Thursday, March 19
Hello, everyone. It’s been a heck of a long time since I traveled anywhere (like, 7 whole weeks!). As of today, that long drought is over. My parents have been visiting in Oklahoma since this past Saturday. While it was a little bit of a squeeze having them in the house during a string of mid shifts for me, we’ve all had a good time. On Monday we painted the back wall of Elizabeth and my bedroom a nice shade of blue while Elizabeth was at work.
On Tuesday and Wednesday my dad and I built plywood boxes to mount on our fence as extra garden space (garden update post hopefully to come next month once we enter the green-up). We did all of this while simultaneously I was going in to work each night, first at 11 pm then a little earlier every night thereafter. It’s a good thing I was actually getting 4-6 hours of sleep most nights while on those mids, because it’s been a busy week.
I left the office at 1:30 last night so that we could enter phase two of my parents’ vacation: a week in the desert of Texas and New Mexico. Our agenda includes: Palo Duro Canyon, White Sands, Ruidoso, Las Cruces, Carlsbad Caverns, and Guadalupe Mountains. It’s an ambitious schedule that involves a lot of hiking, but you also can’t put a physical or metaphorical price tag on having fun. We left a little after lunch much to the dismay of Scipio. Fortunately for the dog, he has Elizabeth in town today and tomorrow before she flies to El Paso Saturday to meet us for the White Sands leg of the trip.
Today’s drive was from Norman to Canyon, Texas to be in position for Palo Duro Canyon tomorrow. Normally in March it doesn’t matter too much when you get to the canyon as long as you get there. But we’re in the grip of an early-season heat wave the likes of which has basically never been seen down here before. It felt as hot as an oven when we stopped at the I-40 rest stop near McLean, Texas. Tomorrow it will be hotter yet, with a forecast of 95 for Palo Duro Canyon. And Saturday will be even worse. I guess there’s some silver lining in that it’s only March, and this kind of heat could have been so much worse when the humidity arrives later this year, but that’s kind of a cold comfort.
But the drive went smoothly. Along the way, my dad and I listened to the opening day of March Madness on the radio. There’s something about traveling + sports combined that really makes for some indelible memories. I’ll never forget being in the van from the airport to my grandparents’ mobile home in Florida when Michigan beat Houston on a buzzer-beater in 2018. The memory of High Point upsetting Wisconsin may not rank quite as high as that one, but it just adds some fun.
We had an early dinner at the Big Texan around 4:00. I warned my parents that the food there is “more big than excellent”, but it turns out that maybe my memory is just a little jaded. The chicken fried steak was actually pretty decent, and I killed the whole plate.
My dad killed his entire burger, and my mom mostly finished off a truly giant prime rib. All in all, you have to appreciate the effort we put into eating if nothing else. Now the two of them have been to the Big Texan and probably don’t ever have to go again, but I think their lives have been made just a little bit better by the experience.
We made it into Canyon around 6:00 and checked into the Holiday Inn Express with enough time to unwind for about an hour before sunset. Staying awake at this point was a little bit more of a challenge, but I managed to do just enough. We went to Palo Duro for sunset, arriving at the CCC Overlook above the Visitor Center maybe 20-30 minutes before the sun went below the horizon. After the heat of the day, it was a perfect warm, dry, clear evening. Palo Duro really stuns in the evening when the rimrock turns a brilliant fire-red and the shadows crisscross the buttes and side draws. Even when the sun goes fully down and the oranges fade back to the dull red clay, it’s just such a magical time of day out on the Plains.
I really live for quiet moments like that and hope my parents enjoyed it even a fraction as much as me.
Not going to be able to stay awake much longer, which is a good sign. No more mid shift sleep schedule for me! After a solid 7-8 hours, I’ll be ready to roll for the Lighthouse Trail in Palo Duro tomorrow.
