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sergebroomHello again.
The trip began with Starbuck in my lap. No, not Katee Sackhoff’s, but the one that sells coffee. I’ve had quite a few cups of that joe these last few years, but the morning of August 31, 2007, was the first time that one of them decided to lose its integrity, letting its venti and two shots of espresso quickly leak onto yours truly soon after I started to drink it and I had to toss the whole thing away. That wouldn’t have been so bad except that this happened after we’d left Albuquerque, heading due west to Arizona’s Flagstaff. Alas, even there, no coffee with any punch could be found and it became harder and harder for me to stay awake as we drove north from there, all the way to Lake Powell. Of course, as we followed the MapQuest directions that should have taken us to our hotel, we found ourselves going further and further away from the Lake. The hotel was supposed to be on the outskirts, but, 20 miles later, in the middle of nowhere, we finally turned around and realized that MapQuest basically had reversed some of its instructions. I guess that was appropriate, as Lake Powell is where the opening scenes of 1968’s Planet of the Apes were filmed. Astronauts winding up in the wrong place indeed…
Luckily the rest of the trip was more pleasant. We visited the north side of the Grand Canyon. While not as spectacular as the view from the south, it was still impressive. And we saw wild turkeys.
Oops. Wrong photo.
We then drove north, briefly stopped outside of Fredonia, on Arizona’s side of its border with Utah.
That photo, by the way, was taken from where our minivan was parked right above a recently flattened black cat. Gross, yes. Going thru the town, we were rather amused by the sight of a store that advertised the sale of guns, ammo and beer.
We made it to Utah’s Zion National Park, where we spent a few days, staying in the Park’s hotel. A few mule deer showed up with their kids one evening, grazing the lawn while ignoring all the humans around them. Some turkeys showed up a couple of days later. The landscape was gorgeous. We didn’t do any hiking though because one of Sue’s knees has been giving her a lot of trouble and will probably require some surgery. Instead, we took our backpacks-cum-folding-chairs to a nice spot by a river and spent a lot of time reading. A tree’s branch fell 30 feet from us, for no good reason. That didn’t send us packing, but we thought it wise to move away from that tree, eyeing it warily every time another tourist came close to it. I guess that parking near that dead cat in Fredonia was a bad idea.
The rest of our journey took us to Moab. We stayed in a B&B near the Colorado River, where we were treated to the spectacle of another black cat stalking a crawdad as it made its way across the lawn. Our next stop was at a B&B in Cortez, near the Mesa Verde ruins, where we learned that, not only does the owners’s grey cat not pick on their chicken, he likes to sleep with them. Later, as we started heading back south, toward New Mexico’s small town of Chama, a black cow decided to cross the road, but seeing us come fast, precipitously decided to change her course of action. Who said that bovines are stupid?
Anything else? We were back home yesterday afternoon. Rested? I don’t know, but it was a chance to get away from work. Sort of. That first night in Lake Powell was when some of our group’s few mainframe programs were scheduled to run. Being the group’s only person with any mainframe experience, I kept expecting a call from our manager that would have forced me to scramble and somehow somewhere find a high-speed internet connection. It didn’t happen, but it’s a sad reminder that one is never truly expected to be away in corporate America. Anyway. Every once in a while, during the trip, I found myself thinking that all the beauty I saw could be seen because of a human society based on easy access to energy and that one day it might all collapse. Luckily such thoughts came and went quickly.
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Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 12:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 12:56 pm (UTC)It was indeed a nice trip, in spite of the few wrong turns. To be fair, only one of them was caused by MapQuest. All others came from the Southwest states's tendency to think that road signs are unnecessary. I am exagerating, yes, but there were time when signs should have been set up but weren't. Oh well. The trip also was strange in that some parts of it were on roads we had driven on during our earlier trip to that area nine years ago, which, in some ways, felt like a lifetime away.
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Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 08:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 08:15 pm (UTC)Day late, dollar short (fortunately I'm in Euroland?)
Date: Sep. 10th, 2007 09:31 pm (UTC)When he was born. The way the seasons change
Is catching, so perhaps it is not strange
That his first tongue and nation weren't his last.
But though a tree may shed its autumn leaves
And be reclad in spring, the trunk remains.
And so it is with Serge, who still retains
The core of whom he loves, what he believes.
Beneath the puns, behind the clever prose,
Between the lines of sly pastiche, I see
The way he cares for this community
And value all the warmth his manner shows.
So happy birthday, Serge, although I'm late
(I knew the month, but just mislaid the date!)
Re: Day late, dollar short (fortunately I'm in Euroland?)
Date: Sep. 10th, 2007 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 01:37 pm (UTC)What kind of backpacks cum folding chairs? Do you like them? Where'd you get them? (I've been contemplating getting one ever since I learned they existed.)
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Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 02:08 pm (UTC)http://www.beachchairs.com/beach-chairs/reclining-chairs/weareveraluminumhibackbackpackbeachchair.cfm
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Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 04:01 pm (UTC)http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?p=WX2&i=110682
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Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 07:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 08:19 pm (UTC)Last weekend, Gail and I went to Dragon*Con (well, on Sunday just me because she had to work). Then on Tuesday we packed up and flew to the strange, distant, and exotic land known as Canada.
I was in Montreal* to attend the Latin American Studies Association conference, and Gail came with me to keep me out of trouble (and to take a break from working for the Infernal Revenge Service). The conference was interesting -- I managed to give my paper without slipping up, and attended some good panels -- though many of the scholars attending were cliquish and standoffish. I did get to see some old friends (including two people who had the misfortune to teach me) mostly at the conference. We also got to see an old grad school friend who wasn't at the conference but teaches at McGill.
On Friday evening, thanks to a fortuitous combination of stars (and a certain amount of forwardness on my part), we were at the Farthing Party organised by Jo Walton. So were several other fluorospherians including CHip (whom I didn't get to talk to), David Goldfarb, and Patrick and Teresa themselves.
*The conference was originally scheduled for Boston, but fear that no Cuban scholars would be allowed to attend (the 2006 conference in Puerto Rico had featured the denial of visas to the entire Cuban delegation and to a number of other Latin American scholars)resulted in its being shifted to Montreal. This also meant that we were addressed at the plenary by Mme. la gouverneure génerale** in French, English, Portuguese and Spanish.
** This, in turn, meant that we had to stand for both 'God Save the Queen' and 'O Canada'.
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Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 9th, 2007 08:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 10th, 2007 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 10th, 2007 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 12th, 2007 12:23 am (UTC)There's probably some rule about titles not necessarily conforming to gender of the holder, or something.
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Date: Sep. 12th, 2007 12:34 am (UTC)