867 miles driving, 3 states, 3 National Parks, 2 hotel rooms, 2 campsites, 3 nights of freezing temperatures, 1 museum, $19.50 under budget.
As our friend Susan says, “Geological time includes now”, and this week we got to experience the slow tick of geologic time by witnessing some of the most beautiful results of those processes on the planet.
When we first envisioned traveling for a “long time”, a year seemed like a lot of time to fill. Today, 10 1/2 months into it, we wonder how those months could have gone by so quickly. Now, maybe unconsciously, we have slowed the pace considerably. We are camping in our tent again, which for us means being closer to the rhythms of nature. It feels good somehow to stand back and become more aware of this final leg of the Meander in the context of the natural processes on our planet.
We had clear skies and a moonless night for a ranger talk about the stars at Grand Canyon National Park. We have had to break up the frost on our tent zipper a couple of times in the dawn light. The relentless wind of evening has given way to calm twilight as we stared into the campfire in a seemingly ageless fascination with the interplay play of light and heat. We have driven across hot and dusty sagebrush flats on our way to oasis’ of cottonwoods and chuckling streams. As the moon waxes towards full once again, we head toward another “dark sky” park for one more shot of stargazing before making our way through a couple of cities toward home.
Bryce Canyon, Zion and the Grand Canyon have each given us a reminder of the short time we get to be on this planet as well as a context for the impacts of time on human and geology both. Each park has left an imprint of wonder and the wish to return and explore more in an effort to get to know their wonders more intimately, which ironically, would take time.
Next week, Santa Fe for an exploration of art and culture in a different setting in the company of dear friends, then off to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and Big Bend National Park in Texas for more stargazing.
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