My Imagination & Me (& my apology to my parents)

My First Western Vacation
Recently, I added three new states (Nevada, Arizona & Utah) to my growing list of travels. I was excited about the trip for two reasons - a few days of R&R (hopefully without cellphone coverage) and it marked my one year wedding anniversary!

I had my own stereotypical visions of what my western vacation would be like ... running out of gas on a long, dark, desolate road with a night sky full of beautiful stars, getting my picture taken next to a 6 ft cactus, drinking margaritas, looking at a bunch of big rocks and deep canyons, sitting around a campfire with real cowboys, getting great deals on silver & turquoise jewelry ... you get my drift.

A few of the highlights of the 6 days were: Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, WurstFest in Boulder City, Red Rock Canyon, Mt. Charleston, Sedona, Grand Canyon South Rim, Lee's Ferry, Grand Canyon North Rim, Bryce Canyon, Anniversary Dinner in Kanab and Mt. Zion National Park just to name a few. These places were truly gorgeous .. one breathtaking rock formation after another after another after another.

So, with each turn of the road* and with each new national park, Tom and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and my stereotypes faded away. And, in their place, came vivid pictures and stories created by my imagination and me.

My Imagination & Me
I've sat through hours of lectures on Geography, American History and the like learning of the billions of years of erosion that forms canyons and ancient Indian cultures and their contributions to society. I knew that this information was stored in some deep crevice of my brain but I was not expecting these landmarks to come alive ... my imagination became as powerful as the Colorado River.

I imagined the seas that once were where I was standing. I imagined that while we were hiking if I looked hard enough I'd find an undiscovered dinosaur footprint. I imagined continents colliding and forcing massive amounts of land to buckle. I imagined the water trickling over time to create each unique divide in the land. I imagined that there was no pollution and it would be ok to drink from the weeping rocks along the path. I imagined what the Grand Canyon would be like in another billion years.

As we drove for hours around the east rim of the canyon, I imagined how long this trip would take on horseback. I even imagined what it would feel like to arrive at the top after a Rim2Rim hike. I had debates with myself over when the best time would be to raft the river.

So, until our next vacation, we're going to soak up all that we learned and all that we dreamed,

My imagination and me



*My Apology To My Parents

Sometime during this trip, I realized that not that long ago, I would have been the kid in the backseat saying "are we there yet," "why are we stopping at every viewpoint," "do I have to get out of the car," "do I have to stand next to my little brother and smile for another picture."

All these times, my stubbornness got in the way of my imagination and me having a grand time. But that's not the worst part. The part that I feel awful about now is that I didn't even think of my parents. Now, I know that when we took vacations to beautiful places, they needed to restore themselves, they needed tranquility, peace, quiet and time for reflection. So, parents, please accept this apology and thank you for having patience and never throwing me over the side of a mountain when I was being a brat.


Stay tuned and I'll post some pics from our trip!