July 23rd: Colorado, Utah and Navada

Western Colorado

To my eye, there is something spectacularly beautiful about this scenery as I move west, away from the lushness surrounding Denver, away from the high mountains and steep gorges of Central Colorado, and into the open spaces and stark mountains of the dessert landscape of Western Colorado. I try to think about what this means - why this landscape touches my heart, and realize that it is in my blood. I am of the desert. It is where I was born. It is my nature, my joy, and a blessing to be connected to it in this way. It is my birth rite.

The road to Moab, Eastern Utah:

The road is one of my favorite places in the world. I drove through here on my first road trip with my sons, Noah and Natan, in the summer of 2005

Moab is also the site of one of my favorite Torah stories from Rabbi ted Falcon:

After leaving Egypt, Moses and the Israelites were wandering in the desert for 40 years. They came upon the land of Moab. Balak, the king of the Moabites, was afraid of this huge tribe of wandering Israelites, so he hired Balaam, a professional curser, to curse the Israelites. Balaam prayed to get a really good curse, but when he saw the Israelites, he could not curse them. He said, “How fair are your tents, o Jacob, your dwellings O Israel.” Balaam was commanded to curse, but he chose to bless. At every moment, in every interaction, one has a choice – to curse or to bless.

I used the story of Moab as a meditation for my students in Vietnam this year, when we were visiting Thien Mu Pagoda in Hue, Central Vietnam, the Pagoda of Thich Quang Duc (the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who lit himself on fire in 1963 to protest the mistreatment of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government):

The Dalai Lama, the exiled King and religious leader of Tibet and considered the reincarnation of the God of Compassion, once said, in response to a question about his 50-year exile from Tibet at the hands of the Chinese, (I paraphrase) "The Chinese government has been a great teacher. It is easy to feel compassion for those that are like you - your family, your people. How much harder has it been for me to feel compassion for the Chinese government."

Anger, jealousy, pain, frustration, hate - they are all feelings inside of us.

No one else is responsible.

Each one of us is responsible for our own thoughts and feelings.

This doesn't mean that bad things don't happen.

Or when they do happen, it doesn't mean that they are an illusion.

They are real.

But there are many realities that exist side by side.

Some people feel that the only true power each of us has is how we respond to the things that happen to us.

Thich Quang Duc chose how he lived is life, and he chose how he ended his life.

The land mine victims which we will meet tomorrow did not choose what happened to them.

But each of them has chosen how they will live their life.

I hear students say to me all the time, "But this is who I am."

And I cringe inside, for at each moment we have a choice.

I am not denying the power of conditioning, or that we each have propensities and limitations.

But we each have a choice.

Each moment is new.

Each one of us must choose how we will live our life.

Central Utah:

Nevada:

After 14 hours on the road, I entered the state of Nevada, the state of my birth. When I entered from Utah, I was in the high desert. After half an hour, I made it to Ely, a town I had heard of but had never been to. I drove around, wondering if I should stop for the day, but decided to drive on. One minute after leaving the town, I saw the lights of a police car behind me. Apparently I was driving 45 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. After looking at my driver's license and registration, and asking me questions about the painting in the back of my car, where I was coming from, and what was my line of work, the police man let me go without giving me a ticket. A mile up the road I passed a sign that read, "Next gas in 184 miles" (about 300 kilometers), so I turned around, went back to Ely, and filled up my gas tank. I drove west, winding my way through the high desert, over a pass of 7000 feet (about 2100 meters), then down into the flat desert. The mountains in the background, the road a straight line as far as I could see in either direction. I stopped for half an hour, admiring the beauty of the place. It was totally silent, except for the sound of a few flies. A small rodent scurried across the road. In the half hour that I sat, only two cars passed, one stopping to see if I was okay. That was it. The few flies. Every so often the feel of a slight breeze. Stillness. It was disarming. "Beautiful" does not do it justice. There is a power in it - indescribable.

July 16th through 22nd: Littleton, Colorado

It has been a wonderful week of family and friends connections: good food and kid stuff - rollerskating and roller coasters, driving back and forth to gym classes, watching jump roping practice, playing foosball and watching movies. It has been a blessing spending time with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew, aunt and cousins, and reconnecting with old friends. It has been a blessing seeing the world through the eyes of children (as best I can) - remindful of my time with my own boys as they were children (as well as giving thanks that they are no longer that age). It is so cliche to think how quickly time passes, and how important it is to appreciate whatever stage your children are in, for before you know it they are on to another stage, and it is also so true.

Nephew Rory

My friends Mark and Lisa's boys, Samuel and Thomas

Samuel, Mark, Lisa and Thomas

On the drive to Boulder to visit my cousin Dana

Cousin Dana's daughter Alexis and my niece, Ricki

Dana, Alexis, Ricki and me

My sister Amy, Aunt Laurie, Ricki and Alexis

The whole family with my mom and dad (except for my brother-in-law Russ, who went fishing with Rory)

Tomorrow I head west, across Colorado, Utah, Nevada and into California. I don't know which route I will take, for I will try, once again, to stay off the freeways. The shortest distance between Littleton, Colorado and Fresno, California is 1200 miles (2000 kilometers) - this is one big country! I am excited to get on the road again and see where I end up.

July 15th and 16th: Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and Colorado

July 15th: Yellowstone:

I found a beautiful camp site last night right on the river, a bit to the northwest of Yellowstone. I had never been to Yellowstone, and have been looking forward to this for a long time. Created in 1872, Yellowstone is the oldest National Park in the world.

I entered at the west entrance, the scenery was picturesque and gentle, unlike the intensity of Glacier National Park.

I was looking forward to a grizzly bear, which I did not see. This guy let me walk right up to him.

The smoke of hot springs

This geyser was very impressive

Hundreds of people waiting for "Old Faithful"

Here she starts

I set my camera for continuous photos

taking one photo every second

for about three minutes - 190 photos in all

This is after about 10 seconds

12 seconds: It stayed like this for about 2 minutes, then slowly relaxed

near the south entrance to the park

The road south took me through Grand Tetons National Park

These lupines are for you, Christy

My late lunch spot - one of the nicest things about traveling and not having a schedule is that there is also no meal schedule. I eat when I am hungry. It seems like such a little thing, but for me, it is significant.

The scenery through the northern part of Wyoming looked much like this - rolling hills, valleys, rivers. And then it got dry, hot, flat and empty - ranch land - a lot of tumbleweed and grasses, cows, 50 miles (80 kilometers) in between towns, long barbed wire fences (I grew up thinking it was called "bob-wire" and thus had an affinity to the thing), few cars (mostly trucks), highway signs like "next passing lane in 8 miles" or town signs that read "Eden - population 220."

July 16th:

After a couple of poor nights of sleep in a row, I decided to call it a day pretty early on the 15th. I found a motel room in a little town in southwest Wyoming and got a good night's sleep.

First light (and the full moon) on the morning of the 16th

outside of Steamboat, Colorado

I am now in Littleton, just to the southwest of Denver, visiting my family.

By the way, I was able to fix the photo sizes in the last two entries (July 13th and 14th).

It is easier to see the scenery now.

July 14th: Back in the USA and Glacier National Park

I got up at 5AM and had my tent packed up and was on the road by 5:20AM. The night before, in Jasper, it being such a tourist town, I had slept in the back of my car, and very poorly. So last night I was planning on a motel. I ended up in the little town of Cardston, about 20 miles from the US border. The first motel I saw ended up being closed. Then I saw a sign for a B and B, but on the way I passed a cute camp ground and ended up there. So I was at the border at 5:40AM, and didn't know that borders actually have operating hours (the borders from Washington state to Canada are open 24 hours a day). so a read another chapter in my book on the current political situation of Turkey (studying for next year's global studies class), and was back in the USA by 7:05AM

Northwestern Montana

Near the entrance to Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park

These photos are from a road through Glacier called "Going to the Sun Road."

This was a spectacular three hour drive through the park - as beautiful as anything I saw in the national parks in Canada.

A week ago, when I checked the road conditions, much of this road was closed due to snow. It must have just opened, for they were doing a lot of road work, with only one lane open and a lot of delays.

Near the pass at the top, which is also on the Continental Divide.

Over the pass, and on to the western side of the road

This is where I lost my Swiss army knife. I stopped here for lunch, and must have just left it where I was sitting. It made me very sad - not just because it was an old friend, having gone around the world with me a number of times, but also because it was a gift from my parents.

When I got to a big enough town, I located a sporting goods sore, and bought myself another Swiss Army Knife. That made me feel better.

After leaving Glacier National park, I headed south through Montana. Much of it looks like this photo - beautiful rolling, green hills. I have been avoiding the big freeways, choosing instead to wind my way through Montana on the small roads. I am now in Big Sky, a small town near the northwest entrance to Yellowstone National Park.