the labor day experience...
ok, i had groped for and moped around for the past two months as if my life had ended. Does sound hillarious when i look back at it now, not that i feel any different or am any less clueless. Its just that allowing life to get to you isnt probably the best solution, even if it means having to deal with more questions than answers, more pain than real anguish. And because im just human like anyone else, escaping the questions seems easier said than done, even if it means you have to run away to the middle of nowhere.
Actually its more between nowhere and the middle of nowhere, I would tell you the direction as well, but the only compass i was ever gifted was at home, though carrying it around wouldnt really help because it was one of those things you wanted to escape. Talk about the compass showing you the right direction..:)
and so we charted out a plan, drive around till we see something worth seeing, till we feel something worth feeling. I had other happy campers with me for the journey, and throughout the three days, i kept wondering what they were escaping. They looked pretty happy to me, and i dont dig anyone's conscience to open up a can of worms. So be it, i thought, probably they knew that being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect. It just meant that they have decided to look beyond the imperfections.
we drove for 8 hours till we reached pagosa springs which was an hour from durango, our first stop. Now this place was really beautiful, just that we couldnt see anything arriving at 2 in the night. lodge bookings were at the america inn something, more a home owned B&B i guess. the morning confirmed it.
It was one of the most beautiful inns i have ever seen, with a stuffed moose, fireplace and all. Hot waffles in the morning, pinewood furniture made me happy. Probably it was perfect.
we reached durango at 8, climbed aboard a steam locomotive between durango and silverton, through the mountains and the silver mines, the streams, the lakes and the clouds. it was a very unique experience travelling through the mountains with the mocha in ure hand and the wind in ure hair. But we had to find the imperfection in something perfect. It was too long a journey.
silverton is one of the places where you will find no chains, just home owned businesses between two mountains. i never thought places like this existed in the US before, and as i have been in the past, i was wrong.
that evening we had to make the toughest decision of the trip. Do we go further south to a place that would epitomise, " NOWHERE ", in fact if there was a land, far far away, then yes this was nowhere. The four corners national monument hidden in the novajo desert.
if you're a person who got high on cheap gimmicks then ull probably hallucinate here. but there was deep hidden logic as well. this was one place, probably in the world, where you could be in four states at the same time. Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.
hidden in the indian reservation land between large sand dunes, this place had everything you would wish for, portable toilets included. we ran into a british couple there who seemed as lost as we were staring at the flag poles. they smiled and gave us our next clue. Mesa Verde.
i didnt know before the trip that this was a huge deal. Mesa Verde sounds as hispanic as Baraja's grill. but as we drove closer and closer to the place, it did deal me my n'th mistake of the season. A UN assigned world heritage site, Mesa Verde has the ruins of the ancient Peubloans. We got to the Spruce tree hill and it just amazed me into silence to view these ruins, with the houses and the fireplaces very neatly tucked between the inconspicuous gaps of a mountain.
if we had a high point during the trip this was it.
We drove back to durango, through telluride and ouray, didnt know there was a telluride film festival going on with "Namesake" premiering there. Imagine being this close to seeing Mira Nair in the middle of nowhere. Ouray on the other hand is the switzerland of the US which explains why none of us heard about it, with the aversion to everything european.
we were back in denver that sunday night, after what i would say was a nice little trip. Did i get any solace to the simmering heat in my mind. Not really.
But i was happy that i got to do what i do best.
Drive in the dark and make it home. So i did have things in control, i did know the difference between whatever i am supposed to do and otherwise. and i didnt have to align myself because i didnt get what i wanted. I just had to stop feeling sick about not getting it..:)
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