Pando

 First, let me get this out of the way. Why were cronuts just a fad?

Two old-fashions--chocolate and vanilla and two cronuts--blueberry-lemon and salted caramel

Seriously, what's not to love?

Doughbird. The coffee was good, too!

On to business. We have been watching the weather for the last several days as rains that could potentially cause flooding have been predicted in middle and southern Utah today and tomorrow. We knew this weather was a distinct possibility because of Hurricane Polo. The original plan was to try and wait it out and hang out at a hotel for a couple of days if necessary. It would give us a chance to do laundry, sleep in, read, breathe. We woke up this morning and decided to make our way from Moab to see Pando. If we saw it in the rain, so be it. "Pando is the largest tree in the world in three distinct ways: by weight (13.2 million pounds), by land mass (106 acres), and by species (the largest Trembling Aspen clone verified by genetic testing). No other tree beats Pando in any single one of these categories, and Pando holds the record in all three at once" (Friends of Pando FAQ's).

We left the hotel in Moab, strolled the main drag after coffee and doughnuts, then headed up State Hwy 191 to I-70. We were expecting two things. 1) The three and a half hour drive would be without any spectacular landscapes like the ones we had been viewing, and 2) It was supposed to rain all day.

Neither of those things happened.

Proof number one didn't happen:

All these photos, y'all! We got to see all these things on the drive to see what we were going to see! :) Most of the rock formations in the photos above (red, gray, some green, and in one small patch, black) were along I-70. When we hit State Hwy 72, and down Freemont River Rd. to State Hwy 25 heading south to Fish Lake (where Pando is located), the scenery changed dramatically. It went from high desert to lakes, valleys, and hardwood tree-covered mountains. Once again there were pine and aspen!

And if you notice, it was all dry! The rain held off. As we looked around, there seemed to be rain surrounding us, often on just three sides. Directly overhead and sometimes even directly in front of us there was some blue sky. We were in a rainless bubble! God is good.

Now, back to Pando. If you go to church with me and have taken G1, you know why I have any knowledge of this organism at all. No analogy works perfectly, but I just love the idea of using Pando as a picture of unity and a community in Christ. Without going into a theology lesson (because I am not the one to teach it), Pando is a striking image of Jesus' relationship to the Father and what Jesus calls us to be to each other. (John 17:20-24). This stand, this grove, this clonal colony is connected at the roots! It is considered the largest single living organism on earth. It is one. But it is more than one. Walk through the trees with me.

It's one, but it's more than the one. (Shout out to Pastor Greg!) Ya' know, when I envisioned Pando in my head, I saw hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of relatively uniformed trees. My limited knowledge of clones made me think that each tree would look very similar. But that's not at all what we experienced. There were tall, stately trees, dead and decaying trees, medium-sized trees, then there were lots and lots of skinny growing trees and little sprouts.

Let's go back to this particular image:

This one, relatively mature, tall tree stood guard over all these little ones reaching to the sky.

Each tree (or stem, as they're called) has a role, is living or has lived a life, is doing its part, and is connected at the root. As believers, we're called to this. There are people in my life who are the majestic towering trees (Carol and Candy), the ones growing and doing life along side me (Debbie and Dani and Eileen), the little guys who aren't as far along (you know who you are). It's a beautiful picture! We are called to this unity and are connected at the root--Jesus.

I could talk about this all day long, but I fear I have already lost some of you. :)

We left Pando and continued on Hwy 25 south until it ended. We picked up State Hwy 24 north to State Road 119 to Richfield, where we are spending the night.

This day was a little slower, so we were able to get to the hotel by 3:45, unload, grab dinner, then get back to the hotel to do a little laundry after all. You didn't think I'd leave out dinner photos, did you?

Tim got a Philly cheese steak flatbread.

I got a chicken sandwich with twister fries. Those twister fries were goooood!

It did start raining once we were in for the night. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Rain is still in the forecast!