behindtheax

On a dark desert highway

Sunday we rented a mustang convertible, left the glittery strip of hotels and slot machines and drove west towards California’s Death Valley. The morning started off cold but we drove with the top down anyway. I didn’t think to bring a sweater (thinking desert = hot) and so I started to complain and Greg just turns to me, “we are driving through a desert where you can see snow capped mountains in the background, no kids, no dogs, no parents and you’re complaining?”
So, I stopped trying to get him to put the top up and by noon it was lovely and warm. It was a wonderful day and I was constantly in awe over the beauty of the landscape. We visited all the tourist areas like the Devil’s golf course, Artist Drive, the Golden canyon and Zabriskie Point. Mainly we just pulled off the road anytime we spotted something interesting and walked around wondering why it was all so quiet. And we came up with no bird song, no rustle of leaves, no sound of water. Rocks are pretty damn quiet. I would go back there. There is this resort at a place called Furnace Creek and Greg and I stopped in for a drink on our way back and it was a lovely spot. Almost appeared to me that it could be a writer’s retreat. There was this older couple sitting across from us, both reading and he looks over at her and says, “is it time for our nap yet?” and she, who is engrossed in her book, says, “in a bit.” So, he puts his newspaper in his lap and his head on his shoulder and falls immediately to sleep. Greg and I smiled at each other both of us thinking how much they reminded us of his parents or possiably us in another thirty years.

Las Vegas Boulevard on the other hand was WOW - at first I couldn’t help but think of the fictional city of Arrakeen for some reason – it all struck me a bit strange and I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with myself while Greg was at the NAB during the days but I ended up enjoying my time - just wandering up and down the strip, walking through the casinos, window shopping, people watching, sitting by the pool, playing a little roulette and the days seemed to go quickly. It was only six days anyway but I did miss the girls, the dogs by about day three-

Everything worked out well here – in fact it was a great experience for the girls to spend that time with their grandparents without us in the middle. I could see that they had built up a greater familiarity with each other over that short time period. Grammy said she loves Erin’s humor. Monica thought Granddad was a wealth of information about the stars (he was a sea captain for fifty years, joining the merchant marines at the age of sixteen – didn’t retire until his seventies) and because of his help she aced her science test. So, everything worked out fine all around.

I’ve been through the desert with cool wind in my hair (got to check that one off of my life experience list ;) I still don’t know what colitas is though?

posted by mary j. @ 12:47 PM