America (So far) - Part II

America (So far) - Part II

More short stories to go with photos of my time in America.

I once saw Victoria Falls with my parents in Zimbabwe, the world's largest waterfall. We walked down a badly marked path through a forest, you could hear a faint rumbling in the distance. People walking the opposite direction were carrying umbrellas or wearing rain coats and we wondered why. It was a perfectly sunny day. Ten minutes later we were soaked. The spray of the falls felt like heavy rain even under the shelter of the trees. The faint rumbling turned into a roar of sound. You could feel the falls before you even saw it. We marched on, alone in the forest. It felt like we were discovering a new continent. Suddenly, the forest parted and the Victoria Falls stood right in front of us, ancient and ever-changing. In the noise, we were all speechless. 

I had not seen anything else that made me feel that way until I saw the Grand Canyon. Nothing you say can take away from how amazing the Grand Canyon is. It is impossible to oversell. Ranney and I were driving in from a 16-hour stay in Vegas that left us a little worse for the wear during the road trip I mentioned in my previous post. It was close to sunset when we drove up to the rim. We walked through a well marked path, past what seemed like a thousand tourists. It had taken us forever to find a place to park the car and I was ready to be disappointed. Then I walked to the edge and saw the canyon. It takes a minute for your head to comprehend what you are looking at. It's such a vast space that it almost looks flat. It's a picture that's impossible to capture. All noise seems to disappear into the canyon. I stood there silent and watched the sunset, it was not a time for words. 

I clearly remember the moment I flew into America for the first time. It was the summer of 2007 and I was flying into New York City. I looked out the airplane window at the edges of the city and thought "This could be anywhere". Just another urban sprawl. We started to descend when I noticed something strange. Green diamonds littered the ground. There were baseball fields everywhere. That's when I knew I was in America. 

It was not a sport that I could ever imagine myself watching and I'm a big sports fan. Give me an excuse to watch a sport and I'll do it. That's why the Olympics are so great because you can watch something like curling and not seem like too much of a weirdo. It's the Olympics! I only get this every four years, give me a break! Baseball bored me to death. I just didn't get it. That is until I moved here. It was impossible not to get excited about baseball when the Giants did so well and especially when you live only a couple of blocks away from the ballpark. I bought a Giants hat, I watched the World Series and I started to understand why it's great. This season, I went to my first baseball game - Giants against the Dodgers - and I completely fell over the edge. I found myself cheering as loudly as everyone else and I couldn't take my eyes off the game. Well, at least when I wasn't looking for more beer and hot dogs. It came down to the last inning, the Giants won 5-4 and that was it. I'm hooked. 

Everyone has a place in nature where they feel most at ease. It could be in the middle of the forest or on top of mountains or floating on a lake. Mine is right by the ocean. Sometimes things are so simple they barely need an explanation. My girlfriend and I decided to go to Ocean Beach at sunset to remind ourselves that we actually live by the sea. 

Simplicity is good.