scattered travelogue day 2: the namesake (Colorado National Monument)

I fell in love with him at the first sight, having a passing glimpse of him smiling at me gently, with a hint of playfulness. I decided to walk out of my usual way and be daring. He came to me with a grease-loaded pulpy cheese burger, a bagfull of flimsy french fries, and orange juice. He came a long way to the U.S. with me, traveled around France with me, and was recently in the insanely beautiful landscape of Utah, with me. And he is not my byfriend.


He traveled around France with me: here he smies in front of bottles of wine and forbidden liqour.


He waits on my boyfriend's zoom lens, as we marvel at the grandure of Canyonlands National Park, Utah,

He was one of those toys that comes with McDonald's Happy Meal. When I saw him displayed in a plastic case outside of the restaurant, I HAD to get him, even if I had to expose myself to the risk of fat-laden, sodium-concentrated substance that they call food at McDonald's. Well, I guess it's not that bad...

He provided fun and creative opportunities to diverge from same ol' tourist pictures--by including him in the frame, I could make the image more compelling or even unusual. Yet, he hadn't had a name for a long time. The Right One didn't dawn on me. So I simply called him "the monkey," after our beloved bird-nest-haired detective Colombo and his Dog.

Then finally came the day of his naming.


photo by Patrick.

We took a brief detour to the Colorado National Monument on our westbound drive on interstate 70 to Utah. Under the clear blue sky, everything was drying up quickly. That included ourselves. We decided to make a stop at the visitor center for water, where we'd have a commanding view of the red rocky canyon that strech tens of miles into the rugged horizon. Hydrated, we walked over to the viewing balcony. Patrick decided to take a portrait of me with the magnificent view as a background. On a whim, I put the monkey on the large brim of the hat I had on to avoid excessive UV. A middle-aged man amusedly exclaimed from the other end of the viewing area: "a William Tell in Colorado, hah!"

Hence, the monkey is now called William. In my opinion, it suits him quite nicely.