1/2/2022 再接再厲，進軍Joshua Tree National Park ($30一輛車)。 女兒開的車，去兩小時車程，回來黑燈瞎火的三小時車程，她一個人開下來，不出狀況，也算是她個人的milestone (當然有某人把關). 在西雅圖她是屬於沒車族，以前上下班有公共汽車，近一兩年在家上班，更是少出門。這次回家，頭兩天也沒有動靜，突然有一天就想起練車。1/1她開車去看完花車，吃完點心，買完菜，她還興衝衝地要開夜車，某人居然也同意。 這一趟遠距離的駕駛給了她信心，也奠定了1/2/2022來回開五小時車程外加在公園內一兩個小時開車的基礎。
01/02/2022: This is our second visit to Joshua Tree National Park, two years apart from the first one in December 2019. J was in a driving mood that day, and with the dad sitting by the side as a guide, she drove to and fro with confidence-- two hours nonstop to the park and three hours back in the nightly darkness, in a row. Asked why she was so into it this time, she answered that this is the last skill that needs to be mastered.
It was a perfect winter day, sunny and windless. As we entered the park at noon, the temperature outside the car was 50s F. Inside, the temperature was set to high 60s. Sitting at the back seat on the right side, I may not have the best view, but was compensated by the warm sunlight slanting through the car window. Like the Joshua trees that stood by the sides embracing the sun, I felt enveloped in the sunny air.
We stopped by a rock mountain. While J and I lunched in the car, he ventured alone to explore. “The daunting mountain isn’t what it looks”, he said after he safely descended. So under his lead, three of us, sometimes on all fours, made it to the summit. Standing atop, we saw a floor of withered grassland, dotted by numerous scrubby Joshua trees. A road in the middle snakes up. Elevated at the end of desert are mountains forged by varied rocks-- small, big, round or pointed. The formations could be random but often geometrical. The scene was sedate, and we found peace in front of the wilderness.
Two-hour-drive must be exacting for a new driver. As J took her nap in the car, he and I sauntered around. The air was crisp. The recent rains must have freshened the tips of Joshua trees, as they looked greener than what were in our memories. The needle-like spiny cacti were silvery and shiny in the sun. Later on another trail, we saw a fat gray rabbit scurrying for food among the dry bushes. At our last stop, a coyote was spotted before it disappeared into the depth of the desert. The land looks barren in our eyes, still it is home to dozens of plants and animals, who choose to live in this harsh but spacious desert, surviving and thriving as they adapt themselves generation after generation.
The temperature soon dropped to 30s F in the afternoon. As our shadows dragged long over the rocks, the sun suffused its last rays over the mountains. At twilight, we were headed home, driving out of the park, down a long slope that was illuminated by the city lights.
回複 '魏薇' 的評論 : Thanks, Weiwei, for reading and your comment. I've been busy lately with J at home, cooking and holidaying:)) Joshua Tree National Park is almost 800,000 acres, and we probably only explored a fraction.
You are a very diligent writer. I just read your recent post, and I believe listening to radio in your spare time will help improve your English greatly.
Wish you and your son a happy 2022! Wish your son a great 2022!
A well written essay which creates an environment of peace and happiness with vivid narrative sentences.
I learned a new word "varied" which has similar meaning as assorted and diverse. When I saw "sedate", I thought about "tranquil". Digging more, I learned another word tranquilizer鎮定藥.
回複 '7grizzly' 的評論 : Thanks, my friend, for sharing the story. I guess while men are sometimes idealistic, women are more practical or even mercenary:))
Your comment of water reminds me of 林瓔（Maya Ying Lin）, a designer who won the national design competition for Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington. In this monument, she utilized flowing water, which is emblematic of peace and life (flowing). The stone by the lake caught my eyes too that day, and I am glad you like it too. Have a nice day and week, my friend! (and no worries about the small difference)
A well-written family trip where I found many things to like. Among them,
"Meditation and water
Are wedded together"
reminds of a story where anglers spent long hours at the lake with little to
show, and their wives argued for buying tuna instead with the mmoney spent on
fishing. The men insisted that the catch was not the point. "What IS the point
then?" demanded the women. They couldn't say.
And the author concluded that "men always have this deep need to look at water"
which drew guffaws from the audience as he was telling the story on stage. He
might have gotten the idea from Moby Dick!
暖mm新年好，這些玫瑰花車照片太漂亮了，非常有創意。那棵樹笑死我了，真的是詮釋了“千蒼百孔”，有圖有真相。：）當然最驚豔的是午後陽光下定格的三人合影，一家人在一起，日月生輝，真的是peace in wilderness. 好羨慕你們的歲末年初之旅，謝謝暖mm貼了這麽多大自然的美麗風光，讓足未出戶的我飽嚐眼福。XOXO
1/2/2022 再接再厲，進軍Joshua Tree National Park ($30一輛車)。 女兒開的車，去兩小時車程，回來黑燈瞎火的三小時車程，她一個人開下來，不出狀況，也算是她個人的milestone (當然有某人把關). 在西雅圖她是屬於沒車族，以前上下班有公共汽車，近一兩年在家上班，更是少出門。這次回家，頭兩天也沒有動靜，突然有一天就想起練車。1/1她開車去看完花車，吃完點心，買完菜，她還興衝衝地要開夜車，某人居然也同意。 這一趟遠距離的駕駛給了她信心，也奠定了1/2/2022來回開五小時車程外加在公園內一兩個小時開車的基礎。
01/02/2022: This is our second visit to Joshua Tree National Park, two years apart from the first one in December 2019. J was in a driving mood that day, and with the dad sitting by the side as a guide, she drove to and fro with confidence-- two hours nonstop to the park and three hours back in the nightly darkness, in a row. Asked why she was so into it this time, she answered that this is the last skill that needs to be mastered.
It was a perfect winter day, sunny and windless. As we entered the park at noon, the temperature outside the car was 50s F. Inside, the temperature was set to high 60s. Sitting at the back seat on the right side, I may not have the best view, but was compensated by the warm sunlight slanting through the car window. Like the Joshua trees that stood by the sides embracing the sun, I felt enveloped in the sunny air.
We stopped by a rock mountain. While J and I lunched in the car, he ventured alone to explore. “The daunting mountain isn’t what it looks”, he said after he safely descended. So under his lead, three of us, sometimes on all fours, made it to the summit. Standing atop, we saw a floor of withered grassland, dotted by numerous scrubby Joshua trees. A road in the middle snakes up. Elevated at the end of desert are mountains forged by varied rocks-- small, big, round or pointed. The formations could be random but often geometrical. The scene was sedate, and we found peace in front of the wilderness.
Two-hour-drive must be exacting for a new driver. As J took her nap in the car, he and I sauntered around. The air was crisp. The recent rains must have freshened the tips of Joshua trees, as they looked greener than what were in our memories. The needle-like spiny cacti were silvery and shiny in the sun. Later on another trail, we saw a fat gray rabbit scurrying for food among the dry bushes. At our last stop, a coyote was spotted before it disappeared into the depth of the desert. The land looks barren in our eyes, still it is home to dozens of plants and animals, who choose to live in this harsh but spacious desert, surviving and thriving as they adapt themselves generation after generation.
The temperature soon dropped to 30s F in the afternoon. As our shadows dragged long over the rocks, the sun suffused its last rays over the mountains. At twilight, we were headed home, driving out of the park, down a long slope that was illuminated by the city lights.
