Growing up in the Midwest, I’ve experienced my fair share of weather patterns. Heat waves, tornados, hail, blizzards, floods, and more. It was 84° Fahrenheit at one point today in Washington. Back home in Kansas City it was 98° and felt like 107°. I’m glad I missed it.
As we returned to our home away from home for the night, the sun set and the temperature dropped rapidly (as it is wont to do in the desert). As the temperature dropped, the wind picked up. Back home, wind like this usually meant a storm was inbound—or at the very least, lots of clouds and a fair chance of rain. Here, it just means that it’s nighttime.
I love the sound the tree branches make as they drag across the corrugated awning over the farmhouse’s back patio, and the way the leaves rustle together, shivering as the chilly night air caresses them with its icy touch.
This town is a living contradiction: a melding of the untamed wilderness and humanity’s fight to live anywhere they damned well please. While driving the highways at the edge of town you can look out your left window and see nature in all it’s raw power and majesty. But a quick glance to the right fills your view with ordered houses with neatly trimmed lawns and stubbornly grown vegetation sprinkler-fed and dragged into life come hell or high water (the latter being extremely unlikely).
With the wind tearing across the landscape just outside and the glow of the city in the distance, I can’t help but feel the inexorable draw this place always has on me. If everything fell into place tomorrow and I had a job offer and a home in which to stay, I don’t think I could stop myself from settling down here.
I wish that it would rain, just a little bit, so that I could see what that particular experience is like out here. Rare, I’m sure.
Tomorrow, we’re going to hike a short, but steep trail to a scenic overlook of the area. If we had more time, we’d probably hit up 20 different parks and trails within a 2-hour radius. But time draws short and we must retire home in five short days.
I haven’t even left yet and already I miss this place.
