I have spent a good part of this summer traveling to Southern Utah and the desert areas of Nevada and California. Only family could have dragged me to those searing, dry areas. However, because I am a determined observer, I saw great beauty there--especially in Utah where rainbow-streaked red rock, cerulean skies, marshmallow cloud formations, struggling sea-foam blue foliage and neon sunsets collided. And the shapes! Between Heaven, bleached out gulch and long dramatic cast shadows, the jagged beauty is akin to piling up handfuls of colorful, chipped rocks found in the bins of roadside rock shops. I hate the heat. I love what it bakes.