A seven-day bus trip is about as hellish as it sounds, but as a way to see some spectacular natural sights, it was well worth it. Traveling through the Grand Canyon and several other national parks and monuments was an amazing experience, especially for those of us who have spent most of our lives on the east coast. The splendor of the vistas, created by nature, was awesome and outdone only by the massive scale. The Grand Canyon is over 275 miles long, which is about the distance from Boston to Syracuse, NY! So it is nearly impossible to see it all, perhaps in a lifetime. Moreover, a given vista changes with the time of day and the play of natural light, so that even a static view offers a changing scene.
Among the many contrasts was the difference between seeing the Grand Canyon exclusively from the rim (no mule rides down to the canyon floor for this cowboy) and the visiting Zion National Park in Utah where we actually stayed down on the canyon floor and were able to view the majestic rock formations from the ground up.
But when it comes to contrasts, nothing could match the wrenching change in traveling from the natural wonders of Zion to the man-made vulgarity of Las Vegas where we spent the last two days. The Tour Company maintained that it needed a terminal point that provided adequate air service to get everyone home. While this might make some logistic sense, it would have been fine with me if they had just dropped us at the Las Vegas airport. This, my first, trip to “Vegas” came at an interesting time in that our state governor has recently recommended the establishment of at least three casinos in Massachusetts as an easy way to generate an expected flood of new tax revenues and create new jobs. While, admittedly, Las Vegas takes the gambling-as-industry concept to absurd heights, a few days in Las Vegas makes one wonder if this the direction we should take. The View will have much more to say on this in future posts.
***
Among the emails waiting for me on my return was a brief message from old friend, and Abington Minister, Stan Duncan, who I met through our membership in the South Shore Writers Club. Stan’s new book, If You Lived Here, You’d be Home by Now, is close to being released. You can get a preview peek at:
www.lulu.com/content/782924
***
The trip, with a few exceptions, was exciting and inspiring, but as Dorothy would say, there's no place like home.
Among the many contrasts was the difference between seeing the Grand Canyon exclusively from the rim (no mule rides down to the canyon floor for this cowboy) and the visiting Zion National Park in Utah where we actually stayed down on the canyon floor and were able to view the majestic rock formations from the ground up.
But when it comes to contrasts, nothing could match the wrenching change in traveling from the natural wonders of Zion to the man-made vulgarity of Las Vegas where we spent the last two days. The Tour Company maintained that it needed a terminal point that provided adequate air service to get everyone home. While this might make some logistic sense, it would have been fine with me if they had just dropped us at the Las Vegas airport. This, my first, trip to “Vegas” came at an interesting time in that our state governor has recently recommended the establishment of at least three casinos in Massachusetts as an easy way to generate an expected flood of new tax revenues and create new jobs. While, admittedly, Las Vegas takes the gambling-as-industry concept to absurd heights, a few days in Las Vegas makes one wonder if this the direction we should take. The View will have much more to say on this in future posts.
***
Among the emails waiting for me on my return was a brief message from old friend, and Abington Minister, Stan Duncan, who I met through our membership in the South Shore Writers Club. Stan’s new book, If You Lived Here, You’d be Home by Now, is close to being released. You can get a preview peek at:
www.lulu.com/content/782924
***
The trip, with a few exceptions, was exciting and inspiring, but as Dorothy would say, there's no place like home.
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