We intended to head up to slide rock or fossil springs today, but the heat sapped us and we oped for a shorter drive. So we drove out to to the Verde River and clambered down to where the water hits the rocks. I'd call it the shore, but there's not really one aside from a small patch of really sticky slimy mud we found, but didn't feel like braving. The water was murky so we decided not to swim, (which would have forced us into that mud patch anyway) and oped to climb about the boulders sticking out of the water. It was nice. Really nice. And quiet. I mean silent. Just us and the water.
We spent the day sitting around, laughing, talking about life, and skipping stones. I mostly sank stones, for the record. When we got bored we did our best to climb back up the steep steep slopes to where we parked the car. Mostly we did more sliding backward than climbing upward, but it was super funny, and we survived. I found one fossil on the way up. WIN! It's a brachiopod, Camposita, I believe, but it's covered in some fossilized red sponges and is going to need some cleaning up before I can give you a better ID. *laughs*
We drove around, down through Winkelman, Hayden, and Kerney, and I got so distracted thinking about you when we were driving under your railway bridge (you know the one) that I almost rear-ended someone. Goose almost died. I almost peed myself. But in the end we were fine.
We drove up through Superior to the first outcrop west of the city intending to do some fossiling. We drove over this big bridge, and I wanted a picture of it to show you, so we hiked down to the old road (who knew there were so many crumbling old highways around here?) so that I could get a better shot. By the time that was done, we were beat. Damn you hot sun. Damn you desert summer. We did stop and half heartedly search through some mudstone outcrops we saw and found a couple beautiful little brachiopods, Orthidae, I believe, but nothing particularly striking.
We tried to climb back to the car, but it was really more of a crawl. I don't know why we headed out in the midday heat, it was about 4 at this time, and WAY too hot to be crawling around in the summer sun. Somewhere around here we noticed the TRAIL, *facepalm* which made the trek back up much less taxing.
Here are some pictures (hopefully, if I can figure out how to post pictures to this thing) that we took for you. Wish you could have been there, but we know, we know, life doesn't always work out like that.
On that note, it seems I'm having a much harder time with this than I had thought. I'm terminally distracted, exhausted, sad. Not sobbing on the floor sad, but the quietly reflecting kind of sad, which seems, to me at least, to be harder to shake.
Hopefully by now you've made it to your new home, or are nearing there at least, and settling in. I hope you took a picture of Bebop during the drive for me, and that the drive was as uneventful as possible. Take care dear friend. We miss you tons.
AW, my bridge. You know, I can say one thing about this god forsaken little fuckhole--it has a million dilapidated buildings, which--as you know--get me all humid down south. I never met an abandoned building I didn't want to break into. I've been trying to take pics and what have you, but--as Jay was always so fond of reminding me--my camera is far inferior to his, and the photos wouldn't do it justice.
ReplyDeleteOkay, imagine Payson if Payson were Scottsdale--that is this place. The woods and shit are totally my thing--I love stomping around and checking out the monstrously huge pine cones and maple leaves that seem to have elephantitis--my family's home is flanked by the woods, where I am told that a homeless man (squatter, they're calling them, although I think that term implies a certain amount of aristocracy...like he's more of a hippie than homeless) apparently lives. That. Sounds. Awesome. Old Greg in this bitch.
The locals=suck. I'll do an in-depth post about it at a later date...man, am I glad that you've been writing me, because I do NOT know what I would be doing right now. I was sinking down BAD today, Xanax and all.
The pig was acting out today--our neighbor is an officer of the law or whatever, and the pig marched across the street and into his lawn today. Immediately some fagstick in a track suit came and informed me all about the dangers of a pig with tusks and some other yuppie horseshit, but he did turn me on to a few places that might be able to detusk/fix him, which is good because in Tempe, that question got me laughed at. Oh, and by the way: drugging the pig was like trying to give Ruffies to a serial rapist...he saw it coming a mile away. I gave that MF a whole BOX of Dramamine, not even sleepy. Then I covered some Tylenol PM's with syrup and tried to get him to eat those stuffed inside soft bread...and that little bastard ate it all and then spit his pill out. Little fucker. Nonetheless, he's bee surprisingly docile and patient. Until today, following his escape. But that's another story. My poor dad drove out to Spanaway, where some Mexican dude with a thick Spanish accent who INSISTED he was born and bred in Washington, gave us a HUGE doghouse he had in his backyard for free...God bless you craigslist...can't beat free-ninety-nine.
Unpacking is HORRENDOUS! And if you thought that he didn't help pack, you should see the lack of commitment going into UNpacking...it's taken literally a week just to clear a path to walk from the door to the bed.
Everyone is acting SO put out, and I feel like I'm about ready to snap here...everyone's mad about--in MY expert opinion--the wrong shit, and it feels like everyone's totally just forgot that I'm the one that actually got fucked hard here...or at least, that's my take on the whole situation.
I finally snuck some Tylenol PMs and am dozing off here, so I guess I'll hit you back soon. We miss you, wish we were hunting for fossils and not jobs, and mostly...well, we just wish you could be here. To see.
It smells nice though.
Oh--I can TOTALLY see why the Seacow loves Portland--dude, it is the SHIT. For real, when you come up, we HAVE to visit--it's like...I don't know. All futuristic. And swirly. And wet. Like here, but if here didn't suck so bad.
Muhwah!