Go Surf!

Youth sports is fun. At least, it's more fun to watch that I would have guessed. But it does get a little pricey. To combat this, Corrie signed me up to be an assistant coach. At least that's what she thought. But, signing up as a coach erases the price to that family, so that's more than enough motivation.

When I went to one of the "assistant coach" meetings, they said: Be sure to be here for the tryouts, so you can keep track of players for the draft a few days later, and then don'tmiss the draft, and soon we'll get your team name and cap designs.

My raised eyebrows said, Umm, what? Running a practice in the first few weeks was more stressful than coaching the games; I can say that with experiences as the head-coach, draft-maven, and team-namer.

Originally I went with the name Tyrants. I was going togo with a t-rex theme, and it sounded like it fit the times, anyway. I was going to go with a a black and white, cursive, uplifting script team name across the chest, white letters on black shirt, so we could have black pants (score one for non-white pants). But this was nixed on account of having to steal the images and jersey designs from established teams, and beyond a novel I'm writing, there are no major league, minor league, or college team sporting that name.

After a long discussion with Cass, and going back and forth a few times between a few other names, I made the executive decision and chose the Surf, as in: the Long Beach Surf. I went with an LA soccer team from the late 70s for the cresting wave logo, but really, I was interested in a cyan (sky blue) cap with the neon green interlocking LB cap. I thought the cap would stand out.

The jersey folks told me they changed the hat plan, but thought it would work. They settled on:

Navy crown, cyan button, vents, and bill, and the neon green LB, reminiscent of both the Seahawks and the TB Rays (Corrie had suggested all navy with the green LB, so as to read it better from a distance).

It's turned out to be the runaway star of the season, with everyone complimenting it and asking if there are more, here in the Southland as well as my people from across the country.

Here's Cass's #3 kit:

My jersey is numbered 99 (All rise!) and so far we're 1-0 on the season.

It wasn't that hot, but I was sweating nonetheless...

This coaching deal has been something new. I got used to different titles: chef, mister...and now I'm called "coach" pretty regularly by a certain tiny group of parents and kids. 

Go Surf!

Bad Idea Saturday

I've written about Bad Idea a few times before, and by "Bad Idea" I mean the comic book company. I wrote about them in 2021, 2023, and last year, 2024.

Apparently, I haven't unsubscribed from different Bad Idea email alerts, and one of them from a few weeks ago was about a get together in Eagle Rock at a comic shop called Revenge Of. This was a post convention party and you had to RSVP, but it was free. I was not going to whatever convention it was associated with, but I'd thought I'd RSVP anyway. Maybe they wouldn't care. Maybe I could spend a Saturday evening out of the house like a normal adult.

I was on the list, but they never checked. I got my freebie comic, and had it autographed. They had fre pizza and free beer, which was nice. They had many pinball machines and handed out five dollars in tokens to anybody who wanted. They had an event space behind their shop where they had a DJ, a table covered with meat and cheese and fruit, more drinks, the pizza station, and a photo-op mock up of the mech suit one of their characters wears.

On the patio of the actual grounds, they had a themed corn-hole setup as well as wall mounted signage:

I bought two comics from the shop, one for each of my kids. Outside they had a coin-operated claw machine full of stuffed animals, teddy bears and panda bears, both sporting Bad Idea shirts. I was there earlier than the madness of the later times, and I approached the machine. I didn't really have quarters to pump inside, but when I got there, I moved the joystick and the claw jumped to life. A digital readout started counting down from 19. I moved the claw to a nearby pink bear on top of a pile, pressed the button, and caught the bear. It was the easiest claw maneuver I ever had. I moved the claw over the hole, and proceeded to carry the bear for the remainder of the night:

"Ooh! You got a bear!" people would gasp. "Yeah, it's for my daughter..." I would answer. I soon realized that I needed to get another comic for my son, just to even the gift caper out.

Mike, the erstwhile comic shop owner from our building, was there with his cool wife, and we chatted for a bit. It was nice to talk with other adults. It was nice to be out and about on a Saturday, but I would have liked Corrie to have been there. The free beer was nice, but since Long Beach and Eagle Rock are 40 minutes apart in no traffic, "free beer" is more of a concept than a real thing to fully enjoy.

Bad Idea strikes again! Thanks for the fun!

The Robots are Crossing Linden

The supermarket that I and my family visit is about one-thousand feet from our home. We walk unless we're on the way home from points further away and already in the car. Since you can count on two hands the days when the rain has been rough in the last, er, decade, inclement weather generally has no bearing on our grocery store decisions.

So, as was the case, I was making an evening trip to the grocery store. I walk south to Broadway, and then east along Broadway two blocks to Atlantic, where the Vons is. The block between my street, Elm, and Atlantic is Linden. (On a side note, the intersection of Broadway and Linden in downtown Long Beach is my favorite intersection...like maybe anywhere, which is a weird thing to say.)

As I waited to cross Linden at a red light along Broadway, on the opposite sidewalk was what looked like a big rectangular cooler on with serious off-roading wheels. Nice, I remember thinking, have a wheeled cooler would make parts of camping easier. I glanced around on that side of the street for someone getting ready to push it across one the light changed. But then I noticed that it had headlights. Once the light changed, we both started going, me to my coming side, east towards Atlantic and Vons, and it heading west.

What I had originally thought was some kind of pushing handle, was a lit-up touch screen, with four large letters centered on the screen. As we got closer and about to pass each other, I could read these four letters as "Alan."

Alan didn't have any kind of delivery-service company markings anywhere on, eh, it...him? As we passed, I smiled and wanted to say, "Hey Alan, how're you doin?" But I didn't. Would it have been confused? Probably not, but it was doing something, toiling across the street late at night.

As I grabbed the things I needed from the store, I was deep in thought about Alan. Was this Alan a programmable tool? Was it something you said, "Okay, Alan, I need you to go to Vons...get milk and eggs," or "Alan...go to Vons and pick up order #XX-XXXX?" Was it coming from Vons? Was it just a helper machine, and if so, isn't that how all origin stories about AI and the robot-apocalypse start out?

Where was it heading to? Did it have a nice spot to charge it's power core in the apartment of its owner? Could it ever be its own owner? Should it be its own owner? How long before those conversations are had?

I laughed it off---the coming existential crisis about AI and robotics---and marveled at my own lifespan: I'm of that weird in-between generation: too young for Gen-X proper and too old for Millenial...you know, first email account was basically in college, voted in 2000 for Nader, was a twenty-something during the post-9-11 world, now a forty-something parent watching cartoon supervillains taking over the country, AI is a homework cheating app on phones, and robots running errands at all hours of the night.

I mentioned it to Corrie, and she told me about the robot she saw, a taller, trapezoid-looking deal, passing her as she walked home from Vons. Whatta woild, we laughed.

The other night, as we checked out the neighborhood from our balcony, I saw Alan again. At least, I think it's Alan. This time Alan was again crossing Linden, only they were heading east, and was on 3rd, the block up from Broadway in our fair neck of the woods:

I'm not even sure which I want it to be more: is Alan out on a different errand? Maybe mapping out different streets of our shared neighborhood? Or, wait for it, is this a different robot of Alan's type? Are there just a whole slew of robots coming through downtown Long Beach?

Not a terrible decision, by any stretch, except for the feces and urine all over the place and the crowds of unhoused taking up more and more bare sleeping nooks and the occasional unhoused with severe social issues who ends up screaming into the night very loudly and for hours on end, our zone is very cool.

And I doubt Alan would be too bothered by the occasional hours-long scream fest, in any case.

By Its Cover, I Guess

So, what happened was...

I found a new author, or, rather, I finally followed up with some authorial snooping, in the sense that one of my favorite author's (Pynchon) favorite author, Peter Matthiessen, has found his way into my possession. With a Decemberween gift-card I made the purchase of an early favorite of fans of Matthiessen, Far Tortuga:

While I waited for the book to arrive, I learned about "Shadow Country, another Matthiessen novel, and a winner of the 2008 National Book Award. I picked it up too, and it arrived and I'm 200 pages into it. It's a masterpiece.

Matthiessen is a rather badass writer, and the only person to win the National Book Award in both fiction (Shadow Country), and non-fiction, for "The Snow Leopard." Matthiessen was a travel writer, adventurer, philosopher, and Leonard Peltier supporter---he was the white writer that first brought Peltier's plight (getting hosed by the feds) to (white) society at large.

Back to Far Tortuga...why start a 900 page book (Shadow Country) when this book's right here? Well, while Far Tortuga was the first thing I ordered, it was the last thing to arrive. 

That may have been because of how I ordered it. I found a copy that was within a price range that was acceptable. But the cover wasn't necessarily doing it for me (which is silly and weird), so I kept scrolling down the choices on Amazon and found something that suited my feelings a little more. Hence the cover above.

When it got here, I tore open the package and glanced at the back:

Wait...what?

I started thumbing through it...

I did not order the French version! Dammit Amazon!

I went back to check in to my Amazon account and see what I could do...about...wait, what?

So, it turns out I never actually clicked on the cover above's actual sale-page: it was entirely in French. Apparently, I just clicked on the cover, and put that order through without ever examining it closer.

Oops. But now i have a book for Delphine, so that's cool.

Plus, look how cool it looks inside:

I can't wait to get the English version, which I did order and have it coming.

Until then, there's this:

This is actually a reworking of three novels that Matthiessen wrote and published earlier. His original idea was for a single, mysterious, 1500 page book, but the publishers had him break it up. Later in life he put it all back together after editing it and reworking the middle section.

It follows the framework of Edgar J. Watson's murder at the hands of his neighbors. Well, that's the opening scene, anyway. The first section follows that initial gun-down in the street with personal statements and recollections from all the people who either participated or witnessed the events, or were close in some way with Watson. Each person has their own voice and personal schema, and Matthiessen gives each their own distinct life.

The middle section has, apparently since I've yet to get that far, at its center one of Watson's sons as a forty-year-ish-old trying to figure out why his father was killed. The last section is, I hear, Watson retelling his own life story, from start to finish, so the book starts and ends with the same scene, just from different perspectives.

Homey could write, yo.

Urban Coyotes

The first time I remember seeing a coyote in Long Beach was on a drive to work. My normal routes were impacted by street-work, so while driving west on Anaheim Ave, a major thoroughfare on the way out of town over the river and freeways, a coyote was trotting across the major street.

My first thought as I approached was Stray dog? Out here? because we don't really ever see strays. But as I got closer, the silhouette this 'dog' cut became clearer, and it was obvious this wasn't a dog-dog, it was wildlife. There was a large patch of overgrowth under the bridge over the LA river at Anaheim, in an area they'll probably be filling in with condos or apartments soon enough, that I was pretty sure was this coyote's destination. 

It was a nifty encounter. Ever since college I've had a soft spot for coyotes. I've even named a character I put into two different stories Sin-ka-lip (the Salish name for coyote), who is, in case you're wondering, a talking coyote.

Anywho, a few years later, I was driving down one of our neighborhood streets and saw this sight:

So I trailed it for a while, slowly, and at a distance that kept it from taking off. I was far enough away to see who was keeping it company. Guiding, maybe...?

I was able to capture their friend finally in the frame, on top of the streetlight on the left side: a crow. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Coyote and crow chilling together in, er, downtown Long Beach. They were literally traveling together, coyote down the middle of the street and crow flying along side, and I got that picture when crow finally perched. 

Raccoons have been a staple of our downtown LB living for years. A family lived under the house next-door when we lived down the street on 3rd, and I've seen them a few times along the rocks at the marina on evening walks. Coyotes, I read, do exist in urban areas still, they're just pretty out of sight. And then I started seeing them...maybe I'm just coyote-blessed.

So, eighteen months later I'm driving to work again, and a stretch of road I drive along (Lomita Ave) has large encampments of unhoused people. Sometimes there are cops and service workers, with dumpsters, sweeping them all away, but that's not a permanent solution. I've written about it before. That area has large-ish wilderness overgrowth area next to the north-south I-110 freeway, closed in on the west and east by the freeway and Vermont Ave, and on the south by Lomita. Check out the Google Map picture, that shows the encampment on the sidewalk:

I wasn't able to get a picture, but it made sense that the unhoused community would draw plenty of attention. A few days later, I was able to get a picture:

Sometimes I get to thinking about my Sin-ka-lip, about what kind iof sage advice he'd have for Fu-tzu, his student, if they were watching one of these camps, or how society at-large treats them.

Coyote's presence can still be felt all over, if you're trying to feel it.

How Much is That Doggy in the Window?

Um...they're not for sale. They're part of the family...

Nighttime, and still lonely. Poor guy. 

I remember experiencing a little anxiety at the view, but dogs are tough, right? And smart.

Political Intrigue in Dinetah

"Dinetah" is the name the locals call the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the US:

The dine is what they call themselves (Navajo for "people"). While we drove through the Nation during our Decemberween trip, we stayed in Kayenta (check the map for more detail, like the location of Kayenta, Tuba City, and the tiny hamlet we shopped in while staying in Colorado, Cortez):

I bought a reservation newspaper while we stayed in Kayenta, and read through it with the vicarious view of a mostly informed tourist---informed in terms of knowing structurally what their sovereign government would resemble.

Right on the front page there are three main articles, one with the picture above the fold and story below, on the left; and two on the right, one above the fold and one title above the fold, and all three are connected in various ways.

The story on the left tells the tale of the President and the Vice President's beef, their non-working relationship, about how the VP has accused the President of sexual harassment or misconduct; about howe the President scoffs at those accusations, about how those accusations have arisen from his demands that his VP get work done for the people of the Nation. It tells how the Prez had taken the VP's security detail away, as well as her vehicle. It's pretty crazy.

The top story on the right hand side tells the story of how the Navajo Nation's Attorney General, after completing the investigation into the VP's sexual harassment claims---there were no actions that rose to the level of sexual harassment by the party of the President is the main conclusion---the AG was removed from office by a tight vote of the tribal council.

The article directly below it tells the story of the Nation's first-lady---the President's wife---being appointed the Attorney for Apache County in Arizona. She has acknowledged the peculiarities about the position, especially since the 70% of the county is on the reservation and thus, Navajo Nation land, too. I'm not sure if this matters, but she's not yet 30 years old.

Good for her.

I think this may make for an interesting dramatic movie...Navajo Nation fraying behind the shadow of larger political turmoil; the perseverance of a long forgotten and generally oppressed people amid worse machinations at the federal level...

Maybe just a clearly told story would be captivating enough. I think it makes sense that I may not be the best voice to tell the story...people looking like me have been telling these people's story for far too long.

Movie Traditions

Before we had kids, Corrie would, on New Year's Eve, marathon watch the second of the Lord of the Rings movies---The Two Towers and The Return of the King. We didn't have The Fellowship, so it was never involved.

Anywho, Cass has been interested in knights and armor and battles---because what kid isn't?---and Corrie said, Well, there are these crazy vivid, involved, movies that have monsters, wizards, magic, sword-play, HUGE battle scenes, ghost armies, tiny half-sized people...it's pretty cool! And Cass's eyes went wide and he said: What the sigma are we waiting for (this is new slang for us oldies)?

So, before we left for Colorado, Corrie put on the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings films. The 12 hours of epic movie split nicely over two weeks---somedays we'd watch an hour, others an-hour-and-a-half---always ending for bed or shower at a reasonable place.

I didn't catch all of the extended versions, but from what I did see, some things were filled in, or nuance I was unaware of got explained. Like Aragorn being 87 years old, and being one of the "dudes who live for a few hundred years" typed of humans. I had no idea...

Anywho number two, that left Corrie and I with the desire to watch something new on New Year's Eve, and we had settled on wanting to put eyes on Ivan Reitman's "Evolution" from summer of 2001. We had just driven through the beautiful Glen Canyon area of Utah and Arizona---the site for where the movie takes place---and we quote it regularly...so the decision made sense.

One evening back in the pre-9/11 summer of 2001, Corrie, Tony, and I went to see this movie in the theater, but not in San Luis. We drove down to Arroyo Grande to a tiny single-screen theater (most likely the Fair Oaks Theatre), most likely having been drinking and partaking the whole drive down, only to crack up laughing over and over. I have a soft spot for this movie.

We put it on for the kids, but they weren't as interested as us, so we put it on after they went to bed. I spent some time online after watching it, to see if the online community loves it as much as I do (they decidedly do NOT), and to check specific filming locations and the like.

The third act climax is silly, and the end bad-guy in this essentially Ghostbusters-retooling is, eh, let's say pushing the boundaries of believability, but the physical nature of David Duchovny, Orlando Jones, and Julianne Moor's comedy cracks me up just by thinking about it. The chemistry between Duchovny and Jones in the small moments ("Ready for lunch Harry? Or...have you already eaten?"), or just Orlando Jones line reads ("God gave you two goddamned hands for a reason!"; "We're just trying to look after these little guys, your majesty!") or to him ("This is not a nightclub!") or Arizona's governor, played by Dan Ackroyd, ("Somebody take this bag of snakes and lay them out straight for me.") provide endless quotes for Corrie and me. And I haven't even mentioned Sean William Scott ("I do this!"; not a quote, but his face upon hearing his terrible boss was killed by a monster is priceless.)

After purchasing a new DVD player, I hope to return this movie to our rotation. It could make for a nice New Year's Eve movie, but I wouldn't want it to only get seen once a year. If you haven't seen it, I would say it's worth your time, but I also understand the main complaints about it.

The times, though, when it came out were the height of frivolity in America---the pre-9/11 summer of 2001. It's from a different era, and it takes me back there, which may be why I still adore it so much.

Part 7: Vegas, Baby!

(Sigh)

Limping into Vegas wasn't part of the plan. But it was a necessity. The drive would have been too far, and we wanted to show the kids the lights. But then sickness was all around, and gambling was all around, and smoking was all around, and it was a bit surreal.

We did make sure the kids were feeling okay enough to go have an hour's worth of date night, just me and Corrie, walking around, drinking, playing some blackjack. We showed Cass how to call me on Corrie's phone---we set up my number as an emergency contact---and left the kids to watch TV. They did fine and there was no issue, and we had our own little fun time.

Before that, I took Cass to walk around and see some lights, and they didn't diasappoint:

"You can't park your car here!"

I had a sound byte playing in my head often as we walked around, the scene where Johnny Depp is trying to leave his car under lights like the ones above at an early point in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and the attendant is yelling at him. I must have said it dozens of times, much to Cass's bewilderment.

We did try to catch some of the circus acts, but they were sporadic, not at the time's posted, and not the things that were supposed to be happening. Oh well, but check out the thick balance/contortionist with the ball, cool stuff!

We grabbed some cash to gamble with, but seeing all the tables were full, we dropped a twenty into a fancy looking slot machine, and before we could figure out just the hell was happening, we were down to six bucks, and couldn't wager anymore. We hit teh CASH OUT key and it spit out a voucher like the one below.

Corrie went to use the bathroom, and I put the six dollar voucher into a machine like cash, and played until I couldn't bet anymore. I won, and lost, and won, and lost, but the winning never amounted to much, and in the end, the CASH OUT button was pressed, and the following six cent voucher was spit out.

We joked that it would have been funny to go turn it in at the window and collect that nickel and penny, but decided to give it to Cass as a keepsake, a reminder of the realities of gambling. Twenty bucks to six cents in a matter of minutes.

We lost the rest of our money faster, once the blackjack table opened, and then we left, laughing all the way back to the room. We had a set amount of money we were comfortable essentially setting on fire, enjoyed the experience, and went back to the room. I could see a scenario where I did some sports betting, but...

The next day, after agreeing not to go visit our old friends, we bombed it back to Long Beach. Cass barfed in the car, and Corrie was sick that night at home. We're still not completely clear even now. Sheesh...

The trip was awesome and magical, but the last fifty hours were a bit rough, and we're still shaking it off, even now, nearly a week later.

In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose!

Happy Decemberween Holidays!

Part 6: Natural Bridges and off to Utah

We left the house in a caravan, almost like we arrived. When we got to the main road, we each drove off in our own direction. We headed off towards Utah and to see some things before trying to meet old friends in Vegas, before heading home.

What turned out to be the only thing we saw in Utah was Natural Bridges. It was a quick loop with three arches to see, either by easy access lookout or by hike. We did the last, easygoing hike, and it was strikingly beautiful, like so much of the nature we witnessed on the trip.

We found a place to eat a ways from this beauty, and still tried to dog it another couple hours to our hotel.

It was about here that things went sideways. The hotel we booked essentially didn't exist, and was "avaliable" to take our money by a computer issue. Now, here we were, after 10 pm, near Bryce Canyon park, in the offseason, in 20 degree weather, with no place to go and nothing looking open. I was on my phone, Corrie was on her phone, and we tried to find a room with two beds close by.

We did get a room, got the kids situated, and after about an hour asleep, Camille woke up wailing, and then barfed her entire dinner all over the bed she was sharing with Corrie. It wasn't the last time she threw up, and the night was a rough one.

We decided to skip whatever sightseeing we were going to do and head on to Vegas, mulling over weather it was an okay idea to even visit old friends. We booked a place that would be open, a super cheap room at Circus Circus, and hoped a day of rest would be enough for Camille.

We found a rad restaurant, the Flying Goat, in a town named Panguitch (no joke). They didn't even blink when Camille barfed the second we make it to a table. They just awwed and got her some toast while someone got a mop. "We got kids," they said.

If you find yourself in Panguitch, UT, check out the Flying Goat, in the bottom of the white building in the middle. Rad people, good food, and tons of goat decorations.

Part 5: Snow Day at Elevation

On Boxing Day we took our kids, Mary and Eddy took the twins, and we caravanned with Anne up the way from Dolores past the small mountain town of Rico, pulled over at a spot, and got our sleds out. It was high up in the sky, it was windy and snowing sideways, and while Pete and Colton and Anne and Bohdi (her son) took off for higher ground for sledding, we tried to get the kids set up close by, and eventually we went back to Rico for brunch.

The elevation at Lizard Pass was 13,113, and while we were told later that elevation was for the summit, we sure felt it then.

Cass bundled up well

Camille, with Corrie and one of our sleds 

Cass and the big sled

Badass grub shop in Rico, CO

I didn't have proper snow boots, and once my leg disappeared into snow and my shoe filled up, I knew I wouldn't be lasting too much longer. We stopped at the local artsy coffee shop slash food spot and took over the joint for an hour, buying gear and food and drinks before braving the icy roads home.

It was a treacherous drive at the end of an awesome morning.

Decemberween 2024: Part 4 - White Christmas and Ping Pong Realizations

It worked out! It wasn't a blizzard, but it was snowing when we got up at 7 am on Christmas Day. It snowed off and on over the course of the day, and it was magical.

I didn't get any footage of walking around and catching the big flakes on my tongue,  because I spent my phone time, eh, facetiming my folks.

The place had a ping-pong table, and while it had been a decade-plus since I played, and the paddles were of substandard quality (they had no rubber at all, just hard plastic uniformity on both sides), I got back into playing easily, and even discovered something:

That's Cass playing Corrie. But I learned that Cass has an incredible innate skill for the game of table-tennis. His grandpa is a good pon player, and so is his dad, and his mom has a fundamental ability with nearly any form of sporty or physical activity.

On the first day he played, his ability to get to the ball was natural, but his paddle play was erratic and his spray percentage was high. On day two, his returns were surprisingly good half the time, his strike form had vastly improved, and his spray percentage had been halved. On day three, his serves were getting seriously good, and not just for an 8 year old---for most anybody, his backhand (which I was trying to coach him on) was improving, his spray percentage was nearly zero, and basically unforced errors were his only problem. His ability to read my spins and English-on-the-ball were hampered by my ability to actually accomplish them---the low quality paddles were to blame for that issue---but overall, after three days, he was a very competent ping-pong player.

I was both very proud and mildly surprised, but I'm not sure I should have been surprised. Cass and his mom share some taking-to-a-sport gifts.

Merry Christmas to me.

Decemberween 2024: Part 3 - The Place, and a Visit to Dolores

We all kinda arrived to the house at the same time, which is some cool stuff, as the caravans were coming from different directions. The house was located on some property nestled between Cortez and Dolores, themselves less than twenty minutes apart.

Cortez is like a large-ish small town, popping over 9000 in population just recently. It had little neighborhoods and a Safeway and even a Wal-Mart. Since the Safeway bosses bought up Vons in the recent past, shopping there was surreal, as the generic brand is the same, so seeing name brands next to the same generic as we see at home was a moment.

Camille and the twins got right to it:

The next day, Christmas Eve, we ventured into Dolores to visit with Corrie's cousin Anne, another guest at our Mexican Wedding all those years back. Now, having lived in San Luis Obispo for a time, I had the experience of living in a fictional place, as the case was made years back about the similarities between SLO and Springfield, where the Simpsons live. A few points:

• Rolling green hills;
• Beach vicinity but not on the beach;
• Sun sets on the ocean;
• Nuclear plant in vicinity;
• Similar looks for downtown skylines;
• Similar under-50k population sizes;
• Both an engineering university and an ag university in town...

Even back in 1998, the local news anchor was a white dude with white hair, resembling Kent Brockman. Living in it, you kinda shrugged and said, eh, sure, sounds good.

Well, having visited Dolores, I can say I got the same feeling, only this time it was for the fictional town of South Park. Nestled between two conifer studded mountains, it had the same street layout and landmarks I remember from watching the show.

Corrie's cousin Anne has a place up steep sloping road to the top of one of the mountains, and her son took some of us on a hike to the cliff overlook, and again it reminded me of South Park:

The picture doesn't do justice to how close it all felt.

It was a great time, and eventually we made it home for Christmas Eve, hoping that the precipitation estimates and temperature guesses would work out, and we'd get a White Christmas...

Decemberween 2024: Part 2 - Navajo Monument and Four Corners

I felt like breaking these parts up into easy to find photo bombs. After visiting the Grand Canyon, we drove on to Kayenta on the Navajo Nation reservation, stayed the night, and the next morning backtracked a few miles to the Navajo National Monument.

That monument is a large cliff dwelling settlement. A few notes about it, bullet-point fashioned:

• It was far larger than the Tonto National Monument I visited back on '09, and unlike Tonto, you're not allowed to walk around the settlement;
• By "far larger," I mean it likely housed over a hundred people at the height of it's existence;
• The people who lived there farmed in the valley below, and by that we mean, they had some kind of agricultural means that sustained them;
• It was abandoned by 1300, and the people who loved their mostly joined other tribes that helped build the basis of the Hopi, Anasazi, and Navajo.

It was a rather spectacular view, but it was only a view:

It was like a tiny town down there. Ruins are always fascinating.

Heading around you could get a view that helped explain why folks would make a home there---it was exceptionally beautiful:

From there, we drove to the four corners monument. Below I got my chance to snap a picture of the spot where the four states come together in one place:

And then I stepped in all four states at once:

After hitting up Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado all at once, we did a perimeter walk and perused the stalls that were there a few days before Christmas. I found a very nice pendant for a necklace, but it was too rich for my blood right now.

After all that, we took off for points north-east, for Cortez, Colorado and our big AirBnB.

Decemberween 2024: Part 1 - Williams and the Grand Canyon

We started the trip like we would have headed to the Fram, only we'd decided to make it easy and stop in Williams, AZ, the "Gateway to the Grand Canyon". Williams, still six hours away, is usually a dinner stop on the way to Flagstaff or one of the other I-40 hotel-town stops on the way to Texas every summer.

But Williams was 29 degrees and all dressed up for the season:

We stayed in a tiny, darkened motel that may have been creepy if you were into that kind of thing, and the next day, after breakfast, we left for the Grand Canyon, an hour due north from Williams.

So...the Grand Canyon...

Like Venice in Italy, nearly every direction you look is postcard worthy beauty. It's breathtaking, stupefying, and outrageous all at once. Later you look at your pictures on whatever device you use to capture them, and there are hundreds...all beautiful and crazy and in that moment completely devoid of the context you were thinking when you took it. Here are some:

Ot's not that they don't all blend together...but they kinda do. Each is spectacular on their own, and I've got dozens more. Many with my peeps in them.

We checked out one of the museums, and got to play with the model:

We gave Cass my old point and shoot cannon, and he took a bunch of his own pics. He had a hefty amount of anxiety about the "edge," and below is about as close as he was willing to get on his own:

It was great and amazing and wonderful and I love that we brought the kids. Camille won't remember more than impressions, but that's life when you're almost 5.

We drove on to Kayenta, a town in the middle of Navajo Nation. We wanted to spread our money around, and this seemed like a decent way to do it.