Rish and Big Together Again

This past week, I had to drive with my daughter across the country to get her back to college. She had to get her car back, so she couldn't just fly. Instead it was a two day drive, and we weren't about to let her make that drive all by herself. The last thing we wanted was for her to be pushing herself to finish the drive and falling asleep on the road.

So, I drove that two day drive with her, and then flew back a few days later. Along the way, we had a quick stop off at Wilson Arch, which is just south of Moab.

That was pretty cool, because it was right off the side of the road. It was just sitting there like one of those roadside attractions...you know, the world's largest Dutch clog or the world's largest ball of yarn...except this was an arch worthy of being in Arches National Park, and it was just a three minute hike up a hill to get right on it where you could touch it!

My daughter is going to college in the same city that one Rish Outfield lives in as well, so while I was there waiting for my flight home, I had a few days to spend hanging out with him.

It's been a little while since I've seen Rish in person, so it was pretty cool. The first day, we went to a place called Antelope Island.

This is a spot that is right on the Great Salt Lake. It's supposed to be an island, although the lake has been lowering its levels so much recently that it's become more of a peninsula. Record snowfall this past winter raised the lake level about five feet, so it's filled in a lot of those shallow spots, but it needs a lot more record precipitation to get it high enough that it's a complete island again.

We go there a little late, so I made Rish drive straight to the visitor center. I collect patches for places like this (national parks, state parks, etc) and I wanted to get one before they shut down and I was too late to buy one. This is what I picked.

It was pretty much my only choice. It's just a state park, after all, it doesn't have the notoriety of a national park to merit several patches to choose from.

The first thing that we did was drive down toward the lake. There was a little hike there we could take that would put us in a good spot to take pictures like this:

I've never been to the Great Salt Lake before, and I've heard a lot of talk that it is disappearing, so maybe this picture will be even more meaningful that just to mark my one time there.

While up on that overlook, we decided to walk down to the lake. I wanted to put my finger in the water to say that I had. I've heard that if you swim in it, it's so salty that you will float without even trying, but I wasn't prepared to swim...and when we got close enough, the smell made any thought of testing that floating thing out leave my head forever.

See in that picture above where the sand is darker right on the edge of the lake? You probably assume that it's because it's a little bit wet from the waves that lap up on the shore. Well, let me disabuse you of that theory. Turns out, when you get to the actual shoreline, this is what you find.

Gross, right? Absolutely gross. Those are flies, millions upon millions of flies. The dark spot on the edge of the water was not wet sand, it was millions of flies. Rish loved the way that they flew away like ripples in the water, and had a grand old time waving at them and watching them go.

How can so many flies just sit there happy and unmolested? We saw several lizards in the short hike we took. How are those things not massively fat from gorging on fly after fly? They wouldn't even have to be good hunters. There are so many the lizards could be like the nasty elites in The Hunger Games that would eat until they were stuffed then take something that would make them vomit so they could eat some more.

Eventually, we headed back toward the car. On the way, we saw this thing:

It's a spiral that somebody created out of rocks...probably to honor the Spiral Jetty, which is somewhere near Antelope Island, but is much bigger and more impressive than just some rocks. Not that this wasn't impressive. Imagine how long it must have taken to put all these rocks here like this.

Once we were done here, we moved on to the thing that Antelope Island is most known for. You might think it's the herds of antelope, but that's where you'd be mistaken. Antelope Island is the place to go if you want to see bison. I don't know if there are even any antelopes on the island, but there are thousands of buffalo, and we were going in search of them.

We saw our first bunch not far down the road.

Can you see them? There are five in the shot. They are the dark spots out there on the prairie. We were warned by the rangers to stay well clear of them, and there were signs posted everywhere too.

Fifty feet wasn't far enough. They recommended at least 150 feet. So we didn't approach any closer than this. 

Yeah, it's not very close, but we didn't know what we'd see, so we had to take what we could get. Look at how well Rish pointed out the buffalo in the background. His finger is almost right on top of the thing.

After this, we got back in the car and drove a while longer. We saw another small group of bison, but this time we didn't stop, because they were similarly far away.

Then we got to the ranch, and all of a sudden it looked like this:

Not only were there tons of them, but they were right next to us. Right off the road, super close.

It was really neat. We were surrounded by them, and I saw about four times the amount of buffalo that we saw years ago when my family went to Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is supposed to be famous for that kind of stuff, but they didn't deliver a quarter as much as this place did.

It was pretty neat, and we hung around that spot for at least a half hour before we finally hit the road to head back to the mainland. Oh, by the way, in case you were wondering, we took all this pictures from the safety of our car. We never did approach the bison. We're not stupid like the people I've seen in videos getting launched into the air by sweeping bison horns.

On the way off the island, we did stop at the marina for a moment, where we were greeted by millions more of those disgusting flies. We found a spot where I could stick my finger in the water without traipsing through the flies, so now I can say I've been in the water of the lake...or at least touched the water.

After Antelope Island, Rish and I got up to our old tricks. We went to a GameStop and a Target looking for toys, and then ate at a Carl's Jr. Don't worry, I didn't eat the bun. I just had plain burger patties, so I didn't ruin my diet.

They were really good burgers. Much better than the dry things I get from McDonald's usually.

The next day, Rish and I got together earlier in the morning, and drove out to my old town out in the west desert. We looked at the two houses that I used to live in, and I was surprised at the rundown nature of the yard. Look at this lawn:

Look at how high those weeds have grown. When we lived there, it was a beautiful patch of open grass that you could play a game of football or soccer on if you wanted to.

All the fruit trees in the backyard are super overgrown as well. I suspect they don't get much fruit from them, and whatever they do get grows too high for them to get to because they let the trees get so huge.

It's such a shame. We spent so much time and money making that backyard into something so beautiful, and these folks wasted it all simply with laziness. Mow your lawn, man. Jeez!

We went to a few more stores in search of toys, and hung out at Wendy's like we used to in the old days...not the same Wendy's, but they're pretty much all the same, so it might as well have been.

Then we drove out to a park and recorded a few sketches that Rish wrote for us to perform. They were both pretty funny. I think you'll enjoy them when they show up on his show. After that, I had to get over to my daughter's new apartment to help her move all her stuff in, because today was the day they were giving them their keys and letting them take possession of their new homes.

The last day I was there, Rish and I went out to see a movie. The new movie for the week was Gran Turismo, and Rish said it looked pretty good. 

I was willing to give it a shot, and I'm glad I did. It was a great show. I recommend it. You'll likely enjoy it too.

After that, I made Rish take me to the local In-N-Out Burgers.

I got me a few Flying Dutchmen...that's this:

We hung out, eating on the outdoor tables, because it was an absolutely beautiful night. It was the kind of weather that I haven't felt in Houston for about six months. I could have stayed there forever, but eventually it was time to go home and go to bed, and that was it. I had to fly back home the next day, and I suppose I won't see Rish for another long while. 

Sometimes I wish life wasn't so full of curves, and I still lived out there near Rish. It would be so fun to be able to hang out, watch movies, write together, and podcast like we used to do in the old days. But who knows, maybe those days will come again. I guess you never know.