Earth Sign Mama Writes: Top of the Pass

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Top of the Pass

Whenever our family has traveled to visit the Grandmas there is an obligatory photo. No, not with the relatives we've driven so far to spend time with, but on a particular rock, at the top of the pass. As one drives into the beautiful valley where both CoolGuy and I were born and raised, the first glimpse can be taken from a pull-out on the flat part where the highway department has made almost a parking lot to enable that view. It can be used to check your brakes before starting down the steep incline as you head north, or south. But most of us use it to stop and gape at the remarkable view of the mountains and the valley they surround.

I always like to pull off the highway up there and look around. The mountains on the east side are as familiar and dear as my own parents were all those years we came "home" to visit. Unlike humans, though, the mountains never age or die. They're still there, evoking an emotion I can barely articulate, but is manifested by an involuntary sigh of relief whenever I stand there looking at them. I haven't lived there in more than forty years, but something about their very existence makes me feel safe, secure and at ease.

Autumn

For years, I thought I was weird because of this reaction when I see that view up on the summit. But then, I read the story of another man's first sight there, and realized that perhaps my response wasn't too far off. He told of growing up in the eastern United States, finishing college, and then later moving to California where he met a woman whose home town was in our valley. They developed a relationship and finally, she brought him home to visit her elderly parents. In his recounting, he was skeptical of the description of her Wyoming childhood home, and frankly, thought she was just experiencing the effects of nostalgia. They climbed the winding narrow highway on the south end of the summit, passing beaver ponds and stands of aspen trees. They eventually reached the top, and she stopped the car because he demanded it. He stepped out and looked at the scene spread out before him and was stunned. He described it as better than she had described. It was like Shangri La to him. He couldn't believe that something that lovely could be a real place. They ended up moving there and starting a business. He is a professional musician, so he finds ways to perform and occasionally teaches others. But his reaction to that view from the top really impressed me. Hmmm...I'm not alone.

Summer

Now, about those photos. We've often stopped and taken one with the kids. Some summers, we took them with grandchildren! And it was amusing, because one of the features of the photo op is that, over the years, there is usually someone not too delighted to be posing there. So, below are a series of photos from the many, many stops at the Rock at the Top of the Pass.