To clear up some things..

[Jenny A]

Like this?

I was once given the opportunity to visit a friend out in New Mexico.

He write about a lot of skeptical topics, so I knew it would make him laugh when I emphatically said that the landscape scared the shit out of me...no trees, so flat. Waaaaaay too easy for the aliens to suck you out of your car.

Seriously though, it freaked me out. In the east, at the feet of the Appalachians, there's a continual resonance in the air because of the plant life. In summer in NC, even in the cities it's lush. Take away the cars, you still hear the murmur of the wind through foliage, like waves in the ocean, or a constant shushing.

Out there, even when the wind blew, it was so quiet. Barely anything stirred. There was too much sky.

They don't call it "Big Sky" country for nothing. I miss it actually. I grew up along the foothills of the Rockies and everything to the east was flat and treeless. I lived in Idaho for a while too. I think think the canyon-lands is some of the most beautiful scenery there is. I admit it's pretty treeless though.

Here's a treeless bit of Utah, but it sure isn't flat:



Those trees are scary. You never know what might be hiding behind them.