. π²
i mean seriously, i have driven over huge bridges, the Makinac and Golden Gate, been through RMNP countless times as both driver and rider, to the top of Mt. Evans, Sandia Peak, have ridden in a car AND a bike down Haleakala...i have NEVER felt like i felt today! incredible. π³
i have never seen such jaw-dropping scenery...and we just barely drove by/skirted the NPs! i love the Rocky Mountains and Colorado is so beautiful...but Utah blew it away today. i have seen so many pictures, i follow several National Park accounts...but nothing prepared me for what i saw today. just wow wow wow.
i cannot wait to actually visit some of the parks. i see you, Utah! π