Sedona and the Grand Canyon

Uncle Pop, mom with a saguaro, me and Ses at the Canyon

I was wasting away, stressed and slightly depressed about my visa woes, when Ses invited me to join her and mom on their trip to Sedona, to see Uncle Pop in Tucson, and to tour the Grand Canyon. I looked at my car keys, checked my email once again to see if there was any progress on the Chinese work visa front, and then rolled my head to the side of Sophie's plush, cream colored couch in Astoria, NY, and said, "sure" into my cell with all the enthusiasm I could muster.

She wanted to buy a plane ticket for me to come, but I decided to drive. Time is all I've ever needed to wind down, hype myself up, reflect, or get out of my head. Sometimes that's time with my own two feet, sometimes that's time behind the wheel, so a four-day road trip out west seemed perfect. After all, I'd never driven out west.

My driving turned out to be a fortuitous decision when Hurricane Harvey battered Texas, stranding my mom. I was already headed to Dallas when Ses called and said I'd be picking up mom along the way. "Okay!" I said, always excited to see mom. However, the woman does not do well in cars for more than 20 minutes, and Texas is flippin' HUGE. She hated the desert, she hated my music, she hated when I drove fast (despite the 80mph speed limit signs in the desert), she hated when I drove slowed down (prolonging her time in the desert), she didn't want to sit still or wear her seatbelt, and my patience, or lack thereof, for dealing with things that other people dislike but that I don't has become legendary.

However, due to my respect for her and her love for me, we made it to my uncle's huge house in Tucson safely, and then I picked Ses up from the airport. Three of the five women in our family all together again - not too shabby.

We drove up to Sedona the next day and Ses and I gushed over the incredible scenery on the drive as my mom panicked in the backseat over the winding roads, steep cliffs, and the sheer amount of time it took to get to our cabin in the woods.

Once there, and once slightly inebriated, we were all much more relaxed and enjoyed being together.

The Grand Canyon was amazing and I'm so glad I was able to just drop everything and see it with my sister and mother. The views, the Colorado River, the heat, the drops, the rock faces - everything was amazing and a true masterpiece of divine inspiration.

While in Arizona, we also took a "Wild, Wild West Jeep Ride," cooked our own food and ate in our mountain resort cabin, enjoyed the red rock cliffs of Sedona, got to see our cousins whom I haven't seen in over a decade, and I got to spend time with my mom again before heading off to Asia for a year.

Sometimes, the best things are impromptu things.

A Day in the West and our Sedona Cabin