Concrete Jungle to Petrified Forest

Moving around so much plays tricks with the mind. You get used to a certain environment, and one of two things happen. If you know you're going to be there long, you'll start adjusting, accepting differences, learning, settling. Or the second thing happens. You begin longing for the next place.

I've been in a state of transition lately. My definition of home has metamorphasized from a comfort, staple, or stone, into something dynamic. Home is now growth. Home is in the making. Or maybe I travel the world finding these pieces of things, memories, ideas, and soon they will be put into my home. My fantasy is to one day have some place, home, that embodies all of my memories and me. It will be the ultimate comfort where I can swim in this deep and warm sea of nostalgia. Hopefully I'll never actually live there, and I'd prefer not to go there too often. All is well and good enjoying that sort of thing, but nothing much happens there. I guess it'll always be there though, in my head. It'll be an idle day dream at a dull day of work.

The farthest west I had ever been was St. Louis. And that had been years ago. Since coming back from Spain, or maybe ever since I arrived there, I've had this yearning to travel the states. To treat this country like it's foreign. I mean it really is. I've seen so little of this place, it's overwhelming to think about. It's unfair to think about, because I know I'll never see it all. There will always be some little haven hidden off the main path of traffic and life. There will always be millions of places like that.

Alright. You can tell I'm getting a bit excited. Things are starting to happen again. Summer is coming to an end, and the big changes will be taking place. The unknown, how great it is. Anyways, I recently returned from a trip to Yellowstone. Damian's been working out there at a service station. I figured it was the best excuse I was going to get to head out there.

I think I've conditioned myself into this feeling of nirvana when I step on a plane. Just the idea of going somewhere else when you've been somewhere too long. The days building up to all of it had been rough with hours to work over and my hairy nephew to clean up after. I had hung out with Nicole the night before my flight, and the haze began as soon as I got home at 12:30. Packing, madrugar and put some hours in before my long flight out west.

Wednesday night with two hours extra to take a formidable stab at rubbing the tiredness out of my eyes. Damian picked me up with the new lady Maria. A nice surprise. I was thinking I'd be in for a nice painful 3 hour ride back to Yellowstone, but instead we decided on a nice dinner. I had lamb shank.

Now I don't know if all national parks are like this, but Yellowstone has this park policy of allowing forest fires. From what I've read and heard, it's a good thing. And their thing is to let it happen naturally. It leaves the park a bit bare. Entire mountainsides will be fallow and all that are left are these toothpick trees scattered about. It's different. You walk into the forest and occasionally you can see for some hundred yards. It's just not what I'm used to. The earth seems bare and open. Maybe even a bit cold. It adds something though. It adds this mystique. Driving around at night seeing the bones of these trees, dried and burnt, it has its allure.


Damian looking down on Heart Lake

  
I managed to avoid most of the touristy areas during my stay. Yeah that meant no old faithful, but I saw some good geothermal activity away from the tourists, miles off the road, where apparently only about 1% of visitors dare go. That's how I prefer it though. Damian and I started our hike Thursday afternoon after a hearty meal of minute rice and black beans. Neither of us much experienced, we weren't quite as prepared as we should have been, but it was all part of the fun. Heart Lake was the destination. 30 miles in 24 hours. Besides vitamins, I had only 3 ginger bread cookies the entire hike. It was exhausting, but it was beautiful. I was one with nature swimming in lakes with leaches and sleeping in tents with mosquitos. I've never been more exhausted, tired, and hungry in my life.


Nice view to wake up to

The rest of the trip was basically a recovery of the hike. I went with the flow and saw the park from the road. The canyons, the mountains, the valleys, it's all gorgeous. It really makes me happy to know that Ulysses S. Grant felt it was beautiful enough to preserve. There aren't many places like it left.