she goes homeward soon
let the nail chomping begin! Wed., July 18... dunh dunh dunh DUNHHHHHH
Before I begin, a note: I just read Stocktongirl's last entry and it made me actually sob like a dolt. Love ya girl... never got to talk to you because i was hovering in corners, but what a kindred thing. And Maggie... you are the best, gentle pats on the head to everything you posted, poetic and rich and wonderous.
Yes, I am once again wide awake hours before i should be, or at least before lynn is. Think i got hot this time cuz the pesky ac stoppped its chugging. Nothing a little blog won't cure.
We gathered together, lemming-like and hopped aboard two shuttles yesterday morning to go see, like, the highest spot in the known universe (we all had to wear those nasa suits) and to catch (sing like Bob Dylan for me please) "the train they call New Rain-Soot". (I think it was Dylan.)
When we were up at the top of the summit, once we could gently wave the clouds from in front of our eyes and shake the shedding billy goats from gnawing on our jeans--and them blasted yellow bellied marments who liked eating tennis shoe laces--we got to see stunning mountains and vistas and BIG VALLEYS and such. I missed much of it cuz i stumbled around, face down, looking for pretty rocks to take home to my son. People thought i had altitude sickness and was about to do a faceplant. HA, bet they don't have rocks as pretty as mine (except probably Mizmoo--who i adore madly, but who was snaggin' MY rocks, bizsnatch! LOL).
Then we wound back down the mountain, shed the nasa suits, and restauranted at a lovely little place... mom & poppish. Lynn gave me the "i dare you" eye, so she and i had the buffalo chili. Yup. Now, it was a good bowl of chili and all but wow was THAT a disappointment. I thought i'd be the member of some secret club or something--just this much closer to my native self, my native brethren, my gorgeous characer Grey Bear John.
The indians were evicted from the land because of meat that tastes like HAMBURGER? Without even the greasy, glorious punch of hamburger? Couldn't we have, instead, given them jobs or something--like at early fast food buffalo joints? Or evicted them because they consisted largely on a diet of, say, lima beans, the world's slimiest food, purely because that marked them as CLEARLY an evil people?? Ah well, i wax (poetic, delirious... where's my diet pepsi???)
Next we found our train. I can't say much about the train because i suddenly became a kid again. Kids don't type good blogs. I had a piece of plastic on that Lynn bought me cuz it was raining (and we were seated outdoors in what looked like emptied coal cars) and we chugged and whistled and steamed and tooted (the train, not Lynn and i)... and were poured down upon by a feisty norse Loki of a Denver sky. My first thought was to be irritated. Then i realized, Heath could have ridden on a train like this, but instead of just being soaked and cold, he'd have had a bullet imbedded somewhere. Poor Heath. (See writing blogs later.)
I felt better after that (lol), adjusted my plastic poncho, and settled in for the ride. Oh it was GLORIOUS... funnest thing ever... it blew off vast clouds of steam and made those train noises that made me HAVE to dance (and Lynn sing bits of musicals... we were stared at a lot... how can you NOT dance and sing to the sounds of a train?). Finally the rain stopped and, in a bit of nature's magic, it got suddenly dry and even hot (i think weather god Loki was being pesky again)... so on the way back down we got to stand, dry our soggy asses, lean over the edge and stare at all the glorious foliage and flowers and pell mell streams, and the huge bridges we had been crossing, and relish those exhiliarating mournfully screamed releases of train steam... and eat lots and lots of little bits of soot. I now have black lung.
But i think it was worth it. We laughed A LOT on the train tour, and it was oh-so pretty, and i felt... myself--vibrant, alive, beloved, and dancing.
After the train we were on the road again and heading to spend an hour in a very lovely, very Victorian town. Gorgeous architecture and dangerous shops. I bought more stuff, sigh, including some fossilized dinosaur poop for my husband because i love him THAT much, and lots of good little goodies for the boys. I'll NEVER get this suitcase home.
And I suppose in a few hours we will be catching an airport shuttle to head in all directions to our homes. I am misty-eyed just thinking how misty-eyed i'll be when, in particular, i have to hug lynn good-bye. How does one cleave off a part of one's self without pain?? How??