And We're Back!

It's been nearly a month since my last post; the blog break has been nice. I'm finally back in Seattle; I arrived last Thursday at 3:30am. The last month has been great. I'm not sure there's anything worth mentioning, but I'll give a quick run down of everything that I've been up to.

The drive from Phoenix to Las Vegas was pretty easy. There must be some sort of Airforce base in northern Arizona because I saw a ton of military aircrafts. That helped keep the drive interesting. I also made a stop at the Hoover Dam (and took a couple pictures). As expected, the dam was huge, impressive, and definitely worth the stop. But you wouldn't believe how many people I met in Las Vegas who said they wish they could visit the dam. Do they not realize it's a 40 minute shuttle ride out there? If you really want to see it, then go see it! :)

Anyway, the weekend in Las Vegas was fantastic. It's the first time I'd seen Jordan in well over a year. Parties, sun, weddings, losing money... all the essentials. No pictures, though. :) Actually, I put my camera away after the Hoover dam and haven't pulled it back out since. Guess that means my road trip was officially over at that point.

After Vegas I spent some time in the bay area, which is still one of the greatest places in the world. And you always learn something new there. I mean, did you know that America now celebrates "Indigenous People's Day"? I didn't know that either, but it's a valid holiday for parking meters. It turns out that Indigenous People's Day is actually the politically correct version of Columbus Day. How much money do you think they spent changing all the parking meters?

And finally it was time to come home. Having done the 13 hour trek from Seattle to San Francisco once before I had sworn to never, ever attempt a one day drive again. But I ended up hanging out in SF one day too long and was forced to pull a 2:00pm to 3:00am drive to Seattle. But I was in good form. I feel like the whole road trip was all preparation and this last drive was my final test. I passed with flying colors. Well it was actually a terrifying drive. I picked up a couple more boxes of stuff in SF which meant that my car was absolutely packed to the gills. It was, in my opinion, an impressive engineering to repack my car with those two additional boxes. My car was so packed, in fact, that I couldn't see anything out the right side. Couldn't see the blind spot, couldn't use my mirror, couldn't even look out the passenger window. Merging to the right felt like a game of Russian Roulette. I'd put my indicator on, wait for a few seconds, then slowly merge over, listening for the sound of a horn. Fortunately there were no accidents (that I know of, at least!)...

And now I'm back in Seattle. Jordan's wedding last weekend was definitely worth the drive up for; it was beautiful. And the weather over the weekend was probably 4 of the nicest days I've ever seen in Seattle. It was one of the best weekends I've had in a while and I'm now in a bit of a post-wedding funk. Well, post-road trip funk actually. Jordan's wedding was the last thing on my calendar and now I'm just ... free. A year ago I think I would have been terrified to be in this position, but I'm very okay with it now.

I don't know how long I can stay like this; when I'll break down rejoin the real world, but I'm happily planning out my next fantasy trip. I may not be all over the world right now, but I'll be back there soon enough. And I'm confident that my life will still be an adventure. And as long as I've got adventures to live, I've got stories to share. So this blog isn't going anywhere quite yet.

Wrapping it Up

It's time to start heading home. My body is telling me I've done enough driving for one trip; I'm ready to sit in one place for a few days. Fortunately, Phoenix is my next stop and I'll be able to stay there for a short while. El Paso, Juarez, and Las Cruces have come and gone without too much excitement. Here's a couple highlights:

Juarez, Mexico is like any other border town I've been in: run down, dirty, and without much to see. But the intercountry bus is called the "Border Jumper" so for that reason alone I had to go for the ride. Once in Mexico I immediately took a wrong turn and got myself lost for a good 30 minutes. After refinding my bearings I finally stumbled back across the border a couple hours later (a quick note about the border: the "mighty" Rio Grande is little more than a stream at this point. Having watched the river grow on my drive through Colorado and New Mexico, it's sad to see it reduced to such a shadow of itself).

Radio in New Mexico and Texas is definitely not what I had anticipated. I was expecting the plethora of country and Mexican stations, but I wasn't ready for the incredible number of religious ones. It even has an influence on non-religious radio stations. On the drive out of Las Cruces today I was listening to a rock song with a chorus of "This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race." But that's not the way it comes out here. Instead it's "This ain't a scene, it's a ---damn arms race." Now I've got no problem with radio stations bleeping out things, but just the word "god"? Why not bleep the whole word at that point? I dunno, it just seems a little weird to me.

Another fun tidbit on the radio is the cattle and raw food report. Directly after the stock report they cut to a second report detailing the prices of everything from steer and heifers to corn and beans. And it all goes by way faster than I can listen to. It's really something else.

On the way back from the White Sands Sand Dunes I made an impromptu detour to the White Sands Missile Range. This turned out to be a great detour. The missile range is one of the most successful in the world and was the site of the first atomic explosion as well as America's first rocket to reach space. Anyway the museum is small but packed full of historical information. They also have a large collection of old and used rockets from previous tests. While walking among the missiles I added a new item to my "things to do before I die" list: see a rocket launch in Cape Canaveral.

And that's pretty much it for now. I'm in Silver City, Utah, getting ready for a long drive up to Phoenix tomorrow.

Roswell and Carlsbad

Roswell is pretty much what I was expecting it to be: a small town capitalizing on the fact that it was near some strange events in the 1940s. Oh, and as I discovered while approaching the town, Roswell is also the self-proclaimed "Dairy Capital of the Southwest." The town has a few nice touches, like alien eye'd lampposts, but for the most part it doesn't look like anything has been updated since the 1970s. Even the "official" Roswell alien museum and research center is little more than a collection of old newspaper clippings and cheesy props. But it was a fun stop and walking around town was better than admiring the big-city "charm" of Albuquerque.

After a few days of motel living I was determined to find a place to camp out for the evening. So on my way to Carlsbad I pulled into a little state park and set up for the evening. Things were looking good: the sun was shining, I was set up at a lake side site, and I was ready for a relaxing evening outside.

Things went well enough until around 2:00am when I was jolted awake by what felt like 4 men attempting to pull my tent over. The sunny evening had turned into a brutally windy night. As I lay in my sleeping bag attempting to hold the tent in one piece, I noticed the right side of my tent was lighting up: lightning was coming. Despite the strong winds the lightning moved in slowly. It finally settled in overhead for the night around 2:30am. Bolts were easily going off every 2 to 3 seconds; the sky was so bright that I had to put my pillow over my eyes to try and get some sleep.

Of course, shortly after the lightning the skies opened up and my tent was pelted by rain. At this point there was no way I could sleep; all I could do was lie around and wait for the storm to end... Which it didn't. Around 8:00am the rain finally subsided enough for me to venture out of the tent. Everything was soaked but I managed to get packed up and jumped into my car in about 5 minutes. I drove into Carlsbad where I was introduced to the flash floods of southern New Mexico. The streets were covered in 1 to 2 feet of water. I was afraid to keep going through town, but more afraid to stop, worried that I might flood something if I spent too much time in the water. Turning on the radio confirmed it: nearly all of southern New Mexico was under a flood watch. Fortunately I made it through town and down to the Carlsbad caverns without any major hitches.

With that excitement out of the way I was free to explore the Carlsbad caverns for the day. The caverns are spectacular. And, of course, taking pictures in the dark doesn't do much good, but I still took a bunch. The highlight of the trip was a ranger guided tour through the King's Palace. At one point we turn off all the lights to experience "absolute" darkness. I thought it was even cooler when we turned off everything but his single candle lantern. With just one lantern lit you get a sense as to what the caves looked like to the original explorers. It was hauntingly relaxing to only be able to see a few feet. Stalagmites, stalactites, and columns appeared and disappeared as he waved his lantern around.

After the Carlsbad caverns I was planning on staying at the nearby Guadalupe National Park for another day, but the floods, rain, and wind caused me to make a bee-line for El Paso. I'm going to find sun at some point in this trip!

New Mexico

A quick update from Roswell, New Mexico. Things in New Mexico haven't been quite as awesome as I imagined. Starting with my snowy morning in Cortez, CO I made a little detour out to the Four Corners. I wasn't really expecting much, but was still completely underwhelmed by the monument. But I did get to run around in four states. Tragically, though, the Four Corners will be remembered as the place where my camera finally succumbed to the battle damage it received at the Great Sand Dunes. As I was lining up a picture of myself lying in all four states the camera made an ugly sound. I tried all the usually tricks (smacking the camera into my thigh, blowing on the lens as if it were an old school Nintendo cartridge), but it was all for not. Which means you don't get to see me sprawled out across four states. It also means my pictures of the Anasazi ruins from Aztec, New Mexico were captured on $3 Walmart disposable camera.

Fortunately Albuquerque was my next destination and I was able to find a replacement for the rest of the trip. While I was in Albuquerque I stopped by some more petroglyphs, which were also not all that impressive. I've come to the conclusion that petroglyphs are, for the most part, just 1000 year old graffiti. I'm sure the Indians had fun doodling in the rock, but they would probably laugh at us if they saw us hunched over the rocks, intently studying the remains.

Aside from having some old graffiti lying around, Albuquerque is pretty much like any other big city. Fortunately I stumbled across the 'historic downtown' section while I was looking for a Radio Shack. It's actually a nice couple blocks of older buildings that are now packed with tourist shops and stuff. My previous stops at Pueblo ruins taught me that the locals were master weavers so I though it'd be nice to get a locally woven plate. The first store had a bunch of them that were the right size and price ($10), but had a big tag that proudly declared "Handcrafted in Pakistan." Nice! I finally found some authentic Indian woven bowls, but they started at about $150. Maybe I should just get a Pakistani one and take the tag off...

Two more things and I'll be off. First, I'm still waiting for a full day of sun. The snow in Colorado actually followed me all the way down to Albuquerque. Listening to the forecast as I pulled out of town included snow flurries over night (and 3 - 5 inches of snow in Santa Fe!). If things don't get sunny by the time I hit Carlsbad I'm gonna get very suspicious of this whole "desert" thing.

And secondly, I know New Mexico is relatively uninhabited, but would it kill the government to add a few more campgrounds? As far as I can tell (by looking at maps) there are essentially no places to camp between Albuquerque and Roswell. Sure I could have climbed up into the mountains and looked for a place, but I wasn't convinced that the roads were drivable. Instead I had to go straight to Roswell yesterday; not the most exciting drive in the world. But I'm here now and it's time to go find some aliens!

Spring in Colorado

I'm certainly glad I decided to stay inside last night. I woke up to a beautifully snowy morning here in Cortez, Colorado. I'm not sure how long it's going to last (or how far south the storm stretches), but this road trip waits for now one. Maybe I'll get to see the Four Corners covered in snow.

Mesa Verde

I'm supposed to be camping somewhere in New Mexico right now. Instead I only made it about 60 miles, a small trek from Durango to Cortez, Colorado. The culprit? A little national park called Monte Verde, where I ended up spending most of the day. True to its name, Mesa Verde is a large, lush mesa in southwestern Colorado. But you don't visit Mesa Verde for the scenery. You visit because to check out the ancient cliff dwellings of the Puebleans.

The ruins are amazing and it's easy to wander around for a full day. There's one house that you can explore on your own and two others that can only be accessed with a NPS guide. They've even got a two mile hike out to some petroglyphs (quick note about them: they're quite uninspiring. So much so that I didn't mind blocking half of them with my ugly mug. In fact I originally walked right past them on my hike). The guided hikes highlighted the day. Most impressive is the Balcony House. The entrance is an interesting 35 foot ladder climb up and the climb out is even more tricky. Once actually up in the ruins, it's hard to imagine living life on the edge like that. It's really an awesome experience all around and my small detour into the park quickly turned into an all day event. You can check out all of my pictures over here.

So I pulled into Cortez around 7:45pm tonight. And with the forecast including both a tornado warning and a snow advisory I decided I'd enjoy life a little more if I stayed in a motel. Am I a bit of a wuss? Probably. But I'll wake up tomorrow morning warm, not covered in snow, and ready to make my way down to New Mexico.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the highlight of the evening. After checking into my Econo-Lodge I meandered downtown and ended up at the Main Street Brewery: another place to try a local drink and watch some basketball. As I perused the appetizer menu I was shocked to see the world famous Rocky Mountain Oyster. After confirming that it was indeed authentic I was compelled to complete my Colorado experience by trying some. I won't go into too many details, but the final verdict is that it's okay. It doesn't taste like chicken (like the bartender claimed), but it was completely edible. However, I'm not sure I'll be having it again. I think I'd rather have chicken...

Mesa Arch!

I was just browsing through my pictures and I realized I completely forgot to upload my shots of the Mesa Arch (in Canyonlands) at sunrise. This is what I got up at 5:40am for! They're a little repetitive, but I think some of them came out pretty well. It was beautiful to watch the sun slowly warm the underside of the mesa.

In the Shadows of the Rockies

As planned, I've spent the last couple of days in Colorado. I was actually planning to stay even longer, but clouds, thunder and rain have been chasing me all over Colorado. Aside from trying to outrun the storm, the drive from Grand Junction to the Great Sand Dunes was pretty uneventful. I made a brief detour through Colorado National Park which (as expected) was like southern Utah, only not as great. And the rain didn't help.

I also happened to be passing through Gunnison, Colorado. My dad noted that (due to it's unique location in the Rockies) the town one of the coldest places in America. That alone makes it a destination for me. I pulled into the visitor center and told them that I was passing through and looking for anything interesting. To my disappointment the best she could do was suggest I drive 45 minutes to a "pretty lake." She also told me (much to my shock) that it was another 6 hours to the Great Sand Dunes. Of course it turned out to only be another 2.5 hours... Thanks Gunnison visitor center!

Quickly putting Gunnison in my rear view mirror, I made a beeline for the Great Sand Dunes. I pulled in a little after 5:00pm and was greeted by some cold rain showers. I quickly set up my tent, jumped inside and didn't leave the tent again until 9:00am the next morning. Fortunately, the weather had taken a pleasant turn overnight. And the rain the night before was actually good for my next event: snowboarding the Great Sand Dunes.

The Great Sand Dunes are the largest in country, at a height of over 700 feet. For me, 700 feet sounded like a small price to pay for sandboarding. I quickly learned otherwise. Hiking up sand dunes is hard (of course), but it's really, really hard when you're wearing your snowboard boots and dragging your snowboard along with you. And ("duh" #2), you don't get 700 straight feet of vertical. It's 50 feet up, 20 down, 60 feet up, 40 feet down, etc. So you spend 15 minutes dragging your board up and you're rewarded with 5 seconds of "boarding."

And boarding makes it sound like I was actually doing something. In reality you can't actually turn and you don't go very fast, so all I was doing was pointing downhill and wishing I was on the snow. :) But it was worth trying once and all the kids loved watching me.

Oh, and did I mention that it was windy? It was probably the windiest place I've ever been. Here's a picture I was trying to take of me about to go riding, but all you can see is wind blown sand. I managed to get a slightly better picture of me on my board, but it was a struggle. The wind and sand gets everywhere, it was surprisingly frustrating trying to get things done up there. And, checking with visitor center, the winds were bring in more clouds, more rain, and maybe even some snow! Which meant it was time for me to get the hell out of the Rockies.

While driving I was shocked (and way too excited) when I saw my first real life tumbleweed. Just like on Loony Toons! Actually, it wasn't "a tumbleweed," it was more like a heard. They seemed to cross the road in packs, kind of like gazelles crossing a river in Africa. Strength in numbers. Oh, and I was filling up at a gas station when I heard a loud "mooo!" right behind me. I turned around to find myself eye-to-eye with a trailer full of cows. This are just things you don't see in Seattle or San Francisco. :)

So I packed up yesterday and moved southwest, towards the Four Corners. I drove through a little town called Durango, which ended up catching my eye. I'm a sucker for small towns with nice downtown districts. Well that's a bit of a lie. I'm a sucker for a local brewery that's showing the basketball playoffs and has live music. Even the locals were there! Sadly the weather is still chasing me, they're now forecasting snow in Durango tonight! But I'll be in New Mexico tonight, I'm ready to go find some desert heat.

Google Tried To Kill Me

Well that wasn't how things were supposed to start. Apparently Utah didn't want me to leave. If you look at the Google Maps directions from Park City, UT to Grand Junction, CO it includes a nifty little shortcut to get from US-40 to US-6. What it doesn't tell you is that shortly after you pass the Strawberry Reservoir the paved road ends. So I'm happily driving along, cruising along at about 30 MPH on the dirt road. Slowly the road starts getting steeper and narrow until it's a one lane road and I've dropped down to second gear. Things aren't feeling quite right at this point, but it's supposed to be an adventure, right?

Now snow is now clinging to the side of the road (I'm still something like 8,000 feet above the sea, the snow hasn't completely melted yet), turning the dirt road into a muddy road. There are even a few puddles of very slushy snow left on the road, which causes my car to slide a little as I pass over it. I come around a corner to find the road completely covered in snow. I only manage to make it about 20 feet before the car comes to stop, unable to push through the slushy snow any further. "Fantastic," I think, "Google's little detour just added 45 minutes to my drive time today." I ease the car into reverse and slowly back down the snow. Unfortunately the snow is so slushy that as I'm backing up the car slowly slides left. And then the car stops moving. I've slid into some thicker snow and I can't go backwards any further. I try heading back up the hill but my tires (all 4 of them) just spin. I'm completely stuck. I can't even open the driver's door because the snow is up above it.

I'm 20 miles from any sign of civilization with no cell phone coverage and my heart starts to pound a little harder. I manage to climb over my stuff in the passenger seat and climb out that door to take stock of the situation. "I can probably hike/run 20 miles today to get back to the main road today," I think, "and I've got a sleeping bag and tent in my car that I could carry with me."

But that's not really what I want to do. My first plan of attack is to try to dig my car out. Looking for some sort of shovel I end up pulling my snowboard out and using that as a huge spade. The snow is super hard on top and super slushy below. It's hard to break through and then a lot of work to move. But I frantically clear the snow around the tires away and try backing up again. The car slides a few feet and gets stuck again.

I'm happy, though, my method will work. I get the snowboard back out and start clearing snow out all over the place. I create a little path all the way out of the snow and, thankfully, am able to navigate myself back down it on to (somewhat) firm mud. Of course, I'm not out of the woods yet. I've got to back myself down a one lane road until I can find a place to turn around. And my car is full of stuff so I can't use the rear view mirror. I ever so slowly backed myself down a few hundred feet until I found a wider turn and managed to get the front of my car pointed the right direction again.

20 miles later I'm back on the main highway and back on track to hit Grand Junction. As I calm down a little bit I actually end up kicking myself for not getting a picture of me digging my car out with a snowboard. It would have been a great picture. But I was in survival mode at the time and it never really occurred to me to get my camera out. But I did make road trip rule #1: never drive on a road that doesn't get at least one other visitor a day. Had I got stuck (or if my car had slid off the road), it could have been weeks before another car stupidly ventured up there too.

So yeah, the adventure has certainly begun. I'm just hoping that the rest of it won't be quite as adventurous.

Road Trippin': Take 2

I'm frantically running around my apartment (and town) trying to get ready for tomorrow. I just finalized the list of places I'd like to go and it's ambitious. I'm not even sure how long it'll take at this point. Even though I just pulled off a nearly flawless trip to southern Utah I'm pretty nervous about this one. A lot of things need to fall into place correctly. Okay, that's all the time I have for this; pack to packing and stressing!

Road Trip: Southern Utah!

I'm back from a successful trip through southern Utah. While I was on the road I had some time to keep my blog up today. Looking back now it's way too wordy, but it's too late now! They're posted in reverse chronolgical order so I'd recommend scrolling down and starting at 'Road Trippin': Utah' and working your way back up. If you want to skip my blabber you can just check out the pictures.

No time to chat today though. I've got to pack everything up and get ready to head out tomorrow for road trip #2.

Road Trip: Canyonland National Park

(April 28th, 2007)







Before driving out to Canyonlands, I stopped by the auto show to see what the fuss was all about. I'm not much of a car person but the vehicles on display looked sharp. The show started at 7:30am and I had a lot of fun walking around park with my breakfast (a banana and a bagful of Honey Nut Cheerios without milk).

But with breakfast finished it was time to get back to business: seeing national parks. And what is there to say about Canyonlands... well it's a national park. That's not really fair to the park, but I've been spoiled by the other 3 parks. Canyonlands is a really nice place, it looks kinda like the Grand Canyon, only smaller. It turns out that it, too, is formed by the Colorado River, that explains the similarities. But having seen the Grand Canyon, this isn't as impressive as it should be.

However, I still had a great time today. The last 4 days have been -- well, pick a word. Exhausting, busy, strenuous, demanding. I was ready for a slightly slower day. And Canyonlands provided just that. I ended up hiking more here than anywhere else (over 10 miles today), but the hikes were broken up into short 1 to 2 mile hikes. Each viewing point requires a short hike to get the best view, which was perfect for me. A little driving, a short hike, and then sit on the rocks and relax for a bit. And, as a bonus, I scored the last camping site in the park. Don't ask me why the only have 12 sites in the park, but I got here around 10:00 this morning and reserved the last one. My tent feels much more comfortable now that I've spent some quality time with my car.

Sadly, road trip #1 is winding to an end. I'm getting up before sunrise tomorrow morning (5:50am!) to catch a nice view out here and I'll probably make one more stop in Arches tomorrow morning too. After that it's 4.5 hours back to Park City where I've got my million item list just begging for my attention. I'm glad I've been able to take it slowly for a day out here, once I get back to town I'm going to be running at 110% again.

Road Trip: Arches National Park

(April 27th, 2007)







And pulling into Arches, I quickly realize that my "Moab plan" is, sadly, not going to be completed. The campgrounds at Arches National Park have been full since 7:30am (it's now a touch after 4:00pm). Additionally, all of the hotels, motels, RV parks, and supposedly most of the outlying campgrounds are full too. Why? An unfortunately combination of a few conferences and (more importantly) a huge antique car show (that would explain all the old cars with really nice paint jobs). The park ranger gives me a list of "primitive" campsites in the area (no water) and wishes me luck. With my evening plans completely shot I decide to call an audible and see how much or Arches I can see in one night. Even though I'm extremely sore from mountain biking a little afternoon hiking would be a nice break from the noon sun.

So I head out into the park and quickly realize why Arches National Park is so famous. And no, it's not because it's the most beautiful park in the area (Bryce Canyon, for one, is way, way better). That's not to say Arches isn't gorgeous, but it has two other big things going for it. First of all, the park gate is only about 10 minutes from downtown Moab. And downtown Moab has a lot of hotels, motels, etc. You know, places where a family can relax, play in the pool, and otherwise enjoy a vacation. This immediately makes Arches a more vacation-friendly park.

Secondly, Arches National Park doesn't really have much hiking. Everything in the park can be driven to and, as I've already learned, Americans don't want to hike. Most hikes are between 0.5 and 1.0 (round trip), which works out great for me cause I can barely walk and it's late. I decide to check out a few of the smaller loops before going to the icon of the park, the Delicate Arch, for a sunset viewing.



The hike out to the Delicate Arch is one of the longest in the park at 1.5 miles (each way) and is actually a moderately strenuous hike. But the arch, well the arch is worth it. And sunset is a great time to be there, the arch slowly lights up into a brilliant red as the sun goes down. And if you position yourself just right you can get a great picture with the moon hanging inside the arch. I tried to get a few of those, but sadly some light clouds moved in, hiding the moon just a little.

After hanging out with the crowd for nearly an hour I decided it was time to head back to Moab and figure out where I was going to be sleeping. I drove around for over an hour, checking out primitive sites to see if there were any opening. Nothing within 10 miles of Moab. The next cluster were 20 miles further away, down a slow road, and I didn't want to drive out there only to find out there was nothing left. It was time for plan C. I drove around until I found a quite residential street with a couple cars on it. I pulled behind a car, put the back seat down, and attempted to get comfortable in the back of my car for the night. Fortunately no cops came by and I survived my first night in my car. Unfortunately the back of my car is firm and just small enough that I couldn't sleep with my legs straight, so I had to curl up on my side all night.

It's now bright and early Saturday morning and my shoulders are sore from sleeping on them. But since I was forced to spend another night in Moab, I may as well enjoy the reason it's so busy: the Moab Auto Show.

Road Trip: Moab

(April 27th, 2007)







I pulled into Moab last night and was surprised to see that it's an actual town. Well, it's a little tourist destination town, but it's a big step up from Cedar City. I decided that I should check out the town for at least one night and pulled up to a little motel for the evening. As I lay in bed, I started planing out the following day (today): rent a mountain bike and check out Slick Rock; walk around town in the afternoon to soak the touristy atmosphere; and finish the day by driving out to Arches National Park where I'd camp for the evening. Things didn't go quite as planned.

I managed to rent a mountain bike without much of a hassle. I asked if I should bike to the Slick Rock trailhead (about 3 miles away) or just drive over with the bike in my car. The girl helping me with my bike recommended driving out, she claimed it was a hilly 3 miles. Another employee nearby looked at me and said, "Nah he's young and fit, he should suck it up and bike out there!" I was somehow impressed by his speech and decided to pedal out. The first mile is pretty flat and I was feeling good until I ran into a sign that said: "Slick Rock Bike Trail: 2 miles ahead. Fee required." Note the emphasis on "fee required." I didn't actually bring any cash with me, so I turned around, biked back to my car and grabbed some cash.

I was running slightly behind my imaginary schedule so I decided that I'd wuss out and drive up. I cleared out the back of my car and went to take the front wheel off my bike when I realized I didn't know how to get the wheel off. Now I haven't mountain biked in a few years but I feel like technology hasn't changed too much. But I had no tools in my little back that would fit any whole near the center of the wheel. Upset and a little embarrassed, I wasn't sure what to do next. The logical thing would be to go back across the street and ask them how to take my wheel off, but I'm stubborn. So I opted to hop back on my bike and make attempt number 2.

The second attempt started off better, but I soon realized that the girl wasn't kidding when she said there were some tough hills. I was quickly sweating, panting, and moving very, very slowly. After about 10 minutes I realized that I'd actually need some energy when I got to the trailhead. So I reluctantly turned around again, biked back to the shop and sheepishly told them I had no idea how to take care of the bike.

But not all is lost! The girl looked at the front tire and confessed that she didn't know how to do it either! The shop owner came over and said, "Oh someone put the wrong pack on your bike, you're missing some pieces. And it's really hard to get the tire off, I'd recommend against it." Awesome. Glad I learned this here and not on the trail. Anyway the guy showed me (well us) how to take the tire off, but he also threw in a free bike rack rental for the day. Problem solved. With the bike firmly attached to the back of my car I was finally ready to see what Slick Rock had to offer.

Slick Rock is a beast of a trail. At 12 miles long it doesn't sound too bad, but it can easily take 4 to 5 hours to do the loop. And that's 4 - 5 hours of intense riding. In fact, by the end of the run my cheek muscles were sore from grimacing. You grimace as you fly down steep rocks, trying desperately to keep your hands and feet connected with the bike. And you grimace again on climbing back up the impossibly steep rocks, willing just one more pump out of your legs.

The entire trail is on large rocks, and getting up and down them can be impossible. On average you probably stop every 2 or 3 minutes to get off your bike, push it up a rock, and hop back on. There were a couple of rocks that I could barely push my bike up. Some of the steep pitches have a small crowd hanging out around, catching their breath and watching veterans try to get all the way up the top. One of my attempts ended in near disaster as I fell backwards off the bike (yes, that's how steep it is). Fortunately I managed to get my feet down first and one of the locals complemented me on my stylish "downhill dismount."

I didn't take many pictures at Slick Rock, as you really don't do it for the views. That's not to say it's an ugly place, you just don't have much time to take your eyes off the constant onslaught of rocks, any of which could quickly turn an awesome day into a hospital day.

But I survived in one piece and made it back down to Moab with plenty of time to cruise Main Street before driving up to Arches. Moab is a nice town, pretty much like any other tourist town. However, allow me to complain about something else: 7-Eleven. I am a huge Slurpee fan, so much so that I can't get some knock-off brand at your local corner store. Coming back from Slick Rock I was hot, sweaty, and just dying for a Slurpee. Had they held a Surpee auction in town I may have paid three digits for a Coke Slurpee.

But alas, there is not a single 7-Eleven in all of Moab. How is this possible? Park City has a ton of 7-Elevens and it's below freezing half the year! My friend Peter from Canada claims that Winnipeg, Canada is the 7-Eleven capital of the world. Again, it's freezing most of the year there. In Moab it's over 80 degrees today and most of the summer it gets up over 100. But is there a 7-Eleven to be found? Of course not.

In an attempted to drown my sorrows in cold goodness I ended up getting two scoops of chocolate ice cream and a "berry nirvana" smoothie. Both were excellent and temporarily placated my desires. But make no mistake, I will be stopping at the next 7-Eleven I see. But for now it's off to Arches National Park.

Road Trip: Bryce Canyon National Park

(April 26th, 2007)







I'm glad I stayed another day. Zion National Park got my heart pounding, but it's not nothing (visually speaking) on Bryce Canyon National Park. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I left off last time having just happily set up camp at Bryce Canyon. That night (last night) I learned something new about Bryce Canyon: it's much higher in elevation than Zion NP (over 3000 feet higher, in fact, at over 8100 feet). This means, of course, that it's much, much colder at night. I wasn't exactly prepared for last night's frigid 23 degrees ice box. Despite pulling on nearly all my clothes and burying myself in my sleeping back I woke up this morning stiff, sore and still a little cold. It's a small price to pay for not planning much in advance.

Anyway, back to Bryce Canyon National Park. As I already said, it's a stunning park. All hikes starts at the top of a plateau and from there you hike down among thousands of spires and peaks (they're called hoodoos). Coming around nearly every corner I'd stop in my tracks, pull my camera out, and snap a few shots. I felt compelled to do so. In fact, I managed to kill my battery in my camera in just a few hours (this is probably a good thing -- I had already taken way too many pictures). Looking through the pictures now they all pretty much look the same. But I promise you that even a 10 minute hike down into the valley below will get your camera finger itching.

Speaking of 10 minute hikes, it was in Bryce Canyon that I (re-)realized that we (Americans) are fat and lazy. Perhaps it's just the European wanderlust, but during my two days of hike I've seen more Germans, Italians, and French on the trails than Americans. By the time I was at the end of the Bryce Canyon Hike (about 5 miles from the parking lot), I was surprised when I ran into someone speaking English. This does have some advantages. I was approaching one couple that sounded like they speaking German so as I snuck past them on the trail I let out an "Entschuldigung!", German for "excuse me." They didn't respond and seemed a little startled so they were either not German or just surprised to hear someone speak German to them. Either way it was fun.

But aside from quick moments like that it's sad that more people are flying nearly 1/2 around the world to visit America's beauty than we Americans are. And I know there are Americans in the park, I see them at the visitor center. But they seems deathly afraid of stepping foot onto the trails. I've seen several Americans pull up to a vista, leave the car running, dash out for a quick view and a picture, then run back to the car. Just turn the car off and enjoy the view for a minute, please!

Back near the end of the Bryce Canyon hiking loop I ran into 3 Americans, no more than 100 feet from the beginning of the trail. The woman bringing up the rear was dressed in a black leather jacket, tight black jeans, and 2 inch thick heels. As I walked by she tells me, "If they had told me what we were going to be doing I would have wore more appropriate shoes!" I didn't know what to say. She's in a national park. Wouldn't you expect to walk around, at least a little bit?

Complaints about Americans aside, Bryce Canyon is probably the most beautiful hike I've ever done. So I'm two for two with national parks. It's still relatively early so I'm about to climb into my car and make the 4 hour trek over to Moab tonight. Tomorrow is going to be fantastic, I'll be trying out mountain biking on the world famous Slick Rock trail.

Road Trip: Zion National Park

(April 25th, 2007)







I should just go home now. I don't think it's possible for things to get any better so it's going to be all downhill from here. I just spent the day hiking in Zion National Park and the place is stunning. The park consists of two large canyons, Zion canyon being the most popular. Having never been here before I wasn't sure where to go so I meandered through the visitor center, looking for ideas. One hike immediately popped out: Angel's Landing. It is generously described as "Strenuous. Long drop-offs and narrow trail. Not for anyone fearful of heights. Ends at summit high above Zion Canyon. Last 0.5 mi (0.8 km) follows a steep, narrow ridge; chains have been added."

Yes, I have a semi-debilitating fear of heights, but the hike sounded awesome. So I made that priority #1. As the shuttle approached the Angel's Landing stop, the driver pointed out the peak that we'd be climbing up to. It almost looked unreal, I wasn't exactly sure how one would even get up there. But, with two bottles of water filled, I felt ready to go. The first 1.5 miles are strenuous, but doable. About 15 minutes into the hike I realized important item #3 that I didn't bring with me: a hat or any type of neck cover for the sun. It was close to 90 degrees and my head was already feeling it. It was a sign from the hiking gods though, as I almost immediately stumbled across a San Diego Padres baseball cap. With my head properly covered, I felt like nothing could stop me.

Until I got to the last 1/2 mile of the hike. At first I though this sign was kind of funny, until I got to see the cliffs myself. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures on my ascent up. I was too terrified to stop and get my camera out. I do have this shot as I'm about to head down. As you can clearly see it's less of a hike and more of a death wish. At it's narrowest the trail is about 3 feet across with 1200 foot drops off either side. I talked myself out of making the final ascent at least 3 times, but in a brief moment of insanity, decided that I'd at least start and see how it felt. It was terrifying.

Put into historical perspective: when I went bungy jumping I think I had about 5 minutes of time (before the jump) where I sat around pacing, heart pounding and knees shaking. Sky diving? Probably 10 minutes, as the plane ascended to 12,000 feet. This hike? A solid 35+ minutes of sheer terror. I've never felt anything like it before. In fact, I almost can't believe that this hike is even open. In a lawsuit happy country like America I can't believe the government doesn't feel afraid to keep this hike open.

But it was worth it. Well worth it. The view from the top of the hike is awesome. The sun was shining and I was happily hugging the rocks at the top of the trail, elated that I had made it the top, but concerned that I still had to climb back down. Fortunately the trip back down is much easier. I felt more confident and I think I may have even enjoyed it.

Nothing could be worth while after Angel's Landing, but I took a couple more short hikes to make sure I got the most out of my one day at Zion. I was still fired up as I got in my car and left the park. So fired up, in fact, that I made a wrong turn on UT-9 and ended up going 30 minutes in the wrong direction. My two hour jaunt over to Bryce Canyon National Park quickly turned into a 3 hour trek. And instead of arriving at 8:30 (just before dusk) I pulled in at 9:30 in the pitch black and got to set my tent up in the dark.

So here I sit, at Bryce Canyon National Park. I drove in the dark so I have no idea what I'll be treated to tomorrow. I was so excited to write about Angel's Landing that I'm siting in my tent, typing on my laptop. I'm half hardcore outdoorsman and half hardcore geek. And right now I'm 100% happy. Can't wait to do it again tomorrow.

Road Trip: Cedar City

(April 24rd, 2007)








I'm not sure exactly how todays road trip started. I'm quickly running out of days before my lease ends and it feels like there's a ton of stuff to take care of and not much time to do it. You'd think I'd be a little better at it by now, but this happens every time I move. Packing up your life and fitting it into the back of your car is about as easy as it sounds.

Anyway, nothing was going right this morning. The list of things to do kept getting longer and every time I tried to get something done I'd run into more problems and end up adding more things to the list. I wasn't in the greatest moods and during lunch I decided that it was time to forget about everything and just get out of Park City. Southern Utah is waiting for me and I'm supposed to be having fun!

Sadly, a hasty departure is pretty much guaranteed to mean I'll forget a few important things. So far it looks like all I've forgotten is a pillow and my hiking shoes. I'm not sure how my feet are going to handle hiking in my casual shoes, but it's a small price to pay.

With Park City in my rearview mirror things immediately brighten up. I've driven through several state and I have to say Utah is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The drive south along the Wasatch mountain range is beautiful. Snow dusted peaks gradually give way to the red Earth below them, creating a stark contrast as you move south.

The drive to Zion National Park (my first destination) is nearly 5 hours. Since I didn't leave until after lunch I decided I'd stop after about 4 hours, spend one night in a cheap motel, then push on to Zion in the morning. Which is how I arrived at Cedar City, Utah.

Looking at the map, Cedar City is 4 hours south of Park City and appears to be one of the larger towns in southern Utah. Having spent a night there I'm not sure of that anymore, there's nothing there. I pulled into a cheap motel around 7:00pm a little hungry and saw a faded sign for "Pancho and Lefty's Mexican Cantina" which promised the best mexican food in all of Cedar City. With a name -- and a claim -- like that, I felt compelled to give them a visit. After checking in (and discovering that the motel had free wireless!) I made the trek to Main Street to try and find this Pancho and Lefty's.

I passed back and forth through down town about 4 times (I told you it's not very big) and couldn't find any Pancho and Lefty's. The closest thing I could find was Lefty's Hideout, which I decided would be my backup plan. It turns out that Lefty's Hideout was pretty much the only option as most restaurants close between 8:00 and 8:30! I could already tell that this town was a happening place. So I trudged back to Lefty's only to find out that it was Pancho and Lefty's but they had to change the name for some reason that the waitress didn't understand. Also, it was 8:45 at night and I was the only person in the restaurant. Secondly, a big sign out front said this place was a cantina, but there was no bar to be found. And thirdly, this was the absolute worst mexican food I'd ever eaten. I won't go into details, but it was an adventure.

About halfway through my meal, as I'm quietly cursing my fate for choosing chimichangas because the waitress recommended them, I realize something: I'm in the middle of nowhere Utah. Tomorrow morning I'll wake up and can go where ever I want for as long as I want. Can life get any better than this? No, I don't think it can. So I happily finished my meal and warily asked the waitress where I might be able to get a beer and watch the basketball playoffs. Her response:

"Well the Playhouse is pretty trashy." (No kidding! I drove past it twice and was convinced it was a run down strip club. With a name like "The Playhouse", a big sign out front that says "pool - dancing" and the windows conspicuously drawn closed, how can you blame me? Moving on...) "And I heard the 900 Club wasn't doing very well." (True again! Drove past there and all the lights were out.)

"Are those the only bars in town?" I ask. "Well there's Celebrity's, which is off Main St. Last time I was there someone got drunk and fell down the front stairs. They had to bring an ambulance. So I guess if I had to pick one, I'd probably choose Celebrity's."

What a glowing review. I ended up going to The Playhouse, mostly because it was the closest. And, just my luck, there was a pool tournament so there were actually patrons there. Well, 8 guys, to be exact. And they were all smoking. I can't remember the last time I was in a bar where anyone was smoking, let along everyone.

But I was there, so I watched some pool and enjoyed myself. The highlight of the evening was when too locals nearly got in a fight because one guy thought the other was being too distracting while the first guy was shooting his shots. After things calmed down a bit the next half hour was filled with gossip (didn't know a room of 8 could create gossip) as people quietly argued over who was in the right and what should have been done. Entertaining all around.

Sadly, this is Cedar City and in Cedar City the bars close at 11:00pm. So it was back to the motel where I enjoyed a night of cable TV and wireless Internet. My last night of luxuries before a week of camping. :)

Road Trippin': Utah

Now that the ski season is done I can do -- well pretty much anything I want to do. And the first thing I want to do is spend a week in southern Utah. I'm in Cedar City, Utah right now (the first pause sign in the map above), about to head out for a couple days of camping in Zion National Park and Bryce National Park. From there I'll head over Moab for a few more days of hiking, mountain biking, and all that good stuff.

My road trip is only a day old and I'm already having a great time. Cedar City is one of the larger cities in southern Utah and I think one night here is more than enough time. I'd love to tell you about the great time I had last night, but I'd rather go hiking, so the stories will have to wait until I get back to Park City next Monday.

Happy Trails!

Freddy Adu

In case you don't know him, let me introduce you to Freddy Adu, the future of American soccer. When I learned that the 17 year old phenom would be playing for the local MLS team (Real Salt Lake), I new I had to see at least one game. Tonight was my lucky night. Sadly it wasn't all that great. As you can see from the picture, soccer isn't exactly a big draw in Salt Lake. I think there were about 500 people in the stands (which makes me wonder why the city of Salt Lake agreed to pay $15 million dollars to build a new stadium for the team).

Also contributing to the small turnout was the incoming snowstorm. Now that the mountain has closed, Mother Nature has decided it's time to bring the snow. This is our second storm in a week and we're looking at 10 to 18 inches of snow overnight! And here I though I was going to be outside enjoying the sun this time of year. Oh well. It certainly made for an interesting night of spectating, especially since the game went into overtime. They actually had a double header tonight, with the Real Salt Lake reserve team hosting the Fiji national team. Sadly I was frozen solid and decided against hanging around for the second game. However it was a ton of fun to watch the Fiji team run through their warm up drills wearing some sort of parka jump suit. Needless to say, they didn't seem prepared for the 33 degree weather.

The other highlight from the evening was slightly reinjuring my dislocated finger. How did I pull this off? I came face to face (or shell to finger, I suppose) with a very tough shelled peanut. As I attempted to pry the nut into submission, I felt a little something give and now my finger is sore again. Awesome.

And before I go I should mention that Thursday is National High Five Day! Need a little high five'n inspiration? Glad you asked.

Coming Clean

Since my original post about my new toy there have been a few questions about the picture of the board. Why the weird photo? Was there something special about the wheels? Was I going for an artistic shot? Well yes, actually, there is a story behind the picture. Sadly, it's more a story of shame (for me at least).

Buying a new skateboard is pretty fun. You get to pick a bunch of new pieces, put them together and make your own, one-of-a-kind ride. The first step is picking the deck (the piece of wood you actually stand on). Most skateboards are aimed at the teenage market, so they designs on the deck are not quite my taste (skulls, crossbones, graffiti text, all that good stuff). I finally found one that I kind of liked, with a cool yellow and black star pattern on the bottom. Going along with the theme of bright colors I went with some sharp red wheels. Everything looked good together and I was happy. Did I feel kind of weird, basing my choices on aesthetic value? Not really, I know that looking good is like nine-tenths of skateboarding.

Anyway, the guy at the shop is putting the board together for me. The final step is to stick some grip tape onto the top of the deck. Grip tape is basically like sandpaper, it helps keep your feet stuck on the board. The standard color is black. You can get other colors, but you have to pay extra. I felt that my yellow, red and black pattern was loud enough; a solid black top was really my only option. However, they were out of black tape! "Lucky you," the dude says, "I can upgrade you to a different color for free!" That sounds great in theory, but the only tape they had was camouflage. Camouflage! Could that go any worse with the rest of the board? I think not. I've spent the last two days trying to convince myself that the camouflage tape somehow looks good, but it's a losing battle. I'm not happy with it and at some point it'll have to be replaced.

But for now I'll make do with what I've got. Two days of boarding so far and only one fall (one fall down at least, I've fallen off a ton). As a professional instructor do I feel like I should be wearing some protective gear? Absolutely. But as a beginner trying to look cool I know that an oversized helmet and ungainly body armor just looks lame. And I won't be looking lame.