There is a peculiar brand of arithmetic in my house that I like to call 'vacation math'. It goes like this: since my daughter, BandGeek, will be attending university here in London, she'll be living at home (at least for the next year or so). Since she's living at home, we've avoided the expense of paying for her to live in residence in some other university town. And since we've avoided that expense, we must magically have extra money to do other things - like taking a family vacation this summer. Don't bother to quibble over 'expense avoidance' versus 'money in the bank'. This, my friends, is 'vacation math'.
The end result of this nebulous equation is that, in a few weeks, we're off to Arizona and Utah to visit the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley, respectively. The Cowboy Way dictates a leisurely survey of this part of the world, but we don't have time for moseyin' down the dusty trail on the backs of shuffling steeds. Instead, we'll be joining up with a (sort of) adventure tour to pack as much cowboy culture as possible into 8 days and 7 nights.
The plan is to do a lot of hiking, river rafting, and off-road excursioning as we make our way through Sedona, Grand Canyon National Park, and Moab. We'll even throw in a campfire or two as an excuse to empty the dust from our boots. I'm curious about the experience ahead because, truthfully, all I know about being a cowboy is what I've learned from the odd Hollywood film, my father-in-law's synopsis of Zane Grey stories, and tales from the virtual Old West.
As always, I'll promise to blog some photos and thoughts along the way and, as always, it won't work out as I'd planned. But if you'll excuse me, I need to go practise my tobacco chewin' and calf ropin'. I reckon I'll see you on the trail sometime.
4 comments:
Well, mah advice would be to leave yer shootin' irons ousside when you want to play some poker down the hotel.
Bring a knife instead. It's cleaner work iffn it comes to it, and the law don't get all fired up over a couple stabs over cards.
Keenaroo! John Ford's Monument Valley AND Disney in one trip.
I watch John Wayne movies non-stop every weekend. Don't even need to have the Duke in it. Just a white hat and a black hat, so I envy you.
Beware the black hats. And burros with excess saliva. And Forrest Tucker.
happy trails to you, until we meet agin.
Ooh, you lucky bastard.
You lucky, lucky bastard.
Have a great trip. We promise not to drink all your gin.
KD - Yer right, pahdnah. A fine balanced knife is always a good friend to have along for the ride. Lord knows my card playin' ain't gonna cut it.
Sonny - I think I'd have to work my way up to channeling John Wayne. I'm aiming for Cheaplaffs Johnson a la Six Gun Justice.
David - We don't leave town 'til the 23rd, so it's unlikely there will be Gin left in the bottle by then. But you can help yourselves to anything at the back of the booze cupboard. I think the choices are Peppermint Schnapps and Southern Comfort (yeah, it's 1978 back there).
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