I've decided that the teachers were just trying to get a bit more prep time, so they gave us a "make work" project. (I also hated those compositions because we never did anything all that exciting over summer vacation when I was a kid --- hours and hours of laying around in a hot house reading and the occasional camping trip)
Anyway, since I'm talking about my vacation in this post (and the last one), I thought I'd share some things with you.
I had the best of intentions (and we all know where those lead!) to do actual physical journal pages with drawings, etc.I did exactly ONE of them, and here it is.
Actually I learned some really important things from this idea and my failure to complete it:
1. I'm better with a camera and a computer keyboard than I am with a notebook and a box of pencils --- my drawing skills are just not up to the task of creating (to my satisfaction) some of the complex ideas I wanted to convey.
2. When I'm on vacation I don't spend a lot of time reflecting --- I spend time observing and doing --- and reflecting time is when I do journal (or blog) work.
3. It's okay that I didn't get all that drawing done because I had a great time, did some wonderful art projects and have some fun stories to share.
Odd things seen on the road #1: Windmill Farms
In the two and a half years since we last drove to California, a lot of windmills have sprung up.
These are not the old multi-blade water pump for the stock tank sort of windmills.
No, we're talking about those tri-blade high tech wonders that are becoming a part of our nation's power grid.
I for one find them fascinating --- and I'm happy to see them showing up on the top of hills that are otherwise covered with sagebrush in areas (like Wyoming!) where the wind seems to never stop blowing.
For years there has been a place called Altamont Pass in northern California where one of the oldest windmill farms in the country was. We drove over Altamont specifically to see if those windmills were being upgraded to the new ones. They are --- and they have added many, many more windmills too.
Odd things seen on the road #2: Dairy Cows and Moose
No, I'm not kidding.
When you drive Interstate Highway 80 (the most direct way to get from where we started to where we wanted to go), and go out of Wyoming into Utah, you go down a sort of narrow valley that has a lot of smaller family farms.
In the past I have seen fields with sheep, cattle and horses all together.
This year's trip was a whole new adventure.
As we're slowly crawling along in traffic (it's road construction time), I looked over into the field and saw 6 dairy cows (you know, the black and white ones like on the California Cheese commercials) RUNNING across the field.
I've seen a lot of dairy cows, but I can't remember any other time I've seen them running anywhere. It was puzzling. What were they running from?
But wait, there in the field ahead of them is another animal --- a female MOOSE! They were chasing the moose out of their field!!
What a hoot!
Odd things seen on the road #3: Urban Transportation?
In same areas along the highway, the road runs parallel with streets in little towns along the way.
As I looked out in one area I saw what must pass for urban transportation for one guy at least.
He was riding his horse, with his mule in tow and two dogs running along side right down the middle of the paved street into town.
I wonder if he was headed to Walmart ---
Odd things seen on the road #4: Air Travel?
This seemed to be the trip for oddities of machinery intended for air travel.
#1: Two helicopters without their rotors on trailers behind pick up trucks --- one seen on the way out to California, one on the way back.
#2: A little yellow airplane suddenly appearing from behind a burm that ran along the highway apparently taking off from a little runway that we couldn't see.
#3: Crop dusting with a small bi-wing plane in the Central Valley of California.
#4: A small plane flying at about 10 feet off the ground parallel with the road across the salt desert.
Odd things seen on the road #5: Dust Devil
We've watched dust devils from the car for years as we've driven back and forth to California.
They always look like little dirt tornados, kicking up dust and then disappearing.
This was the first time that we had actually felt the impact of one of them.
As we were driving along I spotted one out in a field ahead of us. Because of the speed and direction of both our van and the dust devil, we had the experience of driving through it --- or it running over us.
After that brief and somewhat scary experience I can tell you that I think those folks that chase after full blown tornados are nuts!
Odd things seen on the road #6: Back in Time
As we were coming home we saw two fully restored Model T Fords headed the other way.
It was pretty amazing to see them rolling along --- although not at 75 miles an hour --- in with the other vehicles.
Makes me think of a lyric from the musical Ragtime:
See my people?
Well, here's my theory
Of what this country
Is moving toward.
Every worker
A cog in motion.
Well, that's the notion of Henry Ford!
One man tightens
And one man ratchets
And one man reaches
To pull one cord.
Car keeps moving
In one direction.
A genuflection to Henry Ford!
(I have some thoughts about this politically as well, but we won't go there on this blog!)
Odd things seen on the road #7: Awesome Animals
As on every trip, I notice animals. Here then is a sampling:
1. A praire dog sitting on the edge of the highway as if he were counting cars as they went by.
2. Antelope in the fields with the cattle. (Unlike the dairy cows and the moose, the cattle didn't seem to mind)
3. Deer -- but none of them alive. I can't remember ever seeing so many dead deer along the highway.
4. Racoons in any state don't appear to explode on impact --- it must be the slick fur.
5. The last day of our trip we went up into the Colorado mountains with our daughter and son-in-law. On the way back we saw 3 elk in a little meadow by the side of the road. The bull elk was amazing --- the most enormous rack, and all in velvet still --- such an amazing creature.
So, just what did you do on your vacation?
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