All along our road trip, we’ve been seeing some breathtakingly magnificent views. I’ve concluded that I’ll never get bored of driving in Arizona because the beautiful landscape will never fail to amaze me. It’s so exciting how there could be a drop-dead gorgeous scene waiting for us after every turn we make. Sometimes after driving uphill for a while, we’d find ourselves on a peak where every obstacle in sight is no longer visible, and we are faced with a vast amount of bare, flat, earth in a variety of magical colors (apparently because they possess different minerals). We also got to observe how the landscape changed as we sped down curvy roads. At one point, there was nothing but sand on our left, rocks ahead of us, and trees on our right. Seeing entirely natural patches yellow, red and green laid out so blatantly before me is a sight that I have never even imagined.

It doesn’t sound half as fascinating as it looks in person, and I’m afraid even my vibrant photos can’t possibly capture how it feels like to be there in the center of nature’s raw creations.

Our first stop was Antelope Canyon. We had to join a tour group (which I don’t particularly like) to venture down to the underground world of red and orange but it was so worth it because the Lower Antelopes was nothing like anything I’ve ever set eyes upon before. Yes, the photos were edited and highly saturated but trust me when I say the rocks are actually colored a brilliant red.

The best thing about the canyon is the occasional beams of sunlight that shine through the gaps between the rocks. They cast a spectrum of red on the intricate patterns printed on the rocks – apparently created by years of flash flooding against the sandstone rocks – which highlights the shapes and forms of the rocks. Somehow the patterns reminded me of ceramics; of smooth lines created by gentle pressure that is applied to a piece of clay on a pottery wheel. It’s been a week but I am still in awe of how this sort of meticulous conformity exists and is preserved in nature.

Our next stop was the Horseshoe Bend: a crystal clear river of blueness in the middle of a rocky desert. Not to mention the shapes of rocks do present an uncanny resemblance of a horseshoe. The scale of this site is also unbelievable. My friend and I tried to climb on top of a hill of rocks to get a full view of the landscape but concluded that it’s quite impossible to see the entire canyon unless we’re on a helicopter or something. And yes, those are little boats docked on the edge of the river. How did people even get down there? I have no idea but I’d love to know. That place must look a lot like paradise.

Shot on Olympus EM-5 Mark II with 9mm Fisheye

Check back in a few days for a post on Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon!

xx

– vivian