Desert blues

I am gearing up for a trip to Austin in a week, and I am super excited. I fully intend to drive west from Austin at some point while I'm there to take in the desert landscape.

I've been up and down the East Coast, hiked in the Pacific Northwest, toured Canada and swam in the Gulf Coast. I had a ball in Bermuda and went 4-wheeling in Michigan, but I've never seen the desert. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my expectations aren't too inflated like they were for Niagara Falls.

For some reason (I'm not sure why) before going to Niagara Falls (the Canadian side), I had a romantic image of it in my mind, but what I discovered there was basically a Myrtle Beach-like tourist trap, complete with a wax museum of famous criminals and a roller coaster. Not to mention, the nightly lighting of the falls with garish colored lights turning black and blue roiling water into an orange/purple/green nightmare. To me, it was akin to decking out the majestic California redwoods with blinking Christmas lights.

Here's hoping the desert doesn't disappoint!