“Let's go to Monument Valley for a weekend”, I said. “It'll be neat.” I looked at the forecast: cold but sunny. I bought plane tickets for me and Nick; we made reservations. The plan was to fly into Salt Lake City, spend the night, then rent a car and drive down to the southernmost edge of Utah, spend a couple nights at a lodge by Monument Valleh, look at pretty rocks, then drive back to SLC and fly home.
Well, we got as far as Monument Valley without any major incidents. The GPS we rented with the car refused to charge, so it conked out just before a crucial turn. We realized our error before driving off to somewhere in the desert, and were able to navigate via my phone, an external battery, and some paper maps. We made it to the lodge and thought we were home free.
But then it started snowing. It hasn't stopped. The weather app is telling me there's a winter storm warning in effect for the area, until Monday.
Our room is supposed to have a view of Monument Valley. Right now it has a view of a couple of roads and buildings, then a featureless expanse of white.
That's not all. Flying, then spending a night at high altitudes, then spending six hours driving, did terrible things to Nick's sinuses and various muscles of the neck and head. He barely got any sleep last night due to the ensuing headache. It finally calmed down when the lodge's gift shop opened, and I was able to acquire some aspirin there. He's spent most of the day asleep. I spent most of the day worrying about him,
For a while we were worried he'd contracted something worse. We'd stopped in a Wal-Mart on the drive down for a few supplies – water, an audio cable to play music in the car, and the emergency kit he'd promised his mom he'd get, though we opted not to bother with that last. We both hit the bathroom; there was a guy in the men's room vomiting profusely, and Nick worried he'd gotten it. In fact, reminding him of that early this morning made his body decide to barf a couple of times, just in case. If he DID catch something it's pretty inevitable I've been exposed to it. We will see.
So it looks like we will be changing the flight back and extending our stay. The roads are unlikely to be safe to drive in time for us to make our flight. And it would also be nice to, you know, actually stick around for a day of sunshine and go look at the damn rocks that are the reason for this trip.
He's got his laptop; he'll get some work done. Me? I decided this would be A Vacation, and left mine at home. I won't be working on Rita much this week. I have a sketchbook and a handful of markers; I'll draw… Something. Maybe some fan art, I never draw fan art. Maybe play with designs for Drowning City, maybe just draw whatever and see if anything comes together.