いよいよ家に帰る日がやって来た。朝、外を見たら新雪が宿の外を覆っていた。It was the last day of the trip. The parking lot of the motel had been covered with snow when I woke up.

こんな景色を見ると、もう少し居たくなってしまう。I wished we could stay longer, at least one more day.

それでも車を走らせると、見えてくるのは果てしなく続く断層の跡。一体どれほどの地殻変動があったのだろう。ただひたすら息をのむ。Soon after we started driving, we were awed by a long stretched out fault line. I wonder how big the earth movement was to create such a long cliff. I was speechless and thought how lucky I was to see such a landscape.

ユタ州に入り、凍りついている道を走っていたら、牛たちの大移動にあった。ゆっくりと歩く牛たちと一緒にノロノロと進む。After we entered into Utah, we encountered a large number of cows marching on the icy road. The cows moved very slowly, and we also moved slowly with them.

110km ぐらいで走っていたのに突然5kmのスピードになった。そして最近読んだ本を思い出した。「時間」についての本。Although we were running over 65 miles per hour, we suddenly slowed to 5 miles per hour. Somehow, it reminded me of a book I’ve read recently. It was about “Time”.

物理学者に言わせると、「時間の流れ」は存在しない。私たちが心の中で作り出して流れるだけらしい。ビッグバンから遠ざかる方向性があるだけらしい。牛たちを見ていたら、そんな言葉を思い出した。By watching how cows walk, I remembered phrases in the book. According to physicists, there is no such thing as the “flow of time”. Our thoughts in our head makes us think it flows. Instead, time has a direction that goes away from the Big Bang.

昔訪れたバレー オブ ゴッズ、畏敬の念が湧き上がるような景色が眼科に見えて来た。ぜひまた行かなければ。Wow, it’s the Valley of the Gods! An awe-inspiring view suddenly showed up in front of us. We’ve been there once years ago. Seeing it this time, we think we must go back again.

そして、雪がちらつく中、霧の間から見えてきたモニュメントバレー。有名な場所ですから、流石にこんな時でも観光客の車が多い。家まではまだ遠い道のりだけど、馴染み深い場所を見ると安心する。時間の流れの錯覚のように、心の中で家が近いと思った。The famous Monument Valley appeared in front of us. With snow falling sometimes, the famous rocks poked their faces through the fog. Even under such foggy condition, many people were there. Yes, this is a very, very famous spot which attracts people from all over the world. Ahh, it’s already a familiar place to us. I thought our house is close, though it was still a long way to go. It’s just like the “flow of time”. My mind fabricated an illusion and made me think so. Hahaha.