Read Me First or Last

I just posted my 8 days of the Spring Break trip. To get the full effect, start by reading "North Dakota to New Mexico" and work your way back to this one. Otherwise it will be like Momento or that one episode of Seinfeld where everything happens in reverse. Your choice.

If all this wasn't enough information, you can check out our pictures on Picasa: Ana's Picasa Album.

Feel free to leave comments!

The End of the Trip as We Know It

Thursday, March 27, 2008, 9:00 am
Having driven through part of the night and sleeping a few hours at a rest stop, we arrived in Reno, Nevada. In order to spend a few days with Adrian’s parents, but get Jessica back to Seattle to work, we had gotten her a flight to Seattle. It was 9:00 am and Jessica’s flight was not scheduled to leave until 2:40. We decided it was a good idea to try to get her on an earlier flight. She called up and found out a flight was leaving at 9:50 am. We dropped her off at the terminal to try to get on the earlier flight. She called me a few minutes later and said she could get on it, but there was an hour layover in Oakland so she didn't do it. I pointed out the logic that even with the hour long layover, she still arrived in Seattle sooner and didn’t have to waste the morning. Seeing my logic, she decided it would be worth it and got herself on the flight. She managed to get through security and on the flight just in time.

Adrian and I happily left Reno and headed up to Susanville, CA to his parents house. His sister Shannon had driven up from the Bay Area to see us. She brought her so-ugly-she’s-cute puppy. Adrian’s cousin Donald also drove up from Reno to see us for a few days. We enjoyed the good fun, food, and wine that his family always provides for us. On Friday we helped Adrian’s dad, Steve, build a shed for his lawn mower. I learned that Adrian uses the same hammering technique that I do with as little (or maybe even less) success.

So that’s Spring Break; it was amazing and exhausting. We drove over 3,800 miles. We didn't set a timer, but the google map I made with our directions said our trip would be 3,385 miles and take 2 days, 7 hours. Nothing like some good times in the car. This trip has reduced the number of states I still need to seven: North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Alaska, and Hawaii. I have a feeling it may be awhile before I knock any more off the list. At the end of our trip, Jessica and I made a pact that we would save Hawaii as our last state and go together. I hope we don't have to wait too long!

Not the Golden Arches

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
We decided to have the breakfast of champions before our last day of hiking: donuts. We stopped at a local grocery store to get the donuts and various other supplies. Jessica and I had polished of the bag of Jolly Ranchers (except the blue raspberry ones which weren’t worth eating), several bags of gummy bears, and most of a bag of Starbursts, so we decided to hit up the candy aisle. I selected a bag of peachies (which I just remembered have yet to be eaten). As we were standing there, Jessica said “I wish they had a giant bag of gummy bears.” Just as she was saying it, my eyes paused on a big gold bag. Could it be??? Indeed, as if her wish were instantly granted, I pulled a 3 pound bag of gummy bears of the shelf. That’s 32 servings (I checked). Amazing. I asked her to wish for something else, but she didn’t seem to want to challenge fate.

While stuffing our face with donuts and pastries, we headed the few miles up the road to see Arches in the daylight. We determined the best hike would be the Devils Garden trail (once Jessica saw my logic, that fool!). The hike was about 6 miles, plus side trails to several arches. There were eight major arches along the trail, most notably, the Landscape Arch, which “stretches 306 feet, yet is only about 11 feet thick at its center” (straight out of the trail map literature). The trail was amazing, taking you through amazing rock formations. We climbed up a few of the rocks to get a view down (again I was paranoid about Adrian falling to his death, though unafraid for myself). The hike was absolutely amazing. Adrian particularly loved it. We all got re-sunburned from a few days before at the Grand Canyon.

After the hike, we did a few of the overlooks, though very little was as impressive as what we had already seen. We went to an overlook of the Delicate Arch, which is one of the most photographed arches and is on Utah’s license plate. Our final stop was a short hike at the North and South Window arches, where I got tired of being in the wind, went off ahead and almost got lost. I can’t decide if it counts as being lost when you have lost sight of anything resembling a trail, but can still see the parking lot. Regardless, it freaked me out for a bit, but my travel companions were really good about just letting me be upset for awhile.

Having completed Arches, it was time for our 11 hour drive back to Reno.

Six Places at Once

Tuesday, March 25, 2008, approximately 11:30 am
This is the biggest moment of the trip for Jessica and me. We have arrived at the Four Corners, the one and only place in the United States where four states meet at one point. Having a lifelong dream of being in every state, this is the ideal location to visit. Four states in one shot! This momentous occasion was worth every cent of the $3 entry fee. We prepared for this moment days ahead of time and had determined exactly how we would be in four places at once. Little did we know, we would be in SIX places at once: Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, the Navaho Nation and the Ute Mountain Reservation. Wow!

Adrian did a pretty good job of pretending like he wasn’t excited to be there. He was a good sport and took lots of pictures for us. He also bought my t-shirt, a magnet, and some Navajo fry bread, making him pretty much amazing to the girl who failed to get cash at the last ATM stop.

As we left Four Corners, I realized going to Mesa Verde National Park was only about an hour out of our way. Although we briefly discussed in on the ride from Seattle, we hadn’t realized how close we would get to it. Since it was still early in the day, we decided to make a detour to see the cliff dwellings. Mesa Verde National Park was the first National Park opened to protect man-made achievements.

We drove up and into the park, arriving at Spruce Tree Terrace. In the parking lot, we were excited to find both North Carolina AND North Dakota to add to our growing list of states. I think we topped out at either 40 or 41, plus 3 Canadian provinces. Jessica has the list in her sketch book. We hiked down to the Spruce Tree House, which is the best preserved cliff dwelling. They had restored the roof on one of the kivas and provided a ladder so we could go down inside it.

The rest of the dwellings you can only see from the road during the spring. During the summer you can take ranger led tours of them. We saw the Balcony House and the Cliff Palace. The Cliff Palace was the largest cliff dwelling.

After Mesa Verde, we headed to Moab, Utah where we were spending the night. We arrived at the Apache Motel in early evening. Apparently John Wayne had stayed here, so the lobby had some John Wayne memorabilia, including a roll of John Wayne toilet paper that said “It’s rough, it’s tough, and it doesn’t take crap off anyone.” Jessica and Adrian loved it so we inquired where it could be purchased. The motel operator informed us it was sold by her granddaughter in downtown Moab, so our next destination was determined. We took a walk to downtown Moab, bought our TP and went out for pizza. After pizza, we drove into Arches to admire how bright the stars can be when you’re in the middle of nowhere. We caught a few shooting stars and then headed back to the motel.

No Small Mountain (the Grand Canyon)

Monday, March 24, 2008, 8 am? 9 am? (which time zone are we in?)
The next morning after some free hotel breakfast (an actual hot meal, no continental style breakfast here), we headed back into the Grand Canyon. Mid-morning we arrived at the South Kaibob trailhead. Since no one remembered a map (1 of the 10 essential hiking items) I made Adrian photograph the map sign at the trail head. (Haven’t these people seen or read Into the Wild?). The hike into the canyon is like climbing a mountain in reverse. You do all the down switchbacks on the way in knowing that every step down is a step up later (when you’re more tired).

The hike had some great view points, so we stopped to take lots of pictures and let Jessica sketch a few times. The hike had major stopping points at “Ooh Aah Point," “Cedar Ridge,” and “Skeleton Point.” I never did figure out why it was called Skeleton Point.

We finished the hike in about 4.5 hours. With all our stopping, the hike down actually took half an hour more than our hike back up. We were sweaty and exhausted so we decided to try to find the IMAX so we could enjoy the Grand Canyon from indoors.

We found the IMAX just outside of the park, and shelled out entirely too much money for the 34 minute show. The IMAX video was a bit too educational, but it was fun, as the IMAX usually is. We determined that the best way to visit the Grand Canyon was either by air, or from the river while whitewater rafting. If I ever drag my children to the Grand Canyon, we will do it one of those two ways. (Can you tell how much I loved the Grand Canyon?) From the IMAX video I determined there were surely amazing things to see, but we were not going to see them from the trails along the south rim. Luckily, our time in the Grand Canyon was complete.

Police Officers Don't Work on Easter

Sunday, March 23, 2008, 10 am (Easter Sunday)
After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we started what was possibly my most untraditional Easter ever. I convinced both Jessica and Adrian to attend church with me at St. Christopher’s Catholic Church. Finding a church in the middle a heavily Mormon area proved to be interesting. A Google Business search of Kanab, UT found about one Christian church for every ten Mormon ones. Mass was uneventful, and finished in just over an hour.

On our drive out of town, I passed a police car and noticed something funny about the passenger seat. A dummy occupied the driver’s seat. I cracked up and told Jessica and Adrian, who did not believe me. We turned around just to be sure, and of course took a few pictures. Due to his amazing mustache, I think I laughed so hard I cried. Shortly after I saw a police car drive by, and I was thankful he wasn’t a few minutes earlier. I think he may have frowned at our blatant disrespect of the Kanab officer of the law. We saw another dummy cop as we entered Arizona. I guess no one wanted to work on Easter Sunday.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon mid-afternoon. We stopped at the first overlook, saw the gigantic canyon and almost collectively went “ehhn, it’s grand, it’s a canyon, I get it, when do we leave?” Maybe that was just me… I was a bit cranky. We stopped at the visitor center to try to plan the next day. Eventually we settled on a hike we could agree on, the South Kaibob Trail. We walked around the rim of the canyon and checked out more of the view points. Eventually, we were all a bit more impressed. It was a little hard to grasp the whole thing. It was almost as if it was so big and overwhelming, that it almost became underwhelming. (Again, I find myself pondering if something can be simply whelming. I’ve never head the word, but spell check says it is spelled correctly.) We enjoyed some great views. Some of the points you can get to have huge drop-offs (the canyon is, after all, a mile deep). While I am not afraid of heights, I have become more and more afraid of Adrian and heights. Apparently I’m not afraid of me plummeting to my death, but watching Adrian get close to the edge makes my stomach churn. I’m learning to just try not to watch and walk ahead.

When we were done, we drove the 80 odd miles to Tuba City, Arizona where we were staying for two nights. Since the hotel messed up our reservation for a single room with two beds, which they had run out of, Adrian managed to get us two separate rooms for a reduced rate. I like having someone around to take care of things like that.

Riding the Short Bus

Saturday, March 22, 2008 7:15 am
Having went to bed so early, we decided to wake up early to make the most of our day. Our hotel gave us a discount on breakfast next door so we headed over. We walked in, and the staff looked at us funny and told us they were closed, although the door clearly stated they opened at 7:00 am, 15 minutes before. Apparently, EVERYONE was late for work and they would not be ready until 8 am. Slightly irritated, we hit the road. Everything turned out great, because we stopped at a restaurant just outside Zion National Park. They had the greatest hostess ever (telling us about her bird feeder and giving us candy when we left). They also had the second best cinnamon roll I’ve ever had (after my mother’s, of course!).

We arrived at the Visitor Center and Jessica and I picked out the sites we wanted to see for the day. We went to drive to the first one, but then we realized we were required to use the bus shuttle system inside that part of the park (oops). We parked the car back at the Visitor Center and hopped on the shuttle. We were entertained by the shuttle’s tour guide sound track. You felt like the bus driver was talking, because it was timed so well. The most entertaining part of the shuttles were the male or a female soundtrack that was matched with the gender of your driver.

Our first stop was the Court of the Patriarchs, where we admired Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Peaks. Next we stopped at the Emerald Pools Trails, where we hiked to the Lower, Middle, and Upper pools. The pools were filled by tall waterfalls. The Upper Pool was the nicest, so with the help of Adrian, we boosted ourselves onto a big boulder so Jessica could sketch the falls. (Jessica was diligent about sketching along the whole trip, Frank Ching would be proud).

After the hike, we got lunch at the Zion Lodge. We ate our lunch and later our ice cream on the lawn under a really great tree. I felt like we were the only people there not tugging around at least two children.

The next stop on our journey was the Weeping Rock. It was a short hike up to the rock. I don’t really remember the exact geology of it, but I think it was caused by water seeping through one layer of fairly porous rock and reaching a layer of less porous rock. The less porous rock forces the water out to the edge. We were told by the bus tour soundtrack that the water was over 1000 years old by the time it makes its way out.

At the end of the main path we did a hike by the Temple of Sinawawa. The last part of the hike is through the river, so since the water was like 40 degrees we did not venture up that part of the river (though Adrian and Jessica were considering it). My attention span had peaked by this point and without the water part of the hike, it was a pretty anticlimactic end to our Zion Visit.

We headed to our hotel in Kanab, Utah. We walked part of the town in search of dinner and a grocery store. We eventually found both. At the restaurant, true to the western experience, our waitress had a belt that housed both straws and a replica revolver. Nice.

The Power of Hoodoo. Who do? You do?

Friday, March 21, 2008, approximately 8:00 am
As I drove east towards our first park, Bryce Canyon, I suddenly noticed large red rock formations along the road. These were worthy of waking up my passengers. We pulled the car over at “Red Canyon” and suddenly the long drive was starting to feel worth it. These rocks were impressive, and they weren’t even inside the National Park boundary.

A few minutes later, we arrived at Bryce Canyon and got the first use of our National Parks Pass. We drove into the Visitor Center (a required first stop at any National Park, particularly when you do little to no planning ahead). Adrian and I talked to one of the rangers, who suggested we do “the best three-mile hike in the world.” He was convincing enough, so we decided we would hike the Queens Garden Trail.

Before heading out on the hike, we drove to a few of the lookouts to get an overview of the park. Several points in the park look out over Bryce Amphitheater, the main feature of the park. The Amphitheater probably did not meet the architecturally correct definition of the word, but then again, most architects misuse the word on a regular basis. (Sorry, random Ana pet-peeve via architecture history professor Ousterhout at the University of Illinois). Regardless of its name, the Amphitheater was incredible. Although I was slightly disappointed to see snow on my first real Spring Break, the snow contrasting with the red rock was incredible. The canyon was filled with “hoodoos” A hoodoo (according the guide given at the entrance to the park) is “a pinnacle or odd-shaped rock left standing by the forces of erosion.”

After a few viewpoints from the road, it was time to start our hike. I definitely was impressed by the “best three-mile hike in the world.” We started walking along the rim of the canyon, looking down in as we had from the roadside viewpoints. Soon, we began our descent. The descent took us through lots of sticky red mud, but it also got us really close to the hoodoos. One of my favorite spots was what I determined must be Queens Garden. Perhaps it was just the power of suggestion, but I really thought the needle-like hoodoos appeared to be topped by the heads of kings and queens. They looked like an oddly proportioned chess set.

Farther along the trail, the lack of sleep started to kick in and I about had it with the three-mile hike. Soon after the feeling had kicked in, we passed by a family who told us how amazing “Wall Street” was. They said it was just ahead, so my spirits were up. Wall Street was a narrow slot between red rock walls. A steep slope covered in snow brought us though the narrow passageway. The spot was filled with people, most of whom seemed to be descending into the canyon as we ascended up it. We must have hit Wall Street at just the right time of day, because despite the high walls and narrow opening at the top, it was filled with light.

By the time we reached the top, we were exhausted, muddy, and really hungry. We decided to leave the park in search of a good meal. We found our meal at Ruby’s Inn, just outside the park. The food was good and the waitress was nice enough to let Jessica order a grilled cheese off the kids menu (she’s a vegetarian). It reminded me of when I was little and would only eat grilled cheese at restaurants. I’ve always been a bit emotional about food. Just ask my family about Applebee’s, my first time at Chipotle, or ask Adrian about the time he decided to hide the bag of Starbursts and pretended he’d eaten them.

After our meal, we almost fell into a heavy food coma, but we determined we should see some of the viewpoints further into the park. Most of the views were distant panoramas of the mountains in the distance. According to the map, on a clear day you can see over 90 miles away into Arizona and on a clearer day into New Mexico. We could see pretty far, but I’m not sure if our view crossed the state line.

We left the park mid-afternoon and drove to our first hotel. I realized by studying the address and our map that our Google directions appeared to be seriously flawed. We decided to follow our instinct and travel according to the map. When we’d arrived, Jessica woke up and said “we’ve been here before.” We assured her that she had not, and it quickly became one of our many running jokes on the trip.

After a much needed shower and nap, we went to try to see the sunset at Red Canyon, but the sky was clear as could be, so the sunset left much to be desired. We returned to the hotel and crashed out early that night.

This Isn't Fun Yet

Thursday, March 20, 2008, 3:15 pm
After jamming a weeks worth of clothes, camping gear we would never use, blankets and pillows into the car, we were ready to leave Seattle. Within a mile of leaving the Seattle city limits, Jessica had passed out in the backseat. Apparently, she was pretty tired from waking up early to make coffee and sell donuts at Top Pot. I was willing to forgive her, because she had supplied us with two delicious donuts each for the first leg of our trip. If she had brought a raspberry old-fashioned donut for us, I might be able to forgive her for falling asleep EVERY time we were in the car for more than five minutes.

Our first leg was over 1,100 miles, giving us the need for some entertainment. We started a book on tape that apparently had the slowest plot EVER. About halfway into the book, I realized I had listened to a book with the same characters on my move to Seattle in 2006.

For more exciting entertainment, Jessica and I started making a list of states we saw on license plates. We also included a list of Canadian provinces, of which “Durango” is not one. For some reason, Adrian was convinced the Dodge Durango was named after something in Canada. We believe he was thinking of the Yukon. Oddly enough, we would get fairly near to Durango, Colorado, which is more likely the origin of the name.

The drive was uneventful (and by that I mean not really fun). At some point, we entered Idaho, giving Jessica a new state on her list and fulfilling goal number one of the trip. The drive was long and mind numbing and I got very little sleep. Eventually, we arrived in Utah, gaining both Jessica and I one more state.

North Dakota to New Mexico

Spring Break 2008
I can’t remember how the idea got hatched, but it stemmed from the fact that my friend Jessica and I had never taken a real Spring Break trip and we both had the goal of visiting all 50 states. Upon comparison of states visited, it seemed a trip from North Dakota to Texas or the Southwest was the best choice to get the optimal amounts of new states for each of us. We started ambitiously, a drive to the Grand Canyon followed by an insane drive up to North Dakota. Eventually, our planning became more realistic.

I convinced Jessica to allow Adrian to come, not because we’d enjoy his company, but because his presence provided (a) a car we didn’t have to rent (b) an extra driver (c) a third person to split the cost of gas and lodging and (d) the added safety factor of traveling with a male escort. We tried to find a fourth, to reduce the negative consequence of Adrian becoming our third-wheel, but we had no luck. I’m not sure we could have fit their stuff in the car anyway!

After some limited planning, we had devised an itinerary to take us to four national parks, and more importantly the Four Corners. We had seven days to accomplish the feat. Fueled by plenty of gasoline and carbohydrates in the form of Jolly Ranchers and Gummy Bears, we were ready for our insane journey.