Like a random knot of coarse coloured wool, the unexpected is intricately woven into the fabric of wonder. While we may trip over it, landing is likely to be soft and bouncy. Sometimes, it is truly the journey and not the destination that is remarkable. At least, that’s what you tell yourself when you are dragging a suitcase along a sidewalk in the desert trying to find an English Tudor castle. The sun is hot but the air is cool. The sparse vegetation is intensely beautiful against the rich sand. In fact, the desert is finer than you’d ever imagined it would be. But the road is long and you’re in the middle of nowhere, and there is very little to indicate you’re getting any closer. Then you climb high enough into the hills to turn a crucial corner and see the first of many red rock formations towering against the blue horizon. In a geological upheaval millions of years ago, the impressive vertical formations of sandstone and limestone were forced upward in the creation of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak. Then they were chiseled by the Pleistocene Ice Age. There is evidence of human habitation since prehistory. Many Native people passed through and connected here. For them, it is sacred ground, and spending any amount of time in the area only confirms that belief. It is divine. |
COLORADO, USA