Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Oh Give Me a Home, Where the Buffalo Roam

Yesterday I took Liz to the Houston Museum of Natural Science where we enjoyed several hours of butterflies, dinosaurs, minerals and chemistry. We have a family membership there and it is money well spent, it is our home away from home.

The high point of yesterday's trip was the IMAX movie Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets. It made me so incredibly homesick!

I'm a desert gal who currently resides in a swamp. Nothing against Houston, it definitely has it's own beauty, but nothing stirs my heart like the raw power and stark landscape of the American West. I grew up with the Grand Canyon in my backyard, the red rock cliffs and water-worn canyons were my playground. I was less than a day's drive from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Arches, Zion, Canyon Lands, Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon National Parks were even closer than that.

I want to feel that wind on my face and stare into the crystal blue sky. I want to sit and run my bare toes through the red sand and watch the sunset from the top of those cliffs. I haven't been out of Texas in over three years. I'm probably the only liberal American who longs to escape the Bible Belt by going to Utah!
posted by GodlessMom, 6:03 AM

13 Comments:

Blogger Urban Chick said:

i can understand why you might pine for those landscapes - they're something else!

i visited the grand canyon, bryce and zion a few years ago and was blown away by their arid, red-soiled beauty

but i hated las vegas - ugh (noisy, hot and just plain weird!), but then that's not utah!
Posted at 7:31 AM  

Blogger GodlessMom said:

Vegas is definitely one of those "Nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there" kind of places. I really have a lot of fun when I'm there but after three or four days I'm ready to go home. I actually have cousins who live there and they love it. It is different when you get away from the glitz and actually get to know the real city.
Posted at 7:47 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I am with you. I just got back from Kauaii where I visited Waimea Canyon. It was like a much smaller and tropical version of the Grand Canyon. Last year my friend and I toured Capital Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zions Canyon and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on motorcycles. It was one of the greatest trips of my life. And further more I have decided to leave the Lush Green and Liberal Sensibilities of the Berkshires and return to Utah. It is quite simply my home. I leave this weekend. I hope you will come visit sometime. I would like nothing better than to have you show me some of your favorite places. See you soon???
Posted at 8:06 AM  

Blogger dAAve said:

I have not travelled the western US. I have little experience with mountains anywhere.
BUT ...
I have extensive time in the Sahara Desert and Namib Desert. They are truly works of art by God Himself (please excuse the religous connotiation).
The wind-blown dunes of sand standing hundreds of feet in height which change hourly are incredible to see. They go right to the desert's edge at the Atlantic Ocean. Most beautiful.
Posted at 9:07 AM  

Blogger Kyahgirl said:

I have the same love of the prairies. I grew up in the mountains further west but when I got back there I feel claustrophobic and hemmed in. In Alberta, its pretty dang flat! We have a big, big sky and lots of sunshine (even when its -30!)
Hopefully you can get back to your desert GodlessMom!
Posted at 9:24 AM  

Blogger BarbaraFromCalifornia said:

Going from Texas to Utah? On its face it does sound a bit odd, but when you descibe the change in terms of experiencing the beauty of the place, it does make good sense.

Glad to hear you and Liz enjoyed your day together. I rember those days of going to the Science museum and then to IMAX with the kids.

Have a good day.
Posted at 9:35 AM  

Blogger Meegan said:

I drove through Utah a few years ago and was amazed by its beauty. It was so different from where I grew up (Pacific NW) and it was simply breathtaking.
Posted at 9:37 AM  

Blogger Lucy Stern said:

Yes, it is beautiful up there. I was born and raise here in Houston so I love the green. I remember driving thru southern Utha and wondering how anyone could live in such a desolate place. Once I really started looking around I discovered that it had it's own natural beauty. I guess we get used to what we were raised with and there is beauty every where.
I have been to the Grand Canyon three times. I loved it there. One year we went on up to Zion and Bryce Canyon. Zion had is't own natural beauty, with the "mud puddies", I called them. After the Grand Canyon, Bryce was my favorite. I've been to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. WOW. It's a different world up there. My son worked last year up in Wyoming on the oil rigs and he loved it. He's back now, trying to get on a rig closer to home.

Glad you and your daughter got to visit the museaum. I love going down to the Herman park area. It's so busy with all the cars and now the rail. My oral surgeon is right on the edge of the park. Yes, the Imax is awesome. I'll have to go down and see the Grand Canyon show. Thanks for letting me know.
Posted at 10:13 AM  

Blogger nigel paddell said:

I'm not sure that the midwest has a distinctive climate. But then I think I've never conected to nature.
The things about the world that fascinate me the most are the things we people have done to it.
Posted at 5:35 PM  

Blogger Lila said:

Yeah, I love the landscape where you came from, too. I often daydream about retiring there.
Posted at 5:45 PM  

Blogger TLP said:

Husband and I have been in every state in the lower 48, except N.Dakota. I love it all. The west is beautiful. But so is the east. It's all beautiful in it's own way.
Posted at 6:04 PM  

Blogger Unknown said:

One of the best experiences of my life was waking up in a tent in the Serengeti to the sunrise over the plains; one of the others was taking a four-seater plane across the Rift Valley and watching the wildebeest migrations from the air. Just awesome.

There's nothing that can compare with that sense of space.
Posted at 5:41 AM  

Blogger Sum Kinda Princess said:

I just moved here to east Texas in June from Phoenix, AZ. Best move I ever made! I grew up in AZ and must say that this new scenic splendor is something I should've moved to sooner. Not to put the Grand Canyon down, it is Grand for sure. From where I sit, they should just shut down AZ starting around Payson and get rid of everything south of it. TOO HOT! Houston is an extreme though! My uncle lived there and the mesquitos would try to carry you away.
Posted at 5:38 AM  

Add a comment