A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

So I am attending this training class (and not really by choice), and one of the things we did was write down a great moment in our lives. One moment in time that we most remember, and everything seemed perfect. Mine was more than a moment, although I suppose compared to time everlasting it's just a drop in the cosmic bucket.

In 2005, my job took me from Virginia to Washington state. And rather than getting in the car and driving 3000+ miles as fast as possible, we decided to make this a family trip. And what a trip it was.

Our first stop was in West Virginia, nothing special. But the next night we stopped in Louisville, Kentucky. Before we left Louisville, we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. We got to see them making bats for some of the current MLB superstars. There are signs all over that say, "Do not touch the wood," meaning the pieces of wood that will be turned into bats. I couldn't help myself, though, and I touched a few pieces that were destined to be bats for guys on my fantasy baseball team (I'm a geek, I know). Who knows, maybe one of those bats was used to hit a home run.

After that, we stopped in St Louis, Missouri. The highlight was a trip up the Gateway Arch. I didn't know you could go up in the Arch until somebody told us about it, so we kicked around in the Lewis and Clark Museum (awesome), and then rode in this tiny little cart, clunking our way up the Arch to the top. You could look down and see inside Cardinals Stadium, and the land went on forever.

Our next stop was Oklahoma City, which was unimpressive, except that the final Star Wars movie was released the day we arrived there. We stayed at a hotel that happened to be next to a movie theater, so we got tickets and saw the final episode in the greatest of movie sagas (and yes, the first Star Wars, now titled Episode IV, is the best) despite being homeless.

From there it was on to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a stop in Texas for some real Texas barbeque at a place in Amarillo. It was voted one of the top 10 places for barbeque in the U. S., and it lived up to the billing. New Mexico was beautiful, but we didn't do any exploring.

Our best stop came next: the Grand Canyon. We spent a week there, hiking down into the canyon, exploring the trails along the top, and soaking in one of the most beautiful vistas you can hope to lay eyes on. Most impressive was watching the sunset on one of our final nights. You have to see it for yourself, but it's not something I'll likely ever forget. On the way back to our lodge (we stayed at a place in Flagstaff, about 70 miles away), we pulled over and turned off the lights and got out of the car. The stars were amazing.

After a week in Arizona, we made a stop in Vegas (the Strip is cool, but gambling isn't my thing), a quick overnight in Idaho (it's a long drive from Vegas to Boise), and then arrived in Washington.

It was a bit sad to see our trip come to an end. We had a great adventure, and we still talk about it, but it was a perfect time in life. My son was just into his teens, my daughter was a few years from being a teen (and not the hormonal, gray hair inducing entity that now resides in the house), and we were still together as a family.

I suppose that's why it's one of my favorite times, because it was just the four of us, soaking up what we could. My son has moved on to his own life, and my daughter isn't far behind.

But you know what? There are more memories out there, waiting to be discovered. More trips to take, more cool things to see, more movie premieres to watch, more sunsets to enjoy. And as much as I like the memories I have, I'm ready to make some more.