the mountains win again

once upon a time there was a girl who yearned for the desert. who felt that the song of mountains called to her in a way that perhaps the wet streams and valleys of the east did not. she spent her days longing for every breathtaking panorama seen from an airplane that brought her closer to the rugged, desolate majesty; for all the 23rd floor views of the sunset and sunrise over the jagged peaks of forever, for all the glitz and glamor of a city walled in on all sides by nothing. We always want what we do not, or cannot, have. But perhaps that's what makes the having, if even only temporary, so worth the wait. Every time I approach the mountains, see the red rock formed from things I cannot even comprehend, made so long ago that I don't dare to imagine; every time I drive a straight and narrow road that goes into eternity, yellow lines stretching farther than the eye can see; every time I taste the tang of the dry, cool air that lacks the saturated feel of the eastern seaboard, I know that I am in a place that I could call home. But until then, or until never, all I have are these fading glimpses of the stark and restless abandon of the high desert and all that follows after.

Enjoy one of my favorite songs while you peruse : )

 images from Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire, and LasVegas

{apologies Misty Enright, for this last photo if it was yours. I know I downloaded some of your images from when I had picked up your camera along the way (or grabbed it from you) so I am not sure if this is yours or mine. I think it might be yours...but I like it. So consider it shared credit : ) }