Friday, July 22, 2005

The Beauty of the Desert

(originally posted on fishbowlinsider yahoo!group 7/22/05)
Okay, before you say that sounds like an oxymoron or something please let me explain. :-) My little ones go to bed at 6pm at night, this is because my son ALWAYS wakes up between 6-6:30am, and he just wasn't getting enough sleep going to bed at 7:30pm like he used to, even with a nap. So now he goes to bed at 6pm. "Sy" also goes to bed at 6pm, but shes like me and really likes her sleep. Usually she won't wake up till 8-8:30am. And then I start on my morning walk around 9am after she has eaten breakfast. Well this morning, "Sy" woke up at 6am.And there was no getting her back to sleep. SO we got started on our morning walk a little earlier than normal and I am so glad we did. You see, I have always lived in a desert area. I would probably go into a deep depression if I lived anywhere that had more than 8inches of rain a year... You see I grew up in Kennewick, Washington. Yes, I know you're thinking, Washington isn't a desert, it rains there all year round, Seattle is one of the most rainy places on earth. Well, you see thats where you're wrong. Let me give you a little geography lesson. The state of Washington is cut in half by the Cascade Mountains. These mountains cause what meteorologists like to call a "Rain Shadow". What this means is that when the clouds come off the ocean they have to drop all the moisture in them before they can pass over the mountain range. Therefore the reason Seattle gets so much rain, but because of this, the EAST side of the state doesn't get much rain at all. And thats where I lived, SouthEastern Washington. Where three Rivers converge at one spot. The Yakima River and the Snake River flow into the Columbia River and that is where Kennewick is. We were lucky to get 8 inches of rain a year there, and we had mild winters, and very warm summers a few weeks in July would reach 100 degrees or above. But we didn't mind this, we had more than enough water for whatever we wanted to do provided by the River. I lived there from the day I was born till I moved to Rexburg to attend Ricks College. Rexburg, Idaho was also in a desert. You're thinking, no that can't be. But its true, it was a High Desert. Did you ever notice all the grasses and sagebrush around the area? After Ricks, for the first three years of our marriage, we lived in Phoenix. And I'm sure you can all agree with me, that Phoenix is definitely desert. You may think, well anyplace that gets above 100 degrees must not be that pretty. The deserts provide you with the most beautiful sunsets you will ever see, during the monsoon season (mid July-Late September) you're pretty sure to get a rain storm almost every afternoon. And because of all the rain in late summer, fall and winter, the Spring is so beautiful. All the plants and flowers that lay dormant during the heat of the summer all come into bloom. The most brilliant colors to meet your eye. The cactus, standing statuesque against the horizon...This morning getting out of the house earlier than normal I was able to see the beauty of the desert in Albuquerque. Albuquerque is a high desert like Rexburg, a river running through it like Kennewick,and a monsoon season like Phoenix. We are at 5500 feet elevation, so it doesn't get as hot as Phoenix though we're in the southwest. We have mild winters, sometimes lucky if we get any snow at all, and we hardly ever go over 100 degrees in the summer. Walking later in the morning, its sometimes hard to notice the beauty all around. As we walked I could feel the coolness in the air, and smell the wildflowers, and sagebrush that were still in bloom this late in the summer. You could smell and almost taste the wet dirt from the rain shower last night. The bright blue clear sky, with the puffy clouds that look so close you could almost reach up and pull them down. There was a gentle breeze in the air, birds and butterflies flying around. The path I walk on run alongs a Volcanic Rock Mesa.Remember "Craters of the Moon" Natl Park near Blackfoot? Same idea. The path runs next to the massive cliffs that the lava flow created when it finally slowed to a stop a long time ago. I thank my daughter for waking up early this morning. Because she did we were able to walk at a time where I could notice the beauty thats all around.
Posted by ABQ Mom :: 7/22/2005 08:30:00 PM :: 0 Comments:

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