SLC- a voyage to the land of the Mormons and my birthplace

Instead of last minute packing and preparation and running around frantically, I sit down to write this. I'm leaving for Salt Lake City whenever Em arrives at my house, decrepit Subaru sagging under the weight of all her earthly possessions. I sit here, sleepy and sleep-deprived, surrounded by abundant food for several on-the-road meals.

We have hours of road-trip-to-Salt-Lake-City playlists (mine are titled "SLC Punk" and "SLC Punkier"--neither of which contain any punk), hours of books on tape (one about learning to meditate), hours of driving snacks, hours to hash over the future. I'm so excited for her: this new experience, in a new land. A true American adventure--and I'm along for the ride!

We will be stopping in Eugene to see Em's sister, then on to the Sierra Nevadas to rough it in the rustic cabin of a friend where we may or may not be attacked by bears, then to Tahoe to visit another friend, then on to Salt Lake City! I haven't been there in years. It is my birthplace and holds great significance for my parents. I can't wait to see it now, at this age, with this perspective. I wonder how I will feel--am I romanticizing it? This mysterious land, where my parents met, married, started a family and a life together. During my childhood, it was the stuff of myths, a fabled land of desert and adventure, a time before children. Also an oppressive land, perhaps, where my parents did not want to raise a daughter. I wonder: what would my life be like had we never left? Where would I be now? The question is too daunting. (And the answer obvious: I would have married a jack-mormon as Em will undoubtedly do!)

I'm certain she will arrive any moment now and not be pleased to see me blogging, ruminating on the topic of our impending trip and its implications with my bags half packed downstairs and my teeth half brushed.

I'm so excited. Giddy (lack of sleep?) to be on the road. I don't think I've ever been to Eugene, I've never been to a cabin in the Sierra Nevadas, never been to Tahoe. I wonder what I will find in Salt Lake City--but more importantly, what Em will find. Will it be a starting point for an entirely new life like it was for my parents? Just a blip on her journey elsewhere? I can't wait to see that Great Salt Lake!