down by the water; the long road; & what if i'd grown up in spokane? (vacation entry #9)
vacation blog continued--12 things:
1) left seattle 7/31. that morning i took a few minutes to be alone at green lake, standing and taking in the scenery: the space needle in the far distance, the sun shining brilliantly on the sparkling blue water, fitness buffs making their way around the lake on foot or blades, and little children squealing and frolicking with delight in the nearby wading pool. i wanted to linger but it was time to go.
2) i guess the lake is a significant place for me because last year, it was a needed change-of-scenery, and the perfect place to get away & contemplate. at the time, i was frustrated with myself and how my body had fundamentally failed and stalled me in the prime of life. i felt angry and lonely and to add insult to injury, i felt fat. at the lake, i finally left behind the effects of prednisone: exercising on my feet for the first time after my bone healed, rebuilding bone density, and losing the corticosteroid weight.
3) inge was so sweet, and took me and my sister to a lovely brunch in ravenna at sunflour bakery & cafe.
4) getting out of the city was a nightmare detour b/c the I-90 bridge was closed, as the blue angels were practicing over lake washington for their annual SEAFAIR show.
5) eastern and western WA (and OR) are like night & day. once you cross the cascades, the land is no longer like the evergreen postcard images of the pacific nw. it's arid, dry, scrubby and brushy, with brown & yellow hills. (and your cell phone signal dies out).
6) during the drive, i remembered my parents telling me once that after getting his ph.d. my dad considered a faculty position at a university out there. to think that i almost grew up in spokane! imagine how different my life would have been. crazy!
7) i'm a mix-cd woman, and it was a lifesaver to have music to listen & sing along to. (but the songs are stuck in my head now)
8) remember ore-ida frozen french fries and spuds? i now know why they're called that: the company is on the oregon-idaho border along I-84.
9) driving through utah took me back to my senior year of college, when as an american lit major, i completed an independent project on american westward expansion as portrayed in literature. the union-pacific transcontinental railroad (completed by the golden spike in utah on may 10, 1869) runs parallel to I-80 through much of utah and wyoming.
10) in salt lake city: the white, marble mormon temple is so beautiful lit against the night sky, with the wasatch mts. in the distance.
11) the town of cheyenne, wyoming is an armpit and total cowtown.
12) the changes in landscape made the drive interesting and enjoyable.
...more later...
