Mountain Clams

Oh Ming, why?

How appropriate it is that as I begin to write, I am listening to a song called Drive, from the Cars. That is definitely what we did the weekend of August 11th. From Denver, we made our way north to Longmont for impromptu last-minute pre-trip sushi. Then at 8:16 PM, we began the drive north through Ft. Collins - which is a very neat town to which I would like to return for a visit - and on up to Wyoming. [Every time I try to type the name of that state, it comes out "Whyo...backspace backspace backspace dammit."]

Why Wyoming? We wanted to go somewhere that didn't have city lights, but was still interesting to look at. We settled on the Tetons, which turned out to be an excellent choice. But why no city lights? It was the weekend of the Perseids meteor shower, the same weekend as the new moon. How can you not want to find some dark spot of sky to watch that? It was a moral imperative!

Ignore for a second the hours-long drive up, the Holiday Inn Express (that didn't make me feel any smarter), the lousy food and service (I don't remember the last time I stiffed a waitress on her tip - I'm usually quite generous) and the freaky traveling carnival, complete with Tilt-A-Whirl, set up near the town grocery store. Think instead about the gorgeous scenery, complete with nearby wildfires whose lingering smoke colored the sky, especially at sunset. Driving through orange-tinted forests on orange-tinted roads is surreal. Apart from the scenery, it was nice to just spend some time with someone, talking, walking around, taking pictures, relaxing.

Even though the air temperature dipped into the 40's, the night at the Tetons was nothing short of amazing. There probably wasn't a part of the sky that wasn't touched by the flash of a meteor some time during the night. Meteors fell occasionally, sometimes frequently, coming in from all directions at all angles. Some burned with greater intensity, leaving a glowing trail behind for several seconds. Others were barely visible, even in the darkness. An occasional car's headlights lit up the horizon, but the road was far enough away to really impact the view. We stayed out watching the skies until they started to lighten in the pre-dawn hours.
In the background, we could hear (but not see) horses whinnying in a nearby field. In two different directions, we heard coyotes calling out to each other. When the sun came up (and we climbed out of the back of the truck), we got to see just how close those animals were. We saw one pup walking around near the old house structure that was a couple hundred yards away, and the horses were in the pasture just beyond that.

It's always hard to leave such a place behind and return to reality.

Labels: travel

posted by Brett @ 2:07 PM