Zion Rangers

Zion was fantastic. Again, google it, bc I didn't take my phone with me. Lots of french ppl again. We rode the park shuttle up and down the canyon, stopping to do a few 30 min half mile "hikes."

I definitely want to come back to Zion to do the Narrows-- it's an intense hike where you basically wade through the river winding through the slot canyons.

I saw this ADORABLE mixed family-- hot Indian dad, pretty white mom-- with three insanely cute kids. The middle one, a girl, was like my alter ego at 6. Loud, curious, long curly hair. She was clearly the boss. I have never wanted to kidnap a child more. We were waiting for the shuttle, and she put out her hand in that hilarious way when kids are being adult and serious, and said, Everbody, hush! She closed her eyes, listened, and announced, The bus is COMING. Then her toddler little brother who had given me the stink eye earlier (sixth sense for stranger danger?) turned around wildly, like, OMG WHERE? It was one of those precious moments where you realize little kids will be excited and wondrous about anything.

Actually, I'd just kidnap the two little ones, because the older brother was already 8 or so, and boring and had glasses.

Zion is essentially this enormous canyon with cliffs rising up on both sides for miles. The cliffs have epic LDS-given names like The Patriarchs, Moroni, Angel's Landing, and God's Throne. Angel's Landing has a portion where you have to go hand over hand clinging to a chain bolted into the cliff. I want to do that one too.

On the shuttle back down the canyon, this adorable earnest park ranger sat next to me. She said she didn't grow up doing outdoors stuff, and in her lugged boots, dorky hat and Indigo Girls hair cut, she had all the zealousness of a convert. I pitched her my idea for a scripted ensemble drama: ZION. Or maybe, Rangers of Zion. Or, Zion Rangers. It would be like Grey's Anatomy, but with park rangers. Like, Grey's meets Yogi Bear. You can still have all the same sex and relationship drama, earnest newbies getting into it with senior staff. There would be B story lines with stranded tourists, landslides, hippies growing pot in the back country, etc. Also, you could have arcs involving budget cuts and political lobbying-- maybe the park director goes to DC, pulls a stunt with bringing wild animal-- wild cat or falcon-- onto the House floor. And, you could also have a storyline with a developer trying to buy parkland from the government to build disneyfied park resort condos, and like, the developer's lawyer has a secret affair with the park director. The sweet park ranger said it was the best idea she heard all summer. Anyway, if anyone wants to write this, let me know.

Off to Billings today. I'm all about the red states with blue people. *via smartphone*