Yesterday was the last full day in Moab, so we took it easy. We took an early morning raft trip down the Colorado (no whitewater) followed by lunch at La Hacienda, our traditional stop in Moab for Mexican.
We spent the rest of the day reading, napping, and preparing for camping week, which starts today in Bryce. Last night I went grocery shopping for the week and, after an hour and a half in the crowded store, I was about to go all East Coast on these sons of bitches. MOVE! You can see that my vacation has mellowed me.
So the adventure truly begins today. 5 hour drive and then setting up the tent. I am sure it will go just peachily. Stay tuned folks, the fun is just beginning.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Moab
It's all about scale. The west is BIG. I don't mean big like wide or covering a lot of square miles, though that is certainly true. The west is just BIG. The sky is big, the prairies/deserts are big. The gaps between not just cities or towns, but pretty much any clump of human beings is big. But the most awesome parts of the west that are big are the rocks. Arches and Canyonlands today.
Arches is billions of tons of fun. and sweat. We hiked to Delicate Arch this morning, early to try and beat the heat. Lily complained and sulked and lagged, but Lily also made it to the top. The trail is a mile and a half uphill much of it across rock. It was 9 when we started, so it wasn't the worst of the day, but it was heating up. To her credit, when we got to the Arch, we were clambering all over the rocks. She didn't show nearly as much fear of the several hundred foot drop next to the arch as i felt was prudent.
The way back down was much more fun as we climbed everything we could. Then we went to Double Arch for more climbing.
Clare has acquired the hobby of collecting reproduction WPA National Park Posters and the Arches visitor center was a gold mine. She only collects those of places she's been and she was able to get Arches, Canyonlands and Monument Valley(which is great because we'll be damned before we'll go to that miserable place again).
After lunch and pool and complimentary cookies c/o the Gonzo Inn, we headed to Canyonlands and a different lesson in scale. Canyonlands has immense views of awe inspiring mountains, buttes, canyons valleys and deserts all in one spot. The fall from the mesa that is Canyonlands isn't hundreds, it's thousands of feet. And for some reason today the wind was vicious, and it blew dust into your eyes, so you were half blind standing on a 2200 ft tall rock with high winds trying to blow you over. I highly recommend it.
People use the word "Awesome" a lot. 99 percent of the time it's bullshit. This time it isn't.
Tomorrow we raft down the river in the morning and prepare for the camping week of our trip in bryce, zion and Grand Canyon. That's another place the exposes the language as inadequate to the task of describing the scene. You don't have to like nature or hiking or hippies or any of that shit to be awed by this place.
To use the Universe or Space or planets as a guide to give you perspective on how small you really are, you have to use your imagination. This place just hits you in the face with it, no imagining necessary. You're small, and all you have to do to see it is stand here and look at all this BIG.
Arches is billions of tons of fun. and sweat. We hiked to Delicate Arch this morning, early to try and beat the heat. Lily complained and sulked and lagged, but Lily also made it to the top. The trail is a mile and a half uphill much of it across rock. It was 9 when we started, so it wasn't the worst of the day, but it was heating up. To her credit, when we got to the Arch, we were clambering all over the rocks. She didn't show nearly as much fear of the several hundred foot drop next to the arch as i felt was prudent.
The way back down was much more fun as we climbed everything we could. Then we went to Double Arch for more climbing.
Clare has acquired the hobby of collecting reproduction WPA National Park Posters and the Arches visitor center was a gold mine. She only collects those of places she's been and she was able to get Arches, Canyonlands and Monument Valley(which is great because we'll be damned before we'll go to that miserable place again).
After lunch and pool and complimentary cookies c/o the Gonzo Inn, we headed to Canyonlands and a different lesson in scale. Canyonlands has immense views of awe inspiring mountains, buttes, canyons valleys and deserts all in one spot. The fall from the mesa that is Canyonlands isn't hundreds, it's thousands of feet. And for some reason today the wind was vicious, and it blew dust into your eyes, so you were half blind standing on a 2200 ft tall rock with high winds trying to blow you over. I highly recommend it.
People use the word "Awesome" a lot. 99 percent of the time it's bullshit. This time it isn't.
Tomorrow we raft down the river in the morning and prepare for the camping week of our trip in bryce, zion and Grand Canyon. That's another place the exposes the language as inadequate to the task of describing the scene. You don't have to like nature or hiking or hippies or any of that shit to be awed by this place.
To use the Universe or Space or planets as a guide to give you perspective on how small you really are, you have to use your imagination. This place just hits you in the face with it, no imagining necessary. You're small, and all you have to do to see it is stand here and look at all this BIG.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Cuz Baby you're a firework
Fourth of July on a rooftop deck near Coors Field was, by volume, the best fireworks show I've seen. There were easily more than 15 separate full scale shows going on simultaneously that we could see without moving. Add the grilled brats that had been put in their casings only a few hours prior and you have a recipe for a great day. Thanks again to all our Denver/ Boulder friends for a great break from the road.
Now on to Moab for the first desert portion of the trip. But first, a trip through the Rockies.
So I am writing and posting this using the smartphone that I just took the mountain photo with after booking a rafting trip for Sunday on it. You really don't need preparation for trips much anymore.
The next few days will be climbing rocks, breathing heavily, fearing heights and hydrating. I can't wait.
Now on to Moab for the first desert portion of the trip. But first, a trip through the Rockies.
So I am writing and posting this using the smartphone that I just took the mountain photo with after booking a rafting trip for Sunday on it. You really don't need preparation for trips much anymore.
The next few days will be climbing rocks, breathing heavily, fearing heights and hydrating. I can't wait.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
You get what you get
Nothing touristy today, because we did nothing touristy.
Expectations. I'm of the opinion that they are mostly useless. I have friends who've said that if they had gotten what they wanted when they were younger they would have sold themselves short. Our time in Denver has embodied that idea.
Friendships in elementary school are usually ephemeral things, shifting alliances where proximity outweighs compatibility. We hoped that Lily and Lukas would enjoy each other's company, but a year is a long time to be away from one another. At 9/10, interests change and divisions spring up all over, especially between boys and girls. Expectations are tempered, lowered. The reality is that it's like it's been a day. They make up games to play and rag on each other like no time has passed, as I mentioned yesterday. Lily spent most of the day with Lukas today from noon til the fireworks at Coors field ended at 11pm. Expectations are blown away. Dinner last night with the Rizvis (Lukas' parents) and time together tonight on the rooftop garden watching the fireworks, right where we were before they left. The comfort and warmth of the familiar rhythms take no time to return.
After I dropped Lily off in Boulder at noon, I met my old friend, Phil, for lunch. We've not seen or spoken to each other in over 30 years. Middle and high school friendships can be ephemeral too. I had no idea how it would go, expectations are lowered. We sit down in the restaurant and start chatting, the waitress comes over, we're not ready, we're just talking. A few minutes later the waitress comes back over, we're not ready, we're just talking. A few minutes later, same thing, she rightfully gives up. When we finally do decide to order, we have to flag her down because she's just moved on. It's like not a day has passed. We didn't talk about what we've done between high school and now more than a few minutes. We talked about who we are, what we think about things, our relationships with our wives and daughters,the philosophy of science and the role dumb luck plays in our lives and the advantages we have based on nothing we've done and the responsibility and the weight of being seen as an authority on something, whether it's based on actual knowledge or just the perception created by speaking confidently. 3 hours of just great conversation. Expectations are blown away.
Clare and Greg are wrapped up in conversation, forgetting the boiling potatoes for the potato salad, overcooking them to the point where had to be thrown out. Dinner with the 4 of us when Greg and Heather lived in Virginia were filled with long and rambling and profane conversations full of laughter, and tonight was like no time had passed there.
My life is better than I've had any right to expect, given where I came from and many of the things I've done. Today was just another one of those days where I got more than I thought I would.
Sorry to get maudlin, but I get grateful sometimes and stuff like this happens.
Tomorrow is another day of hanging around, eating good food and watching stuff blow up before the 6 hour drive to Moab. Happy 4th of July everybody.
Expectations. I'm of the opinion that they are mostly useless. I have friends who've said that if they had gotten what they wanted when they were younger they would have sold themselves short. Our time in Denver has embodied that idea.
Friendships in elementary school are usually ephemeral things, shifting alliances where proximity outweighs compatibility. We hoped that Lily and Lukas would enjoy each other's company, but a year is a long time to be away from one another. At 9/10, interests change and divisions spring up all over, especially between boys and girls. Expectations are tempered, lowered. The reality is that it's like it's been a day. They make up games to play and rag on each other like no time has passed, as I mentioned yesterday. Lily spent most of the day with Lukas today from noon til the fireworks at Coors field ended at 11pm. Expectations are blown away. Dinner last night with the Rizvis (Lukas' parents) and time together tonight on the rooftop garden watching the fireworks, right where we were before they left. The comfort and warmth of the familiar rhythms take no time to return.
After I dropped Lily off in Boulder at noon, I met my old friend, Phil, for lunch. We've not seen or spoken to each other in over 30 years. Middle and high school friendships can be ephemeral too. I had no idea how it would go, expectations are lowered. We sit down in the restaurant and start chatting, the waitress comes over, we're not ready, we're just talking. A few minutes later the waitress comes back over, we're not ready, we're just talking. A few minutes later, same thing, she rightfully gives up. When we finally do decide to order, we have to flag her down because she's just moved on. It's like not a day has passed. We didn't talk about what we've done between high school and now more than a few minutes. We talked about who we are, what we think about things, our relationships with our wives and daughters,the philosophy of science and the role dumb luck plays in our lives and the advantages we have based on nothing we've done and the responsibility and the weight of being seen as an authority on something, whether it's based on actual knowledge or just the perception created by speaking confidently. 3 hours of just great conversation. Expectations are blown away.
Clare and Greg are wrapped up in conversation, forgetting the boiling potatoes for the potato salad, overcooking them to the point where had to be thrown out. Dinner with the 4 of us when Greg and Heather lived in Virginia were filled with long and rambling and profane conversations full of laughter, and tonight was like no time had passed there.
My life is better than I've had any right to expect, given where I came from and many of the things I've done. Today was just another one of those days where I got more than I thought I would.
Sorry to get maudlin, but I get grateful sometimes and stuff like this happens.
Tomorrow is another day of hanging around, eating good food and watching stuff blow up before the 6 hour drive to Moab. Happy 4th of July everybody.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Friends in high places
Today we came into Denver, where we'll be for the next few days. This is a time for old friends for each of us.
We're here staying with Clare's friends Greg and Heather. Greg and Clare worked together at AOL. Greg moved out here not that long ago, maybe 2 years, i could be wrong. He's gone native in a big way. Broncos fan, goes to Rockies games, built an infill development house in Denver within walking distance of downtown. I'll get a picture on here from his rooftop garden, which is a fabulous thing to have, especially with a view of the area where there will be fireworks happening tomorrow and on the 4th.
Lily got to play today with Lukas, the boy who lived across the street from us for 4 or 5 years. Lily and Lukas played together most days, making up games of Monopoly with 3X5 cards they'd put all over the house, turning it into a huge game board, or just bugging each other with the question "What do you want to do?" When they got together today, is was if no days had passed. Friends like that are rare and can last a lifetime.
I'm going to see a friend I haven't seen in over 30 years tomorrow. Phil Plait, a.k.a. the Bad Astronomer, and I were friends from 6th grade through most of high school. We were both going to be scientists, astronomers. We were in the Science club and the Science Fiction club together. He focused on his goal and I focused on girls and drinking. He got his degree, worked on the Hubble telescope, turned a blog into a gig with Discovery, Slate, books and a TV show or two. Make no mistake, i'm in a great place and am an extremely lucky man, but that's sort of the point. I'm extremely lucky to not have my misspent youth keep me from the good life I have now. Phil followed his goal and didn't have to be extremely lucky. He did the legwork and got the rewards. He did still go bald though, so there. So kids, stay in school, pick a direction and focus on it, and don't be afraid to pursue your dream, or any dream, maybe you're not much of a dreamer, I don't know, stop asking me all these questions!
Anyway, we'll try to post anything interesting that happens.
In the meantime,I think I'll do something random that'll probably just irritate Clare (I know it will irritate my friend Stacy):
Here's a picture of Britney Spears:
We're here staying with Clare's friends Greg and Heather. Greg and Clare worked together at AOL. Greg moved out here not that long ago, maybe 2 years, i could be wrong. He's gone native in a big way. Broncos fan, goes to Rockies games, built an infill development house in Denver within walking distance of downtown. I'll get a picture on here from his rooftop garden, which is a fabulous thing to have, especially with a view of the area where there will be fireworks happening tomorrow and on the 4th.
Lily got to play today with Lukas, the boy who lived across the street from us for 4 or 5 years. Lily and Lukas played together most days, making up games of Monopoly with 3X5 cards they'd put all over the house, turning it into a huge game board, or just bugging each other with the question "What do you want to do?" When they got together today, is was if no days had passed. Friends like that are rare and can last a lifetime.
I'm going to see a friend I haven't seen in over 30 years tomorrow. Phil Plait, a.k.a. the Bad Astronomer, and I were friends from 6th grade through most of high school. We were both going to be scientists, astronomers. We were in the Science club and the Science Fiction club together. He focused on his goal and I focused on girls and drinking. He got his degree, worked on the Hubble telescope, turned a blog into a gig with Discovery, Slate, books and a TV show or two. Make no mistake, i'm in a great place and am an extremely lucky man, but that's sort of the point. I'm extremely lucky to not have my misspent youth keep me from the good life I have now. Phil followed his goal and didn't have to be extremely lucky. He did the legwork and got the rewards. He did still go bald though, so there. So kids, stay in school, pick a direction and focus on it, and don't be afraid to pursue your dream, or any dream, maybe you're not much of a dreamer, I don't know, stop asking me all these questions!
Anyway, we'll try to post anything interesting that happens.
In the meantime,I think I'll do something random that'll probably just irritate Clare (I know it will irritate my friend Stacy):
Here's a picture of Britney Spears:
Badlands to Cheyenne, every terrain you can think of.
Yesterday's trek started in the Badlands, went through the mountains then underground, and across the prairie to Cheyenne Wyoming. The road(16A) from Keystone SD to Wind Cave is what you pretended you were doing when you drove those little cars on rails at Busch Gardens or Kings Dominion. The GPS actually showed spirals and loops. There were wooden bridges that you drove under, curled around and then drove across. There were one lane tunnels blasted through the rock that idiots would stand in, blocking traffic taking pictures. It would be a great road for motorcycles, as long as it was closed to traffic coming the other way, otherwise it would be too brief a ride.
One thing we've decided this trip is that a picnic is where you make it. We don't need no stinkin' picnic tables. Under a Juniper tree in Badlands or on a stone fence in Wind Cave work just fine. Let the other tourists compete and jockey for the tables, to hell with them.
Wind Cave is the 6th largest discovered cave system in the world, it's as flashy as Luray, but it's cool and dark and has passages everywhere that you could easily get lost and die in. We only went down about 150 ft, but the caves go as deep as 500 feet below the surface. It was perfect for me, cool and damp and dark, just how I like it. There's nothing like the dark of a cave when they turn out the lights.
After Wind Cave, it was across the prairie to Ft. Laramie, WY. Along the way there were antelope, bison out the wazoo, and prairie dogs being as stinkin' cute as they could be. Ft. Laramie is your basic half restored old frontier fort/town etc. They've done a nice job with the buildings, especially the store and the long calvary barracks are pretty cool. Here, Lily had her first Sarsparilla. Her first question? How is this different from root beer. I had to look it up. From what i read, they're the same but root beer has more stuff in it. Sioux City Sarsparilla is really good though, if you are of that persuasion.
Then a brief 110 mile trip to Cheyenne, with a stop in Guernsey to see some of the ruts cut into the rock by the wagons going west along the Oregon Trail 150 years ago. After a lovely Mexican dinner at Guadalajara, it was crash city baby. Out like a light.
The Odyssey has done over 2000 miles on this trip so far, it's really hard to believe this is only Day 4 for Lily and I, Day 7 for Clare. Denver tonight, where we'll see Clare's old friends and Lily's old friend and maybe, just maybe, my friend from Junior high who I haven't seen in 30 years. There won't be as much travelogue, we're slowing down a bit before the Moab/Bryce/Zion/Grand Canyon run.
I did want to mention the place we ate in Keystone SD, the town there is reminds us of Jackson Hole, or Cherokee NC, basically a much smaller Pigeon Forge touristy, kitschy area. Ruby's House is absolutely of that ilk, a saloon theme, even to the point of the bar waitress walking around in one of those corsets you saw in old Western movies. The food was good though, and if you embrace the kitsch, it's a very good place to go.
One thing we've decided this trip is that a picnic is where you make it. We don't need no stinkin' picnic tables. Under a Juniper tree in Badlands or on a stone fence in Wind Cave work just fine. Let the other tourists compete and jockey for the tables, to hell with them.
Wind Cave is the 6th largest discovered cave system in the world, it's as flashy as Luray, but it's cool and dark and has passages everywhere that you could easily get lost and die in. We only went down about 150 ft, but the caves go as deep as 500 feet below the surface. It was perfect for me, cool and damp and dark, just how I like it. There's nothing like the dark of a cave when they turn out the lights.
Then a brief 110 mile trip to Cheyenne, with a stop in Guernsey to see some of the ruts cut into the rock by the wagons going west along the Oregon Trail 150 years ago. After a lovely Mexican dinner at Guadalajara, it was crash city baby. Out like a light.
The Odyssey has done over 2000 miles on this trip so far, it's really hard to believe this is only Day 4 for Lily and I, Day 7 for Clare. Denver tonight, where we'll see Clare's old friends and Lily's old friend and maybe, just maybe, my friend from Junior high who I haven't seen in 30 years. There won't be as much travelogue, we're slowing down a bit before the Moab/Bryce/Zion/Grand Canyon run.
I did want to mention the place we ate in Keystone SD, the town there is reminds us of Jackson Hole, or Cherokee NC, basically a much smaller Pigeon Forge touristy, kitschy area. Ruby's House is absolutely of that ilk, a saloon theme, even to the point of the bar waitress walking around in one of those corsets you saw in old Western movies. The food was good though, and if you embrace the kitsch, it's a very good place to go.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Dakota spanning
From one side of SD to the other today. From prairie to badlands to the mountaintop all in one day. We saw horsies, and cowses, and a Swift Fox, and a bighorn sheep and a prairie dog (eeeep). There was a sculpture of a bull's head with enormous horns on the side of the road that looked so much like the golden calf the israelites made in the Ten Commandments, that I expected Charlton Heston to pop over the hill and start winging tablets all over the place.
Lily got her first taste of the west in the Badlands National Park. Climbing the rocks, no fences or railings or people to tell you not to kill yourself. The Badlands feel like a smaller version of Bryce and a small taste of Canyonlands.
Then Wall Drug, which is South Dakota's answer to South of the Border, though i'm not sure who asked that question. We got Lil' her crappy souvenir that she will forget she has by tomorrow morning and some really good milkshakes. There was a T-Rex and one of those old time shooting galleries like at the beach when i was a kid. The ones where you didn't win anything, but if you hit the target a coffin would open and a skeleton would pop out or the windmill would start spinning. What i found out is that Clare is apparently a crack shot. Have to file that info away for a rainy day.
The final stop of the day was Mt. Rushmore. Several themes emerged. We're not completely sure why Teddy Roosevelt is on that mountain. There was a 20 minute film presentation about all 4 guys and their explanation of Teddy was patently unconvincing. Another theme, for me, is that the other 3 guys are easily the greatest Americans ever. Washington was repeatedly given choices that would have made him extremely powerful and he turned them aside so that the experiment of a government based on principles had a chance. Jefferson announced the arrival of this govt in the Declaration of Independence, then doubled the size of the place in one fell swoop. Lincoln was simply the nation's martyr and conscience. Now, it doesn't take much to make a case that these guys were serious assholes too, the whole Sally Jennings thing, suspending habeas corpus, etc., whatever Washington did wrong that i never learned because I went to an American school.., but we're all assholes. How many of us assholes would take the risks they took and do the things they did and suffer the way Lincoln did? I'm a very patriotic person, I love the country American can be and sometimes is, even though I see the fallacy inherent in nationalism. Every time i see the country be great, i hear the echoes of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln in whatever it is we're doing. Humble America, thoughtful America, fair America, forgiving America, the land of opportunity America, that's those guys. Not some jingoistic claptrap about how at least we know we're free. We're a shitload more than free when we're on our game.
Ok, you didn't ask for my opinion, but that's never stopped me before.
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