It was cool to finally see Salt Lake City, but it also helped reinforce that I don't want to live there. I met some interesting people at GA and had some fun times with Brendan but GA also helped me confirm that I no longer consider myself a Unitarian. I still extremely enjoy the company of Unitarians, but I now feel that it's a religion of bureaucracy. There was a celebration of the summer solstice which I enjoyed, plus they gave me a pouch with salts from the Great Salt Lake which I thought was pretty cool. I visited the Mormon temple and afterward there was a huge storm that snapped two of the cables on a banner at the convention center and shattered two windows, coincidence or a sign, you decide. There was a dance held at one of the nearby hotels and I had great time and after some of us went to the pool for a swim, the downside of that being that I forgot my World War II pilot helmet that I got in Berlin. I brought it to wear to the dance, but I left it at the pool and after that it was never seen again. I'm sad that I lost such a cool thing that was also a keepsake of my time in Germany, but hey, it's not worth it to get attached to objects.
After Salt Lake City, Brendan, his mom, and I headed south. We first stopped at Bryce Canyon where I got these amazing pictures:
Followed by the Grand Canyon:
During the whole trip we saw:Bison
Condors
A Tarantula Hawk
Deer
Chipmunks
Elk
Crows and Ravens
Turkey Vultures
And Squirrels
The Grand Canyon was absolutely stunning, I was deeply touched by the vast beauty and moved by it's sheer size. The only problem I had were the other people there, families would walk out to the vantage point while complaining the whole way there and as soon as they got to the vantage point they would take the picture and leave. I observed that there are some tourists who don't come to places to see it but to say that they saw it, treat their pictures like trophies in order to flaunt their accomplishments.After the Grand Canyon I spent about a week and a half with Brendan and his mother. Brendan and I went to a monthly art fair in Vegas called first Friday and went to Fremont Street for the Fourth of July with some friends of his. Vegas was fun but I'm not enticed by much of the flashy stuff there, I more enjoyed the moments of just relaxing with Brendan.
So what's next on my roster you might ask? On the 16th I'll be going to a family reunion in Charlotte, North Carolina and I'm looking forward to because I've never met these relatives before and a large amount of them have careers in some form of writing. We'll see how it is and maybe it'll even be enough to write about here on my blog.
