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Show THE ZEPHYR/DEC-JAN PERFECT 2008 sound of the music. Smells and ethnic treats wafting stalls. A moment of personal recovery from compulsive MOMENTS lot, no facilities, no descriptive placards, just nature in all its glory and magnificence. I may have been the only person on the | mesa, for I met no other vehicles on the roads and had the Point all to myself. The view, as we tend to say, was indescribable, in some ways more impressive than those to be seen in the Grand Canyon, probably because the geology was more immediate and free of restraining railings or other human artifacts. I couldn’t help but sit on the edge for some time, master of that view and in complete awe, seeing the results of natural forces and time which led to those splendid colors and interesting, triumph in my retail therapy: I am checking out the booths, but NOT buy- ing anything. I find a woman with a hulahoop, she shares. I go at it for about an hour straight. Folks in the adjacent field playing Frisbee. It hits me---there’s enough people to play Frisbee Hot Box, a game of silliness. I run. Endorphins kick in (a simpler pleasure now that I am off caffeine, having been CONTINUED CHARLES MILLER... HUNTLEY, ILLINOIS May, 1955. The Perfect Moment. After visiting whatever was relatively accessible in the Arches National Monument via the haphazard roads of the era, I stayed overnight in Moab and next day used the rather recently developed road onto what I later learned was called Island in the Sky. This road, courtesy of the Atomic Energy Commission, and a branch took me ultimately to Dead Horse Point long before this spot became the touristy state park of today. The road simply ended, no parking of grilling meats in from the food off the other sauces since Jerry Garcia died.) The tweens huddle, deciding the best way to contain me (a major force on the field at this point) is for them to jump at me simultaneously. I suddenly have one in my arms. and the other hanging off my neck. I go down, tackled, into the sweet smelling grass in a blaze of absurdity. Laughter, head full of music and community and the sun. on the LaSals and the Moab Rim all around me. Call me a cheap date, but it seemed “nearly perfect” at the time. And indeed, in retrospect, it still kinda does EVEN CANTOR...,BOULDER, COLORADO Requesting perfect moments is an odd and interesting request... there are so many of them, from day to day even... that first cup of coffee in the morning, even lunch hour is pretty nice for us 40-hour week guys. There are moments of achievement and ego, receiving kudos and awards or floating 3-inches off the stage in a particularly nice jam session... but yes, let’s forget relative perfection and go for absolute! And since I can corroborate it photographically (will send along shortly, this evening), let me tell you about a couple of hours spent on the ridge approaching the Nublet just this last July. In the heart of Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park aes vast, enormous rock formations. I’ve been back several times, but that Perfect Moment can never be recovered.” Columbia) is a three-lake basin horn like monster that wears a huge tumbling glacier like a necklace. The shortest route to this place is a 15 mile KELLY ROBINSON...HOUSTON, TEXAS My life is full of so many amazing memories that picking out one above all the others .. seemed an impossible task. I decided to take a few | | days to mull it over, thinking about it a lot, enjoying my trip down memory lane. Should I pick the memo| ries and friends made during the filming of Geronimo? Maybe the fun way I lived the movie Greenhorn before I was even in it. Having my own radio show ranked up there. Then there were the thousands of memories with my daughter and my family. I also considered the road trips, where invitably we would meet someone interesting 0.or have some crazy adventure. On the second day of trying to figure out ach memory rose to the top of the pile, I woke up at my usual time of five in the morning. I was drinking my coffee and watching the news when they showed.a live shot of an eclipse of the moon. It was still dark outside and the lunar eclipse could still be clearly seen. Even though my daughter no longer lives with me, she was spending the night, so | went and got : a middle of the quiet | her out of bed. We walked hand-in-hand into the street and to answer her questions of why I had dragged her out of bed in the middle of the night, I pointed up at the orange and red moon. I’m not sure how long we stood there, staring up at the moon. I’m not even really sure at what point my daughter rested her head on my shoulder and thanked me for sharing that moment with her, but what I am sure of is that currently, that is my most precious, warm and perfect memory. Me, standing in the middle of Brighton Lane with my sleepy daughter, witnessing a colorful moon. I’m sure someday we'll top that memory, but for now, that’s the one....Kelly Robinson CELIA ALARIO...MOAB, UTAH Sometimes it builds with a lot of “decent” or even “above average” moments that pile up, and crescendo with a “near perfect” moment at the climax. Mine’s like that:?” Moab Folk Festival 2006, final day, Moab Ball Fields. A treat for the senses. I am loving the "To all you poor devils in the desert with only the state owned stores to slake your thirst..... a visit with Monty & Jerry 2546 RIMROCK AVE SUITE 100 (across from the new Wal-Mart) GRAND JCT, COLORADO 970.257.1557 @ Crossroads Wine & Spirits is guaranteed to chase the blues away!” On our third day in this wonderful i place we hiked up the social trail that leads to the summit of Nublet, a | mole-hill of a mountain that pops up in the middle of the lake basin. It may | be a mole-hill, but it does get.a little steep and rocky. We didn’t like the look of the track beyond the last and highest grassy ledge on the ridge, so we sat oo Aen there and parveyed our kingdom. Above the treeline, we were also in the wind which meant that the recent hatch of mosquitoes was thwarted, for the moment. The sun shone brightly in and out of puffy clouds and the view was positively transcen- dent (photograph will send along shortly, this evening). The lodge was visible down by Lake Magog and there was a view to the peaks beyond Wonder Pass and Cauley Meadows, where we had hiked the day before. Lunch was delicious, a fresh ham & cheese sandwich made fresh that morning at the lodge, dried dates, gorp and an apple, spiced with a crisp mountain breeze. The company was marvelous, my wife of 20 years, our anniversary being celebrated here at altitude. Robin held up a crazy chair to make shade so I could photograph some alpine forget-me-nots. We scanned the horizon with binoculars... we slept... we lounged... I played my harmonica... we lounged some more. Not another soul came up the trail this entire time so the illusion of only-ness was complete. After two hours, we thought maybe we ought to get moving along... another half-hour later, we did. At the base of the ridge, we waded reluctantly back into mosquito-filled air. Our perfect moment was over, but it was still a good day unfolding. DANNY ROSEN...FRUITA, COLORADO It was a good place to be, at this moment, in this universe. Life took hold on a planet that orbited a suitable star, had a crystalline moon, liquid water rivers, and gods with rocket-powered ankle boots MORE _ ‘PERFECT MOMENTS’ HAVE OCCURRED AFTER A VISIT TO CROSSROADS THAN ANY OTHER PLACE ON THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT! -$0 have a PM with us! |