Life is For Living

The secret of life, I think, is to never stop living it. Never stop having adventures. Never stop doing things that scare you. Never get jaded to the beauty of the world, and stay open to experiencing new places and people and activities.

What does it all mean?

It helps to have adventurous friends, of course! This weekend I went with a friend to visit the Dinosaur National Monument, something I've wanted to see for years. We headed out on Friday and drove half a day across Colorado to the northwest corner, ending up in Utah where most of the actual dinosaur stuff is.

First stop, outside the monument, was the McConkie Ranch to view the petroglyphs left by the ancient Fremont culture. The nature of the iconography and its purpose is still up for debate, as well as their age - estimated from the year 1 to 1200, a pretty wide span.  The images are fascinating and unusual, and their placement on sheer cliff walls makes viewing them a bit of a challenge.

View from the ridge at McConkie Ranch. 

Getting older is such a mixed bag. It's frustrating in some ways - the achy knees, the mysterious bruises that appear from gods know where, the realization that I've forgotten something I was absolutely positive I'd done. As Isabella Rosellini says in Death Becomes Her: "This is life's ultimate cruelty. It offers us a taste of youth and vitality, and then it makes us witness our own decay."

On the other hand, getting older is freeing in ways I never imagined as a young woman. Looking back, I never realized how much I was afraid. Afraid to be myself, to have expectations of the relationships in my life, to choose a path to happiness that was completely my own. I no longer have any doubts about who I am and what I've chosen - single, childless, mostly solitary. I have made a lot of mistakes, and I have a few regrets, but I wouldn't trade any of it. Every decision I've made, for good and for ill, has led me to the life I have now.

Lunch on the Green River. Best shared with a friend who never stops smiling.

It's pretty great.

Touch the bones! What a cool place. 

The quarry is amazing. A solid wall of bones they left in the rock, some available to touch - millions-year-old bones of long-extinct animals. The wall is jam-packed with Camarasaurus, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus, and other unnamed species. It's spectacular. If you go there, do not miss the quarry.

This is a particularly special spot and may have been my favorite place in the monument. It was the home of Josie Bassett Morris, a woman who lived alone in a log cabin for 50 years. No electricity, no running water, miles and miles from the nearest neighbor - but if you walk these grounds there is no questioning her decision. Not far from her cabin, situated in a spectacular green meadow ringed with tall trees and still bordered by the fences she built herself, is this box canyon where she'd drive her livestock. It's quiet and peaceful and has an aura that is indescribable.

I see myself in this woman, though she was undoubtedly tougher and more resilient and resourceful than I will ever be. But the notion of living apart from the world, in a beautiful place with only my animals, has a certain appeal.


Maybe someday.

Josie's cabin