Grids, on and off

My last post was written at more than 30,000 feet altitude, as we were flying Jet Blue (now really, is there any other airline better than Jet Blue?) out west to Las Vegas on our recent/current Family Adventure. Thank you for the feedback received from the post. We are currently in the San Diego area, where our oldest son Joey is completing a summer internship at Qualcomm. We are hopeful to see several Former Foxes near and dear to us, in the next few days, while out here. Along the way, we have traveled many roads and my wife Heidi has taken many, many, many pictures – if you are “friends” with her on Facebook, my guess is you’ve seen a lot of them, as I think she has been posting and checking in, etc. … I don’t have Facebook on my phone so I’m not fully aware of what’s been posted.

So we landed in Vegas late on Tuesday night and spent a full day (Wednesday) in the sultry desert city. It was hot, even for Vegas standards, with temperatures soaring past 110 degrees at times. Whoa. I had never been to Vegas (Heidi went several years ago with some friends) and I wanted to experience it. Check. Done that. I “gambled” exactly $2 on video poker (big spender, I know, lost the $2 and lost interest even faster). I don’t smoke. I barely drink (didn’t have a sip of alcohol, while out there). Gambling has little appeal to me – I don’t even like scratch off lottery tickets! So really, in Vegas terms, I was a fish out of water. Vegas is all about hedonism. Pleasures, guilty and otherwise. For a boring schmoe in tube socks who relishes the idea of going to bed early and getting up in the predawn darkness to walk/jog in a parking garage for a few hours, Vegas has little appeal. I’m glad we went, for one day, and that’s that. We were able to hook up with Hild, who by amazing good fortune happened to be in Vegas with his family at exactly the same time as we were. It was good to see him for a little bit and catch up on things in person.

The next morning we hit the hot road, en route to the Grand Canyon. We stopped at Hoover Dam briefly, and Radiator Springs (famed from the movie Cars) briefly, but otherwise drove on desolate back roads to the Canyon, where we arrived at 5 p.m. This was a huge highlight, mostly because I knew how much Heidi was looking forward to it. Several days later, she’s still glassy eyed over the Canyon. We hiked down the Canyon about one mile on an overcast and stormy early evening, savoring every blessed step of this truly breathtaking place. Heidi took a ton of pictures; the one accompanying this post was taken by our daughter. If you want proof of God’s creation, go to the Grand Canyon. We were only there for a few hours, but it was worth every bit of the long drive out of the way.

Speaking of driving … the trek from Arizona to San Diego was long, hot and dusty. Waze took us on the most direct route, which featured some extremely desolate state highways in the California desert, where the temperatures once again soared into the 110s. The sheer intensity of the heat is difficult to describe and quantify. As is the sheer intensity of the solitude. Several times, we pulled the car over – yes, so Heidi could take more pix, but more so to simply immerse ourselves in the complete, stark and stunning silence of the vast, dusty open spaces. God’s creation.

By the time we were approaching the San Diego area, the Old Man driving was getting a bit tired and grumpy. We are staying in an Airbnb for the first time, and it is in a remote area of San Diego County, which required us to drive over winding mountain pass roads. We entered San Diego County in the desert, where the temperature was in the 110s, and ended the day in San Diego, where my son has been for the summer, on the beach, where it was in the low 70s. California’s topography and climate is so fascinating to me. Anyway, our Airbnb is a wonderful guest house on a cliff overlooking the foothills of San Diego. It’s a bit out of the way – about 45 minutes from Joey – but worth the isolation. Our host noted that we are completely “off the grid,” relying totally on solar power. Fortunately in these parts, the sun shines every day and there are rarely even clouds, so there is little danger of being plunged into darkness or even worse for my kids, out of Wifi! Joey noted to us that the last time he felt a rain drop was somewhere in South Dakota, in mid-May, on his drive out to this 12-week internship. It almost never rains here. So yeah, we’re off the grid, and loving it. My morning walk/jog has been up a dirt road, straight uphill for 40 minutes, past abandoned ranches … and once again, enveloped in complete silence. Dirt roads. Good footing. No cars. Uphill. I looked up and thought, THIS is heaven.

So while we’ve covered a lot of ground and seen a lot of things, the biggest takeaways so far for me has to do with the disparity between the bustle and noise and second-hand smoke of Vegas and the complete beauty and silence of everything else along the way. Grids, on and off. And oh yeah, getting our family back together for a few days – all of us, in one place – has been priceless, worth all the time and effort and miles on the rental car. Living off the grid here for a few days is nice; being home in a few days will be nicer. For a guy who is a creature of habit, this type of travel can been disruptive to a routine. We’ve been piling up the memories and it’ll be great to look back on all the photos when we are done. I’ll try to post some more stuff later in the week, perhaps from 35,000 feet on Jet Blue again. For now, it’s time for another cup of coffee and some more sweet silence here on the side of the cliff.