Moon Walk

I have returned from my short sojourn to the regions south of my reality. And yes, it's always good to come home and find things in order and everyone intact. But I always suffer from mild melancholy when I come home from vacation, whether it be long or short. I find myself wanting to plan another one. ha

I was so relieved to finally get out of town. I came close to not going at the last minute because of family illness and because my car was hit in a parking lot the night before I was to leave. But I was firmly told that I was to go--and of course I always do what I'm told. haha

What a fabulous time we had. I went with three ladies from work. We got along famously and had a very relaxing weekend. We did a little hiking, a fair amount of eating good food, and plenty of sleeping.

The highlight of the trip was the Moonlight Hike. This is something I've wanted to do for a number of years. It's always nice when you have a wish granted, and this weekend I did. Thanks, Sherry, for sharing my enthusiasm and helping this wish come true.

There was a full moon over the weekend. We waited in line for 2 hours early on Saturday morning to be sure we got a spot on this park sponsored hike. We met at 9 pm just after the sun set. The ranger warned us there was a bear in the area, then directed our gaze at the sky at exactly 9:11 pm. We saw a bright flash--a satellite that was passing through the area. She then pointed out Jupiter, Venus and Saturn as they appeared in the darkening sky. By the way, Venus and Saturn were more closely aligned that night than they will be again for many years to come. After the hike we were able to see Jupiter and her four moons, and our own moon, through telescopes the rangers provided.

As we proceeded down the trail, we watched a gigantic orange moon rise out of the horizon. It appeared to be on fire. She explained that it looks that way because the atmosphere is thicker right at the horizon level. As the moon rises it becomes whiter and whiter. We stopped every little while and received lessons on how to locate Polaris (the North Star), how to determine where we are (both latitude and longitude), a history lesson in navigation, and the myths associated with constellations we saw in the sky. The moon was very bright, and we were able to see the trail well enough not to topple over the edge of the trail into oblivion.

The moonlight cast such eerie and beautiful shadows across the jagged landscape. The weather was perfect, and it wasn't too cold. The ranger had us go right up to the Ponderosa pines that were scattered all over the area. Did you know that after these pines are exposed to the hot sun, they smell like vanilla? You walk up and put your nose right on the tree, and sure enough, they smell like sugar cookies baking in the oven. It was amazing.

The ranger finally led us off the hiking trail and onto a horse trail. We sat at the top of a large, fairly barren rise that looked just like a moonscape. We were able to stay as long as we wanted to bask in the light of the almost full moon and enjoy the sounds, sights and smells of the canyon at night. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!

I have rambled on way too long, but I had to put this in writing before I forgot everything. I would highly recommend this activity to everyone. It was a fabulous experience.

So, back to work...................