This is the part of road trips I hate: driving nonstop to get home before Monday. It's midnight (PDT), we just crossed the Idaho border and Boise is over 150 miles away. This is the only car on the freeway; the highbeams give considerable sight distance. We're seeing shooting stars.

It's also Saturday night and the kids are cruising in Ogden, Utah. They got their tricked-out trucks and cars kazooing up and down the main drag. They're hanging out in Denny's or in the Denny's parking lot where they're throwing shit around and driving in circles. Most people are blonde, authentic or otherwise; everyone looks a little rangey.

We spent the early afternoon driving between the viewpoints in Bryce Canyon. The rock formations were too spectacular to photograph, but we did it anyway.

At Rainbow point we fixed a picnic of our leftover food and it was unexpectedly delicious. Andrew ate the last of his fried chicken and we had the chips and salsa from Bandito's. There was flat Coke, and bread and cheese for sandwiches. We finished off the cookies.

At the park entrance, I showed the ranger the receipts from all the other parks we've visited—Yellowstone, Arches, Grand Canyon—and she upgraded us to an annual National Parks Pass worth the $50 we'd already paid. So, we didn't have to pay anything to get into Bryce and now we're set for free entry into any National Park until next October.

Mary told me about the new park, Escalante National Monument. She said it was an accomplishment of the Clinton administration against much opposition. When I looked it up on a map, I saw that it encompassed most of the area between the other National Parks on the Colorado Plateau and recognized it as an area I'd driven by before. Because we were in Bryce, I thought it would be cool to drive through it on the only paved road that enters the park. The thing is huge and largely inaccessible. Only a handful of roads provide access and they are unpaved. So after Bryce, we headed northeast, for Escalante, and home.

The scenery was spectacular, of course. It was different than the reds and oranges we've been seeing (Andrew says Bryce Canyon looks like Cheetos), in Escalante the earth is white and sometimes bronze. But the drive was long, curvy, and slow. The road (Highway 12) is remote and narrow. It tackles the rugged terrain without guardrails or shoulders. At one point the road topped a ridge and the mountain fell away on either side. I was tired and mildly ill from all the tight turns and didn't think to get a picture, but it was strange Sound-of-Musicing in a car like that.

It took hours and wore us out. When we crawled out from the area we were almost 200 miles from Salt Lake City, and tonight we need to be well into Idaho before we can stop.

The weather has been clear, cold, and dry. My contact lenses are sticking to my eyes.