Andrea did a great job summing up how amazing this trip was, and how much fun we had....it really was a life changing trip for both of us. I'm feeling inspired to take on so many new challenges with a renewed vigor!! Which is good, b/c my new job starts up in a week!!
To summarize the experience, I put together a little list of superlatives...fitting coming from a teacher, right???
Here goes...
BEST DRIVE: Big Sur
**Honorable mention for the ride from Grand Canyon to Zion thru the Navajo Reservation (this is where Andrea is giving a holla to Lake Powell...)
WORST DRIVE: freakin Nevada...the Extraterrestrial Highway...during an electrical storm, running low on gas, no other humans for miles...we actually discussed that we would welcome an alien abduction at a certain point in the ride...
BEST NIGHT SLEEP: The Nissen Family guest room in Mission Viejo--I'm still dreaming about that bed...
WORST NIGHT SLEEP: Night 2 at Zion Nat Park...so windy we thought that our tent might take flight...not to mention is was 95 degrees...
BEST ROAD TRIP SONGS: "Good Night" by Black Eyed Peas and "Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants.
DUMBEST HUMAN: Brittany from Tag-Along Rafting (you can ask "Adrianne" for more deets on that one...)
BEST BLOG FOLLOWER: Tasha and the kids!! Thanks for all the comments!!
BEST FISH TACO: this was actually the most challenging...it's still up for debate b/c we were never able to have a side-by-side taste test, ALTHOUGH Andrea is crafting a letter to send to the Food Network to see if we can arrange something with Bobby Flay...BUT, I'll have to say it's a tie, for now, between Lahaina's in San Diego and Wake & Bake Cafe in Moab....YUM!
BEST ICED COFFEE: (and we tested ALOT): Wake & Back Cafe in Moab...shout out to our boy Shane!!
BEST BEER: Alaskan Amber
MOST POPULAR CALI NAME: Bryce
BEST RENTAL CAR EVER: the Pimp Mobile (she really did corner like she was on rails...)
COOLEST NEW WORD: Hoodoo
CREEPIEST BAR CROWD: Woodys Tavern, Moab, UT...although I did get a kick out of the guy in the man-skirt.
FAVE CAMEOS (aka, peeps we met): Greg (Wikipedia) and the Swedes!!
FAVE MUNICIPAL BUILDING: the City Library in Salt Lake City....sooooooooooo jealous.
CITY WITH THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF WOMEN WEARING ANKLE-LENGTH SKIRTS AND WEIRDLY COLLARED SHIRTS: SLC
BEST BUG OVERREACTION: Andrea on our way to Yosemite...almost jumped into the backseat when one flew in thru the window...I almost crashed I was laughing so hard...Greg had to take care of the bug.
FAVE ACTIVITY: Mountain biking in Moab!!
BEST HIKE: Emerald Pools in Zion
**Honorable Mention to Spruce Tree Cliff Walk in Mesa Verde, CO....it did make me want to live in a cliff dwelling...
PLACE I WOULD MOST LIKELY MOVE: Toss up b/w Flagstaff, AZ and Tahoe City, CA!!
PLACE ANG WOULD MOST LIKELY MOVE: NOW--Santa Barbara, CA...but she does plan to retire in Springdale, UT where she will be a park ranger in Zion Nat Park, and most certainly devote plenty of time to her illustrious mountain biking career.
PLACE WE CAN'T BELIEVE ANYONE LIVES: Nevada.
BEST ANIMAL SITING: the Elk in Grand Canyon
**Honorable mention: the wild donkey "mirage" on the side of a weird desert highway
FAVE LICENSE PLATE: Wyoming
AND NOW, for your amusement, I must include the 10 bottom lowlights of the trip...we knew they would happen *in no particular order*:
--locking they keys in the trunk at 7am
--showing up,soooo excited to go rafting, and finding out that our trip was scheduled for the day before.
--pulling out a filling, and then consuming said filling, while eating a S'more
--the day it rained and we left our tent window open...uuuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh
--the ants that almost carried us away at Zion, I swear they could fly.
--being the only English speaking tourists in 3 out of 4 National Parks in Utah
--getting our ENORMOUS sleeping bags into their TINY little sacks for the plane ride home...Andrea finally broke a nail!!
--Andrea's bubbling shins...no more spray sunscreen after that episode.
--finding 49 states worth of license plate sitings and never finding STUPID KENTUCKY. boo to kentucky, you should get out more.
--walking out of the airport at JFK and being instantly reminded of what humidity is....good to be home.
That being said, most everything was amazing and perfect---and I need to mention a few things we could not have done without:
1) Brain and Shannon for lending us all their camping gear, our tent rocked!!! Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much.
2) the I-trip. Mr Mayernik, that you so much for the loan--one listen to Utah talk radio and I knew we would have been screwed without it...
3) Balance Bars!! Andrea is now addicted...
4) Sunscreen and Bugspray...we were very responsible...well, at least after the San Diego fiasco
5) Caffeine!!! Many hour on the road = Many consumed ICs and DCs!
But most of all, I am thankful to have gotten the chance to spend an amazing 3 weeks with such a wonderful friend...we had SO much fun, laughed our way thru 5 states, toughed it out and never missed out on a chance to try a new outdoor activity, even in 100 degree heat!! (except the hot air balloon ride...I pulled the plug on that one...) Andrea's photojournalism was truly impressive, but more so was her adventurous spirit!!! Thank you for making this a trip I'll never forget...and for never kicking me in the face :) TOWANDA!!!!!!!!!!!!
Adios everyone, thanks for keeping up with us---we loved reading all your comments!! I'm off to go sit on the couch and crash for a few days...we haven't stopped moving in 21 days.
~Susie
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
All good things must come to an end...
It's almost 8 o'clock and I'm home...Susie has left and braved the trek up to the Cape, and I just re-read all of our blog entries trying to hold onto this trip as long as I can!
So to give a quick re-cap of our last days on the West Coast, we arrived in Salt Lake City (referred to as SLC) and braved the task of re-packing, which went much better than we had anticipated. We went out to eat at The Pie, this really cool, yummy pizza joint near the University of Utah (thanks for the suggestion Wikipedia...it was delish!), and enjoyed our last night out on the town. Made friends with this guy Mike who got stranded in SLC for the night, sang karaoke, and I was reminded why I don't do tequila shots anymore-- they go down so smooth, and then kick me in the arse later. :)
We spent the day yesterday touring around SLC...went to Temple Square to see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, visited this chocolatier who Susie's family friend knows-- lucky for us because she gave us 3 pounds of free chocolate!! And made the decision to drive up to Park City and explore there for a bit. Got to see Olympic Park and walked up and down Main Street, checking out all the cute little shops. Definitely somewhere I would love to go back to in the winter or during Sundance. :) We headed back towards SLC and drove over to finally see the Great (stinky) Salt Lake. As beautiful as it was, the smell was enough to make me almost throw up in my mouth, so we left as quickly as possible! We did see all these spider webs though that had these huge-ass spiders on them. Pretty amazing and gross all at the same time! After that, we headed back into downtown SLC and went to the COOLEST library on the planet! If the City Library were in my town, I think I'd spend every free second in it, it was THAT cool! We wrapped up our day by going out to dinner at this yummy Greek restaurant and headed over to Fox to part ways with the pimp mobile. Again, the whole process went over without a hitch! Hooray Fox Rental Car!
Our flight was great...no real complaints except for the screaming child in the front of the plane (who takes a small child on a red eye??) I'm about ready to go to bed to try and catch up on my sleep, to then wake up and do a gazillion loads of the dirtiest laundry I've ever had. Fun stuff. But if there is one thing I have learned these past 3 weeks, it's that life is too short to not take trips like this...see the amazing sites this world (or just this country) has to offer, meet a plethora of characters along the way, all the while laughing and living it up! From beginning to end, this trip has been filled with great memories, many many laughs, and unfathomable experiences.
Things I will miss most:
* the pimp mobile- you treated us well, little lady!
* fish tacos- specifically the ones from Wake and Bake in Moab
* the amazing landscape of the West Coast- so beautiful
* the lack of humidity along the West Coast (it's so humid here today, it's disgusting!)
* the Utah night sky- I've never seen so many stars in my life
* the laughs...I felt that it was non-stop!
* the freedom to go where we wanted to go and do what we wanted to do, without a care in the world!!
But most importantly, the thing I will miss most is Susie. It has been such an amazing 3 weeks...we spent every waking second together and had a blast the ENTIRE time! I thank you so much for lighting the fire of this trip under me, and I can't wait for our adventures in the future! :)
So to give a quick re-cap of our last days on the West Coast, we arrived in Salt Lake City (referred to as SLC) and braved the task of re-packing, which went much better than we had anticipated. We went out to eat at The Pie, this really cool, yummy pizza joint near the University of Utah (thanks for the suggestion Wikipedia...it was delish!), and enjoyed our last night out on the town. Made friends with this guy Mike who got stranded in SLC for the night, sang karaoke, and I was reminded why I don't do tequila shots anymore-- they go down so smooth, and then kick me in the arse later. :)
We spent the day yesterday touring around SLC...went to Temple Square to see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, visited this chocolatier who Susie's family friend knows-- lucky for us because she gave us 3 pounds of free chocolate!! And made the decision to drive up to Park City and explore there for a bit. Got to see Olympic Park and walked up and down Main Street, checking out all the cute little shops. Definitely somewhere I would love to go back to in the winter or during Sundance. :) We headed back towards SLC and drove over to finally see the Great (stinky) Salt Lake. As beautiful as it was, the smell was enough to make me almost throw up in my mouth, so we left as quickly as possible! We did see all these spider webs though that had these huge-ass spiders on them. Pretty amazing and gross all at the same time! After that, we headed back into downtown SLC and went to the COOLEST library on the planet! If the City Library were in my town, I think I'd spend every free second in it, it was THAT cool! We wrapped up our day by going out to dinner at this yummy Greek restaurant and headed over to Fox to part ways with the pimp mobile. Again, the whole process went over without a hitch! Hooray Fox Rental Car!
Our flight was great...no real complaints except for the screaming child in the front of the plane (who takes a small child on a red eye??) I'm about ready to go to bed to try and catch up on my sleep, to then wake up and do a gazillion loads of the dirtiest laundry I've ever had. Fun stuff. But if there is one thing I have learned these past 3 weeks, it's that life is too short to not take trips like this...see the amazing sites this world (or just this country) has to offer, meet a plethora of characters along the way, all the while laughing and living it up! From beginning to end, this trip has been filled with great memories, many many laughs, and unfathomable experiences.
Things I will miss most:
* the pimp mobile- you treated us well, little lady!
* fish tacos- specifically the ones from Wake and Bake in Moab
* the amazing landscape of the West Coast- so beautiful
* the lack of humidity along the West Coast (it's so humid here today, it's disgusting!)
* the Utah night sky- I've never seen so many stars in my life
* the laughs...I felt that it was non-stop!
* the freedom to go where we wanted to go and do what we wanted to do, without a care in the world!!
But most importantly, the thing I will miss most is Susie. It has been such an amazing 3 weeks...we spent every waking second together and had a blast the ENTIRE time! I thank you so much for lighting the fire of this trip under me, and I can't wait for our adventures in the future! :)
Monday, July 27, 2009
Mad Mountain Biking in Moab...
Andrea and I currently feel like the coolest girls ever! We just totally tore it up on the slickrock trails on a couple of full suspension bikes that this cool guy delivered to us right at the trail. We followed along this rocky trail for a while, and then it just opened up into rocks and jumps and rock faces everywhere---soooooooooooooo fun!!! I had a little trouble staying on my bike, one time I went to ride up this rock cliff thing and I guess I didn't have enough speed going, b/c the bike flipped back on me and the pedal gashed my leg...INSTANT crazy hematoma (good thing we left the med kit in the car!), I was too busy to care though...and the swelling eventually went down, I had my hands full trying to keep up with Andrea! She was not a big fan of the 4 mile uphill climb on the rocky road that we had to ride to get to the cool stuff, but she found her inner demon once we got to the slickrocks and she went nuts...there were times when I couldn't even see her!!! She's publically declared that she is taking up mountain biking when we get home!! We've already planned out what trails we're going to ride when we come back to Moab :)
So anyway, we can say we rode in the "Mecca of Mountain Biking"--which is what Moab claims to be...and we loved it! What a great way to end the active sporting part of our adventure!!!!!
We're off to Salt Lake City now...probably will be a little tamer than what we've seen the last couple weeks, but it will be nice to sleep in a bed for a change!!! One more day :( BOO! BUT, we are so happy to see you all again soooooon!
~Susie
So anyway, we can say we rode in the "Mecca of Mountain Biking"--which is what Moab claims to be...and we loved it! What a great way to end the active sporting part of our adventure!!!!!
We're off to Salt Lake City now...probably will be a little tamer than what we've seen the last couple weeks, but it will be nice to sleep in a bed for a change!!! One more day :( BOO! BUT, we are so happy to see you all again soooooon!
~Susie
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday July 24th...
When Susie and I first left for our trip 18 days ago, we prepared ourselves to experience at least one blunder along the way. Initially we thought that it would be our rental car experience at Fox, but that turned out to work in our benefit! So it was bound to happen sooner than later, and unfortunately it finally struck yesterday. While in Santa Barbara we decided to book a white water rafting trip for when we were here in Moab. When I called a company we found, I asked if they had any room for Saturday the 24th, and the woman/idiot I spoke to told me they did! So we immediately jumped on ship and booked our spot to take a day trip to Westwater Canyon and experience the Class III/IV rapids they have here along the Colorado River. We woke up at an early 6am yesterday and got geared up for our day of adventure, only to arrive at the place and be told that the trip was in fact FRIDAY the 24th and we missed it. :( We were clearly disappointed and quite angry since the woman I booked it with was on board with me that the 24th was a Saturday-- we knew we wouldn't get here before then, therefore wouldn't have booked anything earlier (grr). But we were determined to not let this get the best of us, and therefore found another company that had room for us on a day trip down the Colorado River through Fisher Towers...they were only Class I/II rapids (which is peanuts compared to the Class V we've experienced up in Maine), but nonetheless we spent a very relaxing day floating along the river and swimming in it occasionally. :)
This morning we got up and made our way to our 5th state...Colorado...to visit Mesa Verde. It was another grueling drive up the hairpin turns to get to the top (and of course I was driving), but so worth it. They had these amazing Cliff houses that we got to explore, and we also took an impromptu hike to see some petroglyphs along one of the trails. I was on a mission to see these, despite the fact that I was in a tube top! ha! The trail was amazing...all these small crevices we had to crawl through, some very narrow steps that the CCC made (which was quite difficult for Susie and her feet to navigate down), but it was SO worth it. Of course we were so enamored by the petroglyphs that we missed the sign directing us back, therefore we found ourselves off-roading for a bit, but managed to find our way back on track and made it safely back for our tour of one of the Cliff houses. :)
We rushed back to Moab in time to cook up some hot dogs and set out for a sunset hike to see the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. Time was not on our side, so I had to put some pedal to the medal...unfortunately that led to it being MY turn to get pulled over in a national park. But luckily the officer was young and VERY cute, so I flashed him my smile and turned up my charm, and escaped a ticket! :) After that minor glitch, we continued along the road towards the trail, to turn a corner and see a DOUBLE RAINBOW!!! It was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL thing I've ever seen! It was so vibrant-- you could see every distinct color from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to purple. Absolutely breathtaking.
We reached the start of our trail and hiked up 440 feet across sheer rock, the last 200 yards of it being on a narrow ledge, to our destination...the infamous Delicate Arch. It was amazing. And it just got better and better...on our way back the sun had set and the colors of the desert just jumped out at you from all around. Truly majestic...
So now we're back at our campground getting ready for our last night of camping out (YEAH!!) and anxiously waiting for the Utah night sky to take it's form. Unfortunately all of our nights since Zion have been dampered with clouds, so we have yet to experience the vast starry sky again, but we are DETERMINED to see it again tonight and take in all of its glory. :)
Before I end another one of my novels, I want to touch upon Zion again...I know that Susie wrote about it in her last blog, but I want everyone I know to go there! The things I saw were like nothing I've ever seen before. It was a true siting of the Forces of Nature, and it gave you a sense of how powerful and magnificant they are. I have never felt so small and insignificant in my life...and it was wonderful!
Ok, off to star gaze and then hit the sack...we're going mountain biking tomorrow morning and then heading up to Salt Lake City for the final stop of our trip. It's flown by and I'm so saddened to see it come to an end. :(
~Andrea :)
This morning we got up and made our way to our 5th state...Colorado...to visit Mesa Verde. It was another grueling drive up the hairpin turns to get to the top (and of course I was driving), but so worth it. They had these amazing Cliff houses that we got to explore, and we also took an impromptu hike to see some petroglyphs along one of the trails. I was on a mission to see these, despite the fact that I was in a tube top! ha! The trail was amazing...all these small crevices we had to crawl through, some very narrow steps that the CCC made (which was quite difficult for Susie and her feet to navigate down), but it was SO worth it. Of course we were so enamored by the petroglyphs that we missed the sign directing us back, therefore we found ourselves off-roading for a bit, but managed to find our way back on track and made it safely back for our tour of one of the Cliff houses. :)
We rushed back to Moab in time to cook up some hot dogs and set out for a sunset hike to see the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. Time was not on our side, so I had to put some pedal to the medal...unfortunately that led to it being MY turn to get pulled over in a national park. But luckily the officer was young and VERY cute, so I flashed him my smile and turned up my charm, and escaped a ticket! :) After that minor glitch, we continued along the road towards the trail, to turn a corner and see a DOUBLE RAINBOW!!! It was THE MOST BEAUTIFUL thing I've ever seen! It was so vibrant-- you could see every distinct color from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to purple. Absolutely breathtaking.
We reached the start of our trail and hiked up 440 feet across sheer rock, the last 200 yards of it being on a narrow ledge, to our destination...the infamous Delicate Arch. It was amazing. And it just got better and better...on our way back the sun had set and the colors of the desert just jumped out at you from all around. Truly majestic...
So now we're back at our campground getting ready for our last night of camping out (YEAH!!) and anxiously waiting for the Utah night sky to take it's form. Unfortunately all of our nights since Zion have been dampered with clouds, so we have yet to experience the vast starry sky again, but we are DETERMINED to see it again tonight and take in all of its glory. :)
Before I end another one of my novels, I want to touch upon Zion again...I know that Susie wrote about it in her last blog, but I want everyone I know to go there! The things I saw were like nothing I've ever seen before. It was a true siting of the Forces of Nature, and it gave you a sense of how powerful and magnificant they are. I have never felt so small and insignificant in my life...and it was wonderful!
Ok, off to star gaze and then hit the sack...we're going mountain biking tomorrow morning and then heading up to Salt Lake City for the final stop of our trip. It's flown by and I'm so saddened to see it come to an end. :(
~Andrea :)
Friday, July 24, 2009
"All the joy of my world is in Zion..."
Sooo, we've seen LOTS of Utah at this point, and it's amazing. The drive from the Grand Canyon to Zion was almost the most beautiful ride of the trip, second only to Big Sur. The colors and land formations are so unusual and cool...we stopped at a Navajo reservation to check out the jewlery, and then we happened upon Andrea's fave place of the trip--Lake Powell. It's this gorgeous blue lake just plopped in the desert, and it has a dam just as big as the Hoover Dam, you just never hear about it. She's already decided that her next vacation is going to be to rent a house boat on Lake Powell for a week, so she's looking for volunteers to join in...
Once we actually got to Zion, it was breathtaking. The mountains make you feel like you are an ant, and you drive thru this mile long, narrow pitch black tunnel that is super creepy, but made me feel like I was playing a video game. We went to a ranger talk to learn about the wildlife in the park---we saw bighorn sheep and ravens, and I dragged Andrea on a hike early Wed morning up this trail that wasn't that cool, in hopes of spying the desert tortoise under all these rock crevases, but alas, I've named it the "illusive desert tortoise" b/c the rangers say it's really hard to find. Oh well....she got to pick the second hike that day (after we drove into town for iced coffees of course!) and we found this amazing trail that connected 3 waterfalls....and they made you WORK to enjoy these waterfalls, by the time we got to each one we fully immersed ourselves in water (btw...the water was THOUSANDS of years old because it trickled through the rocks), but it was gorgeous, and really fun....some random family took a pic of us giggling under a waterfall together...haha...
The only down fall to Zion was the CRAZINESS of our campground. No one mentioned to us that in the summer time, the southwest of the US is invaded by french people....like thousands of them...wherever we go there are at least 3 student tours and 5 families, if it weren't for park rangers and shuttle bus drivers, we could go for almost a day without hearing someone else speak english! It's weird....but, apparently, it's the thing to do in France. But they are really loud at night, they can't read signs that say "no dishwashing" in the spicket (which was right by our tent) so they flooded the area in our campsite, and Zion was really hot at night, sooo neither one of us slept a wink...BUT, we did get up in the middle of the night to star gaze b/c the sky was like nothing I've ever seen before, it was incredible...
After Zion we moved along to check out Bryce Canyon--super cool Hoodoos, these spire-like things that have been carved out by years of freezing and thawing water, coupled with the wind...it was realllllllly neat, but we only stayed for a couple hours and did some strolling along the canyon, and then we headed out for Capitol Reef. In order to get to Capitol Reef, however, we had to drive along this crazy winding road through these eerie mountains, and at one point I commented to Andrea that I felt like we were on Mars. It was pretty surreal...but Capitol Reef was great. A free park, a $10 campsite with GRASS and a hiking trail right by the campsite. We checked out the park via car first, and oh-my-god was it scary to drive thru these "washes" where there are just HUGE boulders that have fallen from cliffs on either side of you....both of us were convinced that we were going to get squashed, but we reasoned that if we did get squashed, that we would die instantaneously, so we wouldn't ever really know about it....so we trekked on and checked out some pretty amazing canyons. This morning we got up and hiked a canyon trail...Andrea's least fave hike yet b/c it was pretty freakin hot, BUT they laid out these cool little rock pile sculptures for you to follow the trail, so it was kind of like a game...that was fun, despite the heat. After our hike we cleaned up and headed for Moab, our last camping destination. And WHAT a campsite, it makes the others look like child's play...we have a pool, wi-fi, showers, ac in the bathroom (!!), a covered campsite, and a general store at our fingertips!! Fear not though, we have 4 tentsites of french students behind us...should be another late night...BOO b/c we are getting up super early tomorrow to go White Water Rafting on the Colorado River!! We're so pumped...a 10 hr tour (kind of intense), but we both love rafting, and I'm excited to do a river other than the Penobscot or the Dead for a change!!!
Today we also checked out Arches national park, which is reallllllly neat as well, it's so amazing to see what wind and a little tectonic plate action can do in a few million years :) We're hoping to head back there tonight for a sunset hike out to "delicate arch"--the famous one that is in all the Utah pics, even on their license plates....it's threatening to rain right now, so we'll see, but hopefully we can fit it in....
That's all for now, I'm off to go eat a salad---SUCH a luxury! (we have a grocery store one block away!!!) I'm sure we'll be checking in again after rafting tomorrow, we're in Moab for 3 nights, so we'll have wifi at our fingertips!
Adios for now, hope everyone is having a great summer!! Flying by...
~Susie
Once we actually got to Zion, it was breathtaking. The mountains make you feel like you are an ant, and you drive thru this mile long, narrow pitch black tunnel that is super creepy, but made me feel like I was playing a video game. We went to a ranger talk to learn about the wildlife in the park---we saw bighorn sheep and ravens, and I dragged Andrea on a hike early Wed morning up this trail that wasn't that cool, in hopes of spying the desert tortoise under all these rock crevases, but alas, I've named it the "illusive desert tortoise" b/c the rangers say it's really hard to find. Oh well....she got to pick the second hike that day (after we drove into town for iced coffees of course!) and we found this amazing trail that connected 3 waterfalls....and they made you WORK to enjoy these waterfalls, by the time we got to each one we fully immersed ourselves in water (btw...the water was THOUSANDS of years old because it trickled through the rocks), but it was gorgeous, and really fun....some random family took a pic of us giggling under a waterfall together...haha...
The only down fall to Zion was the CRAZINESS of our campground. No one mentioned to us that in the summer time, the southwest of the US is invaded by french people....like thousands of them...wherever we go there are at least 3 student tours and 5 families, if it weren't for park rangers and shuttle bus drivers, we could go for almost a day without hearing someone else speak english! It's weird....but, apparently, it's the thing to do in France. But they are really loud at night, they can't read signs that say "no dishwashing" in the spicket (which was right by our tent) so they flooded the area in our campsite, and Zion was really hot at night, sooo neither one of us slept a wink...BUT, we did get up in the middle of the night to star gaze b/c the sky was like nothing I've ever seen before, it was incredible...
After Zion we moved along to check out Bryce Canyon--super cool Hoodoos, these spire-like things that have been carved out by years of freezing and thawing water, coupled with the wind...it was realllllllly neat, but we only stayed for a couple hours and did some strolling along the canyon, and then we headed out for Capitol Reef. In order to get to Capitol Reef, however, we had to drive along this crazy winding road through these eerie mountains, and at one point I commented to Andrea that I felt like we were on Mars. It was pretty surreal...but Capitol Reef was great. A free park, a $10 campsite with GRASS and a hiking trail right by the campsite. We checked out the park via car first, and oh-my-god was it scary to drive thru these "washes" where there are just HUGE boulders that have fallen from cliffs on either side of you....both of us were convinced that we were going to get squashed, but we reasoned that if we did get squashed, that we would die instantaneously, so we wouldn't ever really know about it....so we trekked on and checked out some pretty amazing canyons. This morning we got up and hiked a canyon trail...Andrea's least fave hike yet b/c it was pretty freakin hot, BUT they laid out these cool little rock pile sculptures for you to follow the trail, so it was kind of like a game...that was fun, despite the heat. After our hike we cleaned up and headed for Moab, our last camping destination. And WHAT a campsite, it makes the others look like child's play...we have a pool, wi-fi, showers, ac in the bathroom (!!), a covered campsite, and a general store at our fingertips!! Fear not though, we have 4 tentsites of french students behind us...should be another late night...BOO b/c we are getting up super early tomorrow to go White Water Rafting on the Colorado River!! We're so pumped...a 10 hr tour (kind of intense), but we both love rafting, and I'm excited to do a river other than the Penobscot or the Dead for a change!!!
Today we also checked out Arches national park, which is reallllllly neat as well, it's so amazing to see what wind and a little tectonic plate action can do in a few million years :) We're hoping to head back there tonight for a sunset hike out to "delicate arch"--the famous one that is in all the Utah pics, even on their license plates....it's threatening to rain right now, so we'll see, but hopefully we can fit it in....
That's all for now, I'm off to go eat a salad---SUCH a luxury! (we have a grocery store one block away!!!) I'm sure we'll be checking in again after rafting tomorrow, we're in Moab for 3 nights, so we'll have wifi at our fingertips!
Adios for now, hope everyone is having a great summer!! Flying by...
~Susie
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Rain drops keep falling on my head...
Well...our hopes of coming back to a dry camp site were unfortunately not met. After posting our last blog, we stopped at the General Store to pick up some fixin's for s'mores and firewood, and returned to our tent, where we found PUDDLES of water inside of it. Awesome. We took out the sleeping bags and air mattress and draped them over rocks hoping that would help them dry before bedtime, but considering the fact that it was still crazy cloudy and cold, that didn't work so well! :(
Our second attempt at a fire was pretty under par as well. We liked to believe that we had bought "bad firewood", but something tells me that it's just our lack in fire building skill, seeing that everyone around us had a ROARING fire last night. Aren't we supposed to be naturally inclined to start fire??? It makes me feel somewhat inadequate as a human....I'm hoping we'll have more luck in the future. Again, I blame the rain and the fact that our fire pit was soaked! :)
Saw a bit more of the canyon this morning, including ELK and almost hitting a deer. Now we're off to Zion, but wanted to give a couple of shout outs before we left...not sure what the WiFi situaiton will be out there:
Shout out to the new parents, Cynthia and Ron...CONGRATS on Liam...can't wait to meet the little guy when I get home. :)
Shout out to Katie for passing her Boards first try!! CONGRATS, the CDs worked!
And finally, a shout out to my sisters, Tash and Liz....I have reverted back to my past and have made Susie and I play the "License Plate Game", and to date, we have seen 45 states, including Alaska and Hawaii!!!
We are grabbing iced coffees and hitting the road, hoping for sunny skies in Utah!
~Andrea :)
Our second attempt at a fire was pretty under par as well. We liked to believe that we had bought "bad firewood", but something tells me that it's just our lack in fire building skill, seeing that everyone around us had a ROARING fire last night. Aren't we supposed to be naturally inclined to start fire??? It makes me feel somewhat inadequate as a human....I'm hoping we'll have more luck in the future. Again, I blame the rain and the fact that our fire pit was soaked! :)
Saw a bit more of the canyon this morning, including ELK and almost hitting a deer. Now we're off to Zion, but wanted to give a couple of shout outs before we left...not sure what the WiFi situaiton will be out there:
Shout out to the new parents, Cynthia and Ron...CONGRATS on Liam...can't wait to meet the little guy when I get home. :)
Shout out to Katie for passing her Boards first try!! CONGRATS, the CDs worked!
And finally, a shout out to my sisters, Tash and Liz....I have reverted back to my past and have made Susie and I play the "License Plate Game", and to date, we have seen 45 states, including Alaska and Hawaii!!!
We are grabbing iced coffees and hitting the road, hoping for sunny skies in Utah!
~Andrea :)
Monday, July 20, 2009
ET phoning home...
Hello again!!! We've ventured into the land of no internet access, so it's been a while since we could write...LOTS to talk about now!!
Let's see, we left off when we were on our way to Napa...such a cute place! We decided to rent bikes and go on our own little bike tour of the region, SO fun. It was a super hot, yet very nice day, and we rode ourselves to 5 different wineries for tastings (we decided to split tastings so that we would be able to stay on our bikes!) Only a few bike-related mishaps...Andrea managed to have her chain fall off within 5 minutes of riding, Susie had a little trouble around a sharp bend with cows all around distracting her...but overall, we did quite well and had a great time. Not a big suprise to anyone--Andrea's fave wine was a $150 merlot (Pauhl Mayer, should anyone ever want to buy it for her!! haha...), while Susie's fave was a fraction of the price, a bargain really at $65, a zinfandel called HOOPS!!! so appropriate...
The next day we got up nice and early to drive to Tahoe, only for Susie to lock the ONE key in the trunk of the car. Thank Goodness for AAA, they had a tow truck guy over to us in 15 minutes!! Disaster averted and we barely noticed...but now, we double check where the keys are every time we close the trunk :) We drove over to Lake Tahoe and took in the beautiful vistas of the lake--the water is insanely blue! It looks like the Carribbean, but with mountains all around...and it's colder! We found our way to a nice sandy beach, rented kayaks for the day and played around on the lake for a while, and then made our way to a beach bar that had a live band, and "world famous rum runners". We had to try a world famous rum rummer...or two. We soon made friends with a couple of local gents who were kind enough to hang with us all evening discussing the "rad" ski mountains of the west, and then we followed them to a local dive bar at the promise of free hotdogs (they were gone--boo!)...don't worry, we drove while they biked with headlamps on...seems to be the "thing" that people do there...we think Andrea would look killer in a headlamp...
We had a fun night with Greg and Matty and the other Tahoe-ians, and quickly realized that our plan to stay over in Yosemite without a reservation the next night would be foolish, so we hatched a plan to go there for a day trip. Thankfully, Greg wasn't sick of us yet and he offered to be our tour guide for the day. After a hot, mountainous, and somewhat hair-raising ride to Yosemite (we had a little issue with our car breaks on the steep mountain roads...fear not, all is fine) we had a great day checking out the crazy beautiful mountains, lakes, even a volcanic lake, and watching the crazy peeps climb pure sheet rock thousands of feet in the air. We went on about a 2 hour hike and were really hoping to see a bear (mostly b/c we had an escort with us, and it would be much better to have our first bear siting with a Y-chromosome around...), but alas, it wasn't meant to be--no bears, just a yellow bellied marmut, cool, right?? We were all pretty tired after our hike...mostly from swatting tons of flies all day...so we headed back for Tahoe and a night of pizza, beer, and trivial pursuit with Greg, aka "Wikipedia"....Greg, if you are reading this, we think you should start your own summer touring business where you tell all the tourists about the 9 million nature facts you know!!! Thanks for hosting us Fri night, we truly appreciate the hospitality and the company!! Hopefully you'll get your keys soon (long story, another key mishap..)
We left Tahoe saturday morning and make the loooooooooooooooooooong trek to Las Vegas. This was most assuredly the scariest part of our trip thus far. We left Tahoe in good spirits, cruising the mountains and about 3 hours later found ourselves fighting the "desert trance" b/c everything was flat and exactly the same. A note of excitement, though, Andrea almost hit a wild c'yote and we saw wild donkeys on the side of the road. About half way there, we hit traffic that was dead stopped...awesome, we were in the middle of nowhere, and there had been a fatal head on collision (which thoroughly bugged Andrea out, as she is just getting used to passing people on one lane roads!!). Rather than wait for the estimated 2 hours, we made a U-turn and ventured off onto the Extraterrestrial Highway...I kid you not. This was the most desolate, ridiculous road ever, and to make it even creepier---we got trapped in a thunderstorm with CRAZY lightning. Well, being the only metal thing for miles, we thought for sure that we'd get zapped, but somehow we made it out the other side unscathed and headed for VEGAS!!
Our vegas hotel was not what one would call impressive, but we had a bed and a shower, so it did the trick. We spent about 3 hours trekking the strip and exploring the hotels in the INTENSE HEAT, but we made it back in time to beautify for an 11pm dinner, followed by checking out a few of the hotel bars. We made friends with a fighter pilot from Oklahoma who decided to teach Susie how to play BlackJack while Andrea studied up on her Roulette skills for Atlantic City...and gambling with other people's money is always soooooooooo much more fun!!!! We can easily say that checkout time came way too soon, but we piled ourselves into the car....feeling miserable in the heat...but our spirits lifted when we found a bank of america AND a Dunk side by side, felt like home....
After about a 3 hour drive, with a quick "fly over" the Hoover Dam, we arrived in Flagstaff, AZ in time for lunch at this great outdoor pubby-type place that had live music and super yummy food. We explored the town a little bit---great place, feels like it should have a Greatful Dead soundtrack playing at all times---and then made the quick drive to Sedona to be WOWED by the red rock sculpted mountains everywhere. Soooooooo worth the trip, it was really gorgeous, and the town of Sedona was super cute too...if only we hadn't been so full from lunch!!
As the sun started to set, we decided it was time to hit the road and head to our campsite at the Grand Canyon. Only took us about an hour---we saw an Elk!!--and then Susie managed to get pulled over IN Grand Canyon National Park, 30 feet from our campground, for swerving around...the guy thought I was drunk, or high, but alas, it was just totally dark and we had no idea where we were going, so he let us go without a problem...We got our tent up in the dark without a hitch and spent our first night sleeping in Arizona!
We awakened this morning to bright sunshine at 8am and made our way to the Canyon....Holy Amazing. It's so beautiful and breathtaking. We chose a day hike that was moderate, and supposed to be about 3 hours....except that as soon as we got down into the canyon to our destination, it started thunderstorming and HAILING, so we had to take cover in a latrine...seriously, well--half in the bathroom, half under a roof...for an hour. So we ate lunch and got prepared for the ascent out of the canyon, which we did quite well despite thinking it would totally suck. We lucked out with the rain, b/c on our way down it was 90 and sunny, and on the way up it was 70, cloudy and breezy...sooooooooooo much better for hiking!!! The only down side...we left one of the tent flaps that covers the window of our tent today, certainly not anticipating rain...and now our sleeping bags are probably wet...we will see shortly!! We're off to go attempt a campfire, if everything isn't too wet....and then we'll sleep like babies tonight b/c both of us feel like our legs might fall off right now!!!
Tomorrow we're taking a morning "fossil hike" b/c we're both dorks who totally dig that stuff...haha, pun not intended...and then we're onto our 4th state, Utah, to see Zion!
Thinking of all of you...
~Susie and Andrea
Let's see, we left off when we were on our way to Napa...such a cute place! We decided to rent bikes and go on our own little bike tour of the region, SO fun. It was a super hot, yet very nice day, and we rode ourselves to 5 different wineries for tastings (we decided to split tastings so that we would be able to stay on our bikes!) Only a few bike-related mishaps...Andrea managed to have her chain fall off within 5 minutes of riding, Susie had a little trouble around a sharp bend with cows all around distracting her...but overall, we did quite well and had a great time. Not a big suprise to anyone--Andrea's fave wine was a $150 merlot (Pauhl Mayer, should anyone ever want to buy it for her!! haha...), while Susie's fave was a fraction of the price, a bargain really at $65, a zinfandel called HOOPS!!! so appropriate...
The next day we got up nice and early to drive to Tahoe, only for Susie to lock the ONE key in the trunk of the car. Thank Goodness for AAA, they had a tow truck guy over to us in 15 minutes!! Disaster averted and we barely noticed...but now, we double check where the keys are every time we close the trunk :) We drove over to Lake Tahoe and took in the beautiful vistas of the lake--the water is insanely blue! It looks like the Carribbean, but with mountains all around...and it's colder! We found our way to a nice sandy beach, rented kayaks for the day and played around on the lake for a while, and then made our way to a beach bar that had a live band, and "world famous rum runners". We had to try a world famous rum rummer...or two. We soon made friends with a couple of local gents who were kind enough to hang with us all evening discussing the "rad" ski mountains of the west, and then we followed them to a local dive bar at the promise of free hotdogs (they were gone--boo!)...don't worry, we drove while they biked with headlamps on...seems to be the "thing" that people do there...we think Andrea would look killer in a headlamp...
We had a fun night with Greg and Matty and the other Tahoe-ians, and quickly realized that our plan to stay over in Yosemite without a reservation the next night would be foolish, so we hatched a plan to go there for a day trip. Thankfully, Greg wasn't sick of us yet and he offered to be our tour guide for the day. After a hot, mountainous, and somewhat hair-raising ride to Yosemite (we had a little issue with our car breaks on the steep mountain roads...fear not, all is fine) we had a great day checking out the crazy beautiful mountains, lakes, even a volcanic lake, and watching the crazy peeps climb pure sheet rock thousands of feet in the air. We went on about a 2 hour hike and were really hoping to see a bear (mostly b/c we had an escort with us, and it would be much better to have our first bear siting with a Y-chromosome around...), but alas, it wasn't meant to be--no bears, just a yellow bellied marmut, cool, right?? We were all pretty tired after our hike...mostly from swatting tons of flies all day...so we headed back for Tahoe and a night of pizza, beer, and trivial pursuit with Greg, aka "Wikipedia"....Greg, if you are reading this, we think you should start your own summer touring business where you tell all the tourists about the 9 million nature facts you know!!! Thanks for hosting us Fri night, we truly appreciate the hospitality and the company!! Hopefully you'll get your keys soon (long story, another key mishap..)
We left Tahoe saturday morning and make the loooooooooooooooooooong trek to Las Vegas. This was most assuredly the scariest part of our trip thus far. We left Tahoe in good spirits, cruising the mountains and about 3 hours later found ourselves fighting the "desert trance" b/c everything was flat and exactly the same. A note of excitement, though, Andrea almost hit a wild c'yote and we saw wild donkeys on the side of the road. About half way there, we hit traffic that was dead stopped...awesome, we were in the middle of nowhere, and there had been a fatal head on collision (which thoroughly bugged Andrea out, as she is just getting used to passing people on one lane roads!!). Rather than wait for the estimated 2 hours, we made a U-turn and ventured off onto the Extraterrestrial Highway...I kid you not. This was the most desolate, ridiculous road ever, and to make it even creepier---we got trapped in a thunderstorm with CRAZY lightning. Well, being the only metal thing for miles, we thought for sure that we'd get zapped, but somehow we made it out the other side unscathed and headed for VEGAS!!
Our vegas hotel was not what one would call impressive, but we had a bed and a shower, so it did the trick. We spent about 3 hours trekking the strip and exploring the hotels in the INTENSE HEAT, but we made it back in time to beautify for an 11pm dinner, followed by checking out a few of the hotel bars. We made friends with a fighter pilot from Oklahoma who decided to teach Susie how to play BlackJack while Andrea studied up on her Roulette skills for Atlantic City...and gambling with other people's money is always soooooooooo much more fun!!!! We can easily say that checkout time came way too soon, but we piled ourselves into the car....feeling miserable in the heat...but our spirits lifted when we found a bank of america AND a Dunk side by side, felt like home....
After about a 3 hour drive, with a quick "fly over" the Hoover Dam, we arrived in Flagstaff, AZ in time for lunch at this great outdoor pubby-type place that had live music and super yummy food. We explored the town a little bit---great place, feels like it should have a Greatful Dead soundtrack playing at all times---and then made the quick drive to Sedona to be WOWED by the red rock sculpted mountains everywhere. Soooooooo worth the trip, it was really gorgeous, and the town of Sedona was super cute too...if only we hadn't been so full from lunch!!
As the sun started to set, we decided it was time to hit the road and head to our campsite at the Grand Canyon. Only took us about an hour---we saw an Elk!!--and then Susie managed to get pulled over IN Grand Canyon National Park, 30 feet from our campground, for swerving around...the guy thought I was drunk, or high, but alas, it was just totally dark and we had no idea where we were going, so he let us go without a problem...We got our tent up in the dark without a hitch and spent our first night sleeping in Arizona!
We awakened this morning to bright sunshine at 8am and made our way to the Canyon....Holy Amazing. It's so beautiful and breathtaking. We chose a day hike that was moderate, and supposed to be about 3 hours....except that as soon as we got down into the canyon to our destination, it started thunderstorming and HAILING, so we had to take cover in a latrine...seriously, well--half in the bathroom, half under a roof...for an hour. So we ate lunch and got prepared for the ascent out of the canyon, which we did quite well despite thinking it would totally suck. We lucked out with the rain, b/c on our way down it was 90 and sunny, and on the way up it was 70, cloudy and breezy...sooooooooooo much better for hiking!!! The only down side...we left one of the tent flaps that covers the window of our tent today, certainly not anticipating rain...and now our sleeping bags are probably wet...we will see shortly!! We're off to go attempt a campfire, if everything isn't too wet....and then we'll sleep like babies tonight b/c both of us feel like our legs might fall off right now!!!
Tomorrow we're taking a morning "fossil hike" b/c we're both dorks who totally dig that stuff...haha, pun not intended...and then we're onto our 4th state, Utah, to see Zion!
Thinking of all of you...
~Susie and Andrea
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