being elsewhere

this last week i was visiting my great aunt, who is 98. she resides in las vegas in an apartment with views of the mountains and of a school. several of the days gave you a glimpse of snow covered peaks, and chilly fingers upon leaving the warmth of indoors.

when my great aunt was younger she traveled quite a bit. in the early 1940's on one excursion across the country she was taken to see the boulder dam. and for whatever reason hadn't seen it since; even with moving to las vegas six years ago. the weather was quite nice, i had a rental car, and we were feeling adventurous, so she and i went to see it as it's known now by the name hoover dam.

needless to say it's quite different from her first visit; no longer can you park right along it and get out to take photos, nor are people dressed up in their best for the occasion, you can't walk out onto the small promontories either. but a lot of things are the same; the beautiful mosaics covering the floors, the soaring statues and art deco architectural details, and the expansive view of water that should be let free to carve out stone, give life to fish and animals, clean the byways of canyons, and flow unheeded to mexico.