Well, it’s officially summer. The kids are out of school and we’ve begun our tour across America.

Our first day of driving lead us through Northern California and Nevada. Though we didn’t have time to sightsee along the way, the view from the road was pleasant enough as we headed up through the mountain, then down, and finally into desert. When I was little, I used the think the desert was a broad expanse of flat nothing. Not so! The rock formations are beautiful! Especially when the sun begins to set behind one with a puffy cloud lingering atop - the result was stunning. The setting sun backlit the clouds, resulting in a heavenly brightness highlighting the tops while orange rays peeked out of the small slit of sky between the cloud and rock formation. Everything was cast in a blanket of orange and purple. The artist in me was dying to pull over to the side of the road to start painting. Of course, I had no canvas, no easel, and no paint. Not even my camera (it was packed away in the trunk).

Backing up a bit, the second most remarkable part of the drive to Winnemucca occurred just northeast of Reno. The clouds (I have a thing for clouds) looked just like the frogs on lilly pads in David Wiesner’s Tuesday. Totally flat on the bottom with puffs on the top - they dotted the sky just like on one of the pages in Tuesday (where you see a mass of them flying together). As my eyes followed the line of frogs - er, I mean clouds - I saw a factory. Now some of you may think that’s nothing spectacular, but to me it looked very much like the cover of Wiesner’s Sector 7. How I wish I’d had my camera! Imagine, the frogs of Tuesday and Sector 7 merging together on Mother Nature’s backdrop.

Our day ended in Winnemucca, NV, a small desert town surrounded by beautiful hills. Tomorrow, we’re off to explore a little bit of Oregon, Craters of the Moon, and Idaho Falls...