We left Jo and Dave and ventured to the Grand Canyon. I'll be honest, it's still not my favorite place. I think, to me, it's so massive I can't even comprehend it as reality. It just looks like a painting or a photo of something immense. It is impressive and daunting, but you take a couple pictures and you see the whole thing. We got there fairly late in the in the day and still had a 4 hour drive to the hotel in Vegas so only did about 3 miles of hiking. We didn't have a back country pass and Phantom Ranch was booked so staying at the bottom wasn't an option. Plenty of people had done 22 mile single day hikes and they just looked murdered. To death. Speaking of death, though, Death Valley was awesome. The drive was fantastic in itself, about an hour at 80mph through curves and dips. Thought about dad a lot! The landscape was utterly surprising, changing from orange and red sandstone to flat sand valleys dotted in random places with impossible plants. We made it to 284 feet below sea level, the lowest point in the US. Yet at that point you are surrounded by 11,000 foot peaks in the background. Surreal comes to mind. It has reached upwards of 130 degrees F but was only 101 while we were there. Had hoped to have a beer there but there were too many people so we drove on. And drive I did. It was about 2 hours without even seeing another soul. Then another 3 to get to Vegas. Which was a special kind of death. At first I was excited to crest a hill and see the lights of the city, ending in such distinct proportions instead of trailing off into the distance. And still as we pulled into the city at 11pm and seeing all the people and realizing this was truly a city that never sleeps. I was ready to take a shower and go mingle and have a beer after we checked into the room, maybe play some penny slots for kicks. Vegas wears off after about 30 minutes. Even with a free upgrade on the room and a hefty glass of iced bourbon, even with all the skin I hadn't seen for 2 weeks so carelessly bared it isn't a place I will visit again. I want the campfire and the quiet and the strange conversations you have with random people who are doing the same thing as you. It was so unsettling, coming to grips with the fact that I was more at home in a place built by aliens than a place built by man. Or maybe that is exactly why I was so unsettled. The place is a monument to decadence. Give me simple. Give me definite. Don't leave me questioning the nature of our relationship. Don't wear nothing like it's something. Just not my people I guess. Sorry if I offended. I didn't like it. Hoover dam the next morning and after the SIZE of the thing wore off I noticed the art deco homage and couldn't think about anything but BIOSHOCK for a little while. I kept waiting for Andrew Ryan to open up one of the golden elevator doors and say "would you kindly?" God, Cassie, I hope you are reading this. Basically the takeaway from Hoover Dam is I play video games. Realistically, though, I find I don't miss it. Not TV, nor movies, nor texting. I am so at home out here, with the earth beneath my feet and eyes to the sky, every step propelling me toward some newness that relentlessly beckons to me with 3 simple and sexy words: one more step. I can't stop. If the trail isn't a loop we have to make a mark before we even begin that says no further than this point. Because I'll keep walking, and hard. Cities, traffic, a dam, a desert. None of this will stop me now. Sure, I love a bed and temperature control and a cold beer with a mindless TV show. But I find I do not love it so much that I miss it. So, love isn't the right word. I liked it. I hope I get to find out more about the LOVE part of the thing. I've missed the mark a few times and caused pain I didn't think I could or see that I did and I hope I get to keep getting better at it, with friends, family, and lovers alike. Thank you for letting me do this.
Ok, enough words, I think. Let's allow the illiterates some fun, too.
Grand Canyon. It is my understanding that it was painted by Michaelangelo in 1922. And then filled with yellow Jello.
Oh ya! I got a new hat!! It's a Stetson and it's awesome. Or should I say Amishsome?
A sunset between the Canyon and Vegas. Yes, it's great. Not as great as the next one was, though.
A couple pictures of the Vegas room, bathroom, and the totally believable replica of the Eiffel Tower. It was a great sleep.
Hoover Dam.
It's REALLY EFFING HUGE.
Art Deco. It looks exactly like the city of Rapture. Even the statues. I loved it. No, I LIKED it.
Speaking of Rapture...
The car took a selfie...
This was the only entering California sign on the road we were on. I was so angry I strangled it.
Random ghost town outside death valley. About 12 houses and an opera house, all completely abandoned.
Entry to the Death.
Sea Level. Check out that sweet hat.
The peaks behind me are about 11,000 feet high and the sign is at -282.
There is water. In the next picture you see what looks like a white road fading off into the distance. There is a river under it. There is water in all that salt.
You aren't supposed to dig holes but it doesn't say you can't take pictures of the holes already there. That's water just below the surface, about 4 inches down.
If you look exactly in the middle, more or less, you see a white dot. That white dot actually says "Sea Level" in about 3 foot block letters.
This was our first California Sunset. I cried a little.
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