Camelback

Feb 20, 2002

My dad is back in Hawaii by now, but a few days ago he was hoofin’ it up Camelback Mountain outside of Pheonix with Nick and Uncle Larry. I remember hiking there when my family lived in Phoenix in 1975-78. I remember the dust and the heat and the grand view, but also a black wasp burrowing in the trail. I was fascinated by the bug, but also fearful of it. My life’s story, I guess: I’m intrigued by bugs but shy away from getting too close to them. Raiders of the Lost Ark was on tv the other night. In the Indiana Jones series, Indiana is fearless of bugs and rats but can’t stand snakes. That movie made me think about the first time I saw it, with my dad in Idaho. We went one very cold night to a theater that had no heat. After the film, in the bathroom, my relief was a cloud of steam. But back to Arizona: dad drove by the apartment at 32nd and Thomas streets where our family first lived when we moved there in ‘76. Like a Bedouin in the Sahara Desert riding his camel from oasis to oasis, my dad so easily finds himself getting back to visit the (many) places he’s lived over the years.

Anton Zuiker ☄