Southwest

I get such a kick out of road signs. I grew up with the habit of reading anything with words on it (including the backs of cereal boxes at breakfast). So now it’s hard to stop. And sometimes, especially while traveling, the habit leads to laughs.

For example: where else but the Grand Canyon will you see a “Mule Crossing” sign? Let alone one that gives them the traffic right-of-way?

I liked this one in Bryce Canyon, Utah. I thought maybe standing close to it would be good for my creative juices.

This one, at Hoover Dam in Nevada, was especially beautiful. I didn’t expect to find a giant lump of concrete so interesting, but it takes on a different meaning when you realize that this giant dam redeemed a desert wasteland. Because of Hoover Dam, arid stretches of Arizona, Nevada, and southern California are now fertile and life-supporting. And more than a few workers during the Great Depression gave their lives to make it happen.

Sometimes, grammar is just funny. (If you’re wondering, the correct conjugation is “bitten.”)

Some wise and artistic person decided to complement the beauty of the Grand Canyon with the beautiful and praise-giving words of the Psalms (I found these plaques scattered at various viewpoints along the South Rim).

And the moral of the story is: do not–do NOT–attempt to buy gas in Death Valley.

Seen any wise, wacky, or hilarious road signs lately?

Canyons are a bad idea.

As my family and I roadtripped around the American Southwest at the end of May, we saw a lot of them. They’re fissures in the earth, weird yawning abysses. I thought of Dante’s Inferno or C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce. In fact, it looks like I wasn’t the only one:

A sign from the Grand Canyon shuttle route

Canyon hiking is an especially bad idea. Besides the abnormal elevation at the rim, the increasing temperature as you descend, the arid landscape that sucks out your body moisture, the sheer drops at every turn, the risk of poisonous snakes and scorpions, possible claustrophobia, and rapidly changing weather conditions, you have to deal with this fact:

Down is optional, up is mandatory

Unlike with mountain hiking, in a canyon you hike downhill first, while you’re fresh. But you’d better hike to only about 1/3 of your energy–because then it’s twice as hard to come back up. When you’re already tired.

So canyon hiking is a really bad idea.

But…

…if we never took risks…

…if we never ran with an idea that might fail…

…if we never did anything just a little bit crazy…

…we’d miss out on this.

Bryce Canyon, Utah

And this.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

And this.

Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Sometimes risks aren’t worth the payoff. And of course you have to plan for them accordingly. But sometimes…maybe unexpectedly…risks can reveal life’s beauty.

Ever taken a risk that made you glad you did?