So, by this time my regular readers — all three of you — are probably wondering what’s been consuming so much of my valuable blogging time these past few weeks. Well, I’d love to tell you that I’ve been on photographing wild tigers in India, or battling the World Crime League for control of the global licorice market, or something equally glamorous and noteworthy. Unfortunately, the truth is far more mundane: I’ve been under the gun at work, finishing a project I’ve been working on since May while simultaneously trying to line up another one so I’ll be financially sound through the end of the year. (The latter goal is still uncertain as of this writing, by the way; ahhhh, the life of a contractor is nothing but one long adventure…) Meanwhile, my free time has been booked with social events and domestic chores that have kept me away from the computer. (No! Don’t make me breathe fresh air and associate with actual, non-virtual humans!) However, I can finally see some blank space opening up in the schedule. In fact, as of last night my social calendar is nothing but blank space, due to my lovely Anne skipping town with her parents for the next two weeks. They’ve flown back east to explore various sites related to the history of the Mormon Church, along with a handful of carefully chosen secular attractions. Such a trip wouldn’t really be my cup of Darjeeling, but Anne — who was raised in the Church and still maintains a fairly high level of faith, despite being involved with a flaming agnostic such as myself — has really been looking forward to it. She hasn’t had many chances to travel in her life and often has struggled with a certain degree of jealousy while I’ve gone off on my own journeys, so I’m excited and happy for her.

In case you don’t know about such things, Church history tours are quite popular with Utahns, who all grow up hearing the tales of the Mormon pioneers walking across the Plain States to escape persecution. For faithful Mormons, especially those with family roots that go back to the original settlers of this area, visiting Nauvoo, Illinois is something akin to a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In fact, I would daresay that there is a certain percentage of Utah society who would much rather go on one of these Mormon history tours than visit the actual Holy Land. There’s no accounting for taste, I suppose, but then my idea of a great vacation would be riding a tramp freighter through the Panama Canal with no possessions except a notebook, a camera, my faithful old fedora, and an extra set of socks, and I know that’s not real high on most people’s list of must-do vacations.

Anne’s parents originally conceived of this trip a year ago as something for just the two of them and signed on to a package tour recommended by some of their neighbors. At some point they asked Anne if she’d like to come along, only to have the tour fall apart not long after. (The tour was being arranged through a small travel agency that failed to round up enough interested customers.) However, Anne makes travel arrangements all the time as a routine part of her job, and she quickly put her skills to use and organized almost the same trip for herself and her folks, but with a slightly better itinerary. It is an ambitious schedule, to be sure. The three of them flew last night to Rochester, NY (with a layover at JFK in Queens; I’m hoping Anne was able to see some of the City during their approach), and over the next ten days they will drive or fly through seven or eight different states (I can’t recall for sure, and don’t have the itinerary in front of me right now), with a quick side jaunt to Canada. Right now, as I’m composing this entry, they should in Palmyra, New York, near the place where Mormons believe young Joseph Smith was visited by an angel and commanded to begin the Church. Since it’s after 5 PM in Palmyra, they’re probably looking for a place to have dinner…

As I said, I don’t have much interest in visiting these places myself. I don’t want to get into religion too much in this forum, but I will admit that my faith is rather, ahem, uncertain, and as a result the places on Anne’s itinerary don’t mean anything to me. However, I can’t help but wonder what she is seeing right now. I love traveling to different places, places where history happened, and whether you believe in the LDS faith or not, you can’t deny that the founding of a whole new church is some kind of history. Even without the history angle, though, sometimes it’s simply enough to shake off the familiar and see someplace — anyplace — that’s new. I haven’t done that in a while.

Tomorrow and Friday will be the days of her trip that I’d most like to be along with her as the intrepid trio will view one of the remaining segments of the Erie Canal (think superhighway, 1820s-style) and then cross the Canadian border for an evening spent within earshot of Niagara Falls. While Anne is seeing those places, I’ll be at home, babysitting her miniature poodle, Rusty. I can’t even travel vicariously with the contestants of The Amazing Race because I promised Anne I wouldn’t watch my tape of last night’s finale until she got home…

Guess I’ll have to content myself with the Magnum, P.I. DVDs she got me for my birthday and, of course, with Simple Tricks and Nonsense…