Surprise!

Well, here I am, blogging from a room in a Holiday Inn in Steamboat Springs, CO. If yesterday was any indication of how this little trip is going to be, we're really going to have a good time. There's no point in trying to be too organized about this report, and doubtless any that follow if I chose to blog again on this trip. I probably will since my sweet sister has made it so easy for me: packing a laptop along and even setting me up as a separate user on it. So just some random thoughts:

--Any kind of terrain is fascinating for somebody who doesn't see it all the time, or in the case of the high desert wilderness we observed in northeastern Utah yesterday, has never seen it. I was struck by the profusion of Russian Olive trees. I didn't know they grew wild anywhere in any great numbers. The great rocks and cliffs, the interplay of dusty colors, and just the magnificent desolation. Thrilling. We're in the Rockies now. Gorgeous. All the little towns we've come through over the last 100 miles or so have been festooned with petunias in these huge pots sitting curbside or hanging.

--At supper last night we drank a bottle of the most unusual Zinfandel I think I've ever had. It's from a California vintner MonteVina Sierra Foothills in Amador County. It was a pale ruby red, not the deep scarlet of the usual Zin, and so much lighter in the mouth than the usual. I made a point of remembering the wine, because I really liked it--even for a Zin it had an extraordinarily fruity taste--and if I can find it in some wine store--which we will visit while we're in Denver--I'm gonna ship some home to Oklahoma.

--Family is best. I'm again struck by how close we are. It was a great treat for me to spend time with my brother-in-law, Lenny, whom I see so rarely and who loves to laugh with me, and my niece Gretchen, now a young lady old enough to vote and living on her own. With any amount of luck, I'll get to see my other niece and fellow poet from this end of the family and her two kids whom I've never met. They might be able to make it to Salt Lake before we leave. I'm really blessed to have such a wonderful family on both sides of the aisle, because I love my wife's family, too.

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