An-di-fan East

Final Wrap

8-16-06

I'm back. Yesterday I dropped Sean off in Idaho Falls at 12:15 p.m. The plan in the itinerary was to take the scenic route from Evanston to Idaho Falls, but after breakfast, Sean and I both agreed we had finally had enough scenery, thank you very much. My eyes have been saturated, and my photo urge sated. I did not take a single landscape photograph yesterday, though I drove through 950 miles of spectacular high desert mountainscapes.

I did snap a few photos at EBR-1, one of the newest additions to the National Historical Site list. This facility, located in the Idaho National Laboratory, was the first nuclear reactor ever to generate electricity. The faility has a quaint feel of 1950s hi-tech, but the overall impression is of wonder that anyone dared tinker with such forces using such primitive technology. Outside the facility are two frighteningly huge devices that were experimental nuclear-powered jet engines. The project was canceled by JFK after costing more than a billion 1950s dollars. It does boggle the mind how entranced the government was with playing with nuclear fire.

Some observations that didn't yet make it into the blog:

I have fallen in love with night photography. Zion and Arches have some of the clearest, darkest night skies in the United States. Unfortunately, my digital camera does not have a bulb setting, so the longest exposure it could handle was eight seconds. I also did not bring my tripod, further hindering the quality of photography. Now I have an excuse to resurrect my Pentax: I can take night shots with it! Here's the best I could manage with what I had:

I've been reminded of how huge the sky can be in the desert. For all the spectacle of the sandstone monoliths, the sky is bigger, and when the clouds stack up, it holds a wonder all its own. This shot was taken at Arches.

In retrospect, I indulged my photo habit as I haven't since the last time I visited Utah, in 2001. I probably took more digital photos in the last ten days than I had in the three years I've owned this camera. I've learned some things about exposure that I could only guess at with my SLR, since by the time the pictures or slides got back, I'd usually forgotten how I'd tampered with the settings.

All wonder aside, this road trip was about fatherhood. I went where I did so that I could open Sean's mind to places and experiences that have been mind- and soul-expanding for me. Some of it he got, especially the wonder of the night sky--a fringe benefit I hadn't expected, as I've actually done very little camping in this places before last week. Other aspects didn't gel for him: he grew frustrated with my photo habit, was especially irked by the hard hiking I love to do in wild places. He did, as we came around the last corner and beheld the Delicate Arch, finally grasp why I do it: the destination is worth the effort.

We had church there at the Delicate Arch, sharing our view with probably a hundred other hikers. Some were there, like me, to drink in the wonder, to exult in what the infinite patience of the Maker has created through millennia of meticuluos work with wind, water, and ice. Many were there like tourists at a cathedral, posing in front of the altar, spoiling the view for those of us (like me) he really wanted an unobstructed photograph before the sun set (I did finally get one, as you'll see). Checking Sean's final entry, you'll see that I did succumb to that urge, as well; but first and foremost, I was there to experience this incredible sight, in as pure a spiritual experience as I can have in any house of worship. And on that note, I'll close this Travelog, once and for all.

posted by Mark Anderson @ 2:39 PM