This is what it’s like out here. Everywhere you turn, there’s an amazing geological view. Painted deserts, petrified dunes, mesa, shiprocks, arches… after a certain point, you almost become deadened to the majesty of it all.
Yesterday, we had a lovely time in Mesa Verde before heading on to a tourist trap town called Durango where we stopped for the night. We’re going to eat breakfast at a French bakery and then see how much progress we can make towards driving home.
Yesterday, we drove through the Petrified Forest National Park. It’s not the most visually spectacular of parks, really. Once you’ve seen a few hundred pieces of petrified wood, the excitement fades. The park has a few other areas of interest, including a couple of petroglyph areas that are interesting, but some of them you have to use binoculars to even see. They pale in comparison to the Newspaper Rock of the Canyonlands in Utah, which lets you get very close and see the glyphs in detail.
So the photos of the Painted Desert aren’t really that impressive, but I met this one in the parking lot and it was very cooperative, even curious about the sounds my camera made. I think it was hoping I might throw it a snack for behaving so well, but I know better than to feed wildlife. Anyway, it went right back to rummaging in the garbage cans so it wasn’t exactly starving.
Ravens mate for life, and they are everywhere in this part of the country. Everywhere I look, I see pairs of ravens sitting, watching. I’ve seen a few pronghorn antelope as well, but for the most part, this trip has been wildlife-free.
If I’m still looking for work come April/May (and I probably will be in this market), I think a trip to Yellowstone is going to be in order.
My story “Groob’s Stupid Grubs,” a story of a goblin’s hopes for his idiot children, is available in Black Gate 15.
I recently finished the first draft of a YA novel called Takedown Notice set in the net-mage universe of my stories “Captain Blood’s B00ty” and “One Click Banishment.” What happens when the Magical Association of Atlantis finally gets the upper hand against the net mages in the spell program copyfight?