Our trip last month went wonderfully. There were a few
bumps along the way — such as me ending up in the Twin
Falls, Idaho emergency room the first night with an ear
infection — but overall we had a great time.
One of the highlights of the trip was Yellowstone National
Park. I’ve wanted to go there since I was a kid, so it was
very exciting. It was far more spectacular than I ever
imagined. We were a little slow getting started but we
managed to make it — just in time — to see Old Faithful
going off. I mean what trip to Yellowstone is complete
without seeing that?!
We saw LOTS and LOTS of WONDERFUL things. I never
expected it to be so beautiful. There was wildlife, geysers,
mineral formations, waterfalls, lakes, rivers and more! We
even crossed the Continental Divide!
We left Yellowstone and headed south through the Grand
Tetons. The weather had turned snowy and cold overnight
and we couldn’t see a thing. In Jackson Hole we met up
with Reed’s Aunt Betty and her husband Raymond for
lunch. That was a lot of fun — I had never met them before.
We traveled across a great deal of Wyoming. Let’s just say
there isn’t much to Wyoming but high desert and lots of
cows (see “The Cow Song”, bottom of page). We did see
several windmill farms. I must say I was rather pleased to
see renewable energy being used. I even heard on the radio
that there were plans to build another —the biggest yet —
windmill farm in western Wyoming.
We then spent 5 days in Denver, Colorado. Reed’s sister
Rachel was getting married. They had planned a Lord of
the Rings themed wedding as they are both big fans of the
stories. As with any good wedding there were a few
emergencies and one of them led to Reed playing the part of
Gandalf in the wedding party. He had on a robe and
carried a large staff. The happy couple are Unitarians — I
had never attended a Unitarian ceremony before so it was
all new to me. They took aspects from many different
religions and incorporated them into the service, including
a hand fasting, ring exchange, breaking of a glass, jumping
the broom and a few others. It was a lot of fun and many of
the guests dressed in the Lord of the Rings costumes.
After Denver we drove to eastern Colorado to spend the day
with my Great-Grandma. She just recently turned 95! The
day was very special to me and I loved every moment of it.
As a rule you never leave Grandma’s house empty handed
and this was no exception — she had crocheted each of us
an afghan!
We then headed north towards Mount Rushmore. We first
stopped at the Crazy Horse Monument. In case you don’t
know about this — Native American tribes have worked
together to carve a huge monument of Crazy Horse. It’s
very impressive. (See http://www.crazyhorse.org/ for
more info).
Then it was off the Mount Rushmore. That was impressive
and neat, but to be honest it wasn’t nearly as big as I
imagined it would be. When you see it in pictures it seems
to be enormous, but in person it just doesn’t seem that big.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very impressive and the work
to complete it was outstanding, it’s just that I imagined it
being much bigger.
After that we headed east to the Devils Tower National
Monument. (This is where the space ship landed in the
movie Close Encounters.) Now this was VERY impressive.
We could see it 20 miles in the distance as we drove
towards it. The closer we got the more impressive it
became. It is HUGE and beautiful. Sitting at the base of it
really leaves you in awe of Mother Nature.
After that we visited Little Big Horn. This was the last great
battle of the “Indian Wars” and “Custer’s Last Stand”. We
toured the battle fields and got an idea of the chain of
events that took place. I can’t say it was a very upbeat stop,
but it is a necessary one if you are in the area. It reminds us
all of how easy it is to misunderstand the culture and
traditions of others. It tells us we need to respect other
people’s way of life. This is something I saw less and less
of the more east we traveled. The amount of Christian
billboards, bumper stickers, newspaper items, etc, all
increased dramatically.
During the last Presidential election, I saw this map that
showed the population density of the country, and along
with that, the political affiliation. This made something
very clear that I had previously only suspected — that the
more people that live in any given area, the more likely they
are to lean towards the liberal side of the political spectrum.
What it really says is that the more people you live around,
the harder you have to work at accepting other ways of life
— in the end it just becomes natural. When people live out
in the underpopulated areas, they are not exposed to
different ideas, and when faced with something new they
often respond badly — for example look at the Matthew
Shepherd case in Laramie, Wyoming.
People need to be exposed to ideas such as Atheism and
Secular Humanism. The more they know the more they will
understand. They need to know what we are REALLY
about. So as always I encourage everyone to not be afraid
to speak out and let people know about who we are and
what we stand for, and remember to be patient — it might
take a little longer for some folks to get it.
“The Cow Song”, sung to the tune of “Jingle Bells”
Cow cow cow!
(Inspired by the state of Wyoming after too much driving.)
Cow cow cow!
Cow COW cow cow cow!
Cow cow cow, cow-cow cow cow cow
Cow cow cow cow cow.
COW!
Cow cow cow!
Cow cow cow!
Cow COW cow cow cow!
COW COW COW COW COW cow cow cow
COW COW cow cow cow.
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Angela C. Byers
Copyright © 1996 - 2003 Angela C. Byers