Quote:
Originally Posted by 86Scotty
If you want to really soak in the 'soul' of the desert pick up a copy of Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey and read it while you are there. The effect, on me at least, is so good it should be illegal.
|
I’ve been waiting for the right moment or the right thread for my 100th post, and the timing here is perfect.
I just finished Desert Solitaire this evening. Checked it out at the library and I started it in January during a weeklong trip to Anza Borrego. Got thru much of it, then managed to get to the 2/3 point before I needed to return it. Downloaded the remainder and finished it on a flight to Aspen and in the ski condo tonight while friends were watching a movie I had seen.
Like Scotty says, what a hypnotic book. While in Anza Borrego my wife was grumbling that I was immersed in it.
Going to college in Utah in the 80s, I was drawn to the desert and many of my contemporaries quoted this book and waxed poetic. Can’t believe it took me 35 years to get to it…such is life.
Edward Abby’s prose just sucks you in, whether the trip thru Glen Canyon before it was flooded or exploring the Maze for the first time. It takes you right there.
I will be ordering a copy for myself.
Oh, and as to the OP, it soothes your soul to spend a week or two in the desert mid-winter, we put it on the calendar every year now.
This week on my annual ski trip I’ve been doing with friends for 20 years, I’ve bemoaned how hard it is to go skiing now given my body craves sun and warmth during the winter these days. We visit the desert year-round but it’s sweetest in the winter…preferably between wind storms!
Vandemic
Jim Bridger
Linear Mode
