#21 Boston - Any Day Now! October 27, 2006

That's what Nate kept saying, as us "newbies" kept oooing and aaahing at the precariously balanced sand rock formations in Arches National Park (http://www.infowest.com/Utah/canyonlands/arches.html). Being the freshmen that we were, we kept asking if any of them would come crashing down sooner or later, which was always answered by the enormously patient Nate with "Any Day Now." (Actually wikipedia says that since the 1970s about 42 of them have toppled over - so we were not completely off base here - erosion being the main culprit).

Arches National Park is an amazing place, and I for one am willing to admit that I was not expecting it to be so beautiful. It is the largest collection of natural stone arches in the world (more than 2000 of them), spread over a 70,000+ acre area. Its beauty is simply stunning, red rock canyons cradling the Colorado River with the snow capped La Sal Mountains as their backdrop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Sal_Range). Its rock formations invite mountain bikers, rock climbers and hikers alike to be adventurous, maneuver bikes over slickrock, squeeze yourself between the stacked rock formations of the Fiery Furnace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fiery_Furnace_Panorama.jpg), and discover new and amazing ways to Sherlock your way out of the maze. The rocks not only shimmer in red - a multitude of colors are featured. Plus this area is a geologist's dream - Entrada (salmon colored) and Navajo (brownish-yellow) are the two main categories of sandstone, and the Entrada then brakes further down into a crumbly looking "Dewey Bridge" formation, the aptly named "Slick Rock" in the middle (try walking on it) and the Moab Tongue on top ( a more white-ish sandstone). Hah! Not too shabby, I actually paid attention.

Under the expert guidance of my friend Rani we were actually able to finagle our way through the Fiery Furnace quite skillfully. We learned about plants - the very rare canyonland biscuit root, for example, which only grows in Arches and a few nearby canyonlands, it lives on these little mounds and even walking too close to it, could destroy its very sensitive root system (see attached pictscha); the Mormon Tea (http://www.canyondave.com/MormonTea.html), which apparently is quite the picker-upper (also cured a few ailments too in the old days here or there....), and my personal favorite, the single-leaf ash (http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Tree%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/fraxinus%20anomala.htm). A signature feature of this area is the so-called cryptobiotic soil, a living soil crust, bustling with cyanobacteria (yeah baby!) and other little critters like fungi, algae, bacteria, lichen - the usual suspects. The crypto soil looks pretty cool, kind of knobby, like little miniature soil cities, societies of microscopic life who as the result of their hard labor provide a solid habitat for the native plants. One has to be really careful where to step so as to not wipe out hundreds of years of soil work with one stupid foot print and before you even head into the Fiery Furnace the park service (rightfully so) makes you watch a movie and take a quiz. (http://www.nps.gov/archive/arch/pphtml/subenvironmentalfactors11.html)

There is so much to tell - we say coyote poop for once, and a few very feisty beetles. We hiked up to see the Delicate Arch, which is just so serene and majestic (http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~phil/photos/gallery/images/delicate_arch.jpg) and I climbed through a tiny little whole in the sandrock (there might be picture somewhere with my butt sticking out of it, which I will probably try to suppress and which you will not see in the pictures I will send to you.....).

Edward Abbey needs to be mentioned, author of "Desert Solitaire" (which I did have to buy) and "The Monkey Wrench Gang" - http://www.abbeyweb.net/introduction.html - famous American writer and outspoken activist. Turns out, he was a park ranger here at Arches - and Desert Solitaire (according to Wikipedia)" is a series of vignettes about various aspects of his work as a park ranger in the desert Southwest, ranging from a polemic against development and excessive tourism in the National Parks, .... a story of working with a search and rescue team to pull a dead body out of the desert, .... stories of river running, his view of Mormonism, the social life in and around Moab, Utah, and more."

I ended up in Moab, Utaaaaahh, for a wedding - my friends Rani and Nate, who live there, decided to get married, and I for one was glad that I attended the festivities. Nate is a local boy, and Rani, while from the San Francisco Bay Area, has family in both India and Holland - which made the wedding party into quite a motley crew. A barbeque on the day prior, at their friend Jennifer's farm alongside the Colorado River with the cottonwood trees displaying their magnificent yellow fall coats, was the first of many events. A somewhat uncoordinated game of Badminton helped to work off the excess calories consumed and helped to create some room in our strained little stomachs for early evening desserts in Nate and Rani's back yard (many many Dutch treats, yummm!).

The wedding ceremony took place at a most magnificent spot, overlooking canyons, the Colorado River and again, with a breathtaking view of the La Sal Mountain Range. The hike there was a little less than a mile, and casual was the theme of the day. The groom wore shorts, the bride a Sari, and the ceremony was a lively mix of free-spirited American and traditional Indian ceremonies. There was laughter, tears of joy and happiness (as there should be) and just generally a pretty blissful mood (in particular after the red wine came out!). A Nepalese/Indian dinner topped off the festivities on Sunday, and the only regret I have is that I still am on my stomach-friendly diet, and kept longingly looking at the opulent selection of beers that were lined up for the event. I stuck with my doctor's orders, so I missed my first taste of Utah's classic "Polygamy Porter", but I have vowed to come back and sample the stuff next year.

The days after and surrounding the wedding were spent with tons of activities. Nate who is a pilot and has his own Cessna 170, was up in the air pretty much every day flying wedding guests around the area, over canyons, arches, rivers - there were hikes, breakfasts at the Moab Diner (http://www.moab-utah.com/diner/index.html) or the Red Rock Bakery with its scrumptious cheese bagels and succulent scones. My hostess for most of the days was the most wonderful Diane, who not only is a fabulous ranger, but is a much recognized trainer of agility dogs, in this case three charming Border Collies, Lucy, Sophie and Bracken, the puppy. If you have never seen agility competitions with dogs, you must go! Speed demons, they are! Rani's sister Lara lived across the street, and her house mates Suzette and John made sure I had breakfast every day. Asha and Miley, Nate and Rani's canines, also contributed to my well-being by just being wonderful dogs, even though Miley and I had a bit of a disagreement on my last night, as to who should sleep on the futon. We did decide that the futon was big enough for the both of us, and all was well.

I headed back on Wednesday, and here comes the really cool part - Nate, Doug (a fellow pilot) and Rani personally flew me from Moab to Grand Junction in the little Cessna - how cool was that??!! It was a wonderful ride, and I got to see the landscape from way up high.
Two plane rides later I was back in Boston, had a rude cabbie (who started jabbering in some strange language on his cell phone, apparently very upset that I had told him exactly which tunnel to take to get to Cambridge) and then had to deal with a fire alarm whose battery was dead, and kept beeping annoyingly. Welcome back, right?

Couple more things before I end this tome - my CT scans came back alright - the doctor called me in Utah, which was actually pretty great. Abdominal CT was ok, and on my thoracic CT (the lungs) there are some nodules, which are remnants of my TB infection when I was 18. In a couple of years or so, I should get an X-ray to see if the TB scars are still the same, but aside from that I am ok. What a relief! Being checked for possible lesions is no fun and pretty scary. Still leaves us with investigating the back pain, so I think a visit to a chiropractor might be in order.

Back in Boston, I can report on a fabulous event I ushered for last night, "9 Parts of Desire" - a one-woman piece, based on a wonderfully written play by Heather Raffo. At the Lyric Stage Company Lanna Joffrey is an absolute tour de force in her portrayal of 9 Iraqi women - artists, mothers, doctors, expats - she plays them flawless and true to character, 90 minutes straight. This is a must-see! (http://www.lyricstage.com/9Parts.htm)

Friends, I am signing off now (I am sure you are glad about that) - I have a birthday weekend coming up, and I will stick with my promise to NOT run the road race tomorrow. We are expecting torrential downpours and I might just not even leave the house. My knee is not ready yet, so either I will walk, if the weather allows, or just go back to bed and snooze a bit more.

Hope you get some zzzs in yourself - see you soon.

pet:)