QUIET PLACES

Good fortune smiles on the appreciative traveler in the Rocky Mountains and southwestern states. Beautiful vistas and brilliant sunshine fill postcard-like days most of the year. There are places where nature’s orchestra is playing all out, across all senses, and, too, there are quiet places where she is playing a simple yet effective string guitar. Occasionally, a mountain snowstorm will offer a brief respite from these splendors, but it lasts only a few short hours on average and the landscape’s transformations are, at the very least, as beautiful and inspiring. And in the warmer months a cold wind will blow rain clouds across the desert floor only to disappear in the rearview mirror after a few prolonged moments. Any road taken will offer varying degrees and states of weather within the same hour. The same is true for beauty where the back roads offer the most rewards. Though as far as interstate travel is concerned, this part of the country sits atop the list for beauty.

It has been a year of change and these days it would be easy for me to remain at home and play hooky from my normal schedule and duties. At home is my newborn daughter, Madison, another of Nature’s wonders. She is less than three weeks old as I write this and a complete master of our daily routine. Human newborn enter this world helpless, however within hours they have all mastered the art of parental control. They are, I have found, in no way…