We're back from our family trek to the other side of the country - we traveled to Montana with stops in Kansas, Colorado, and Yellowstone along the way. As much as I love Texas, I have to admit that driving for miles and miles through other parts of our country, watching the changing terrain outside my van window day after day, makes my soul soar. I think there is as much beauty in the never-ending flatness of Kansas as in the rising snowcapped tips of the Rockies. My love of history is never far away - I can't help but think of how hard life must have been "back then", of the sacrifices endured for the sake of adventure and a new life when these areas were being settled.
Tom likes to leave on our trips before dawn - it seemed like the alarm went off just as I closed my eyes. But the sunrise was gorgeous...
We made a quick stop in Denton so Tom could take a look at Tommy's car. Sure enough, he figured out what was wrong. You never quit needing your dad!
There is just something beyond beauty that touches me at the first sight of the mountains rising up out of the prairie, something that humbles me, frees me, inspires me, awakens me...
This rainstorm moved around us through the mountains somewhere in Wyoming...
This was our third visit to Yellowstone and it was magical, as always. June is the perfect month - with snow drizzling from the mountain peaks down the sides, and flowers sprinkled on the meadows below, parts of it resemble the Austrian Alps (an English woman in the bathroom said the Swiss Alps, but I haven't seen those...) We actually saw a few bears this time, although my photos didn't turn out. Also the usual buffalo, elk, sheep, deer, antelope...
But nothing says magic to Texans like snow, especially in June! Tom pulled off for a quick snow fight. What a crazy man...he kicked off his flip-flops and waded ankle-deep through the snow to get close enough to hit Daniel!
Our vacation away from home ended sooner than we had originally planned. It was great getting away, seeing family and beautiful scenery, but it just seemed like it was time to come home. Sometimes vacations add stress rather than relieve it, especially when you know that life and its responsibilities haven't taken a break - they are just piling up outside the door like the mail and the newspapers. If you stay gone until the last minute, any 'rest and relaxation' derived just wears away like the tread on your tires.
I'll have a few days to play catch up on things that had piled up before we left and I never seemed to have time for, like teaching Kendall to drive and converting our old family VHS tapes to DVDs. Getting those things done will relieve my stress more than a few extra days in the mountains. But Tom headed off for some time alone roughing it in the Texas hill country. It's funny that what we need for stress-relief are two such different things.
