Living on the Edge

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.

--Kurt Vonnegut

Today I left Colorado and made a little journey to Moab, Utah.   I spent yesterday and this morning with Mike, who was my roommate after college, and his family. We had a fantastic time together.  Colorado has no shortage of breweries, and Mike and I visited nearly all the ones in Boulder for our lunch on Tuesday afternoon.  When we came back home, his wife Bridget and their twin 9-year old boys Ben and Luke (named after Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker) had just come home from summer school.  The boys were getting ready to play in a little-league hockey game that evening, so Mike and I got them warmed up with a game of dodge ball first.  We played little kids against big kids, and Ben and Luke took great pleasure in pelting us as hard as they could while we screamed in mock pain. 

Ice cream cones make great face paint

Afterwards, we went inside and the boys loaded up on carbs with some noodles and ice cream cones.  Since Bridget was not paying attention, I counseled Ben and Luke in the fine techniques of stuffing as many noodles in their mouth as possible and in using their ice cream cones as face paints.  They thought it was one of the best lunches they’d ever had, and I think I would have to agree with them.  When they finished lunch, we went to the hockey game.  Mike got the boys suited up and we watched them chase pucks around the rink for about an hour with 8 other little boys.  Their energy was incredible—I was impressed that they lasted so long.  After the game, we headed home and had a dinner of bbq tri-tip and a few hours of video games.  Later in the evening, Mike and I had a few puffs of legal Colorado entertainment (don’t worry, Mike—I won’t tell Bridget about your stash…well, unless she reads about it here!) and then stayed up until nearly 2:00am giggling at the movie Ted, which we both have seen at least a dozen times.  All in all, it was a pretty spectacular day. 

Pshaw!  Don't avoid the edge...get as close as you can!

But this morning it was time to leave.  I’d been in Colorado for a week and the road was calling me.  The next stop on my journey is Arches National Park in Moab, Utah which was about a 6 hour drive down Interstate 70.  I know that earlier in my blogs I said that Highway 128 through Navarro was probably my favorite highway, but after driving through Colorado on 70, I think I have a new favorite.  It was an absolutely gorgeous drive that took me winding through the mountains west of Denver, up over 11,000 feet through the Eisenhower tunnel, past the little villages of Vail, Avon, Eagle, and Glenwood Springs and through the White River National Forest.  Just past the uniquely named town of Parachute, I stopped at a rest stop that had a little visitor’s center.  Inside the center they sold chocolates (which I didn’t buy since I’ve had plenty the past several days!) and small gifts, and they also had little brochures of interesting places along I-70.  I came across one that gave some information on the Colorado National Monument located near the town of Grand Junction.  It looked interesting and I had a couple hours to spare, so I decided to add a little detour to my route. 

Whooooaaahh!
(No comments about the white socks, please)

I’m glad I made the trip.  The Colorado National Monument is a bit like a mini Grand Canyon.  It has some spectacularly sheer walls of deep red and golden sandstone and several spires and rock formations that jump up from the sides and middle of the canyon.  There is a narrow road that slithers its way 23 miles through the park, up the sides of the cliffs and around the rim of the canyon.  The brochure said that it takes about an hour to drive from one end to the other, but I made it last 3 hours by pulling off to the side of the road at almost every small turn-out available and soaking in the view.   One of the amazing things about it was that you could walk right to the edge of the canyon and stare straight down nearly 700 feet in some places.  I sat for a long while at the edge of one part and marveled at how far I could see.  It was a clear day and about 95° out with very little wind which made for a very serene setting.  Beyond the walls of the canyon I could view the far-off towns that sat miles away at the bottom of the valley.  When I first got out of my van and looked at the lip of the broad hole in front of me, I felt an immediate sense of vertigo.  After several minutes, though, I got accustomed to it and ventured closer to the precipice.  I sat down and edged myself to just inches away from the cliff and dangled my feet over the edge.  I could feel gravity tugging at the bottoms of my shoes.   Even though I wasn’t moving, my heart quickened a bit and I could feel a jolt of adrenaline.  It’s when you are just touching the skin of the edge that life becomes amplified and you feel incredibly alive.  It was almost as if time paused for a moment and I became incredibly aware of all the small details around me: the grit of the pebbly scarlet soil underneath my palms as I held myself in place, the heat from the sun pressing down on the back of my neck, an obsidian raven that glided through the center of the canyon without even flapping its wings, the subtle smell of the juniper shrubs that speckled the rocks, and the annoying buzz of little flies that wanted to bite my ears.  As I felt more comfortable with my position at the edge of the canyon, I got a little more daring and laid down, hanging my head over the side.  That vertigo rush returned and forced a nervous and excited laugh from my lungs.  I stared at the bottom and then flipped over and saw the depths of the blue sky above me.  It was a feeling that is hard to put in words.  When I got on the road this morning, I thought I’d be tired on the drive since I stayed up so late last night.  But clinging to the brief bits of stone that prevented gravity’s pull on my body had an effect beyond caffeine and fed energy into my veins.  

That was just a little bit scary....

I wanted to see more of the canyon and was slightly disappointed that I hadn’t discovered it earlier and left more time for exploring.  I carefully withdrew from my perch and went back to my van and continued my trip around the rim of the monument.  Each new spot I found provided a different perspective and landscape to enjoy.  The sun got lower in the sky and when it struck the walls and formations around me it created battles between light and dark on the rocks.  The late afternoon rays from the sun caused the deep red and sparkling tan sandstone to light up as if it had erupted, and the crags and crevices between the rocks grew deeper and deeper into an inky black.  Long shadows stretched across the bottom of the canyon like dark beards growing at the chins of the formations and I knew I needed to get moving if I wanted to make it to my campsite before dark.  I made one last stop at an area called Monument Valley at the west end of the park and snapped a few pictures of a lone stately spire that sprouted from the middle of the canyon as if in defiance of the other structures that clung close to the walls.  The road then made its way back down to the floor of the canyon, and soon I had returned to Interstate 70 and was headed to Moab.

My week of indulgences in Colorado was over.  I was going back to campsites where I’d walk outside to the showers and sleep in the back of my van.  While it was great to visit friends and summon old memories from the backs of our minds, I find a certain comfort in being back on the road.  That yellow line in the center of a narrow strip of gray has come to symbolize adventure and a sense of unexplainable freedom that is somehow seductive.  The road has the capability to take me to those places where I can be right on the edge, where I can find something new to experience, and where I can see all the things that are invisible from inside the walls of my home. 

Monument Valley at Colorado National Monument.
Wish I could have hung off the top of that one in the middle!