MC Escher Perspective

This entry overlaps with the last (entitled Live Fast Die Never). Forgive me for the repetition.

The two weeks in Snowmass, Colorado, were generally pleasant. “Mountain time” meant that I could see Charmed at 7am each morning and the usual shows in the evening. I ate breakfast while reading, had lunch at the boys’ place watching tv (Spongebob sometimes) or on the net and had dinner with them too. I barely saw Phil and Tony though I was in the same condo with them preferring to spend my time with Glen, Glenn, Steve and er… Steve (it saved on having to remember too many names). I avoided drinking with them having learnt that it is more about conquering beer than a social get together. On the first night there, Steve (Molloy) got so drunk he was standing outside the condo shouting, which Phil actually commented on the next day… “Did anyone hear the row going on last night?”

On the middle weekend, Charlie visited to save me from going crazy seeing the same faces each day. Of course I was soon going crazy just seeing his face all day. One day I will learn how to interact with people rather than computers and televisions. On the Saturday we walked up to Cathedral Lake which started at 10 000 feet up and ended at 12 000 feet. The air was very thin and despite a week getting acclimatised, I found it incredibly hard to breathe. We took our time going up. In fact we took four hours. But that does include a rather delicious lunch. Charlie found it harder than me but then again I did make him carry the rucksack. There were landslides and switchbacks to wear us out even more. At the end of it was the lake… grey and featureless. Not particularly worth the climb but a welcome sight as it meant we could go down. Unfortunately we were going down in the rain and it was freezing cold… and Charlie had left the roof on his convertible down so the car was no safe-haven. The next day we played “Frisbee golf” on Mount Snowmass. It took us a few tries to get up the mountain. The first trip up the ski lift took us to the wrong place. The second trip took us to the correct destination but apparently we needed to buy Frisbees in order to play. Who’d have thought it? Third time lucky, we started to play. The “holes” were metal baskets about 100m from where the markers told us to start and scattered all over the mountain. We got quite a lot of walking in. Needless to say, I lost on nearly every hole.

The second week progressed much as the first and we left a day early on the Friday as Glen was especially tired of the conference. I felt a little cheated out of an evening in the luxurious condo and a few physics lectures but had to go with them. The day was not good however as I woke feeling ill and unable to travel. But I had to and this time we had the addition of Lisa in the car- Steve’s girlfriend. She had a peculiar talent for picking loud music that did not help my icky feeling and the journey was terrible. Glen and Stewart gave as much sympathy as they could but Steve seemed to drive badly on purpose, kept shaking my seat and only gave his attention to Lisa talking to me only to demand I look around the back of the car for his camera lens cap or move into the back seat so he could share the middle row with Lisa (who couldn’t move into the back herself because she gets travel sick- lovely logic there not to move the girl who could get sick but instead move the girl who already was). Ill as I felt, I didn’t say anything to him and just cried on the inside that there was nothing I could do to feel better.

We arrived at our destination, Cortez in Colorado, late in the evening. During the 7 or 8 hours of travel we stopped once to have coffee (or in my case peppermint tea)- we didn't even have toilet breaks. Feeling as I did, I bowed out of dinner and went straight to my room. I woke feeling much better the next day- just like my usual self. We went to Mesa Verde, a National Park famed for its cave dwellings. We first went to the "Balcony" which was a guided tour on the face of a canyon-side. Before going down the face, Steve and I argued about the day before. He was upset I refused to sit in the back. I was upset that he didn't understand how sick I was. It was not pretty. But... anyway. Glen volunteered to help the guide ("ranger" actually) and was on point as the guide picked up the rear. We went down a steep path and then up a ladder to get to the balcony rooms. The buildings were perched on a ledge on this cliff face and built from local sandstone. The holes you can see in the pictures are doors, not windows. So tiny yet the people were typically as tall as me. Some small holes in the walls were for telling the time apparently. The houses seemed to be typically two storeys and they were also ventilated for cool air to come in at the base of the room and leave at the top. My favourite thing was the little staircase carved into the stone that required you to start with the correct (right) foot or else you'd find yourself crossing your legs over and unable to turn. It was like dancing with the correct moves- I felt complete with the steps. At one point of this tour, the ranger asked Glen to demonstrate how they ground wheat with sandstones (poorly is the answer as the sandstone would be quickly eroded) describing the many diseases this activity caused. For being a good-sport, Glen was honoured with a Junior Ranger badge. I suspect these are usually for children.

When we got away from the tour group Steve had a go at me again. For arguing with him when people were around. For embarrassing him maliciously and on purpose. Yeah right. Thanks for understanding how annoying and unthinking you were Steve. Thanks for understanding how upset you made me. It takes two to have an argument. If Steve hadn't attacked me I could have born his company quite well for the rest of the trip. Instead there was tension throughout.

We walked a couple of trials to get more out of Mesa Verde. We saw another small settlement of cave dwellings this time by the base of the canyon and walked a few miles up the side of the canyon to see a petroglyph which (apparently) depicted the journey of several tribes from the Grand Canyon to their final destinations. The walk was not terribly easy on my knees which were feeling the toll of three weeks of walking and climbing.

We didn't get on the road until 5pm and yet had a lot of driving to do if we were to make it to the Grand Canyon the next day. We drove first to "Four Corners" where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona meet. After a few photos and a short game of "State Twister" (Stew: Left foot Utah), we were travelling again this time in Arizona.

The road went through Navajo. The Indian reservation was grim. Barely a settlement in sight and what there was comprised of a gas station and a burger bar. Despite the late hour, we had to move on to get out into somewhere still showing signs of life. Life seemed mainly to be in the heavens as for 150 miles we were constantly in a lightning storm. There were cells in every direction. We watched the bolt and forked lightning in awe. Sometimes it struck the ground and held the connection for seconds. Sometimes the bolt stretched from cloud to cloud. We saw every kind of lightning, close and far. And yet not a whisper of thunder. It was eerie. We got out of the car just as the last rays of sunset left the horizon and watched the lightshow. Steve set his SLR to take pictures over 30 second exposures. Fingers crossed at least one turns out well. But, as I shall tell you, this wasn't the only glorious spectacle I couldn't capture digitally.

We stopped for the night at a place called Page choosing a hotel right by a fantastic country and western bar which obviously had more tourists than locals. Despite the late hour (it was 9pm when we arrived, Arizona time, which corresponded to 10pm in Colorado), I decided to brave dinner, partly because I was in a cheery mood after the light show and partly because nothing was on tv. I had a small and cheap meal- just soup and salad- but still found it hard to get through. But made up for it by having a couple of cocktails. There was a band playing in the next room. Lots of Elvis and similar songs. It made for a great atmosphere and a fun night. I left as the bar closed around 11pm and went to my room for well-earned sleep but the others went on to a bowling alley and another bar.

The next day Steve had a terrible migraine. The evil part of me wondered whether this was pay-back for him ignoring my pain... but the other side of me just worried that there was nothing I could do or say to make him better (or more fun to travel with). That day Glen and Stew bought PSPs. Which is uninteresting really and so won't be mentioned again. Arizona by daylight wasn't as dramatic or indeed lethal as Arizona by night but it had its charm. Red rocks for as far as the eye could see soon gave way to rolling green fields and pine trees sailing the horizon. This was the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Taller than the south rim, it got a lot of rain and was a stark contrast to the desert of the Navajo just beyond. We drove to the Grand Canyon and peered at the view. The canyon itself is red rock and you can't see the bottom- only the other side. I know this seems terrible of me but it is a bit like looking out of a window only to find your view comprises of a brick wall. I just can't be awed by a rock-face any more. Academically I know that the rocks are pretty much as old as the Earth… and I guess that is astounding. But really, I was a hell of a lot more astounded by the sight I saw in the evening.

I made everyone go out at 9pm to an activity at the canyon. It was just a short walk followed by a short talk and story-telling on the edge of the canyon with no light pollution for miles. Oh. My. It was a clear night. Not a cloud in the sky. And I have never seen it so beautiful. For the first time in my life I saw the Milky Way and shooting stars. It was so stunning. It should have been pitch black as there seriously wasn't a single artificial light source on our walk (and there was no moon in the sky) but the sky was so bright just with stars. Our guide pointed out constellations and the stories behind them, Indian and Greek. I had problems working out what stars he was talking about and really wished that he'd shut up so I could just bask. He got everyone to be utterly silent for a minute so we could hear all of the night sounds. Mainly crickets of course but we could also hear the wind in the canyon. It truly was an astounding sight and a magical walk, trusting your instincts and the person in front of you to guide you along a dark path with sharp canyon drops to either side.

Riding on the wave of happiness from this, the night was not so bad. Due to lack of accommodation in the area, I ended up sharing with Glen and Stew who were both monumental snorers. It was a tricky situation as we had managed to get two rooms each with a single and a double bed. Obviously Steve and Lisa were willing (and wanting) to have the double but they were unwilling to share their room so we had to drag the mattress of their single into the other room. I didn’t make a fuss and indeed tried to be as cheery as possible but it was obvious that the best solution for all would have been for me to share the room with Steve and Lisa given that I could not be expected to sleep with Glen and Stewart. But instead I bore it out and lay awake all night listening to their chorus, sleeping eventually when they left the room at 6am for the canyon walk. I was not intending to do the full walk down the side of the canyon to “Roaring Springs” anyway, due to tensions in previous walks where they had gone far too fast for me and an increasingly painful knee, so it was not a difficult decision to choose sleep over a 6am trek. I spent the day alone in the room as it seemed impossible to make it the 17 miles from the cabins to the National Park without a car. I did some work that I urgently needed to do anyway (a poster for the RAL Summer School) and wrote a lengthy email to Susannah. It wasn’t a bad way to spend the day. The others returned around 5pm with tales of their hard walk up the side of the canyon. If Steve found it hard, chances are I would never have managed it. That evening was almost farcical as they discussed staying the next night in Yosemite (near San Francisco). I watched them, waiting for them to realise that by spending this extra day in the Grand Canyon we were relinquishing the chance not only to spend the next night somewhere nice but also the opportunity to visit anywhere en route including the planned stop at the Hoover Dam. After an hour of bickering, they caught onto the fact that there was nothing to it other than to drive non-stop the next day to Bakersfield. Even so, my suggestion that we leave before 10 was met with derision.

I slept in the bathroom. With the fan on to drown out the duelling snorers. The next and penultimate day, we drove pretty much non-stop (via Zion so Lisa could see the marvellous scenery) until Vegas where everyone insisted on going to an electronics store so that Steve could buy an ipod and Stew a laptop charger (for the car). Needless to say, the store had neither item in stock and yet we spent an hour there somehow. I browsed the dvds and found a particularly humorous one- Jekyll and Hyde the musical starring David Hasselhof. I showed this to Lisa expecting a laugh but instead got "I've been looking for that for years!" and she bought the thing. Odd girl. That day, we drove until midnight. We stopped off for a meal at around 9 at a diner and then had the hassle of trying to find a shop that sold chocolate cake for Lisa, the chocolate cake freak (I thought it an adorable trait until it emerged that it was an actual dependency), as the diner was closing and wouldn't serve dessert. After that, it was about 10 and Glen got in to drive. We hit our destination, Bakersfield, at 11 and he just kept driving. "Er Glen, you just passed some motels. How about taking the next exit?" He just drove. "Er Glen... what are you doing? Okay- take the next exit?" He drove... "Er Glen... we just left Bakersfield. Are you insane?" He drove. And giggled. Insanely. Honestly he just drove and giggled for miles and miles... We saw another motel and said "Stop please for the love of bob!" and yet he just drove. Steve was getting so agitated and quite threatening. To tell the truth, I found it amusing. Eventually Glen ceased giggling and actually did pull over at a motel. Which was dark and empty. We drove again and stopped at the next motel and this one had a guy at the desk, got three rooms and went our ways. I was oddly happy at the events. It annoyed Steve and made me laugh. The motel we found was kind of rough and smelly but at least it was of a reasonable price- as the only one on this trip without someone to split the cost of the rooms, I was grateful.

We finally got everyone away by nine the next morning. The return journey was refreshingly uneventful. The highlight was a presentation on finding the top quark at the ILC by Stewart who had a job interview as soon as he landed in the UK. He made his 4:30pm flight and we all made it home. Safe and sound. And more or less, alive.