Where to?

When the Edwards and Russell branches of the Bertone clan started discussing a joint vacation, we were thinking on a grand scale.  Something worthy of two graduates transitioning to the adult world.  Our musings took us around the world.

Greece was very interesting, but on the brink of financial disaster. Visiting the ancestral roots of Kathy and Lisa (preferably with their parents) was very appealing.  However, Austria and Sicily are distant from each other, making the trip hectic for the time frame we had available. Turkey had everything (antiquity, beaches, culture), but was too close to Syrian civil war for our liking.  Peru was given serious consideration, as were Spain and Morocco.  The months passed by as we continued dreaming of distant and faraway places.

Then sometime in the late winter the answer became very clear.  With two graduates heading to college, we weren't flying anywhere.  Hotels were out of our price range.  We found ourselves financially constrained.

What can you do with very little money, but a few weeks of time?  Throw the tents in the car kids; we're going on a road trip!  An American Odyssey.  The Griswolds!

And on that note, a little prayer seems just about right.  Here's one from Edward Abbey that fits the tenor of our trip.

Benedicto

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous,

leading to the most amazing view.

May your rivers flow without end,

meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells,

past temples and castles and poets' towers

into a dark primeval forest

where tigers belch and monkeys howl,

through miasmal and mysterious swamps

and down into a desert of red rock,

and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm

where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs,

where deer walk across the white sand beaches,

where storms come and go

as lightning clangs upon the high crags,

where something strange and more beautiful

and more full of wonder than

your deepest dreams waits for you--

beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.