Your journey begins in the White Mountains of Arizona – a
land with pristine forests, meadows and streams. As you wander across Interstate 40 and head
through Flagstaff, Arizona, you are awestruck by the San Francisco Mountains,
standing tall, the snow-capped peaks stark against the deep
blue sky. Your journey then takes you
through Tuba City, Arizona, where the Hopi Reservation and Navajo Nation meet. The deep history of these Tribes can be felt
in the ancient red and beige rock formations.
Before you know it, you are crossing into Utah, where vibrant, yet
muted, red rocks greet you.
You are surprised to learn you have entered Zion National
Park – you’re actually there! You learn
that the rock formations are mostly Navajo Sandstone, dating back millions of
years and that the Native people, the Anasazi’s, date back thousands of
years. It is no wonder Native People
have such reverence for Mother Earth. You find the intricate rock formations reach
deeply inside you and touch your heart. The
little town of Zion is sweet with many shops to explore; galleries filled with
colorful pieces of art, depicting the local scenery. The Park itself is welcoming and breathtaking! Rock formations carved out by the Virgin
River for many centuries greet you, while the beautiful, little flowers that
find their way to sunlight through rock crevices, amaze you!
Back on the road again, you wander northeast to find
Bryce Canyon National Park. You can’t
imagine that these rock formations could be any different; yet, they are vastly
different. As you climb higher and
higher in elevation, snow pellets lightly accent the amazing structures of this
Park. These structures silence you –
they have a spiritual quality to them – you feel you have entered sacred
ground. You witness many amphitheaters
filled with structures called hoodoos,
spirals of sedimentary rock formed by weathering and erosion that range in
color from beige to coral to orange.
Legend has it that these hoodoos
are people turned to stone by the trickster,
the coyote.
As you leave Bryce Canyon, you travel up and up in
elevation toward Brian Head, Utah. The
snow thickens as you climb until you’ve reached the sky – a summit of 10,420
feet! Breathtaking!
The next day, you awaken and you journey northbound
through the center of Utah. You’re
surrounded by rolling acres of farmland, each with a backdrop of snow-painted
mountains – farmhouses and barns sprinkled far apart. As you proceed northeast, you enter
Idaho. Immediately you realize the
scenery has changed. It dawns on you
that the color of the earth in each of the States you’ve traveled is entirely
different – the red earth of Arizona is contrasted by the brown earth of
Utah’s farmland and then contrasted further by the chestnut-colored earth of
Idaho. You see many huge truckloads of
potatoes along the way. Somehow, you know an
Idaho potato will never be the same again – you realize that chestnut-colored
earth imbeds nutrition into that potato for your own health and wellbeing.
Now that you have that long travel day behind you, you
have much that awaits you today. You
travel through tiny towns that signify small-town America, where you see school
buses on their routine runs and small shops opening. You meander along the Targhee National Forest
to the Bridger-Teton National Forest; once again, you’re climbing and then
descending – into Wyoming. The town of
Jackson stops you in your tracks! What could
this be in front of you? An arch of
antlers? You must get a picture - maybe two! Then the kid in you arises as you see this
cowboy on a bucking horse atop an old bar!
It’s the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar – oh, if it could only talk, what
stories it would tell!
At this point of the journey, you realize you have witnessed
so much beauty in nature that you think you must have seen everything by now –
until you reach the Grand Teton National Park.
You then wonder how these massive structures were ever formed – how they
landed in this most-perfect setting. But
you learn that these amazingly jagged peaks of the Teton Range are a geologic
wonder, rocks nearly three billion years old at the core, some of the oldest
rocks in North America, yet some of the youngest rocks in the world.
As you wander through the Park, you realize everything is
at peace, gentle rivers flow, while Canada Geese nibble at the fresh, spring grasses
and all is well. You stop to take in one
more breathtaking view and wonder how you will ever retain all of these
precious moments.
Refreshed and energized by the beauty, you
journey toward Yellowstone National Park.
Your interest is peaked because it’s something you’ve always wanted to
see. Once there, you’re very surprised
at the sights you see – geysers, bubbling mud pots and gray land with
skeleton-like trees.
Then, while you await the entrance of Old Faithful, you enjoy an ice cream
cone with Huckleberry Ice Cream, something everyone talks about in this area of
the Country! And then it happens! Old
Faithful, once again, puts on a show for everyone! It happens at approximately hourly intervals.
Having now gone through four National Parks, you feel a
tremendous pride to be a citizen of this Country. At each Park, you hear languages from around
the world – all just as awestruck as you at the beauty before you. You realize the huge amount of labor that is
required to manage these Parks, yet you feel grateful that your Country finds
value in honoring this amazing nature and sharing it with all.
After your visit to Yellowstone National Park, you wander
around the town of West Yellowstone and it feels invigorating to know how many
people find their way to this town from all over the world; this time, you get
to share in that excitement and you’re very grateful!
A new day begins and you leave Wyoming and head toward
Montana, which is wide-open territory with, yet again, more beauty, more nature
and more to see! In order to visit
Glacier National Park, you head north to Columbia Falls – on the way there,
your travels align Flathead Lake, a most pristine and lovely drive. You then come upon rows and rows of cherry orchards.
Your National Parks Tour may have come to an end but your
journey is still alive and you continue onward.
You leave Columbia Falls, Montana and head westward toward Washington
State. Along the route, you see the beauty
of many Montana lakes and White-tailed Deer eating their morning grasses and
then the flight of a Bald Eagle, his head stark against the morning sky, flying
briskly over a lake with so much determination.
In your heart you know that, in this moment, all is right with the
world.
For your next stop, you arrive in Leavenworth,
Washington, a Bavarian town, filled with much to see and much to do! The little shops so quaint with German flair
make you feel as though you’re in Europe!
You enjoy a delicious German meal at Café Christa and in your mind, you
ask your German Grandfather, whom you never had the opportunity to meet, to let
you know if this looks like the town where he grew up. You begin to eat your meal and a song begins
to play in the background – it touches your heart instantly and deeply – you realize
it’s a German song your Father sang to you as a child. You haven’t heard the song in over 40
years. All you can remember from the
song is the refrain: “Val da Rih, Val da Rah, Val da Rih, Val da Rah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha,
Val da Rih, Val da Rah….” You later
learn that the name of this song is The
Happy Wanderer and the beginning lyrics are:
I love to go a-wandering
Along
the mountain track
And,
as I go, I love to sing
My
knapsack on my back!
The next morning, the staff at the Alpen Rose Inn prepare
a nourishing breakfast for you; then you head out to “do the town!” It’s fun, invigorating and beautiful! You realize, you are still on the “mountain track!”
Later that day, once again you are climbing in elevation,
through Stevens Pass and the Snoqualmie National Forest – such beauty! You then reach Bellingham, Washington – your
farthest destination! Bellingham is a
beautiful, Victorian-like town with lots of energy and outdoorsy people!
When it comes time to head homeward, you leave Bellingham
very early in the morning but still hit the Seattle/Bellevue, Washington rush hour
head on! Once beyond the thick of
things, it’s time for the fast-track home!
Today, you head for McCall, Idaho – a long journey. You cross the width of Washington State and
then venture into Idaho – on the way, you come through the Nez Perce Indian Reservation
and you feel the depth of the rich history of these Native People. You stop in a store to linger for a little
while, just to feel akin for a moment to the history of this Tribe.
Again, you are mountain climbing and following
switchbacks into Idaho – the scenery is unbelievable. You follow the Salmon River into McCall,
Idaho and find the river is rushing with the lifeblood of the winter’s snow
melt. The town of McCall is vibrant with
energy and has so much to offer. An
outdoorsy town situated on the Payette Lake, McCall is brimming with lots to
see and do. Being at an elevation of
over 5,000 feet, the next morning, you find the mist soon turns to sleet and
then to snow, which only adds to the beauty of the town. You wander through the downtown area and then
come upon the Ponderosa State Park and you picture the vibrancy of the summer
months to come.
As much as you may want to stay in this town, it’s time
to head southward; next destination, Ogden, Utah. Once again, you’re following beautiful
switchbacks and the South Fork of the Salmon River – amazing scenery. You reach the town of Boise, Idaho, which is
bustling with the lunch crowd. You cross
the Snake River so many times, you’ve lost count! It’s a long drive and you finally cross into
Utah – one more State closer to home!
You find Ogden, Utah to be a sweet town and you enjoy a
wonderful meal at the Prairie Schooner, where you dine under the stars in
covered wagons. Well fed, you get a good
night’s rest to make the trek southward through Utah to reach Flagstaff,
Arizona by dinner time.
Flagstaff, one of your favorite towns, is always
bustling. Being so close to the Grand
Canyon, you can always find people from around the world walking around the
town. You enjoy a wonderful meal at a
Latin Restaurant, Criollo’s. After a
good night’s rest, you eat your breakfast at your favorite spot, Macy’s, also a
favorite of the locals. You
wander through the shops and galleries of Flagstaff, one of your favorite
things to do and then you hop onto Interstate 40, homeward bound!
You arrive in the beautiful White Mountains and the area
is full of activity because it is the Memorial Day weekend – many people come
to the White Mountains to get out of the heat, to hike and fish and enjoy the
outdoors!
Your journey has included many sights, much beauty and a
new lease on life. In the process of
clocking over 4,000 miles, you pass so many acres of farm land; you see many
farmers in their fields, way off in the distance, where the only way you can
tell there is a farmer at work is by the huge wake of dust behind the
tractor. You see farmhouses so far back
into the fields, you wonder how long it takes to get to them. You see so many irrigation systems along the
way – too many to count! Since this is
the planting season, some of the plants are not visible and some are only tiny
sprouts; yet the huge irrigation system makes its way across the acreage very
slowly, appearing to be some large spider-like creature, gently offering a life
source of water to the food Americans will eventually eat. You gain an appreciation for all the farm
workers across the land, as you pass cherry, peach and apple orchards,
vineyards, potato fields, grain – oh how many fields of grain you pass, beans
and many other plants. You realize you
would not survive without all those hands at work in the fields. You are thankful and so grateful. You wonder just how tired a farm worker is at
the end of the day and how long it takes him or her to reach home.
Flora and fauna abound on your journey and you realize
how much joy they bring you throughout the day.
For as much as the flora offers in the varied colors, shapes, sizes and
beauty, the fauna offers its own varied colors, shapes, sizes and beauty, as
well. From Columbines growing out of
rock crevices in Zion National Park to the little Chipmunk who joined everyone
watching Old Faithful release its
power at Yellowstone National Park; to all the farm animals (cows, sheep,
goats, bulls, long-horned steer, horses and pigs) and birds along the way (the Bald
Eagle, many Magpies and many, many Hawks).
You find appreciation for all the workers along your path who run grocery stores, gas stations, hotels/motels, restaurants – the lifeblood of your Country. For small-town America and its citizens, who often pay the most for gasoline, who drive so far to the local grocery store; to all the Town, City, County, State and Federal workers who keep your Country running, re-routing traffic in Stevens Pass in Washington State to protect drivers from the potential of falling rock, due to the heavy snow melt coming through the rocks – moving boulders off train tracks that had fallen through the night. All of these people go to work each day in order to make our lives easier, our roads safer, working along highways and byways, while cars quickly pass them without acknowledgement. You find such deep gratitude on this journey for workers across America, your beautiful, beautiful land.
For this, for all this, you give gratitude, deeply felt, for your safety, for all the joy you experienced, for the newness, the expansion of your breadth of knowledge, the appreciation of many more things than you could ever imagine. You realize, God's abundant nature, something you've always found to be overwhelmingly beautiful and amazing, is yet even more than you can take in as a mere human. You thank God for every moment, for every snapshot your eyes captured, you thank God for your sight, for your capability to journey on, the strength and stamina that only He could provide in order to make your journey one of memory, one of fulfillment and one of peace.
Thank you, Dear Lord, with all my heart.
