Off the Pan, Into the Fire

My journey through the realm of raising our sons...

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Humble and insignificant

This year we took an actual vacation, a withdraw from kids, cell phones, computers, TV, and other aspects of our normal life. It was a two-part vacation; part 1 was magnificent and sublime, part 2 was ridiculous and brash. I speak of two weeks rafting the Grand Canyon followed by three nights in Las Vegas, two extremes along life's experience continuum.

Part 1, magnificent and sublime
Just to be clear, Part 1 was rafting Grand Canyon. We purchased our trip from Canyon Explorations, a family owned outfit specializing in participatory Grand Canyon rafting. Our starting point was Flagstaff, AZ. This offered a luckily timed opportunity to eat lunch with many of our AZ friends as they returned from supporting the Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon Fat Tire Bike Ride. A huge shout out to Marshall, Dan, Travis, Andy, Steve, Keith, Ty and the rest. Hope your drive home was safe...

Rafting the Grand Canyon is not something easily accomplished. Permits, weather, duration, rapids, provisions, required skills, and lack of accommodations all conspire to limit total visitation to approximately 22,000 people per year. Thankfully, the payment rendered to the Canyon Explorations took care of most particulars. We signed on to the 14-day, full canyon hybrid trip. It was 225 miles of river via oar boats, paddle raft, and inflatable kayak.

Part 2, ridiculous and brash
This was the Las Vegas portion. We stayed at the Flamingo, ate at Fiamma Trattoria & Bar, Delmonico Steakhouse at the Venetian, and Sushi House Goyemon punctuated with the Cirque du Soleil's Ka.

Las Vegas bit us in several ways; 1) the aforementioned dinning & entertainment, and 2) shopping. We are not gamblers, but at some point we usually will feed a slot-monster a $10 or $20, but this is more to rest our feet than satisfy an itch. This trip's shopping resulted in more bag-carrying than previous visits, thankfully the impact to the hand, arm, and shoulder (and stomach, waistline, and bum) weren't nearly as aggravating as the impact to our accounts.

The canyon and Colorado River have put my life in perspective and I would be most obliged if Canyon Explorations has room to raft me again. I observed a portion of earth's history, starting at 270 million years all the way back to 1.8 billion years ago. I saw fossils made before dinosaurs, mammals, or even simple reptiles. I observed rock that was transformed by incredible heat and pressures of the Earth's interior. I felt the power of a 25,000 cubic feet per second of water pushing and pulling at our passing.

I was a mere speck on the water, a passenger obliged to follow the river's rules, its whims, and unflinching desire to get to the sea. In Earth's history, I am a member of a species that has yet to register more than a note, something barely registered in the geographic history of this planet. We have yet to create a fossil record, yet to have our buried past become sedimentary rocks. All are refreshing thoughts as I escaped from daily life. My life is humble and insignificant next to the life-cycle of the Earth and Sun, wind and water.

Hope the funnel is big enough

Labor Day, the ending demarcation of summer. More importantly, it marks the beginning of school. Galen is off to 1st grade and Liam is off to preschool. The school bus stop was busy, more parents than normal, more cameras than normal. There was also the graduate, formerly the elementary school participant now on to middle school, waiting for her brother to disappear into the bus.

We summer-slacked, no vocabulary drills, no trips to the library, no Spanish speaking lessons. There was play, family, and fun. As the school day starts I wonder, will their ears hear the teacher? Will their eyes see the blackboard? Will their minds register the information? Today, a big ol' bucket of knowledge will be pored into those malleable, eager, and energetic minds. I hope their funnel can catch most of it.

As the other kids huddled, talking, no doubt, about something important, Galen watched. He made a gift for the teacher, he willed the bus closer. I think his funnel may do just fine.