a few photos

john sent some pictures from the trip, so i thought i’d share a few…

sunset first night

rafts pre-loadup

nicolas

love bear. maybe i’ll tell you about him sometime… ;)

out into lake mead – the white line is the old lake level

incredible triangle mountains just before lake mead

donnie

cory

last campsite

vishnu shist

pumpkin springs – the only warm water we had in three weeks

donnie inside deer creek

molly and me

cory & nicolas

juli, cory, sally

most photographed spot in the grand canyon

from inside redwall cavern

lunch at redwall cavern

from inside redwall cavern

from inside redwall cavern

edith

sally

patrick

donnie

tres

john

from inside redwall cavern

emilie

dishtime – last camp

deer creek

hungry ghost

john was always good – among many other things – for a wise word.  many of his little pearls have stuck with me – rattling around in my head and polishing down my other thoughts.  he spoke one morning about the hungry ghost: the voice who lives in each of us and whispers a  subtle, ‘just one more.’  the ghost sabotages our satisfaction by forever encouraging ‘again! again! that was so good let’s do it again!’  one more pringle, one more kiss, one more minute of sleep, one more night in the canyon, one more hour of daylight.  by always allowing ‘one more’ it’s easy to live in the future and forget our presence.  and in forgetting the now we aren’t able to truly enjoy what we’re experiencing.  if one more happens, let it happen by surprise, child.  let it come like a gift unsolicited.

these are the lessons i learn time and time again in new words and altered angles.  seems at this age unlearning and relearning are one of the few consistencies in my life.

tonight’s the night for leonids

From http://meteorshowersonline.com/leonids.html

Forecast for 2009: Astronomers are predicting that the Leonids could experience an outburst of about 500 per hour on November 17. Although Asia is favored for the outburst, observations are encouraged around the world on the mornings of November 17 and 18, as better than normal rates could be seen. The moon will not be an issue. The Leonid meteor shower has produced some of the most spectacular meteor displays in history, but it is unfortunately periodic in nature. The Leonids generally begin on November 13 and end on November 21, with maximum generally occurring during the night of Novemer 17/18. The Leonids are barely detectable on the beginning and ending dates, but observers are generally treated to displays of about 10 meteors per hour on the night of maximum. About every 33 years, the Leonids enter a phase of enhanced activity that accompanies the return of its parent comet. During these periods, rates can amount to hundreds and even thousands of meteors per hour. The last such enhanced period occurred during the period of 1998-2002 and the Leonids have been winding down ever since. There are other, weaker meteor showers going on around the same time as the Leonids. The Leonids move very fast. When you see a meteor, mentally trace it backwards. If you end up at Leo then you have probably seen a Leonid meteor! If you are not sure where Leo is in the sky, the following charts will help you find it from both the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere

my father

my father is the most generous man i know.  i’ll leave out the details for now (because telling you all he does for me would take more than a few years to list), but he hears a need within a million haphazard sentences, meets it, and then sends it off the very next day. thank you dad. i’m so lucky to be your daughter.

welcome home

it’s been a whirlwind around here – a big move, a big trip, and now i have a big friend (not in size, but in love and importance) out visiting me in los angeles.  sydney is one of my dearest friends and i’m so glad she took the time/money/effort to make it out here.  if you know sydney, you know it’s a big deal that she flew to los angeles by herself and has actually been driving her cute little blue ford focus rental around these crazy roads!  so far we’ve gone to the walk of fame and the chinese theatre, we’ve done a star home tour (something i had previously vowed not to do, but i got a little wrapped up in haggling with the guys bugging us on the street…plus…syd really wanted to do it.  it wasn’t as bad as i’d thought it would be, actually , seen the hollywood sign, gone to more high-end fashion stores than i’ve previously been to in my entire life, gone to a few great restauraunts, diddy riese, menchies, gone hiking, and today we’re going to the getty and to venice boardwalk to rent bicycles.  she must put her feet in the pacific ocean – it’s a tad chilly for actual submersion.

this has been a nice welcome home to los angeles.  my friend, rachael, moved out from nashville while i was in the canyon.  we have a house together with one more roommate in a wonderful neighborhood in the valley.  if i have to come home from the grand canyon to los angeles at least it was to such wonderful women with whom i have such rich histories.  egads, friends are so important.  thank you, ladies, for being in my life and for the patience and grace you’ve shown me and taught me over the years.  i love you dearly.

same

one might think that after three weeks of wearing the same clothing and eating pretty close to the same lunches and breakfasts that, now that i’m home, variety would be desirable. on the contrary, i only want to wear the clothes i had down in the canyon with me, all i want for breakfast is oatmeal and cowboy coffee and my lunches have all been variations of the same apple-cheese-carrot-cucumber-mustard sandwich/wrap i had every afternoon for 20 days.

in other news…there’s a chance that at least three of the guys on our trip have hantavirus. considering i ate precisely the same mouse-raided goodies and slept on the same mouse-tracked sand for three weeks, my sore throat is seeming a little more ominous after that news.

setting out

by the time i arrived in denver i had a voicemail to give them a call at the desk at great lakes airlines.  my flight was, in fact, uncancelled and all would go as planned.  when i finally arrived at their desk in phoenix i was told the truth: someone had actually played a prank and sent out an email saying that the plane would be out of order all day.  not so funny.  for the airline or the passengers.  fortunately nothing could have put off my good mood at that point, so we all had a good laugh about it.

after a bumpy star-studded ride on the beech 1900D turboprop with only one other passenger and a clear aisle straight out to the windsheild on the front of the plane, i stepped out of the page airport to find two vagabonds playing soccer in the vacant parking lot.  smiles and hugs and cheerful words.  we walked towards patrick’s truck.

“i set a hippie trap for you”

i looked down at donnie’s words to find a Naked Green Juice and a banana.  donnie can always make me smile. but even more than my gratitude for the ‘hippie trap’ was my awe at the new moon’s arizona sky.  jewels.  i haven’t seen skies like this in months.  we rode the 40 miles to the put-in with the moon roof open and the windows down.

some of the group were already sound asleep in their bags, but i made headlamped introductions to the few straglers before tucking into our sacks ourselves.  it was tough getting my body to sleep – possibly due to excitement, possibly due to the rocks under my micro thermarest, possibly due to the billion-bulbed lightlight hung in the sky.  i had no idea how much i missed being uncomfortable.

three weeks

Our group of 11 put in at Lees Ferry just south of the Glen Canyon Damn on October 18th.  We ran five rafts through almost 300 miles of the most incredible landscape I’ve had the privilege of bearing witness to.  Three weeks later by calendar standards (but lifetimes later by human standards) we rowed into Lake Mead and disassembled our boats before saying tearful smiling goodbyes.

Maybe some of the stories or evolutions will find their way to this space – it can be good to put experience into words – but for now they need a little more time seasoning and unfurling inside my head.

cancelled

yesterday the postman came and went…and though he delivered one interesting small box, he did not bring the box shipped from my dad.  the one with my sleeping bag, waterproof stuff-sacks, motorcycle helmet, armored jacket*, bivy sack, etc.

i made an emergency trip to REI – my third trip yesterday – and bought dad a new sleeping bag that i will now borrow for my trip to the canyon.  (let’s not get that confused; parents have a way of using words to make sure what they’re doing isn’t spoiling their children, and for that i’m very grateful.)  thank you, dad.

once i felt confident that i had all the things i need I finished painting the dining room – our last planned painting project.  it feels good to have all the paints put away before i leave.  after such a roller coaster of a day, i felt pretty good going to sleep – knowing that all i have left in the morning is a quick packing job (everything’s laid out right now) and and drive to the airport.

of course it can’t happen that way, though.  where would the fun be in that?  this morning at 6am my phone woke me up.  my dad.  he must have just forgotten the time difference.  i let it ring.  a few minutes later an unrecognized number called.  i let it ring.  a few minutes later, dad again.  clearly something was up.  i’m not sure where they got my dad’s number, but somehow they’d called him to tell him my flight was cancelled.  not delayed.  cancelled.

with my 6am brain it took us a good 15 minutes to figure out that i could actually just take my original first two flights (yes, it seems to require 3 flights to get to the grand canyon from la) and they’d put me up in pheonix while the mechanics fix the plane (which makes me nervous) and then i’ll instead fly in tomorrow morning.  whew.  that works.  pray that all goes as planned B.

i just keep saying: i’m going to the grand canyon.  i’m going to the grand canyon.  it seems to help…

* the lucky part of that is that less than 48 hours ago a friend called and very adamantly insisted that i not ride my motorcycle out to the canyon, as i had been planning.  instead she proposed that she and her boyfriend (who would then borrow my motorcycle and my already-borrowed car) buy me a flight to the canyon in exchange for use of the vehicles for three weeks plus.  after a lot of insistence, i finally agreed and we purchased a flight.  well, turns out that’s quite perfect considering that i would only ride my bike out there if i have the proper protection gear.  the protection gear that did not arrive yesterday by the time i needed it.

gyroscope

these last couple weeks I’ve felt like i’ve been strapped to one of those space-camp gyroscopes: three rings each spinning on a different axis within one another…and me strapped into the middle just trying to catch glimpses of whatever i happen to see in that moment: with two jobs, moving, painting and packing for a three-week trip where i’ll be unable to make contact with anyone should i forget any of these things i should have done…well…there’s a lot i’m trying to catch these looks at. but with so much going on and so little free time i feel like i’ve only been able to plan as i swing by for the moment. when i happen to spin on this axis i get to think about and plan for moving…oh! time’s up! you can think about your trip now – wait – you took too long! paint! no work! no! and on and on i spin. the result? i leave tomorrow morning and only have about 15% of the very specialized gear i’ll need for this trip.

wow. i kid you not….i just looked up and the UPS truck pulled up. ha! incredible…i’m going to stop complaining, let go, and trust that everything’s going to be just fine. i just need a sleeping bag…come on, box-from-dad!

[alli, kirk, james: you're amazing. the egg carton was the perfect last touch. i love you!]