Adventure

Where the Wind Lives

April 19, 2017

 

 This is installment one of my 2017 Arizona/New Mexico road trip adventures with my friend Kerri. 

 As we bumped down the dirt road to the mouth of the canyon, tour company owner Jackie told us that Navajo culture is matriarchal, and the land we were seeing belonged to her mother. The rocky landscape was her home, the place she felt most comfortable. Just before she dropped us off, her words captured my imagination: “This is where the wind lives.”

Antelope Canyon, near Page, Arizona, is one of the most visited slot canyons in the Southwest. (Slot canyons are narrow, deep canyons carved by water.) Tours go to Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon, as well as a few lesser-known canyons. We chose to visit “Canyon X,” with Taadidiin Tours (no affiliation).

After Jackie dropped us off, we descended into the canyon itself, where we were met by a guide. The sandstone curves, swirls, and corkscrews, carved by wind and water into sinuous shapes. Colors range from pale peach to deep purple, depending on the angle of the sun. 




When the sun shines into the canyon just right, you can see the elusive trademark Antelope Canyon shaft of light. As we walked deeper between the curving walls, we saw our first one. (The guides toss fine sand into the air so it shows up in photos.)



If ever there is a place to look up, look down, look all around, it is here.

Looking up
The guides helped us with our camera settings so we would get the best shots, and though they kept an eye on us, they allowed us to freely explore. It wasn’t mobbed with people the way the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon tours can be, and we were able to take our time exploring, taking photos, and soaking up the peaceful atmosphere. I was even able to sit quietly and make a quick sketch of a section of the canyon. (The challenge will be mixing watercolor representative of the shades of rock I saw!) 

A few more photos: 

Canyon resident

Looking down into the canyon entrance from where we were dropped off.





Canyon X was a magical place, and a not-so-everyday adventure. I highly recommend a visit, and Taadidiin Tours. (See their website, above, or check out their Facebook page here.)

Unpacking

April 17, 2017


I’m home. My suitcase is stowed, and I just finished the laundry, but I’m still unpacking my photos (all 700+ of them) and my impressions. I’ll share tales from the road later this week. Until then, here are a few photos of some of the things we saw.

Beautiful flowers:


Friendly aliens:


Charming towns:


Four-legged friends:


Rock formations:


More to come soon! Now about those 700 pictures...

The Journey Changes You

April 12, 2017

Upper Antelope Canyon, Arizona,
courtesy Josef Pichler

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”
—Anthony Bourdain


 I’m on the road having adventures right now, but I’ll be back to share soon!

Attitudes

What to Pack For Adventure

April 07, 2017


I’m getting ready for an adventure! Tomorrow I take off to New Mexico and Arizona for another road trip with my friend Kerri. (Read about 2016’s Florida road trip adventures starting here.) 

Along with my clothes, books, camera, sketchbook, and journal, I’m preparing for this adventure by “packing”:
  • Anticipation—looking forward to my trip boosts my happiness starting weeks in advance.
  • Openness—to new experiences, foods, etc.
  • Curiosity—my chance to learn about a different area of the US.
  • Patience—because you know there will be challenges.
  • Sense of humor—see above!
  • Communication skills—even though Kerri and I travel well together, it’s always good to remember to listen, as well as to speak up when there’s something I want to do (or not do).

It’s likely that I can buy any physical item left behind, but if I leave behind any of these attitudes, my trip will surely be the worse for it.

When adventure comes calling, will you be ready? How do you prepare for adventure?

I’ll be packing these essential items for an even bigger adventure this summer: ITMR Trip to England! There are still a few spots available if you’d like to come, too!

Memory

Drinking Deep

April 05, 2017

Photo courtesy Aaron Burden

Introduction by Ted Kooser: Roy Scheele, one of Nebraska's finest poets, has a new chapbook called The Sledders: Thirty Sonnets, from Three Sheets Press. One of any writer's most valuable tools is memory, and this poem shows it being put to work to breathe life into an afternoon from long ago.

In Possession (Minnesota)

Something almost Flemish about that water,
a golden brown but clear into its depths,
the plank-ends of the dock a fading gray
beside it, and a boat moored at the end;
something, it seems to me in looking back,
about a murky bullhead on a stringer,
one of those rope ones you can hardly see,
so that the fish appeared to scull in place;
something (the details start to widen now)
about white wooden clapboards on the side
of that inn or tavern where my dad had stopped,
a neon beer sign staring out through glass—
late in the afternoon, I drinking deep
of everything I saw, now mine to keep.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2016 by Roy Scheele, “In Possession: Minnesota,” from The Sledders: Thirty Sonnets (Three Sheets Press, 2016). Poem reprinted by permission of Roy Scheele and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2016 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.