Episode Transcription:
Hello, everyone! Welcome to another episode of the Hungry Heart Quests Podcast. We're going to do a little mini episode today. I'm your host Dawn Schwem, and I want to share an incredible experience I had recently. My husband Jack and I celebrated our one-year anniversary with a honeymoon road trip that took us through seven states in eight days-- a new record for us. Driving through these changing landscapes was truly transformative. Never before have I felt so deeply moved by geography and the geology around me. We traveled to many places very notably, Cedar Breaks and Monument Valley. This morning, I guided one of the MSU Sustainable Ag cohorts on a plant walk and challenge the students to reflect on their relationship to the land. This trip really made me turn that question back on myself.
Each place we visited had its own unique beauty, but the desert country and Monument Valley really captivated me in a way that I haven't experienced in other places, and I've traveled a good bit.
Growing up, I was fascinated by documentaries about the hidden life teeming in the deserts around the world, and as an adult and an animist my understanding of what life looks like has deepened significantly. Monument Valley was my favorite stop on our trip. The Navajo residents greeted us with immense kindness, and on our way there we were warned about both human and alien abduction at a little standalone gas station in the middle of nowhere.
Our campground was stunning situated less than a quarter mile from the entrance to Monument Valley, and the smoke in the sky created these beautiful sunsets as red as the dirt beneath my shoes.
This place teemed with unseen life-- Spirit Rich, as I described to new friend who will be featured in a later episode.
I don't know exactly how to convey or describe the sense of fullness in such a seemingly barren place, but there was that sense of alive energy and like I said, spirit rich energy in that this was a place full of stories. I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity I had to experience that magic of the desert and to hear the stories of the honored dead--the carcasses of the great monsters slain whose bodies became the buttes of Monument Valley. And this tells us a sacred story of the land. These mythic creatures of Navajo legend are, to me, respected dead whose bodies litter the valley floor, creating a palpable history and connection to the life and death of the desert beings and to greater life and death in general.
The mystical energy of Monument Valley and the Navajo Nation is something I will always treasure and I look forward to experiencing again in my life.
And thinking about this idea of connecting to the land, the idea of the honored dead, and this deep connection to life and death as you see in a desert where all around you, it seems like life could never thrive. But the reality is that it's just that you might not be able to see it in these harsh conditions.
And this beauty that we see in this stark geography really creates a... not alien environment-- Just one so different than what we might be able to perceive it within the comfort of our homes, within the comfort of our greater habitat, whether that's a city or a rural area. The desert really does have some sort of magic.
I wish I could have spent more time there and I look forward to revisiting because it really had an impact even in the short time I was able to stay.
Thank you for joining me on this little mini episode as I have been traveling throughout the summer, and I look forward to sharing some of the stories of the people that I meet along the way. Stay tuned for more stories and reflections on upcoming little soundbite episodes as I get to backpack throughout Montana. Until next time, keep exploring and stay curious.
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