When I was 20-ish years old, I took my 10-year-old brother on a road trip from San Diego to Buffalo, and we stopped at the Grand Canyon. I remember being very aware that if I somehow let him slip off the edge, not only would I be incredibly sad, my family would also disown me. After all, my brothers were each very protected, the darlings of the family. I took a picture of him sitting on a wall near a cliff, but it wasn’t until the film was developed that I realized how dire the situation looked. That was a great trip!
I have taken my kids to the Grand Canyon before, maybe more than once. We have traveled so much that I don’t always remember which kids have been where.
Each time we go, it seems bigger than the last time.
Today, we hiked down for ten minutes or so, and it seemed that the edge was not as extreme as it has seemed in the past. Of course, we had not stopped at that particular spot before.
At maybe the only precarious place on the trail, my wild youngest children decided to test their mortality and get into a scuffle. Why do children want to die all the time?
Next time we come here, we hope to hike from rim to rim and take a little break to do some fine dining and rafting while we are at the bottom. Today was deceivingly cool, and it crossed my mind that July might be a great month for such an adventure. Signage at the trailheads shout reality, warning death to those who hike the canyon in the summer months. Maybe October would be a better idea. Ha!
Real quick, we are bringing home half of Arizona on our car. That slide through the flash flood mud sure did pimp our ride in a desert theme!
Driving toward California, the trees and cactus turn into dry chaparral, the smell is less of wet earth and more of hot sage and buckwheat, and ranch land grasses are sparse. The fat cattle feeding on prairie grasses, spoiled buy frequent streams and watering holes have been replaced by skinny cows hoping to find a bite to eat, hopefully wandering past a stock tank before dying of thirst.
There are many people who are quite happy in California. Many people we know think we are a bit nuts for wanting to leave the state. Some even appear offended that we would want to go. We are not the kinds of people who fit in well with fences, though. One can drive across the nation and not encounter border inspections that one encounters in California. Other states greet you with a beautiful sign, a welcome center, a sign indicating the best things to see in the state, joyful people. At the California border, one is greeted by armed guards asking for your apples and carrots that you brought for snacks. You cannot even bring lunch into the state, or if they do decide you don’t look too intimidating, they might motion you through with a scowl. We even fence off our rivers here. There are fences and barbed wire everywhere.
Welcome to California. Here’s an armed guard to welcome you with a menacing stare. Yikes!
I know, I know, we are crazy for disliking this. What I love is that we live in a nation where people who like such a lifestyle can live where that lifestyle is promoted. Those who do not can go elsewhere! How amazing and freeing! Maybe that is the main reason I am a patriot. I love all the choices we have! I choose to leave California ASAP. It’s all personal preference. As my father says, “Sobre gustos, no hay disputos.”
Well, so his Spanish grammar isn’t perfect, he’s right, though.
There was a gentle wind blowing today, as we are in the middle of what seems to be a monsoon, and we stopped at the dunes to put our footprints in the sand.
My sweet boys do not care that we are teetering between a thunder storm and blazing heat. They love sand. Judah went far across the desert to a high dune, raised his hands in victory, and then proceeded to roll down the entire thing. In the end, all we could see was a rolling log of sand.
“Mom, look, my Lego camper is making a trip into the desert, but it gets stuck. Then a giant hand comes and tries to help, but it just makes things worse. What would we do if it were us? Should we be afraid, or should we be glad that we are about to die?”
Ummmm…
How could such a cute baby doll have so many things going on in her mind? She’s a mini philosopher.
The other day, as we were reading the Bible at night, she asked, “Not that I am this person, but what if a person doesn’t have the Bible. What if they have never heard about God? What happens then?”
Good question, baby doll. A great discussion ensued.
About 15 minutes after we got into the car, he said, “My pockets are full of sand. Look! I brought the desert with us!” Well, good thing there are car washes. And boy, oh boy, does this car NEED a car wash.
We took the rout through Imperial Valley, south of the Salton Sea, on our way back. I love the variety in products raised here! There is even a date shake shop in town!
The desert is so beautiful. Dunes to chaparral to badlands to springs of water, and then suddenly you are at the mountains.
We were very eager to get home. We have kittens and dogs and chickens and ducks and pocket pets, and Judah has his garden, which he set up on a watering timer before we left.
Uncle Nathan has taken very good care of everything while we were away. What we found tonight was that not only do no animals or plants die on his watch (This is a HUGE accomplishment), but he found the snake, missing for 2 months, and one of the cats, missing for 2 weeks before we left! Unks must be magical with animals!
And so we are home. We will spend the year doing what needs to be done in preparation for moving to South Dakota. This is likely to be our last year here. We are very happy with what our trip turned out like. This wasn’t supposed to be a play time for us, although many joyful days were spent. This was supposed to be a trip on which we mingled with people we might later call friends and neighbors, and to discover whether it would be a place we were likely to love. Success!
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