Death Valley perks me up (finally)
Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive from Pahrump, Nevada to Death Valley National Park to do some photography. I had been waiting for a good weather day before we packed up and left Nevada, but it wasn't going to happen, so I took what nature offered. The Morning was offered to me as partly but mostly cloudy, with rain approaching by afternoon. Well, I left early in the morning, (my time of day) and headed out of town (after a quick stop for a sinful taste of a McGriddle for breakfast). I was anticipating a day with nature's beauty and a day away from civilization.
My attitude quickly deteriorated as I drove past the structures that went for the town of Pahrump. First, 2nd rate casinos, then what seemed like miles of one-off little junky looking shops, and then the amazing variety of ugly homes with discarded automobiles in the front yard, punctuated by the occasional rotting motorhome or bus, trash everywhere, a wrecking service next to a neighborhood store, etc. I think what got me going the most was my view of the horizon beyond these unsightly human artifaces. It was so beautiful. The mountains in every direction presented a unique type of geology and form. The sky was blue and the clouds that were there seemed to be just right for photography. But, if I let my sight return to the road (which habit enforces), and the surroundings, I just couldn't avoid the negative thoughts about how little respect us humans (at least us Americans in the USA) have for the environment we inhabit. My thoughts briefly returned to the neat little homes in the villages of northern Europe. Rarely would you see anything (house, tractor, automobile, store, church) not still in use, productive and accentuated with a few flowers, even if it was 300 years old. People kept up their yards no matter what the "income level" of the neighborhood. You could tell there was a built-in pride of the people about where they lived.
I'm really not picking on Pahrump, Nevada. Riding around in our RV for almost 5 years, this is common all over the USA. Nevada tends to be a bit more "independent" in their approach to the environment. (Can you blame them when the US Government uses their state to blow up Nuclear bombs and wants to store the nation's Nuclear waste in their state?)
I guess what finally put me over the top in Pahrump was this home I passed built on the top front edge of a really nice butte jutting from the side of a mountain. The house was not well done and the yard and environs appeared to be pretty junky. Without the house and the human environs, I would have stopped to take a picture. This reminds me of several areas in Wyoming that have homes (some nice looking, and others with the junk cars, etc.) built at the base of beautiful red rock that normally would be part of a National park or State Park.
Where is the pride? Is it buried in years of treating the USA as a limitless frontier that can be trashed because there is so much of it? Does it stem from the same energy that makes us decide to build a building, spend maybe millions on it, only to tear it down when it doesn't seem to suit our whims or current business plan? Does anyone care about the natural resources we took from the Earth to build it? Does anyone care about the impact to the natural resources when we discard it? At times I think not... Does it have anything to do with our obscession with the fantasies on TV, the time we spend coating our brains with TV waves instead of creating something we might find some pride in? Even if TV were totally educational and positive (it isn't by a long shot), the time we spend letting others do our thinking amounts to vast years that could be put to something productive... OK.. I'm getting a bit off-base.
So.... I continued on the highway until suddenly, there were no more structures. Obviously, government owned land... then my spirits started to peak again, slowly as the mountains and landscape around me started to rise in a sudden drama that brought me to thinking about the eons of time they formed without human intervention and the stark beauty that only nature can serve up. My breathing slowed, a smile started to form on my face, and I was happy again. I stopped and took a panorama of a beautiful mountain range (of which there are many). I did have to walk a bit to eliminate the power lines that caused a momentary loss of my attention to the landscape, but as I got out a few hundred yards from the lonely highway... I even screamed a bit of thanks to the land. (with apologies to any of the nearby fauna).
The mixtures of colors in the exposed sides of the eroded mountains, the varigated lines tracing the history of the slow and steady mixing of Earths surface, the rocky, treeless landscape, and expansive white (salt) covered valley makes this place a rarity among National Parks. Needless to say, the beauty of Death Valley lifted my spirits and lasted at least until I returned home at the end of the day.
Whew... these blogs are good therapy to get some things off my chest.. even if no one else ever reads them.
My attitude quickly deteriorated as I drove past the structures that went for the town of Pahrump. First, 2nd rate casinos, then what seemed like miles of one-off little junky looking shops, and then the amazing variety of ugly homes with discarded automobiles in the front yard, punctuated by the occasional rotting motorhome or bus, trash everywhere, a wrecking service next to a neighborhood store, etc. I think what got me going the most was my view of the horizon beyond these unsightly human artifaces. It was so beautiful. The mountains in every direction presented a unique type of geology and form. The sky was blue and the clouds that were there seemed to be just right for photography. But, if I let my sight return to the road (which habit enforces), and the surroundings, I just couldn't avoid the negative thoughts about how little respect us humans (at least us Americans in the USA) have for the environment we inhabit. My thoughts briefly returned to the neat little homes in the villages of northern Europe. Rarely would you see anything (house, tractor, automobile, store, church) not still in use, productive and accentuated with a few flowers, even if it was 300 years old. People kept up their yards no matter what the "income level" of the neighborhood. You could tell there was a built-in pride of the people about where they lived.
I'm really not picking on Pahrump, Nevada. Riding around in our RV for almost 5 years, this is common all over the USA. Nevada tends to be a bit more "independent" in their approach to the environment. (Can you blame them when the US Government uses their state to blow up Nuclear bombs and wants to store the nation's Nuclear waste in their state?)
I guess what finally put me over the top in Pahrump was this home I passed built on the top front edge of a really nice butte jutting from the side of a mountain. The house was not well done and the yard and environs appeared to be pretty junky. Without the house and the human environs, I would have stopped to take a picture. This reminds me of several areas in Wyoming that have homes (some nice looking, and others with the junk cars, etc.) built at the base of beautiful red rock that normally would be part of a National park or State Park.
Where is the pride? Is it buried in years of treating the USA as a limitless frontier that can be trashed because there is so much of it? Does it stem from the same energy that makes us decide to build a building, spend maybe millions on it, only to tear it down when it doesn't seem to suit our whims or current business plan? Does anyone care about the natural resources we took from the Earth to build it? Does anyone care about the impact to the natural resources when we discard it? At times I think not... Does it have anything to do with our obscession with the fantasies on TV, the time we spend coating our brains with TV waves instead of creating something we might find some pride in? Even if TV were totally educational and positive (it isn't by a long shot), the time we spend letting others do our thinking amounts to vast years that could be put to something productive... OK.. I'm getting a bit off-base.
So.... I continued on the highway until suddenly, there were no more structures. Obviously, government owned land... then my spirits started to peak again, slowly as the mountains and landscape around me started to rise in a sudden drama that brought me to thinking about the eons of time they formed without human intervention and the stark beauty that only nature can serve up. My breathing slowed, a smile started to form on my face, and I was happy again. I stopped and took a panorama of a beautiful mountain range (of which there are many). I did have to walk a bit to eliminate the power lines that caused a momentary loss of my attention to the landscape, but as I got out a few hundred yards from the lonely highway... I even screamed a bit of thanks to the land. (with apologies to any of the nearby fauna).
The mixtures of colors in the exposed sides of the eroded mountains, the varigated lines tracing the history of the slow and steady mixing of Earths surface, the rocky, treeless landscape, and expansive white (salt) covered valley makes this place a rarity among National Parks. Needless to say, the beauty of Death Valley lifted my spirits and lasted at least until I returned home at the end of the day.
Whew... these blogs are good therapy to get some things off my chest.. even if no one else ever reads them.
posted by RVGuys, Newt Perdue at 4:45 PM
1 Comments:
:)
i know its been almost a year since this was last posted, but when i got to the bottom that said "no one else reads them", i thought i'd let you know that i read it... for whatever it's worth... interesting post and thoughts!
im still blogging about death valley at:
http://12feet.blogspot.com/search?q=death+valley
keep up the good work,
Rikki - Traveling12Feet.com
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