Home again, home again, du dee du dee duh.

Sorry, i couldn't remember how the rhyme actually goes. Here i sit in sunny corvallis, in a corner window seat in a cozy spacious coffee shop, enjoying the good life and well roasted beans. of course this is the first sunny day i've seen since we arrived 5 days ago (barring a brief bout of sunshine one morning lasting all of 90 minutes) and it has only rained half the time we've been here, overall i think we're making out quite well. we've furnished our lovely abode with cheap second hand furniture and ikea specials, and are now finally able to move on to more important things like getting the internet, and getting jobs. great fun. but i never did finish our tale of travels, and as the memories are slipping away into the past even as i sit here and write, my brain and body transitioning into the sedentary lifestyle and catagorizing my traveling experiences as a different lifetime, even though it's only seperated by less than a week in real time.

so as to try to get all my remaining memories down on paper (so to speak) before they fade away entirely, i'll just have to jump right back in where i left off. which i believe was on the way to the grand canyon. now as it turns out (for those of you who have not yet been) the grand canyon is quite large, and quite well situated in the middle and a quite large national/state park, so the only logical place to stay is in flagstaff which i have already waxed eloquent about once before, so will skip the details this time around. we stayed in a quite wonderful hostel, which was the first one that felt like a 'real' hostel on our entire trip, complete with loads of people, a smattering of countries, accents, and languages, and a desk worker from pittsburgh, who feld the overcast and rainy streets of the 'burgh for the booming blue skies of arizona. where it nary a cloud is to be seen, except on the day we went to the grand canyon. but such is life, and it did not take away from the majesty of the view, nor did the bus loads of other tourists clomboring over each other for a view of a natural edifice that stretches for hundreds of miles. okay, the other tourists did take away a bit of the beauty at first, till we figured out how to avoid them (ironically walking a short way, i mean really short, like 60 seconds short) and could enjoy the (very slightly different) view in relative quiet.

if you've never been there, then find an old national geographic special on the grand canyon and stare at the pictures. it's pretty much what it actually looks like, except a lot b i g g e r . but it really does sort of look like a movie backdrop and first. it's so massive that your brain has a hard time comprehending the scale of this thing in front of you. you are standing on top of what should be a mountain, looking down into a rift in the earth. it's literally like looking into the innards of the earth (kind of like that cow they used to have in the penn state dairy barns...). it's mother natures gift for all to see, and appreciate, and marvel and wonder at her size and scope. if staring into the night sky doesn't make you feel insignificant (like me) then there is a very good chance staring into the grand canyone will, because i can't fathom the cosmos, but i can, just barely, fathom the size and scope, the antiquity and ancientness; the unknowable number of life forms and species that have lived and died, thrived and gone extinct in the time it has taken the grand canyon to form. it is enough to make one think deep on one's own existence, and how we are all but tiny cogs in the grand scheme of nature. at least it made my mind wander into those waters. i imagine everyone thinks something different as they stare into the grand canyon. if you happen to be one of the lucky few who have stared into the abyss i would love to hear you thoughts at that time.

anyway, we drove about a half hour down the road, to where the pine forests that populate the center of the south rim become the brush and scrub of the desert once again, to one of the most magnificient views (in my humble and admittedly quite limited opinion) in the grand canyon, whose name eludes me at the moment, that was quite literally the dividing line between the forest and the desert. to our left were pines, going all the way to the canyon floor, but to our right was the desert, the sand, scrabbly trees, and resilient bushes, and directly in front (and far below us) rushing white water rapids. anna started a revolution by climbing over the railing onto a large flat outcropping of rocks, where you could sit and marvel without having to look at concrete or pavement. most of the others at the followed after her (about 10 all together, myself included) over the next fifteen minutes. after savoring the view and watching grey clouds roll in under the white fluffy ones that had been hovering over us all day, and debating whether it would rain or not. turned out it drizzled, but never really rained per se. we drove back to the center, parked again and started walking along the rim trail, enjoying the view and relative solitude. (i suppose i should note that though i am none too proud of it, i did pee into the grand canyon, actually i am kind of proud of that)

after quite a long day of walking, driving and site seeing, with only a pb and j to tide us over, we decided not to push on that evening, but rather spend another night in flagstaff, treating ourselves to the nice historic hotel downtown (which by the turns of fate turned out to be rather cheap, us getting the cheapest room in the hotel, owing to the proximity to an upstairs bar, which just happened to be closed that particular night. it was right next to a third floor wrap around balcony, which could be seen in the historic photos downstairs from around the turn of the century. it was like a room transported forward a hundred years in time, except with electricity instead of candles and lanterns. we had the best nights sleep of the trip in that room. but before that, we went out to a fantastic italian bistro with amazing food obviously made with fresh ingredients, and a quite delightful wine list, both of which we enjoyed to the utmost, having decided already to treat ourselves to a good meal while leaving the grand canyon. anyway, it was a wonderful break from the reckless speed at which we had been traveling for what felt like weeks up to that point. feeling well rested in the morning, we headed out once again, this time for las vegas, sin city, traveling via the hoover dam. which in itself was a minor adventure, having our cargo carrier inspected by federal agents to ensure we weren't chock full of c4 explosives. welcome to life in america in the ought oughts. nothing like violating your personal liberties to innefectually protect our collective safety. we were stopped one more time on the border of california, the next day, this time being stripped of our oranges, owing as to the obvious threat they posed to the california fruit industry, having been bought in the grocery store. anyway, it is one thing to get interrogated coming across the border from canada (ask jason about that one some time), and another to be subjegated to every manner of indignity when boarding and airplane, and quite another to have to suffer the same kind of violation of personal space and liberty just driving across the country. as ben franklin said 'Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.' if we were every truly at war at any point in the past 8 years then perhaps we should have considered what type of collateral damage we were willing to endure to protect our ideals and way of life, rather than sacrificing both in favor of an ineffective pyschological band-aid, to make the government feel important and like they accomplished something (although in my opinion it's rather like claiming credit for mount saint helens not having exploded since 1980).

sorry about the detour, but it really bothered me at the time, being a red blooded american who believes in the potential of american ideals, if we could just ever live up to our original words. anyway, the hoover dam was quite large, a lot of concrete and water, in vastly differing ratios depending on which side of the dam you look over. it is a huge man made structure, all the more impressive, because it was finished in the 1930's. however, after leaving the grand canyon, any man made structure could not compare in size or scope, however impressive it may be. but it was interesting to think about how all of the energy potential of this massive edife is entirely consumed by sin city, in debauchery, and neon, rather than being put to any practical use.

i am however at this moment suffering from blog fatigue, so i'll just have to finish up with sin city and the last leg of our trip some other time. take care you faceless readers, and please do drop a line some time.