I got up early to drive myself to the airport and arrived in Phoenix before 11:00. TripAdvisor is the site that I use to plan my vacations and it recommended that I visit Old Town in Scottsdale. So I took an Uber to the tourist attraction and found nothing but kitsch. Fortunately, TripAdvisor directed me to the Scottsdale Museum of the West. I paid my twenty dollars and got there just in time to join the tour of the modern art of the West. It was totally worth my time and attention and, once it was over, I languished around the museum until it was time to meet my cousin for dinner.
The second city in my South West Tour was San Antonio. I got up early to explore the River Walk before the tourists arrived and the walk was amazing. Usually cities oversell their tourist attractions but the River Walk exceeded all expectations. The walk stretches over fifteen miles, is beautifully adorned with foliage, and there is artwork displayed throughout the walk. I took a lot of pictures and immediately posted them on Facebook because the morning sun on the River Walk made all of downtown San Antonio look amazing.
I took a Segway tour of San Antonio with the idea that I could revisit the places that I found interesting. And that worked. I went back to the Alamo, for example, where I took some great pictures of the mission and the statues celebrating the heroes that died there. Market Square looked like one big party so, for my last stop of the day, I had a beer and listened to the band while the artists next to me were selling their wares. It was the end of a perfect day.
Why do I continue to take these brutal trips? Saturday and Monday were transit days so I spent the whole day either on Amtrak or in the air. The short answer as to why I do these trips is that I can hear the clock ticking Tick, Tick, Ticking in the back of my brain. My sister died at age 63, my father at age 73, and my mother at age 83. Tick, Tick, Tick. It is all in the numbers. My niece died six weeks ago, my sister six months ago, my mother six years ago, and my father sixteen years ago. Tick, Tick, Tick. As with Alice and her wonderful trip to Wonderland, there is a black cloud that is always chasing me; always behind me. Tick. Tick Tick. I am sick of the old memories and want nothing more than to be able to forget my past. In three weeks I will join the Green Tortoise Tours for a bus trip from San Francisco to Fairbanks Alaska just to have a new adventure. I have to do this while I am young enough and strong enough to endure a five week bus tour. Maybe I can distract myself from the black cloud that has been chasing me for all of these years.
