It’s like escaping a fridge prison. The winter in the northeast is cold and dark. Even days that are lit by bright sunshine are a tease. It looks so inviting when you look outside, until you open the door. So, when you get a chance to break out, you make a run for it. We had a chance this week to spend time on vacation in Arizona. It was in the corner of the country that wasn’t gripped by freezing temperatures, snow, ice, and thousands of sliding vehicle accidents that reached into the Deep South. There is no better feeling than sitting at a pool in the sunshine and 75 degrees, and checking your phone to see it’s 28 in Philadelphia.
Your fellow escapees all seem to be from places colder than Philadelphia. Minnesota, St. Louis, Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota. One father and son I met were from Regina, Saskatchewan. They told me they live on the plains, and it was 11 below zero. They were just away on a long boys’ weekend. The father told me the son asked if they could stay another day. He told his son they needed to get home, and get mom a break from those long, frozen days and nights.
The world around you is different in the Southwest. The earthtones of brown, green, and sand stand in sharp contrast to the blue sky. We had a perfect run of days in the mid 70s and soothing gentle breezes. I had a chance to play golf on a carpet of green fairways that were soft enough to sleep on. The cactus, tall and straight, with arms reaching to the sun, seem to stand guard over the landscape. They can live for a hundred years. The prickly brush is decorated with tiny flowers of red and yellow. The sunrises and sunsets make you realize the perfect beauty of the beginning and end of each day and the anticipation of it repeating itself tomorrow.
Arizona is very proud of it pioneering history. It didn’t become a state until 1912, the last of the lower 48. We took a tour along the winding, narrow Apache Trail high on the side of cliffs overlooking deep canyons, and a boat ride on Canyon Lake in the Tonto National Forest. The spectacular cliffs and rock formations tell the story of how difficult it was for the those first settlers and prospectors to come to an accommodation with this rough and beautiful land. The Trail and the lake take you to a time and place that has evolved over centuries, and will survive long after we pass through it. There is the human history that Arizona shares with the western United States. The government’s mistreatment and displacement of Native Americans is a stain that also becomes clear and should be learned and understood on any trip to this land.
Traveling offers the opportunity to enjoy and learn new things and meet new people. It puts us together with people for only a few days or hours. We likely will never see them again. But, we can trade stories and experiences, and broaden our horizons and understanding of the world around us. Our break from the harsh wind and cold of the northeast lifted our spirits. We even got to watch the first Eagles playoff win in a sports bar where, of course, there were few other Eagles fans. After we finished our lunch, we asked the waitress if we could continue to sit at the table and watch the game. She said sure, stay as long as you want. Another bright spot in our winter break by the waitress named Summer.
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