11/01/2002

I brought no pine cones home, sorry.

But what I did bring back was at least a little bit of sanity. I don't really have too much to say today...I called in sick from work because I felt so lousy. This is the kind of lousy that can only come from riding a scooter to work in the very early morning hours, when the air is so cold and wet you just want to turn right around and go back to bed. But, I keep going because I love how much money I'm saving, and really, winters in Arizona don't last very long, right?

And then you realize Winter time is still a month away. Oh, the joy
you feel! But the great news is that I only have to do this until November 9th, when I can start going into work at the decent hour
of 8:00am. That way, at least the sun will have made it's efforts of warming the air before I cut through it on my hyper-scooter. (not really, but it sounds quite cool, I think...)

When I was up in Utah, my friend Marci and I decided to take a late trip up the canyon in her car. It was raining in the valley, not too
bad, but the roads were a little wet. I told myself in my mind that if, upon entering the canyon, I found the roads were still wet or that it was raining in any way, we would turn back. No sense in risking it, right? But all seemed well as we drove closer to the mouth, the roads were dry, and I thought for a minute that I could actually see clear sky. No matter, we continued our course up the road until about 1/4 of the way up. It started to rain a little, but we figured then since we had come so far, why stop now? And rain at the top of the canyon would make it even more beautiful... So. There we were, now half of the way to the summit...and lo and behold, we had fog. Silently, in my mind I knew what was coming next. The air was obviously cold enough for it, but I dared not open my mouth to my traveling companion for fear that she might make me turn my course and head back down the canyon. And about 3/4 of the way up, my thoughts were confirmed to me:

It started snowing.

And it wasn't just a little bit of snow, it was a lot of it. Blinding snow, and the windshield wipers weren't working too well either. So, continuing on, my hands gripped the wheel of this little Honda. Oh,
and as a side note, this would be the very same Honda that, on one occasion, had careened off the side of the road during a winter snow storm. But she had just put new tires on! 40,000 miles ago. Hmm....better hurry to the top, I said....

We made it without any mishap, and it was surely worth the risk in getting there. The ground had about a half foot of snow, and the trees were glistening under the reflected light of the moon that had just appeared over the crest of the hills. The clouds parted shortly thereafter, and we were left with a beautiful scene of the best nature could possibly offer.

And such is life in Utah, if you really choose to live it.


Postscript: Don't try to find a Cherry Coke at the Salt Lake Airport. Ever. You'll have walked about 2 miles by the time you give up.