New Old Things

Road Trip Retrospective

August 9th, 2008

Rowan knows: of course you play in waterfalls!

My sister-in-law says this blog makes it look like we got lost in Hells Canyon and never returned. That’s not the case.

For our final road trip adventure, we rode the mail boat through Hells Canyon for two days, along with 40 other mostly-retired folks. The boys were stars, helping to deliver the mail and schlepp baggage. The watchful eyes of so many surrogate grandparents made it possible for mom and I to chat out personalities from the anonymous crowd while the boys explored. Collin fished, Rowan collected rocks, we all played in a waterfall, and I walked through a storm of bats in the pre-dawn glow. It was hot, dusty, rustic and all-together the perfect way to spend our last two days.

At the end, our road trip included:

• 18 days
• 3,565 miles
• 1,102 pictures taken
• 1 speeding ticket
• 7 national parks
• 5 junior ranger awards
• 23 different kinds of wildlife encountered that we’d never seen before
• 1 bottle of rhubarb wine: not recommended
• 3 days with undrinkable morning coffee
• Countless meals served with fries
• 3 corny/fabulous old-west extravaganzas
• 10 now-seems-silly bits of new cowboy gear
• 4 career/lifestyle epiphanies
• Way too many repetitions of Harry Belafonte’s Greatest Hits

This trip went incredibly well. We had very few mishaps and so didn’t reap as many story-worthy adventures as anticipated. What we gained, though, is better. By the end of the journey, Rowan and Collin became confident in themselves and in being out in the world. They met the eyes of strangers and made them friends. They learned to see paths leading around corners and into forests, then follow to see what might lie just out of sight. They gained an awareness of other people in a crowd and can now stand out of the way or assist others when needed. They know that when you drive really close to a waterfall, it’s important to roll the windows down if you want to feel it. They know that outside, it’s beautiful and precarious and waiting to be climbed and swam and hiked and photographed. Rowan sharpened his focus on the delicate small details, finding wonder in being still. Collin overcame his need to hold hands in the wild places, and is now perhaps too ready to just go for it.

Most importantly, we all now expect life to be full of adventure. It isn’t a question of if we’ll go again, but rather where, how often, and for how long. I’ve been working at home this past week, and I’m overjoyed to report that we’re pretty bored cooped up here. One of my deepest desires for my children is that they intuitively know how to go out and do things; how to move and see and touch and play and be fully alive in the world rather than sitting as the passive receptors of other people’s experiences. This road trip was a powerful start. Now to figure out what comes next!
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Entry Filed under: Adventure