CO, Canyonlands, Pueblos, and then home

We went to Breckenridge, CO to visit UD and AK and it was absolutely wonderful! It was great to have a bed, shower, home cooked food (mmm!), and some excellent company. The night we got in we went into town for cocktails and appetizers, an essential when hanging out with UD and AK, and I forgot my ID like an idiot!! So, I drank pitchers and pitchers of agua while UD, AK, and FF partook in some cocktails.
On the day we spent there, FF and I rented bikes and biked down from Vail Pass--about 14miles or so of beautiful scenery down a mountain. We ate lunch at Copper mountain (halfway down) and AK had a wonderful dinner for us (and wine!!) that evening. Wine is obviously an essential here in this family.
Staying with UD and AK was pretty much the best part of the trip- well it was defintely up there in comparison to everything else.. On a scale of 1 to 10 (as this scaling was added on my visit with them) I have to rate them a 9.75. Now, you may wonder-- wow! why is that .25 taken off?? -- and well, b.c. it is a ritual to have the hottub wind us down after a strenuous day of recreation. I arrived prepared for this type of relaxation and the hottub had yet to be filled!!! (Now, the UD and AK DID compensate with a pretty neato Steam bath... but the steam bath could never top the Hottub!..)
So. overall the trip to UDandAK's (that's Uncle Dick and Aunt Kathie to the layperson) rocked.

I left their homestead rather sullen b.c. I knew it would be quite sometime before I had the luxuries which they had provided for me. We wanted to go to the Hot Springs they informed us about BUT the pice had gone up since they had last been and we figured that if we were going to pay $17 we would want to be there all day instead of just an hour. (so, I'm pretty glad they don't live TOO far away.. b.c. then the springs are still accessible to me!)
We skipped the springs and went to Arches National Park. Now this place is amazing and I couldn't believe these geologic formations existed in this area. I mean, I have seen pictures of these things however I used to think that the whole area around it was like it too, this is so not the case. The Arches are surrounded by regular plain-like grasses and dirt all over. The arches are a geologic wonder placed in the middle of grass and dirt. We did not go see the infamous "Delicate Arch" but instead saw it's runner up "the Windows"... this was due in part to: 1. the lateness in the day and it being farther than the Windows, 2. the rain, and 3. it was a shorter walk to the windows (not that we did it)

We drove that night to Green Springs, UT b.c. it was raining and we wanted to not camp in it. Green Springs State Park, UT was THE best state park we have been to. With well-maintained lawns, nice picnic benches, and nice bathrooms and showers-- we were fairly impressed.

The next day (26th) we headed to Bryce National Park. Now you drive through Red Rock Canyon in order to get to this canyon and RRC was in itself extremely impressive. Red Earth and Cliffs all over... again-- you're driving through the normal dirt, grass, and shrubs and then all of a sudden-- redness! We go on towards Bryce and it was raining (b.c. we decided that we brought the rain with us.. it rained the whole time while we were in the Southwestern Desert!) .. and Bryce was AMAZING! again, I had never seen anything like it and am amazed that something like it exists.
That night we went to Zion Canyon National Park and wow! I did not think there could be anything more impressive than Arches and Bryce until we entered Zion. Gorgeous and Spectacular!

I loved how the roads were red to match the rock and we also drove thru the longest tunnel Ive ever been in. It was about a mile long and built into the rock. It was built in the 30s so it was made to fit the cars from back then, which were much smaller than those of today, so you have to be escorted thru one side at a time. We waited in line for a little while and there was a woman in charge who really was "The Woman in Charge"!!

I kept thinking the Grand Canyon would not outdo these places.

I was wrong.

Pictures, videos, anything which could portray this place to you, the non-visitor, will not do it justice. The Grand Canyon, is indeed Grand, and I have NEVER seen anything so impressive in my entire existence.
As I was driving into the park towards our campsite, I looked out FF's window at an overlook and that was a pretty big mistake. I had just glanced at the largest wonder of the world that plunged thousands of feet down into the depths below... and I was driving on top of it. Oh My!
We did go and check out the overlooks and attended some ranger talks. The best ranger talks of the whole trip, I must say. The first night we saw Ranger Stew talk about William Shakespeare and the two Rims. I must say, it was a rather unique theme, but 'ole Stew pulled it off making it pretty interesting. We attended a Full Moon hike with Ranger Dave and it was pretty neat-o. He told us stories of the old hopi and navajo indians and the moon, etc. We really liked Ranger Dave.
After the AWESOME GC, we did Mesa Verde on the way home. Mesa Verde was also pretty cool.. I had been wanting to see Cliff dwellings and pueblos but since the numerous breakdowns we weren't going to be able to... so im glad that we fit it in. We met Ranger John Bruce there who had been a HS science teacher for 28 yrs, then retired and was a ranger. He gave me lotsa tips.

We made it home in 3 days-- Mesa Verde to Amarillo, TX where we stayed in an AWESOME sleezy motel that was a castle! then Amarillo to Memphis, Tn and Memphis to home.

I had a great trip and am sad that it's over. I can't believe it's over and it's also very strange to be home. Sleeping in my bed and playing with my cats are simple everyday things but they seem very taken advantage of after this trip. I'm really excited about laying on my couch and watching Harry Potter. A definite pastime of mine.

Thanks to all who followed in my adventures... You rock!!
Until next time--
Aims

Canada, Outlaws, and Harry Potter

I went to the Royal British Columbia museum and saw the Titanic exhibit. I have always been deeply obsessed with the ship and her disastrous story so I have always wanted to go to the traveling exhibit of all her artifacts. It was one of the coolest things I've seen and the museum guides were spectacular. I spent hours there and saw the IMAX show "Titanica" (which was alright) and the other exhibits were mediocre. The only thing I was bummed about was not being able to take pictures so that I could forever capture the awesomeness of the display.

Victoria was really pretty and I enjoyed my short time there. I've driven in a foreign country now and Kilometers are pretty crazy-- luckily the rent-a-car has this neat-o feature that allows you to switch from miles into kilometers.

We took the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver and that was pretty awesome. We have become real fond of the ferry system up here in the NW- despite the expense of it all. (whew-some $$)
In Vancouver we stayed at the Burrard Inn the first night-- the whole city was booked and this interesting motel was all we could find.It was so interesting, esp the retro style bathroom---

The first day we got in it was Harry Potter 5 time!! The theater was a few blocks away so we walked over and saw the best movie of the year! We've been waiting for this all summer (I have been waiting quite a bit longer) but all summer FF and I have been reading all the HP books and had just finished #5 a few days b4 the movie. It was sad b.c. we couldn't go right into #6-- but the day after movie we started #6 and sure enough- finished within a day or so.

We didn't do too much in Vancouver other than HP, walk around, go to book stores, etc.

On the 16th we started working our way towards Denver (there's a deadline of the 23rd for dropping FF's cuz off at the airport) It took awhile at customs which gave us lotsa time to read HP #6.
That night we stayed in SE Washington and camped. The next day we worked out way through Oregon and into Idaho. Idaho isn't tremendously exciting. It reminds me a lot of Texas when driving through. We stayed in Boise National Forest that evening and again read HP 6.

After a night in Idaho we got to Salt Lake City, UT. It's pretty nice there-- I could actually imagine myself going back just for a visit. (Really-- bc it has the largest family history library in the world, but hey- the city is nice too!!) We stayed with FF's uncle who was there for a bike conference-- it was nice to get showers and beds!

The next day I spent a little while at the Family Hist. Library and all I had was 2 hrs bc we had to get on the road. Unfortunately-- that was not enough to even find one family member in the records they have. I will DEF have to return to Salt Lake for like an entire week and just stay across the street- walking over every morning and back every night-- dedicating my whole vacation to the research of my genealogy. I was by far the youngest person in the place by like 40 years and even I, who am a genealogy guru- was overwhelmed with the expansive place.

We started out I-80 towards Flaming Gorge-- went into Wyoming then back into Utah to stay for the night. We camped at a little campground right outside F.Gorge and the 20th headed into the park. Flaming Gorge is real neat b.c. you can see history sketched in rock. There's all this info about how the different layers of rock formed millions and millions of years ago-- like in the Jurassic and Pre-historic times. I really liked this aspect and enjoyed seeing all the geological history of the place. Not to mention, the place wasn't ugly.

We decided, in leaving here, to take a scenic byway through Outlaw country which was just north of us. We checked out the F.Gorge Dam and then-- were pretty much on un-paved roads the rest of the way!! Gravel, dirt, etc.. it was quite fun. Took forever.
We got to the John Jarvie ranch-- Jarvie is this guy who built a general store, blacksmith place, post office, etc for the town of Brown's park, UT back in the 1880s. His was the central pub of the town until he was robbed and murdered in 1909. Poor guy. Then his sons basically never kept up the place. Well the outlaws of the Old west-- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the Wild Bunch used to hide out at Jarvie's ranch. I thought it was pretty neat to be somewhere they had-- groups who had helped form the American West. It's a pretty gorgeous country out in Utah.

After trudging through the un-paved roads-- which were actually roads made up of full rocks and boulders (the road, as we found out once halfway out, was used for ATVing and Four-wheeling purposes during summer!! Yeah, us and our chevy Malibu obviously made it but only quite. Also, considering the fact that it started pouring down rain while we were on this crappy road for 40 some miles, makes me feel that I could accomplish any problematic road now.

We got into Vernal last night (the 20th) and searched down a motel. All we could get was the Super8 as everywhere was either booked or was jacking up prices b.c. people were getting desperate at that point. I never knew of Vernal-- it's quite the hotspot for all the travelers to Dinosaur Natl Monument, Flaming Gorge, Outlaw Country... etc.

After checking in, watching Tom Cruise's "Cocktail" on TBS, we were counting down the minutes to the arrival of Harry Potter #7 at the Walmart just a few blocks down!! The final and last installment of pretty much the best book series EVER caused a mass exodus of ppl to storm to Walmart and purchase the long-awaited book. We got there just in time to grab bookmarks, posters, and bracelets all for the momentous celebration. Throngs of people were buying stacks of the book and I was tremendously excited about all the hubbub. Getting back to the motel, we read the first 6 chapters then went to bed so we could be ready for a full day of reading and touring the Dinosaur Natl Monument.

Seattle, some volcanoes, and a near-death experience..

(NOTE: I did enjoy myself at moments, of course, here is just one of those moments with my niece in the pool..)

I returned from the extremely exhausting trip to Pitt, Pa where it was nice to see my extended family but not nice due to the reasons we were there.

The evening I returned I met Laura (cuz of FF) and we trekked out to Vashon Island, WA. One of the many cute and quaint islands off shore of Seattle we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the hostel there. It was ranch style and offered a plethora of choices for sleeping. One could choose to sleep in an old-fashioned covered wagon, a teepee, tent, or in a barn. We chose the covered wagons-- I was quite excited about those, due to all the history and all. Laura and FF felt it was extremely cold, however, I am always warmer and therefore was quite comfy myself.

At the Hostel, they decorated all the bathrooms and showers by painting the flags of all the major foreign countries... I thought it was soo cool. (this was my fave bathroom bc of the british and Australian ones!)
On Sunday the 8th we went into town on a ferry (then bus) and I couldnt help but think of Grey's Anatomy whenever I rode that ferry (for those Grey's lovers-- you know, the tri-episode of where the ferry ran into the pier and it was a massive operation for the 3rd year Seattle Grace med interns) Well... we went to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and Museum-- which was joined with the "Experience the Music" exhibit (essentially 3 floors of nothing but music, tributes to music and musicians, and hands-on fun galore!)... We enjoyed ourselves so much at this dual museum experience that it had been 5 hours before we were leaving and the only reason we did that was b.c. they were closing!! (b.c. we couldnt take pics inside, all i could get was one of the outside)

We did not partake in the Needle- which is so infamous to Seattle for it's WorldFair fame-- simply b.c. of the outrageous price to do so... but we got a snapshot so we could prove that we walked around the bottom of it!

On the 9th we drove to Mt. Rainier which is 14,410 ft. tall and the tallest in the Cascade range mountains. The Mount was nice-- we went up to Sunrise Visitor Center and went on a little nature-interpretive hike with Ranger Bev. She was 10X better than our CCCTimberline lodge ranger-- Bev actually had laminated pictures of the animals and trees she spoke of (probably b.c. she is a 5th grade teacher year round!)-- but still, we were impressed.

That evening, I was driving- naturally on a two-way mountain highway... now, just a little background in case you don't know-- I am DEATHLY afraid of these mountain roads... I have adapted quite well since I am the only name on the rental car and thus have to learn to deal with them AND the big cities... they have actually grown on me. Esp. when they have separations and GUARDRAILS!! (oh, that's my big thing... if there are guardrails, im good!)so as a result of me driving on these roads all the time now, I drive extremely cautiously and obey the speed limit [if not below it] at ALL times...
Ok, so I'm driving on this road and after turning a 30mph close corner I see this white truck that is swerving into my lane just a little! Naturally, I'm not happy OR comfortable, and I get closer to the rail, yes there's a rail... and I continue on.
About 10 seconds later, as I am looking in my rear view mirror to see if it was just a fluke with the white truck man-- I see and hear him crash head on into the guardrail!!! Naturally I was freaking out at this moment, esp as I pull over at the next gas station and there are already hordes of emergency vehicles heading out to save this white-truck-dude.
We just missed experiencing my worst fear-- being hit by a car head on, flung into a guardrail on a mountain road, and flung off...
I pray to God every morning that I set out now to watch over us like he did on the night of the 9th and Man-- was it a close one!!
We believe he was drunk, due to the swerving, and do not know what happened to him-- although they shut down the road in both directions and created a detour quite speedily.


Now that I have told you of our near death experience-- back to the mountains...
Actually-- all the mountains in the Cascade range are volcanoes and none of them have erupted in recent human history with the exception to Mt. St. Helens!! She erupted on May 18, 1980 killing 57 people and destroying @234 sq. mi. of forest!! We spent the day of the 10th driving up Mt. St. Helens and enjoying the informative interpretive centers with all the videos and hands-on experiences. We got to go all the way to the Johnston Lodge Observatory where we could see the crater which remained as a result of the 1980 eruption. She began erupting once again in '04 and has pretty much been spewing out hot ash ever since. Nothing has been as bad at the one in '80 though. What an impact.

That night we stopped at Betty's for some grub and were trying to decide where we would stay that evening. There were two really nice guys that told of us of a free camping spot near a man-made lake. There was a wake skating and wake boarding competition going on there this weekend and a lotta ppl were already there setting up. Scott (the man who provided the boats for this competition) let us follow him there and showed us where to set up our tent.. We met a lotta ToeJam competitors and watched some of the guys practicing their skills. We all sat by the fire and went swimming in the clay-bottomed man-made lake. It was quite fun for being a spur of the moment type thing.

Today we hopped on the road then on the ferry towards Victoria, BC. We made it here all in one piece to the Hostel in downtown Victoria. Tomorrow is the Titanic exhibit!! wahoo!!

Portland, Timberline, and Snow

We stayed in Portland with FaithFetzer's family friends Dotch and Judy Schneider. They are the cutest, and most adorable couple we know! (nothing against the rest of you, haha)
They suggested we check out Mt. Hood and the historical Timberline Lodge-- so we trekked the 1.5hr to the famous mount and went on a tour of the place.
The Timberline lodge was built in the 1930s by the CCC (Conservation Civilian Corps) as an attempt to give the unemployed some jobs during the depression. This is where I have to give my shout out to FDR and the CCC b/c the WPA (Works in Progress Administration) and CCC did SO many great things for the conservation, restoration, and preservation of our nation. They practically built and preserved our national parks throughout the country... awesome thing really.
The Timberline lodge was built in pioneer style (as the pioneers would have done) and gave jobs to 500 people-- almost all over the age of 55. Everything in the lodge today is as it was back when it opened in the 1930s.
On Mt. Hood, there was still snow and people were skiing. This is where skiers in the Olympics train during the summer months. Despite the snow on the ground, FF and I wore our shorts and sandals and went trudging through the snow!!
After leaving Dotch and Judy, we trekked into Seattle and are staying at the Green Tortoise Hostel in downtown for the night.

My grandmother passed away on Friday June 29th after having been unconscious for about a week. I will be flying out tomorrow from SEATAC (Leaving FF) to go to Pittsburgh, PA for her funeral which is on Friday. It is another unexpected event during our trip, but at least my grandparents are together again and all of us together will be able to celebrate her arrival into heaven.

Cali and Agressive Drivers

LA was pretty great. I went on a 5.5hr tour of the city to see the sights-- like Venice Beach, Bel Air, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Rodeo and Sunset Drives, the Hollywood sign, stars homes, etc... FF decided not to join me so I went by myself, and I was not sad because the driver practically announced I was single and sat this CUTE Australian man next to me. At one stop (Chinese Mann's theater) the guy got off the bus and asked me to walk with him! I spent the whole day with Trent-- he bought me a Jamba Juice and showed me pictures of his dog and car... I was kicking myself afterwards for not giving the Pub manager my email address! (I still am kicking myself!) Anywho, I saw Leonardo DiCaprio's house (right after my camera battery went out! ugh), Brittney Spears, Justin Timberlake's houses... Pretty much a buncha star's homes... I was bummed to not see John Cusack's though (my #1 hubby).

That night we spent the night in Santa Barbara with FF's fam friend then the next day headed for SanFran on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway). It was Gorgeous and indescribable-- I love the views and didn't mind the windy roads at all.

We stayed in the Golden Gate National Park (backcountry-as usual) and on the 27th we went to see Alcatraz. I had been to SanFran before, but wasn't able to go see the famous ex-federal pen. It was pretty interesting and I must say that they have severely improved the quality of living in the federal prisons since those days.
After Alcatraz we went to a Surf-like restaurant and partook in some local beers... it was quite fun and enjoyable. Our waiter was just the nicest.
Parking is insanely difficult in the city so we walked over the bridge in the morning to get there (not a short walk, btw) and at night we went to go back but they close the bridge to pedestrians at 9pm! (we got there at 930..) so we got a cab to simply take us over the bridge. Then we went to a divey bar in Sausolito.. it was nice, there was a local who wouldn't stop talking to us.

The 28th we headed for Napa Valley and rather late I must say. We got to go to 2 tastings, the first sucked with real pretentious people but the second ROCKED!! Our "Bartender" Jordan was a real nice and talkative guy and gave us lotsa wine for FREE!!! (we spent some mulah there, bc the wine was SO good!)

On our way towards the Redwoods (LONG Drive) there was this insane thing that happened.. I had the permit for the camping area the previous night stuck on my window, well it un-stuck and flew out the window before I could catch it. The car behind me starting honking his horn incessantly and I thought he wanted to pass me on the 2 lane road, so I pulled over to let him pass me. He pulled up next to me and started shouting profanities at me about littering- calling me names and saying he took down my license plate number to report me to the police. He went on for about 3 minutes during which time his wife was staring at us disapprovingly and I rolled up my window getting ready to call 911 on this aggressive driver. FF and I couldn't believe this man and shook our heads at the lack of Anger Management classes that they have in Northern Cali.

We stayed in the Redwoods Natl Park on the ocean and it was pretty except for all the mosquitos- which I HATE!

Today, on our way to Portland, I was stopping at a red light and then once it turned green I waited for the pedestrian to cross the road. I then pulled into McD's for some breakfast and this crazy multicolored bus from the 1960s (it looked) had pulled behind me and the strange looking man had pulled the bus door open to scream at me!! He said some insane thing about how I should learn to make decisions off the road and not drive so slow!! I looked at this man in utter confusion as to why #1 he did not see the red light NOR the pedestrian, #2 why he felt the need to follow me and #3 why Northern Cali drivers are SO obnoxious and full of anger?

Today we worked our way into Portland where we will be staying with friends of FF. It's nice and the first real big city we've come to since SanFran. I went to the largest used book store I have ever seen in my life and would only allow myself to buy 3 as our car is already packed to the brim with books.