If you were Mark and Jim and had the chance to hike the Fairyland Loop, would you pass it up? I didn’t think so, and neither did we.

Our second stop in Utah was Bryce Canyon National Park. We got to the town near the park entrance in time for lunch and, after lunch, Mark & I headed out for an afternoon hike. The good news was that at around 8,500 feet in elevation, the weather here was a huge improvement over the mid-90s we’d experienced in the afternoon in Zion. And besides just the name, the Fairyland Loop seemed perfect: a “strenuous” 8-mile loop that would take maybe four or five hours.

We didn’t really know what to expect, but discovered a world unlike anything we’d ever seen anywhere. Erosion has created thousands of “hoodoos”, spires created when relatively soft rock is topped by harder stones that protect the lower rock from erosion. While Bryce Canyon supposedly has the world’s largest concentration of hoodoos, Cappadocia in Turkey is also famous for its hoodoos so we may have to get there soon to compare them.

At any rate, it was a spectacular hike; it seemed as though every five minutes we’d turn a corner and gasp all over again at the beauty. And one of the nice things of doing a pretty challenging hike in the afternoon is that there were only a few other hikers on the trail so we had it largely to ourselves.

Oh, and one other nice little aspect of our hike: we have drop-off and pickup services. Mark’s parents drop us at the trailhead, we estimate our time of return and – after their own driving tour of the park – they’re there to pick us up. Being chauffeured after a tough hike is a good thing.

Finally, you may have noticed the lack of pictures of great food. That’s not an oversight.

Our western swing has begun. After visiting family and friends in the midwest and on the east coast, we’re spending a little over a week in Utah visiting the great national parks out here. Mark’s parents have spent years telling us we should come out here, so now that we have time we’re finally doing it. And they’re here, too, acting as drivers and tour guides for us.

It started with a flight to Las Vegas and “date night” for us after weeks of being with lots of other people. There’s not much you can say about Vegas that hasn’t already been said: over the top, artificial, a looming environmental disaster (a major metropolis and tourist center with hundreds of green golf courses in the desert?) But it’s a great place to start the Utah tour from and it’s always … interesting. We even made new friends, Ron and Ania, a wonderful London couple (she by way of Poland) who we met over lunch. They’re touring the U.S. from California to South Dakota and back, having put over 3,000 miles on their rental car in just a couple of weeks. Wow!

After a tapas dinner at one of the many good and great restaurants here, we got up the next morning and hit the road. First stop, Zion National Park. We stayed two nights there, and spent our one full day on an invigorating (!) hike up to Angel’s Landing. Here’s how Lonely Planet describes the hike:

“Among the harder trails, the 2.5 mile [five miles round trip] Angels Landing Trail (1,490 foot ascent) is the one everyone’s heard of – and fears. At times the trail is no more than five feet wide, with 1,500 foot drop-offs to the canyon floor on both sides.” It goes on to describe the chain-assisted penultimate climb and the even steeper final push to the top. But then, the views. Lonely Planet doesn’t mention – but signs on the trail make very clear – that since 2004 alone, six people have died on the trail. Even more reason we had to try it, right?

So that was it, we have to try. One of the notable features of the climb was how many Europeans were on the trail; it seemed as though half the people were speaking French or German, with a smattering of Spanish thrown in. It occurred to us that the Americans were all on big bus tours that couldn’t remotely stop for a day to do the hike, and the vast majority were in no shape to do it, either. (When we asked at our hotel how to get to a store to buy water and food for the trail and then on into the park, we were told to catch the shuttle bus right out of the hotel, get off at the first stop to buy groceries, and then reboard the bus to get to the park. “Can we just walk to the grocery store?” we asked. “Well, I suppose,” she answered. Turns out it was a five minute walk – and she was recommending the bus. At that time of the morning we’d have waited 10 or 15 minutes to avoid a five minute walk.)

From here it’s on to Bryce Canyon. So far, at least, being a tourist in the U.S. is pretty good.

After our quick two-day trip through DC it was out to the DC suburbs. Just a couple years after he and I moved to DC in the late 1980s his best friend from college, Laura, moved out to give it a chance. And not long after that his little sister Jeanne graduated from law school and came out, too. Fast forward 25 years and they’re both still there with families while we’ve long since moved on. No trip through the States would be complete without a visit so yup, Mark & I spent the weekend in the ‘burbs. Not exactly our typical milieu but for family (Laura counts), we’ll go damned near anywhere.

Not surprisingly, the weekend centered around food, with all the fun and laughter and drinking that entails. First up was dinner at Laura & Dan’s — a Chicken Marbella extravaganza. There was a time, it seemed, when every dinner party that was worth going to in the 1990s served this Silver Palate delight, but we hadn’t had it in many years. Yum yum! And of course lots of fun and laughter. And drinking, did I mention that?

Saturday night Jeanne cooked up a Middle Eastern delight: kibbe, some Moroccan beans that were to die for, chicken thighs that may have also had a Moroccan origin, salad, a yogurt-based dish, and I’m sure I’m forgetting some of it. Oh yeah, rice, but I always forget the rice. Again, a fabulous meal.

And then some of that staple of modern American life, afternoon soccer games. Jeanne’s kids, Leigh and Jamal, have clearly grown since we last saw them playing. This time it was fun to watch, a level of athleticism that was impressive. To be clear, when I was a kid girls didn’t do things like that. Who doubts that progress occurs in at least some realms?

My favorite story from the weekend was my Sunday morning run. Beautiful, gentle rolling hills on a cool late-summer morning. Five miles, so a good workout. Then stretching on the driveway and in the front lawn. Finally I went to go into Jeanne’s house, but the door was locked. Odd, I thought, since I was sure it wasn’t locked when I went out. I tried the door again. Definitely locked. And a dog was barking, but they don’t have a dog. I was about to knock when I thought “Maybe I’m at the wrong house…” I had my iPhone with me to track my run and when I looked up her address sure enough, I’d been trying to break into their neighbor’s house early Sunday morning. Funny, except in today’s America, where guns and property rights rule and “Shoot first” has practically become our national motto, I realized I need to be more careful in the future.