Cultivating Wonder: Volcano #reverb10

Prompt #4: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?  -Jeff Davis

Here is a brief clip of the mud pot in the Sulphur Works Lassen Volcanic National Park, filmed in August of 2010.  In case you want to hear wonder, catch my "WOW!" at the end.

Well, I had a migraine Saturday, so I was not able to finish this prompt when it was "due."  But since I have already started it, I will just keep it short.

Ever since DH and I moved to California 1n early 2001, we have really taken advantage at the abundance of National Parks in the Southwest of the United States.  We try to go off season, because part of what we love is wilderness, and the silence of being alone with each other.  Something about being the only people around for miles which makes us feel free, and better able to enjoy the beauty around me.  Many of the happiest moments of our marriage have involved sliding on our butts down the side of mountains, or clinging to a rock wall.  

There is something Neolithic and powerful about seeming both a part of nature, and at the same time realizing we are only a tiny part of it.  

Our particular favorite is Death Valley, and if you have never seen it, I suggest you get a reliable car, a case of water, and head there right this very minute.  A lot of the people think of the desert as endless and brown, and I find beauty in that, too, I admit.   But Death Valley, and the desert national parks in general, are unbelievably beautiful, colorful, and full of surprises.  We tend to go to Death every other year, and still feel like we have barely explored the park.  

In 2010, with neither of use working, a trip of any length to any place was out of the question.  All year long, I went through our picture books and photographs of all the parks we had been to, felt depressed, and longed for the desert.  I particularly read up on the geography of the parks nearest us, as what I considered consolation.  

So the minute my husband received his job offer, I went to the National Park Service website, and looked for the national park with wilderness.   I zeroed in on Lassen National Volcanic Park, which is where the Cascades and the Sierras meet.  The disadvantage of Lassen was it is really a park for hikers, and my foot was still tender enough that we really couldn't go too far from the road, and really see some of the more impressive geothermal activity.  So we were delighted when we drove by a part of the park called the Sulphur Works, from which both a mud pot and a fumarole.  Neither of us had ever seen actual geothermic activity, so we were so excited to see this aspect of our geology.  

Here is a short clip of the fumarole:

So frankly, that is it for today!  I hope you find these as full of wonder as I did!