Valley of the Gods

Last night we saw a million stars and the Milky Way, something we never get to see in the City.  Yesterday (yes, this is a back blip due to poor connectivity) we spent the day exploring the Valley of the Gods and its many hoo doos. Hoo doo you love?

This place is very special to me.  When I was 45 years old, rather than have a mid-life crisis, it seemed more important to me spend a week (it had to be 7 days and 7 nights, don't ask me why) camping alone in the wilderness. I wanted, like Thoreau, "to front the essential part of me" and see what might arise.  I thought the adventure would help me avoid buying a shiny red sports car or a fur coat, or any such superfluous accoutrement.

I took out a map in my home near the east coast and searched the western US for what seemed an appropriate place for my vision quest.  I had a feeling it should be somewhere in the four corners region of the US. So I knew immediately when I saw Valley of the Gods on my map of Utah that this was the place one could quiet the noise of the material world to better search inward. The main blip is from the site I chose to pitch my tent.

Needless to say, I survived and went on to great and glorious accomplishments (not really by anything but my own standards). I simply learned what is, and what is not, important to a life well lived.

I have returned here, with and without the musician, more than a dozen times. It is a magical, mystical place. 

Extras Hanging out over the V of G two years ago during a cold spell, hence the jacket; The Tablet (my name for it), out of the main photo just to the left of my original campsite.