Thursday, August 20, 2009

Spirit Lake 2009 - The Saga Begins

Spirit Lake Adventures 2009

Day 1: The Road Trip

The alarm rings at 3am, Danny lets me sleep until 3:30am – he is a very nice boyfriend. The departure is fuzzy – I toss the Rock Star drinks in a cooler before embarking and then incessant neck discomfort takes over as I attempt to continue my slumber in the passenger seat. The sunrise is all so annoying – right in my window! I’m such a sleep monster – everything is horribly inconvenient when it gets in the way of napping. I roll around to the sounds of CCR and Modest Mouse, to find a glorious view of the Las Vegas strip. By now I am prepared to “wake up” as there are shiny objects outside the window even prettier than the sun – the golden windows of the Mirage and the great pyramid mock up that is the Luxor... I have a sudden urge to spend ridiculous amounts of cash and watch blue men beat on massive pipes in rhythm.

I drive at some point – hopped up on caffeine. Danny lets me drive through THE CANYONS which are absolutely spectacular. He chooses Phillip Glass’s Koyaanisqatsi for “canyon music” and let me tell you – it is absolutely perfect! What an experience, slowly following the downward spiral of the road to the cadence of deep native chanting and haunting organ melodies – awesome! Not to mention the fabulous back up vocals of Danny and I trying our hardest to impersonate an old Hopi medicine man…

The remainder of the drive was sweaty and sticky – we let the car cool by turning on the heater and leaving the windows open. Thank you so much to my lovely Danny for driving nearly the whole way and letting me half sleep, complain and generally chatter about nothing as we traversed the mostly flat California, Nevada, Wyoming, and finally Utah! Utah – the land of endless road construction, uncanny weather, and lots of God.

The most wonderful little house lies just beyond Main Street in Brigham City – Pappy’s house! Pappy Thedell and Marilyn greet us with a hearty hug and massive amounts of homemade spaghetti alongside the famous garden cucumbers and tomatoes that Pappy is known for around the globe! We... sleep like rocks.