Birthday at The X

Birthday requests come in all shapes and sizes. 

This year, my mom asked to go to another planet, Planet X to be exact.
Now this didn't take rocket fuel, just a two hour drive north of Reno.

Where the pavement ends and the West begins.

And when I was growing up, that statement was true. I am only 34 years old, but the town I grew up in (Planet X is a ranch just outside of Gerlach, NV) really didn't have paved roads for most of the town.



And once they were paved, it wasn't nice smooth stuff that was fun to roller skate on- it was bumpy bumperson chip seal... but I digress.

Birthdays... Any who, my mom requested to head out to our friends ranch where they rent out the old ranch house (they rent it on vrbo).



 I wasn't sure what the heck we were going to do all weekend out there. Would the kids get bored, would we? But the answer was a resounding, No. We had a blast. A low tech blast.

My mom and O played a few fierce games of Candy Land. The kids ran through the sprinklers, they drove tractors- real and of the Tonka version. 

 

We drove out to the Black Rock and let O have the wheel. I took tons of pictures, drank some wine, chatted with the Bogards about life in a town that is slowly fading away.

I have so many memories from being on this ranch.



We were out there a lot when I was a kid. And when I was a teenager, I watched one of the boys - who was about the same age as Fifi the summer I was there.




 My mom was glowing all weekend long. Somehow though, I didn't manage to take one photo of her... but we both took a shot of our feet while we were on the playa... like mother like daughter!

Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you had as much fun as we did.

playa me

I grew up on the edge of this desert, learned to drive on it's crackled surface and felt the salty dust in my eyes more times than I can count. I have gotten stuck, up to the truck's axles, in the sticky mud that sneaks up on you. I have watched the heat and light play tricks on the mountains from a school bus window between Empire and Gerlach after school each day.

This playa is in me deep. Even if it has been almost 20 years since I called this place home, it is part of who I am and who I was.

I have a lot of thoughts stirring around after the weekend visit to this place I called home for many years of my childhood. How did such a rural space, such a dramatic landscape, shape the me of today. I need time to process them a bit more. But I wanted to get something down in writing, for fear that it will slip away, like the dust trail from a distant car did in the sky that afternoon did.

 

I'll be sharing more photos and more about why we were out there later this week.
It was a wonderful weekend, lots of giggles and play time.