Peace on Earth, Family Games and Country Music Songs

Country Music Songs Bring Peace

Driving from southern CA to go skiing at Mammoth Mountain, we find that the Super El Nino is bringing lots of snow and wind gusts up to 70 mph. The rest of California is rainstorms. We pull over and study the map. What to do with a family that is not often together in stormy weather? We decide to head to Death Valley National Park. What a delightful surprise!!!!It is my kids' tradition to sing Xmas tunes during our holiday drive to the Chaffees. Raised in TN, they are devout country music fans. Not able to get good radio reception, my husband pops into a drugstore with a double CD set of Country Music Songs for the Xmas season. Now I've heard it all! Over and over and over and over again. Xmas Blues, Xmas Cookies, What does God want, Silent Night with Twang or is that Shania Twain?If you want to see Peace on Earth go to Death Valley in the winter. The hottest spot on earth in the summer (Record is 134 ºF), the driest place in the US (less than 2 inches per year), and the lowest spot in North America (Badwater Basin is 282 ft.below Sea Level) has unique geologic features that warrant it being a national treasure. Because it is low, it is the worlds' largest "International Dark Sky Park", haven for star gazers.Hiking on sand dunes, canyons and mountain ridges, all in one park our family couldn't have asked for a better non skiing visit!A sign in the main visitor center says "May all your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you" by Edward Abbey. I love this!!!After we left the Valley, we drove well into the night, but since we got up in the middle of the night for star gazing, then got up again for sunrise over the bluffs, we stopped 2 hours earlier than we should have! Over night was more storming. The next day we woke up to a snowy landscape. We had to purchase chains, and take them off and on all day driving thru the storming mountains. The scenery was beautiful, and it was Xmas eve with a full moon.What family games can we play in the car when we can't play alphabet? Well there is a word guessing game called "Contact". Duane and I were so slow picking this game up that it was comical. Next Jenna had a game for us with the CDs of Country Music Songs. Something like everyone gets to pick a song to skip on the CD's each time around and gets to pick which song they will sing along with...And so goes the long drive to Xmas at the Chaffees Northern CA residence. Wishing all the peace on earth through out the year that those country music songs are singing about. And peace to our Mother Earth too!