Going Home

View from plane.

July 30: 
So I am sitting in the Las Vegas airport, feeling slightly sick from swallowing 6 mini Cinnabon's whole (well, practically), and reflecting on the last two weeks.

It's hard to believe all the amazing sights I saw.  The topography is just so different than anything on the east coast, that every turn is breathtaking.  I can understand why people would just pack up and move out there.  The vastness alone is so freeing.  While driving around, the song "Wide Open Spaces" by the Dixie Chicks came on my iPod and I suddenly got it.  I understood.  Being able to see for hundreds of miles without any buildings in the way.  The freedom in it all.  The slower pace of life.  While in Moab, we frequented the Wake and Bake coffee/ice cream shop and while there, I saw many people walk in and say hi to someone else inside that they knew.  This happened again and again.  Everyone knows everyone.  There is a sense of community.  And when they get together they don't talk about banking or shopping - they talk about interesting new trails they discovered, or their latest rock climbing adventures.  Yes, yes, this could get old after a while, but there is something so delicious and pure about it.  Like a perfect piece of watermelon next to a deluxe French pastry (or six gooey Cinnabons).

I feel so blessed to have made the trip with no accidents, injuries and tons of amazing good times and weather.

July 31: Home again, and going through a bit of culture-shock, per usual.  It is always strange coming home after being in a totally different atmosphere for a while.  However, I went to church today and saw all my girlfriends and we had lunch after and I was really happy.  Everyone said I seemed to be glowing and that the vacation did me good.  (Of course, they could've just said that because I'm actually some semblance of tan for once! lol).  But really, I was thrilled to see everyone and still on a trip-high.  It was, after all, marvelous, and the memory of it will keep me jumping in excitement for a time I'm sure.

On the plane ride from ATL to CLT, I talked the poor man's ears off who was next to me - telling him all about my trip and then about the places I'd been in Europe and about my job back home.  He told me about his family and how they were coming home from scuba diving in Bon Air.  I told him I wasn't sure I could scuba dive...the idea sort of freaks me out.  He said if I like heights (which I do), then I'd be fine because it's sort of like that - you above everything else.

Today I played rummy-cube with Mom, Dad and Brett, then unpacked everything, and tonight I'm going for dinner at my friend Christina's house, then hopefully running.  It will feel so good to run again!

Canyons/mountains.

River views.

Crop circles?  There were so many of them!!

Sunset from the air.