We used to make the road trip between Flagstaff and northern Utah several times a year. We’ve done the drive so many times for so many years; I know every turn, and I know how far I am from my destination at every point along the way. Maybe it’s something about the season that’s making me think of it now — it was frequently and end-of-summer ritual, so late August feels like the time to be packing and driving through that long stretch of central to southern Utah highway, across the Grand Staircase and the descent from the north rim of the Grand Canyon, to finally cross the Kaibab plateau.

We’ve moved, so I don’t know when or even if I’ll ever make that trip again, but those highways and vistas are like smooth, familiar grooves in my memory, a very specific part of many years of my story.

We had another nice Ogden valley sunset, last night. It’s been hot here, and back in Flagstaff, too, but monsoon rains are forecast to cool down both of these hometowns this week.

I’ve been spending some time up in Utah, and I had forgotten how much bigger the 24th of July holiday here is than the 4th of July. While Independence Day is certainly a big holiday, the weekend of the 24th – “Pioneer Days” – is absolutely massive.