Hidden in Fog

 

Let's go back to Utah and almost a year back. After we had met the Goblins and got our tire fixed in Green River we finally arrived in Moab. We quickly checked into our hotel and went to the Moab Brewery for lunner (a meal between lunch and dinner), then we just did a quick drive up to Arches National Park as long as there was still some daylight. We had been to Arches often and knew exactly where we wanted to go.

It was an early night for us because we wanted to go into Arches the next day before the crowds. We had heard horror stories about long waiting times and overcrowded parking lots even in winter. Sadly, all of this is true; we were pretty shocked. We had never experienced the park that crowded before.

So we left early after a very satisfying breakfast at the Moab Diner - if you're ever in Moab and you like Southwestern cuisine, this is the place to go to. We went their for breakfast as well as for dinner. Definitely don't miss their green chili sauce. 

Even though we were early, there was already a line of cars at the entrance. Arches has a long driveway up to the toll booth and along that driveway you see those lovely signs like "one hour wait from here" etc. We had to stop at "half an hour wait from here" and thankfully only had to wait 15 minutes until we were through (the longest we ever had to wait here). 

Arches presented itself hidden in fog.

Over breakfast we had decided that we wanted to go to the Windows first and do a little hike here that we had done several years ago. The upper parking lot was already full, but we did find a spot in the lower parking lot. From here it's just a 15 minute walk or so to the North and South Window Arch - if you don't stop all the time because you want to take foggy photos like yours truly.

Who can resist such beautiful crooked trees?

I succeeded in taking a picture of the walkway up to the North Window without a single person in it! 

From the Windows you can enjoy the beautiful view of Turret Arch, and the fog gave the entire scenery a very special atmosphere.

The silhouettes of the trees in the fog had something quite mysterious.

We could already feel the sun behind the clouds, working hard to get through the fog. The light around Turret Arch became slightly brighter.

The sun was squinting through the rock and the fog.

And suddenly the fog was lifting, just like that, and revealing Turret Arch in all its beauty. Almost. It was like lifting a veil.

We could see some of the famous features in the distance like the Great Wall.

Turret Arch was on its way to lose the remaining bits of fog. The mystery was gone.

With the disappearance of the fog a selfie was in order. My contribution to Nicole's Friday Face Off.

After that we started our hike along the Windows Sand Loop Trail. As soon as we had left the main trail at the Windows, we were almost alone. This was much more to our liking. While the fog had lifted, it was still hanging around in some places. We could see it for a while from our hiking trail.

Last week Nicole asked for the recipe of my Tiramisu. I thought I post it here because perhaps someone else would like to try it too. I brought it from Italy sometime in the mid 90s and it therefore is in metric measurements.

4 eggs, separated

100 g sugar

500 g Mascarpone (I use the Trader Joe's one, two packages are a bit less than 500g)

Italian ladyfingers (the hard ones, not the soft)

cold espresso

cocoa powder

Lay out the ladyfingers in a dish and soak with the espresso.

Beat the egg yolks, sugar and marscarpone until creamy. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the cream.

Put a first layer of soaked ladyfingers on the bottom of a deep dish. Spoon a first layer of cream on top f it.  Add a second layer of soaked ladyfingers and a second layer of mascarpone cream. Cover and chill overnight. 

Shortly before serving shake cocoa powder on top of the chilled cream until it is completely covered.

Enjoy!