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| In Colorado, 1970s |
I just wanted to put up a post dedicated to a state I haven't been to in awhile, but that's been in the news these past few days. Last week there was a mass shooting in one of the most unquestionably beautiful states in America--Colorado. The shooting happened in Aurora--a suburb of Denver only a few miles from Columbine High School on the outskirts of Littleton, where, as all the world knows, another mass shooting took place in the not too distant past.
What an ugly thing to keep happening in such a beautiful place. There could be no greater contrast between such horrible events and what the state of Colorado looks like or the feelings its beauty inspires in people who see the state for themselves. Colorado is a place where even the town and city names mirror the state's natural beauty and wonder: Aspen, Boulder, Pueblo, Silverton, Colorado Springs, Cripple Creek, Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Columbine, Aurora....I know a lot of people here in the Midwest who dream of moving to Colorado, of trading in flat cornfields and sprawling suburbia for mountains punctuated by more mountains, pine forests, alpine meadows, sharp peaks jousting high up in the sky with puffs of cloud.
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| In the Rockies |
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| Estes Park |
Apart from all the people in the more boring states who want to move to Colorado, there are all the folks who travel there every year for that great middle-class tradition known as "family vacation." There seems to be an unwritten law that every American family has to take a trip to three places--South Dakota (Mount Rushmore), Florida (Disney World), and Colorado (the Rocky Mountains)--at some point in their lifetime. It's such a common experience we might as well make the family vacay to Colorado part of our Constitution. Maybe we can even replace it with our current 2nd Amendment.
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| My brother Eric and sister Arla, on a family vacation, 1970s |
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| Arla, Eric, my dad...and that tiny creature in pigtails is me. Was I really that small or is it the Colorado mountains are so big? Probably both. :) |
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| Eric, my mom, me, and Arla |
I know what I just wrote won't be popular with many people here in the U.S. And maybe the issue of gun control doesn't really belong in a travel blog. But this is also a personal blog, one in which the main topic just happens to be travel, and sometimes what I write will express my personal opinions about rather public and political issues. I don't like guns. I'm all for gun control. I think guns really only belong in the hands of members of the military and police force, with an allowance for hunting rifles for people who enjoy that activity. If anyone thinks my opinion is naive, know that I say this as an American who has lived and traveled enough in other countries to know that the American obsession with guns really is just that--an American obsession--and that so many shootings as we suffer in the U.S. are rare in nearly all other developed countries. I also say this as a woman who has done much of her traveling on her own (and who has rather disconcertingly often been advised by other Americans to bring a gun with me when I travel), who has survived a violent a crime in the past (and not while traveling I'd like to point out but in my own hometown, speaking of which...), and who is a native of one of the most historically violent cities in America (Chicago). And I regret to say that Chicago's history with violence, particularly gun violence, is far from a thing of the past. Sure, in Chicago we sometimes like to play up and joke about the city's more notorious moments--we have "gangster tours" of the city that take visitors around to Al Capone's old haunts, and once I even went along to a John Dillinger Day party across from the Biograph Theater (where he was gunned down), complete with partygoers walking around waving old machine guns. But the sad truth is Chicago's bloody gun-loving days are not a relic and nothing to joke about.
This year the murder rate in the city has already surpassed that of all of 2011 by more than 30%. The great majority of these murders have occurred through gun use. It makes no difference whether the victims are mostly gang members or children, locals or visitors, black, white, Asian, or Latino, male or female--all the killings are equally a precious loss of life and a tragedy and a shame for the city of Chicago and its people. It certainly doesn't whet tourists' desire to come here, despite the undeniable beauty and energy of the city and all the many things there are to do and see here. I don't think there's any way to ever convince me that increased gun ownership or concealed-carry laws are anything but further damaging and endangering, across the country.
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| Dad in Colorado, 1970s |
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| Dad in Colorado, 1990s |
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| Puebloan (Native American) cliffside village at Mesa Verde |
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| Eric with Arla and me, Mesa Verde, after climbing the scary ladder |
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| Mesa Verde cliff dwellings |
I mentioned Colorado's popularity as a family vacation destination. Families flock to Colorado because of all the great scenery and kinds of outdoor activities to enjoy, because it offers an escape from both the humdrum and the hectic pace of suburban and urban life. My own family went on a few trips to Colorado when I was a wee tyke and a teenager. In fact we went on lots of family vacations over the years. The ones to Colorado were easily among the most enjoyable and memorable.
One thing I remember about visiting Colorado was that at times it was a scary place. We went camping the time when I was real little, and at night I worried about our family being eaten by wolves or bears. We went up in the Rockies and got caught in a bad thunder and lightning storm up there, and my brother got sick to boot. That was really scary (and thrilling too--watching the lightning strike
below us, because we were so high up in the mountains). We went to
Mesa Verde too, and found out belatedly that our tour of the old American Indian villages built into the cliffs overhanging a deep canyon involved climbing a bunch of shaky ladders very near the edge of the cliffs. (See the
pics of the Balcony House at this blog to get an idea.) My mom is terribly afraid of heights, and as for me--keep in mind I was only about 4 years old climbing these things. I'm told after we reached the top of the scariest ladder, I told my mother "I wish I never camed here." Meanwhile, a boy about 10 or 12 years old ahead of me had burst into tears with of mixture of fear and relief. Years later, in my late teens, I went back to some of these same places (
Rocky Mountain National Park, Mesa Verde) with my parents--and all those great heights were
still scary. So was watching a couple cowboys nearly get trampled by bulls in a rodeo we went to in Durango.
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| Dad and me in Rocky Mountain National Park, 1990s. Excuse the wild hair. |
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| A deer--so tame! By the Royal Gorge in Colorado. |
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| Dad, Wolf Creek Pass |
I mention these scary moments on our Colorado trips because this is precisely the kind of fear and adventure we go to places like Colorado to experience. It's all natural and somewhat expected fear. Cliff drop-offs, winding high mountain roads, snake bite, bear sightings, blisters from your hiking boots, wild horses, flash floods, sudden snowstorms--they're all trade-offs for the rewards of seeing magnificent views, breathing fresh air, getting fit and healthy from walking, skiing, boating, etc., watching the sun rise and set beyond mountain peaks, coming upon an unusually tame deer or a sweet-voiced bird on a morning hike. When we travel or pursue adventure, we expect there to be some scary moments, some danger in the deal--and we accept this and largely unavoidable. We do not expect such fear and danger sitting inside a movie theater, or while attending high school, or playing a ball game at the playground, or waiting for a bus on a city street corner. But we've created a culture and a society where that kind of danger is becoming sadly commonplace, despite it being arguably quite avoidable. I shouldn't have to be more afraid of going to a movie near Denver or walking down a street in Chicago than I would of camping in a desolate canyon or walking a trail shared by mountain lions or grizzlies. But it looks like that's the kind of place Colorado, Chicago, America has become.
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| In Colorado |
I share these pictures of a couple of my family's visits to Colorado, as well as a video of a song dedicated to that state and its haunting beauty by the late, great Townes Van Zandt (who grew up partly in Boulder), to stand as a reminder of what Colorado, and indeed America, should be better known for. A gorgeous place--one that will test you and thrill you in all the best ways. I also share
this link to a slide show of the victims of the Aurora shooting. Each face is as beautiful as the next. These were people whose faces reflected the beauty of the state they lived and died in--their smiles and eyes are as bright and engaging as Colorado's loveliest mountain streams and brilliant winter skies. I look at their faces and see the best of this country, the best of where they came from. Please don't let us lose any more like these lovely people from such a lovely place in the world. Please let the violence in this country stop.
