where wednesday [corinne]

Where Wednesdays are a regular feature where I and a series of guest bloggers talk about places that are important to us, be they work spaces, outdoor spaces, sleeping spaces, places we visit, places we live, places we drink coffee, etc. etc. [do you want to talk about a place or space that's important to you? let me know and I'll set you up with a Wednesday!]

 

[This week's Where Wednesday is from Corinne, my mama...I'm happy to have grown up exploring the desert with her.  This is more or less her first blog post, so please give her a warm welcome ♥ Enjoy!]

Where Wednesday.  Desert.  No thought required.  It’s long been a healing place.  A place where I am my most true self; let the layers peel away.  It’s also the place I have the most fun.  It’s the first place I want to go when school lets out in June.  It’s the place I go when I meditate and it’s the imagery I see during a shavasana.

Where this Wednesday?  All American Man?  Chaco Canyon?  Capitol Reef?  Bryce Canyon?  Moab?  The Wave?  Yes, The Wave. This magical place is in the Coyote Buttes area of the Paria Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness on the Utah/Arizona border.  Scott has already written beautifully about this spot where I was lucky to spend a day with him and Sara.  Walk-in permits are issued by lottery…just ten per day.  We won three permits ON MY BIRTHDAY!  Oops, we were a party of four.  Freddie, being Freddie, gave us the thumbs up to go ahead. 

The trailless hike means looking for landmarks to find our way. The Wave is hidden and remote and feels like an adventure.  A bare rock entrance takes us to another planet; with sandstone walls, swirling striations of yellow, orange, pink and white.  It’s like no other place.  Even here, there is life in small pools.  Just look. 

[sara here...this is an upside down tadpole shrimp my mom and i found in a desert pool...bizarre! tadpole shrimp are little crustaceans with prehistoric origins...they often live in temporary pools, and even after the pool dries up, their eggs can survive up 25 years and will hatch when conditions are right again]

I’m not sure why I feel such a strong affinity for desert environments. After all, I spent my early years in Canada.  Maybe it’s because life there is fragile, yet strong enough to survive.  Life is a gift in the desert.  Sharing time in the desert with Freddie, Sara and Scott is the best gift I’ve ever received.  (I love you guys.)

"Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself."
Edward Abbey (Desert Solitaire)