After our last update, the Hoff took us (we really don't have a say in all this, the Hoff is a true tyrant) to Bryce Canyon National Park, which was a fairytale experience (I urge everyone to Google some pictures until we find a router that will allow us to upload some of our own. We found a free camping spot with restrooms (!) and spent 2 full days hiking. For the people unfamiliar with the North-American obsession with Stop-signs: They. Are. Everywhere. And I seriously mean Everywhere. So on our way back after our second day of hiking, I was stupid enough to ignore one, right in front of a park ranger. Apparently, park rangers are also some hybrid form of police officers, which I realized after the poor guy had been driving behind me with flashing lights for some 2 kms. After making sure we weren't drunk, stoned, or in any other way showing off our Dutch heritage, he let me off the hook with a warning.
The next day was my birthday. So we woke up to snow. Say what? Yup, there was actually snow on the 18th of May. Thankfully, it heated up fairly fast and we were able to go for a short hike (actually advertized as "The Best Short Hike In The World") before stealing Best Westerns' WiFi to Skype on my birthday. We had a "Helluvah" pizza for dinner in a restaurant with waiters (premier during this trip) and drove to Petrified Wood State Park where we spent the next day listening to Frans teaching us all sorts of interesting stuff about biology and watching some pieces of petrified wood.
After a drive through yet another snow storm we arrived in Capitol Reef National Park, where we would spend the next 5 nights. We found an absolutely gorgeous place to camp and hiked for a couple of days in what is probably the most diverse and pretty region we have visited yet. Canyons, mesas, arcs, rainbows.... it was absolutely gorgeous. After five days we had exhausted the hiking possibilities and decided to hit the road again, which brings us to our current location. We are in Moab, Utah, at a couple of kilometers from Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park, which will consume a couple of days before we continue our way to Colorado.
That's all for now. Hopefully pictures, movies, powerpoints, stickers and promotional chap sticks will follow soon!