Osler's Razor

On the way out to Montana to meet up with IPLawGuy last week, I stopped by Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming.  It's a remarkable sight-- one of the most memorable places I have been.  When I visited, early in the morning, there was no one else there.  I walked around the entire base of the column and saw only deer (though lots of them).

On that walk, I felt a remarkable sense of calm.  Native Americans had hung prayer cloths on some of the trees, but other than that and the path itself, there was no sign of man for most of the walk.

Vaguely, I did remember that the tower was featured in the 1977 Steven Spielberg masterpiece "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," as the place where the aliens rendezvous with humans.

When I got back to Minnesota, I rented the movie.  Somehow, the scenes with the Tower really resonated with me in a way that I didn't expect.

Some places are just special.  And sometimes you don't completely know why that is.