A Glacier's Pace

By Claire Booth

It worked.

I resolved a thorny plot point in my current manuscript – by not thinking about it. Of course, it took a few scrapes on the knees, innumerable mosquito bites, and several sharp rocks in my shoes. But I was able to stop worrying about my almost-finished manuscript. Views like this helped, too.

This is the Yosemite Valley in California. We got to this vista point by car in less than four hours. It’s an improvement. Almost one hundred and fifty years ago, you had to really want to see this sight.

It has gotten progressively easier to get here, and the crowds have gotten progressively bigger. Coincidence? Probably not.

Last year, 4,294,381 people came to Yosemite. There were 20 fatalities. Hmm. (Okay, maybe I didn’t completely stop thinking about work.) It is steep, sharp, dangerous nature. Which is what makes it such a draw for many of us.

Maybe it was better when you did have to expend a lot more effort to get here. Were you more careful? Did you appreciate it more? I would say no – I appreciated a whole lot, despite my cushy 21^st century transportation to the park.

    

Even though I didn't get there by wagon, I did slow down. And I enjoyed it. Now I'm determined to enjoy writing the end of my book, even if I am moving at the pace of a glacier carving away granite cliffs.