tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15957422403297552032024-03-05T04:57:18.157-07:00Eclectic Ramblings of an...amazing mountaineer and stuff.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-81335341567559958282013-11-21T22:49:00.001-07:002013-11-21T22:51:41.023-07:00Great Basin National Park<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">[<b>ACHTUNG!</b>: There is a picture of an old motel bathroom with some truly lamentable 70s wallpaper in this post. It may make you feel bad. You have been warned.] </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">In my ongoing quest to visit as
many of the famous and not-so-famous sites in the general
Utah/Colorado/Idaho/Nevada/etc. area before I move out of the state at some
point in the indeterminate future…</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Ok, I lost track of that
sentence. The point is that I’ve made a list of all the places I want to go,
and one of my goals is to get to all of the national parks in the region.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTFJHPimp9SdHnf9FvHJZV71JUzPWziR6V2vb-yIPPQypvaKWIrxTCABoZ-udf-3Sa46wSRL1dNuQgnQ0Q8PUWfU5JbQFC63mwlItj32Uddsm09uk_ncIdfvnP53sLTgRHwiOqtLTbJr8/s1600/national+parks.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeTFJHPimp9SdHnf9FvHJZV71JUzPWziR6V2vb-yIPPQypvaKWIrxTCABoZ-udf-3Sa46wSRL1dNuQgnQ0Q8PUWfU5JbQFC63mwlItj32Uddsm09uk_ncIdfvnP53sLTgRHwiOqtLTbJr8/s400/national+parks.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the US national parks - notice how they're almost all in the western half of the country. (Map from: http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/parks-map.html)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">And that’s why I found myself
(with Aitch) driving towards Great Basin National Park—right across Utah’s western border
with Nevada—one fine (hot) Friday afternoon in August. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">But who has ever heard of Great
Basin National Park?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Nobody, that’s who. In spite of
the fact that it’s only a few hours’ drive from Salt Lake City, St. George,
Moab, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, and Zion, Great Basin is one of the ten least
visited national parks in the United States (most of the other least visited parks are in Alaska.)
Whereas Zion NP in Southern Utah receives nearly 3 million visitors a year, Great Basin receives
a measly 80,000. In fact, the park is so unknown that they don’t even charge
you a fee to get in. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">As far as I can tell, there are two reasons for the
park’s obscurity:</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">A.
It’s in the Middle of Nowhere. Literally.
To get there, you drive a few hours into the Utah desert—and then you
keep on driving. And driving. It’s no coincidence that the main
road that runs past the park is nicknamed “the Loneliest Highway in America.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">B.
It’s just not that interesting compared to the
other parks in the area. It’s apparently a biologically important
area—herpetologists and botanists and biologists and phrenologists (?) and so on love it—but it
doesn’t have any of the “must-see” sites of most of the other parks in the
region.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Of course, the obscurity of the
park has its benefits—or so they say. For one, owing to the fact that the
nearest town of any size is more than a 100 miles away, it has some of the
darkest skies in the country. The dark skies <i>apparently </i>allow for some
really great stargazing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Unfortunately, it was cloudy both
nights we were there so we missed out on that benefit.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Another benefit is that, if you
like solitude, this park has it in spades. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">“Oh, we don’t allow reservations
because our campgrounds <i>never </i>fill up,” one of the Park Rangers
explained when we called a few weeks ahead of our trip.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Motels (and Other Horrors?) </span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Of course, the night we got there
all the campgrounds were completely full and we had to stay in a motel. A gross, stinking motel that looked like it hadn't received any upkeep (or had any of its decor/furniture replaced) since the 70s. I think I slept about two hours that night - because my bed made loud noises every time I moved and because <i>motels are creepy.</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXsIFiTNfzHZPcs18SYOJODXrUBOneosTHyUWTmqzxQh0guTzfO1vbV-EJknLi34jOwRw-DZYaheJHy7oOEvN0JpAEXWMi8DPk_WLTsJyEGtiGYBvyPkLTUbn150H_hYSnQUa4XoInNc7J/s1600/DSCN3435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXsIFiTNfzHZPcs18SYOJODXrUBOneosTHyUWTmqzxQh0guTzfO1vbV-EJknLi34jOwRw-DZYaheJHy7oOEvN0JpAEXWMi8DPk_WLTsJyEGtiGYBvyPkLTUbn150H_hYSnQUa4XoInNc7J/s400/DSCN3435.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our motel room, since all the camp sites were full.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8nMrNYkkbeuJpA54xPAiDRW41eKyaiVP5l-C2DDDyE9TpScklujaz3PqzciCdpDkXZEq17U0jnT2f7qTl1xSAVIJxKOUb2py6x8S7TUHM06PTbZZbuucdUiHkmTsvKKBSIq-ptGdohiY/s1600/DSCN3436.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid8nMrNYkkbeuJpA54xPAiDRW41eKyaiVP5l-C2DDDyE9TpScklujaz3PqzciCdpDkXZEq17U0jnT2f7qTl1xSAVIJxKOUb2py6x8S7TUHM06PTbZZbuucdUiHkmTsvKKBSIq-ptGdohiY/s320/DSCN3436.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our motel room's bathroom. (Yes, I'm showing you all the ugly things before I show you the pretty things.) </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">But anyways…</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">The park itself is actually nice.
As you’re driving towards it, it doesn’t look like much. But then you start
driving up a mountain—Wheeler Peak—and you pass flocks of wild turkeys looking
ridiculous as they cross the road and you can kind of see the appeal. Wheeler
Peak itself is quite distinctive and impressive (it’s the home to the only
glacier in the state of Nevada), and once you’re up there the sheer flatness
and vastness of the surrounding desert landscape is quite impressive (the top
of the Wheeler Peak Drive is at about 11,000 feet. The desert floor is about
4,000 feet.) </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1j-qhi5Vn4gife00g_SxW-ErAEXCJUjjyMgqk7AytUQjwri5-nckIITYqfdYFb_ERIJyFkyzq4VdYTgop5PHDeVCPtkFF_p6IrrpUIUTsvsiMjNXxwynqFwbKvnqgr9f14bzFxkOxa7Dk/s1600/DSCN3442.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1j-qhi5Vn4gife00g_SxW-ErAEXCJUjjyMgqk7AytUQjwri5-nckIITYqfdYFb_ERIJyFkyzq4VdYTgop5PHDeVCPtkFF_p6IrrpUIUTsvsiMjNXxwynqFwbKvnqgr9f14bzFxkOxa7Dk/s400/DSCN3442.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view as we began to ascend Wheeler Peak Drive</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1kx3nz4nk-Qd58mdCx_4FAndvTgLNGYRo4awFD5YsEpqYE8luN_rCQUc1l4-yEnKW5oAHOYFWDzMQJRwoCsq6Ky6oCBxKCTl9jNGKfz9PM2LY68z0x7GIRS4HaSmTUC_P8RaqzwlTgXs/s1600/DSCN3471.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm1kx3nz4nk-Qd58mdCx_4FAndvTgLNGYRo4awFD5YsEpqYE8luN_rCQUc1l4-yEnKW5oAHOYFWDzMQJRwoCsq6Ky6oCBxKCTl9jNGKfz9PM2LY68z0x7GIRS4HaSmTUC_P8RaqzwlTgXs/s400/DSCN3471.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoGS2owme1NcrSE0Da13pqaS9axjAUpSUNEZBnZ_iySso38t2lBTwtkWWyqdmaOorOgs_Hd1RY2DY9Dfg2rbyHiYuNAg7KGYhIfQppp6_BvAy3czYvEp-RjOAWaqtzfOuKDwTc5mPHEzV9/s1600/DSCN3478.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoGS2owme1NcrSE0Da13pqaS9axjAUpSUNEZBnZ_iySso38t2lBTwtkWWyqdmaOorOgs_Hd1RY2DY9Dfg2rbyHiYuNAg7KGYhIfQppp6_BvAy3czYvEp-RjOAWaqtzfOuKDwTc5mPHEzV9/s400/DSCN3478.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wheeler Peak</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh1TW09eG4GLypDgirakatJJONCFHA9NtVpzZ3c54FI52xy4LOrEYIhqEwnhK9eW_LInRdMnExHTtX81J6n2mFU_Y1KATcugjMAiXZDUBrK2FrcXTXt04jNPd10TRxN03rC30xq5h1sqrB/s1600/DSCN3483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh1TW09eG4GLypDgirakatJJONCFHA9NtVpzZ3c54FI52xy4LOrEYIhqEwnhK9eW_LInRdMnExHTtX81J6n2mFU_Y1KATcugjMAiXZDUBrK2FrcXTXt04jNPd10TRxN03rC30xq5h1sqrB/s400/DSCN3483.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view of Wheeler Peak from our campsite</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Lehman Caves and, also, a Lizard</span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">So after the disappointment of
that first night (motels stink, literally), we were able to find a campground for the
next night and then take a tour of one of the park’s two main attractions: Lehman Caves.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">The caves had lots of cool
features, but the very best feature was the temperature: A consistent 50
degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature at our campground was nice (and breezy),
since it was located at 11,000 feet—but the temperature in the desert wasn’t as
nice so the caves were a very pleasant break. It's hard to take good pictures in caves - at least my camera - so forgive the quality. You'll have to take my word for it that they were much more impressive in real life. (And cool. Did I mention that they were cool? As in pleasantly-not-hot?)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUbVbH7703Re8EXkCmVqHZ_v07y7Cs22tK-oopI_eqsb-xGFkYV8juT3Rmksq5StCFjuWceuPW16M3S4rVeOfOG3Zr9WYUIQhyphenhyphen2Fiq_w4jQtsfns4xRIv2o74jXXz6XIf5QQkL2BRd8-g/s1600/DSCN3444.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUbVbH7703Re8EXkCmVqHZ_v07y7Cs22tK-oopI_eqsb-xGFkYV8juT3Rmksq5StCFjuWceuPW16M3S4rVeOfOG3Zr9WYUIQhyphenhyphen2Fiq_w4jQtsfns4xRIv2o74jXXz6XIf5QQkL2BRd8-g/s400/DSCN3444.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lehman Caves</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifu1w56nwbuN6XkurMTe-GdHU5ThqKIlSNSeH4lH0Ii0T__ygPeuDlqqCIb_0gMhDLvCRDVN1DZgeJ8dF22sms2M1V7_0HwI2pKm_bBUuzBXvEUHKDf6qSqD4z4kHhds4uCUOmXRg0c5qF/s1600/DSCN3447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifu1w56nwbuN6XkurMTe-GdHU5ThqKIlSNSeH4lH0Ii0T__ygPeuDlqqCIb_0gMhDLvCRDVN1DZgeJ8dF22sms2M1V7_0HwI2pKm_bBUuzBXvEUHKDf6qSqD4z4kHhds4uCUOmXRg0c5qF/s400/DSCN3447.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidlPCo0BVvcj66Sv1b1g3L8HFsk79zi7ZYbyfPwS-nspugV8hMfVpCrePIU5jkNC37GQMsU8i8pDid4r9nNX75Rnh2Wvib9cMyAQgAV8YO-afOwE55hiK3NE-BsuQEkfGJ9wbELa6Ff_BI/s1600/DSCN3453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidlPCo0BVvcj66Sv1b1g3L8HFsk79zi7ZYbyfPwS-nspugV8hMfVpCrePIU5jkNC37GQMsU8i8pDid4r9nNX75Rnh2Wvib9cMyAQgAV8YO-afOwE55hiK3NE-BsuQEkfGJ9wbELa6Ff_BI/s400/DSCN3453.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">-</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg223koKThNnwTV06RKjVm1WngfapMI1OzIzvv6ZMoz7AMyIMjywi_2nM_CtNa3cXVA8CKFEk_Nmke_YtYcPpAdlo04lN4nGm9Ua0bo0XvEW-8YN-e1pepHFCvRyKwGOoIavcgoyzXX-DF_/s1600/DSCN3461.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg223koKThNnwTV06RKjVm1WngfapMI1OzIzvv6ZMoz7AMyIMjywi_2nM_CtNa3cXVA8CKFEk_Nmke_YtYcPpAdlo04lN4nGm9Ua0bo0XvEW-8YN-e1pepHFCvRyKwGOoIavcgoyzXX-DF_/s400/DSCN3461.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It blends in pretty well with the background...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> The Bristlecones, and other Old Things</span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Sunday morning I took a hike up
from our campground to the second main attraction of the park (located at about
12,000 feet above sea level): The Bristlecone Pine Grove.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvD0SK4uDulmuQgZsmBd8iCnm0D01kmrKBVGbRZbGaeD-WQS4at_uQ2QBOVI3i1gScceEYuqlV-kcV3YXA2ItMOG5NMkh40lzg7-LX4zd8yLyJnG4uUok6GS-fAToflhl3e3Pe5oGqj2qx/s1600/DSCN3497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvD0SK4uDulmuQgZsmBd8iCnm0D01kmrKBVGbRZbGaeD-WQS4at_uQ2QBOVI3i1gScceEYuqlV-kcV3YXA2ItMOG5NMkh40lzg7-LX4zd8yLyJnG4uUok6GS-fAToflhl3e3Pe5oGqj2qx/s400/DSCN3497.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The trail up to the grove</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUy9mBZPiDuU_pEntszSgObEywNlNHEDFe-Fm1LO1hT8N4o7JpfE8jF5LOe0cL6oTUSkJlKYTOjoEdwcxOYriNpwmBSMCiLyrgwvkFGrX1RjUAP4SB861mvvroRt2-8TX-GM6pmhrKy4k3/s1600/DSCN3513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUy9mBZPiDuU_pEntszSgObEywNlNHEDFe-Fm1LO1hT8N4o7JpfE8jF5LOe0cL6oTUSkJlKYTOjoEdwcxOYriNpwmBSMCiLyrgwvkFGrX1RjUAP4SB861mvvroRt2-8TX-GM6pmhrKy4k3/s400/DSCN3513.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The slopes of Wheeler Peak are very rocky</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Bristlecone Pines are the oldest
known single living organisms in the world (there are some “clonal colonies”
that live longer by constantly cloning themselves, but they're cheaters so they don't count.*) [*Incidentally, one of the largest "clonal colonies" in the world - a grove of quaking aspens that's supposed to be about a million years old - is located in central Utah. I'm already planning to visit it next year.]</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">These things are old. Some of
them are nearly 5,000 years old. When the pyramids of Giza were being built,
some of these things were already 500 years old. When Alexander the Great
conquered the known world, some of these trees were already 2500 years old.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQT9Fm6iL70rdZTknkd7KORmVFGOjYGBL4PL_KHVWZY2VUkDm3crWHXw8_N5UCdzgOMLqPpTBluKLXgsRUzMSqgd67MI5bOcpVv5in9wCcMT6rot7Hd93NsobrHb-q8x0C9ab1z3sIxlR/s1600/DSCN3521.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAQT9Fm6iL70rdZTknkd7KORmVFGOjYGBL4PL_KHVWZY2VUkDm3crWHXw8_N5UCdzgOMLqPpTBluKLXgsRUzMSqgd67MI5bOcpVv5in9wCcMT6rot7Hd93NsobrHb-q8x0C9ab1z3sIxlR/s400/DSCN3521.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like how someone scratched out the word "grotesque"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM47QMbZ0SAMIgQlxh6Px7zR73CMVSmFr7LB8vQW_FJdnoZ4qW4I4iev8MDpPM6aPGervH7oeCZ5at4wovpLvfEKVdX5z2X8-bA7pcPXPHyXx7dse2hyphenhyphen9QvQmOSHj_uKSnXgawyueQcsek/s1600/DSCN3543.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM47QMbZ0SAMIgQlxh6Px7zR73CMVSmFr7LB8vQW_FJdnoZ4qW4I4iev8MDpPM6aPGervH7oeCZ5at4wovpLvfEKVdX5z2X8-bA7pcPXPHyXx7dse2hyphenhyphen9QvQmOSHj_uKSnXgawyueQcsek/s400/DSCN3543.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sign says that this tree is more than 3200 years old - and that it required five core samples from the tree to get a complete sequence of its growth rings.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrbFptGo0Ax-j1LVtIKdoe5g5Ea8EfVtDsatPmYVabp5GehG0cfgRDVoyEqBmdbLmwn9krDqXaLnAt5qyyI0ZZXThC3kASkbRC5rA2av2xaW3nWjZWevg9aEPd15w-kkJqkCqIvButAIk/s1600/DSCN3511.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrbFptGo0Ax-j1LVtIKdoe5g5Ea8EfVtDsatPmYVabp5GehG0cfgRDVoyEqBmdbLmwn9krDqXaLnAt5qyyI0ZZXThC3kASkbRC5rA2av2xaW3nWjZWevg9aEPd15w-kkJqkCqIvButAIk/s400/DSCN3511.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">These things are old.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">And the hike up to them was very beautiful,
and satisfying (note to self: Go on more hikes.) There was something very
peaceful (and even comforting) about standing near the top of a mountain in
this grove of ancient organisms.</span></div>
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<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">And Glaciers! </span></h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Anyways…</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">Since I had already hiked a few
miles to see the trees, I decided to go just a little bit farther (and a little
bit higher) to see the Wheeler Park Glacier. Which, as it turns out, is just a
tiny patch of dirty snow.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">But, hey! Glacier! </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVW9LZK-iYclugR4hZ03JhLGhy4NziHpBYmPe77KMm9o9UCr-UBH2ALsUYOQ3HCQ_JOfmEsJ7DBMJYdzsru7KEwJcAhWcDT8BCZjuSkf7DROh9gT200bKtBm39PDnuzJvuUDHb6EI6Cx3w/s1600/DSCN3556.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVW9LZK-iYclugR4hZ03JhLGhy4NziHpBYmPe77KMm9o9UCr-UBH2ALsUYOQ3HCQ_JOfmEsJ7DBMJYdzsru7KEwJcAhWcDT8BCZjuSkf7DROh9gT200bKtBm39PDnuzJvuUDHb6EI6Cx3w/s400/DSCN3556.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The trail past the Bristlecone Grove, towards the glacier</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX_1ZPRZlTDpaziHQgwZ72KOIgqI3JIm7fgZqdvUvTNzPwhbKrGiV8ELaPGeMRe_lSVjSCflh5g3_mMFBc19RwLzebE4RUd3gbO5Wytxag-NSl8YktetpAJddWSkjUTFwPbUCLsO-KlWrZ/s1600/DSCN3560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX_1ZPRZlTDpaziHQgwZ72KOIgqI3JIm7fgZqdvUvTNzPwhbKrGiV8ELaPGeMRe_lSVjSCflh5g3_mMFBc19RwLzebE4RUd3gbO5Wytxag-NSl8YktetpAJddWSkjUTFwPbUCLsO-KlWrZ/s400/DSCN3560.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwRWLwb8hhzfalb7xxTixusB3ObGhcc1Zz8m-vBnWVWDvaukgNT9coEa8cgBDWzX1fkpGQF-W3eFzUVwmvKB4rzwGgn2U0IaP4iRXE4RGIW9rkOucFEikvh-vcuqm2K1qPRjlPFoYPP2a/s1600/DSCN3562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwRWLwb8hhzfalb7xxTixusB3ObGhcc1Zz8m-vBnWVWDvaukgNT9coEa8cgBDWzX1fkpGQF-W3eFzUVwmvKB4rzwGgn2U0IaP4iRXE4RGIW9rkOucFEikvh-vcuqm2K1qPRjlPFoYPP2a/s400/DSCN3562.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See that tiny patch of snow? Yeah, that's the glacier.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0y3XbxjTr2tBqxIPy7YcTspd65OkV4S9pxA8IXSdDs-AAyhjOjEcqdcSDhlEfTwHu9JXe5-_oIcXyzQzMzGvoBYT4hAQYshr40AAQuYcu_CE3TM_BuKYJhWy5dmiVyzuIKkB6BZkffdlK/s1600/DSCN3566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0y3XbxjTr2tBqxIPy7YcTspd65OkV4S9pxA8IXSdDs-AAyhjOjEcqdcSDhlEfTwHu9JXe5-_oIcXyzQzMzGvoBYT4hAQYshr40AAQuYcu_CE3TM_BuKYJhWy5dmiVyzuIKkB6BZkffdlK/s400/DSCN3566.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A close-up of the "glacier." To be fair, I was there in August - when it's probably as its smallest.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq19zyNGIa2gZPj5ECR9fpTXzEuOmC29HqCVjZLHyUPwgICgv7knnm_5GPkvcRFKcQivXkCWfwywyQPdLu5a-SiOrKO6d5MaQAy1uGWAbZubJ1HaDngrXtdR_4WCpXI0rXyQUBGDFXR160/s1600/DSCN3591.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq19zyNGIa2gZPj5ECR9fpTXzEuOmC29HqCVjZLHyUPwgICgv7knnm_5GPkvcRFKcQivXkCWfwywyQPdLu5a-SiOrKO6d5MaQAy1uGWAbZubJ1HaDngrXtdR_4WCpXI0rXyQUBGDFXR160/s400/DSCN3591.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An Alpine "lake" on my way back down the mountain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju-viLijz4GvdtVOwZ5nEA1RGTWsxqRWGfEFrbJ_PKfyAJchMirJ4uuAwHa29h341NJDz3J2bIv4AOd0laCiljgh5Dk3SRlolqU_7ojFKyy2FA2dPS1dgMcMDIkyjNK6Zv_TeQgiOWs79y/s1600/DSCN3598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju-viLijz4GvdtVOwZ5nEA1RGTWsxqRWGfEFrbJ_PKfyAJchMirJ4uuAwHa29h341NJDz3J2bIv4AOd0laCiljgh5Dk3SRlolqU_7ojFKyy2FA2dPS1dgMcMDIkyjNK6Zv_TeQgiOWs79y/s400/DSCN3598.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the bottom of the trail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"> </span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
And...
</h3>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">If you can only visit five
national parks within a five-hour drive of Salt Lake City, Great Basin doesn’t
need to be one of them. However, if you live in the area—or if you happen to be
driving from, say, California to Utah—it might be worth the detour. But it’s
one of those parks where you have to get out of your car and hike a bit to
really appreciate—so only go if you know you can get tickets to the caves and
if you’re ready to take the fairly strenuous Bristlecone Pike Hike. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.5pt;">...And back across the desert we go.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxUDvR0Jq20wMHUPoSWs-usgVncc-lfIENDWBnDZ_ZIVENscEbw95bDH5Vu8epQAp58R2N7k1H5e9Py5bElXDY5SSmTnPXkKzSBo2r2QwrQu8w_WkrmMPStkDWsQnw2ImYHVRENeYcTHtW/s1600/DSCN3604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxUDvR0Jq20wMHUPoSWs-usgVncc-lfIENDWBnDZ_ZIVENscEbw95bDH5Vu8epQAp58R2N7k1H5e9Py5bElXDY5SSmTnPXkKzSBo2r2QwrQu8w_WkrmMPStkDWsQnw2ImYHVRENeYcTHtW/s400/DSCN3604.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A crazy person</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sevier Lake in Utah's west desert - it's huge and it looks like it has water, but it's almost always bone dry</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-27326547166215946082013-10-08T20:59:00.000-06:002013-10-08T21:04:46.338-06:00Mesa Verde National Park (Western Colorado Trip, Part IV) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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With the gorgeous and terrifying San Juan Mountains behind us, we left our
hotel the next morning for the final stop of our adventure: Mesa Verde National
Park.<br />
<br />
Unlike our other rather obscure destinations during the trip—Colorado National
Monument, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Million Dollar Highway—Mesa Verde
is actually pretty famous.<br />
<br />
You’ve seen pictures of it. At some point you may have even thought: “Hey, that
would be a cool place to visit—<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">someday</i></b>.”<br />
<br />
The top of the mesa is actually pretty boring—just a lot of desert shrubbery
and an occasional old, mostly unexcavated ruin. It’s what’s on the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sides </i>of the mesa that counts. <br />
<br />
In short, Mesa Verde is the place with all the cliff dwellings you see in
history books and National Geographic. And it doesn’t have just one cliff
dwelling—it has <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">many. </i>At one
particular overlook, you could see five or six separate dwellings on the side
of a sheer cliff. <br />
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<br />
The coolest part? We were actually able to walk through two of the dwellings
while we were there. The first dwelling, Spruce Tree House, was easy to access—just about a ¼ mile
down a gradual slope to the bottom ravine of sorts—and thus it was quite
crowded with people. Nevertheless, it was a cool experience.<br />
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<br />
A lot of different thoughts go through your head as you walk through a 1000+
year old town carved into a cliff:<br />
<br />
“How did they build this?” <br />
“I can’t believe people actually lived here.” <br />
“Did they really have to climb out of here every day?” <br />
“Wow, I guess these people weren’t afraid of heights.” <br />
“Where did I come from? Where am I going? Are families forever?” <br />
Etc.<br />
<br />
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<br />
The second dwelling we toured was even cooler, and quite a bit more
like what you imagine when you think of cliff dwellings. Whereas Spruce Tree
House was pretty much at ground level, this one was smack dab in the middle of
a sheer cliff face. Due to the relative danger and difficulty of access (at
least for those not used to climbing up steep walls), this one required tickets
and a Park Ranger tour guide.<br />
<br />
And since the description labeled this tour as “extreme” and mentioned
things like “multiple climbs up 32 foot ladders” and “squeezing through 12-foot
long crawl spaces,” Mom and Dad decided to stay behind while Heather and I
embarked on this adventure. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
-<br />
<br />
One of the recurring themes of this weekend trip was acrophobia—and this
second tour gave me a chance to re-establish, once again, that I am indeed afraid
of heights. <br />
<br />
To get down to the dwelling, you have to walk down a steep, sloping trail carved
into the cliff side. The trail is narrow, and a foot to your left is a steep
thousand foot drop. <br />
<br />
Then you have to climb up a 32-foot ladder. <br />
<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimy6cLZ9WSOFFXdJ8AMZ5X6RkJn2weoNn_3GgABRARcOqdmkpgxuF69976lCApeK-3evTaLj7BmmAtyg4j4lzA83mAt0bc4flwmdTYGyEf-Wsxpoo2Mz9356qXk_jx_9R8SalWc5ShVCyo/s1600/DSCN3286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimy6cLZ9WSOFFXdJ8AMZ5X6RkJn2weoNn_3GgABRARcOqdmkpgxuF69976lCApeK-3evTaLj7BmmAtyg4j4lzA83mAt0bc4flwmdTYGyEf-Wsxpoo2Mz9356qXk_jx_9R8SalWc5ShVCyo/s400/DSCN3286.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the dwelling</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqM3jsHwsLo6IDNrJcQlirpQDX7Nzpok_Fo2uhxtIRRXB-cPb7erUBFyKnl4hJbLD5-mQBujND6WTf98jYOk5zCHn6_GR3HfRDFfOUSFGfSP8Bwm28P6XjegqPSA6rplrNyGsc_ZeCfo1/s1600/DSCN3293.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqM3jsHwsLo6IDNrJcQlirpQDX7Nzpok_Fo2uhxtIRRXB-cPb7erUBFyKnl4hJbLD5-mQBujND6WTf98jYOk5zCHn6_GR3HfRDFfOUSFGfSP8Bwm28P6XjegqPSA6rplrNyGsc_ZeCfo1/s400/DSCN3293.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
To get back out, you have to crawl on your hands and knees through a very
narrow space and then climb another tall ladder and then walk up some <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">very </i>steep, shallow steps carved into
the cliff. It was all very exciting and stuff. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpAnkUZ9nvGbP5DW_Z8EErF8ZIHxlH_ERGb0UZ4qZ2u17mWEeNPsr2IAVyujbD800JZ8ZmNGReAm2q94A6-BoVHlvsxM-9_i2G3QqtRNYlJ4M_mMsXRhlvHtD8GRb0uuehH5uvwyJstV7/s1600/DSCN3294.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpAnkUZ9nvGbP5DW_Z8EErF8ZIHxlH_ERGb0UZ4qZ2u17mWEeNPsr2IAVyujbD800JZ8ZmNGReAm2q94A6-BoVHlvsxM-9_i2G3QqtRNYlJ4M_mMsXRhlvHtD8GRb0uuehH5uvwyJstV7/s400/DSCN3294.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqMQgfljQQD09424U_VHHdsUjqkDySXHQuuU2-ly76QCG6RfXVMFw6giH3iAgZrGSyEZTU6v_AM6AFc_MzTdOPJiCdDOrrfqdLjKGPl41SrVvxo7oD_s-PZJCCnBwY1qI1C_tz1doABSr/s1600/DSCN3296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirqMQgfljQQD09424U_VHHdsUjqkDySXHQuuU2-ly76QCG6RfXVMFw6giH3iAgZrGSyEZTU6v_AM6AFc_MzTdOPJiCdDOrrfqdLjKGPl41SrVvxo7oD_s-PZJCCnBwY1qI1C_tz1doABSr/s400/DSCN3296.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
But while you’re actually in the dwelling, it’s quite cool. The tour guide
told us a lot about the day-to-day lives and religious beliefs/ceremonies of
the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ancient Pueblo Peoples</i> who once
lived there. She told us about why they chose these locations (for defense,
obviously) and what kinds of foods they ate and so on and so forth. (I would go
into more detail here, but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten most of what she told us.)<br />
<br />
“Just don’t lean against the rock wall on the edge of the dwelling,” she
added, “because it’s not very stable and people have fallen.”<br />
<br />
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Fortunately, I didn’t fall. That totally would have ruined
the whole trip. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-38027587773673606362013-09-03T11:52:00.002-06:002013-09-03T11:52:39.461-06:00The Highway of Terror (Western Colorado, Part III)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<![endif]-->According to Google Maps, there’s about 135 miles between
Montrose, Colorado (near Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park) and
Cortez, Colorado (near Mesa Verde National Park.) Easy-schmeezy, right? A little
over two hours and we can be at our hotel in Cortez—right?
<br />
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<br /></div>
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Well…</div>
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What Google Maps doesn’t quite mention is that there’s an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">enormous mountain range </i>in between
Montrose and Cortez. And we would be driving straight through/over those
mountains—on the most frightening road you’ve ever been on.* The name of the
road? US Route 550, or “The Million Dollar Highway” (I have no idea why it’s
called that.) </div>
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Mind you, the road isn’t scary because of its condition. It
is, by necessity, very well maintained and smooth. No, the drive was scary
because—for much of the time—there was a several thousand foot drop directly to
our right. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Oh, and there’s no guardrail. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s also a breathtaking road which passes through some
of the most gorgeous mountain scenery I’ve ever seen—but it was hard to
concentrate on that aspect while I was keeping my eyes tightly closed and
clutching onto the hand-thing above my seat (because it would protect me if our
car careened off the cliff.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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-</div>
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<br /></div>
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But let’s back up.</div>
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<br /></div>
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After we left Black Canyon, we began heading into some
really beautiful country. As you drive south of Montrose, you begin approaching
the San Juan Mountains—which is one of the most beautiful ranges I’ve ever
seen. Telluride, home of a famous ski resort and film festival, is located in
these mountains (we decided not to take the Telluride route through the
mountains because of construction—I wonder now if it would have been less
harrowing.) Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures of this part of the
drive. It’s hard to take pictures with your eyes closed—so I’m going to take
some from Google and Wikipedia. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Anyways, we keep driving, and the mountains keep getting
closer, and we begin to realize that we we're almost certainly going to end up
driving through or over those rather tall and imposing peaks. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTJBIiDxZr2JbNu2YQeuSpf3COf-lrqOgL2mPb93v_stV1Uw54BXaBMKPqNWDxIbjcIAIswRT4Wz9UOvEX2NvzVuLsijHTei0FaBW3Mn2quoRRP99rbEv5APUb01iTbPkdAyUO1ZB2wDM1/s1600/DSCN3204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTJBIiDxZr2JbNu2YQeuSpf3COf-lrqOgL2mPb93v_stV1Uw54BXaBMKPqNWDxIbjcIAIswRT4Wz9UOvEX2NvzVuLsijHTei0FaBW3Mn2quoRRP99rbEv5APUb01iTbPkdAyUO1ZB2wDM1/s400/DSCN3204.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view as we approached the San Juan Mountains. (I did take this picture, and the next)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJ-5G15a_XpWqH7TQlpb6XGIBuhRzstLApRby9liPtU50ikn5w9cf2DaASs6Wr48JhNS4Cx7TAfmRC8HFG1e08nk_mez7kLWnnr-B91LJK7KFgaKFTUq6ka8dZt8YbJwaAbfeD8KS6vrX/s1600/DSCN3206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcJ-5G15a_XpWqH7TQlpb6XGIBuhRzstLApRby9liPtU50ikn5w9cf2DaASs6Wr48JhNS4Cx7TAfmRC8HFG1e08nk_mez7kLWnnr-B91LJK7KFgaKFTUq6ka8dZt8YbJwaAbfeD8KS6vrX/s400/DSCN3206.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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And, right at the foot of the mountains, we reach the really gorgeous town of Ouray and admire the
scenery. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJUrggnnBscmKGuuvfh98YmXjbEwOfQaO1JJxdJ2bhRrPhh9d7EDQHlx0IdSaeQ9IpdRRvAdN4BubBHhykdRUUfzLYvviKBThFoWH6JVLbBcXCj_XsrpfyDAEqFV5O2PAYsJzDvzGaQnys/s1600/Ouray+CO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJUrggnnBscmKGuuvfh98YmXjbEwOfQaO1JJxdJ2bhRrPhh9d7EDQHlx0IdSaeQ9IpdRRvAdN4BubBHhykdRUUfzLYvviKBThFoWH6JVLbBcXCj_XsrpfyDAEqFV5O2PAYsJzDvzGaQnys/s400/Ouray+CO.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ouray, Colorado. This is not my picture. </td></tr>
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And then we pass through Ouray, and the road keeps going up.
And up. And up. And then we’re at an overlook a thousand or more feet above
Ouray. And we keep going up. And up. And up. </div>
<br />
And the mountains are green and lush, with lots of
waterfalls—but I don’t really notice, because we keep going up. And up. And up. <br />
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<br /></div>
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And there’s no guardrail. And, about two feet to our right,
is a 2,000 foot drop. Into an abyss.</div>
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And the road is narrow, and the speed limit strangely high,
and every time a car passes us you feel a little bit… Tense. </div>
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<br /></div>
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And still we go up, and up, and up. And up.</div>
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</div>
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Ouray, Colorado is located at 7,700 feet above sea level.
Within an hour of leaving Ouray, we were driving over mountain passes at 11,000
feet. </div>
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<br /></div>
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There were a lot of passes on this drive. So we’d go up a
few thousand feet, and then down a few thousand feet, and then back up a few
thousand feet, and… It was a very long (and not fuel efficient) two or three
hours.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJ_5M2xDyxWSrZFolDzvxBxn7jisNYH4xKqsHnQr-eHeQZkCH1wx4cdJfH8gUfrQ5UaHUzgsAZ8p_Y-Td5g96mkobREUJy7UMgsYC4m0pO1x9eRBZ7kiD7Fnse1_JysHZsor4A2sicOdo/s1600/Million+Dollar+Highway+gorge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJ_5M2xDyxWSrZFolDzvxBxn7jisNYH4xKqsHnQr-eHeQZkCH1wx4cdJfH8gUfrQ5UaHUzgsAZ8p_Y-Td5g96mkobREUJy7UMgsYC4m0pO1x9eRBZ7kiD7Fnse1_JysHZsor4A2sicOdo/s400/Million+Dollar+Highway+gorge.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not my photo</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM6TTBxKm-Yewd3v2S1RzlO2YjL3d6x4mx1BpNH_8ggQ1oFawbeUU0cKEPp8LgZ2QYMOBZly7vG29kfp1_TVFwf3Sq1lxUndXrEpUIQM51BULKy9h9VAGIVMFSOkEIHxm3Vo4IiR4DMa9s/s1600/million+dollar+highway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM6TTBxKm-Yewd3v2S1RzlO2YjL3d6x4mx1BpNH_8ggQ1oFawbeUU0cKEPp8LgZ2QYMOBZly7vG29kfp1_TVFwf3Sq1lxUndXrEpUIQM51BULKy9h9VAGIVMFSOkEIHxm3Vo4IiR4DMa9s/s400/million+dollar+highway.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not my photo either</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Fortunately, the first hour outside of Ouray was the worst.
After that, the cliffs weren’t quite as high or steep and we could finally breathe.
Our biggest concern, at that point, was getting out of the mountains before
sunset (we intentionally left Montrose early enough to make sure we would get
to </div>
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Cortez by sunset. But we had failed to take <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the mountains </i>into account.) </div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiptv0kP7lIcWi2YJKLXc8ed0n65rRnLCwIR-YppX-xUWqoX0p5uth7ElaxWGDxZI5Askp6xIVQZqYwWOI9Vsubw_tZAt8jLAYR8eP3SMSW-1aKLQ0TQeuwMCY7ACovMs3FRHVaa3qDL2Z9/s1600/avalanche+chute.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiptv0kP7lIcWi2YJKLXc8ed0n65rRnLCwIR-YppX-xUWqoX0p5uth7ElaxWGDxZI5Askp6xIVQZqYwWOI9Vsubw_tZAt8jLAYR8eP3SMSW-1aKLQ0TQeuwMCY7ACovMs3FRHVaa3qDL2Z9/s400/avalanche+chute.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When we drove under this "avalanche chute," there was a pretty good waterfall running over it. In other words, we drove <i>under </i>a waterfall. (Not my photo)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS29JQXRTaZELhoiOyxU4IXP7-i93ArinQvvbVBhmdpy8cOmZmL3Je46yKXcQK5J5i5Hxze-xvYc-uKMqkTV5U_oBVjzfLu1oCYmdOq5MsbyQs71gtC9alk0e11yJ4L_6eh6hmC3gVZbVE/s1600/DSCN3213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS29JQXRTaZELhoiOyxU4IXP7-i93ArinQvvbVBhmdpy8cOmZmL3Je46yKXcQK5J5i5Hxze-xvYc-uKMqkTV5U_oBVjzfLu1oCYmdOq5MsbyQs71gtC9alk0e11yJ4L_6eh6hmC3gVZbVE/s400/DSCN3213.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The appropriately named "Red Mountain"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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But we did - finally - roll into Durango just as the sun was setting.
From there, it was a relatively easy hour to Cortez—where we checked into our
hotel and had dreams about falling off cliffs (ok, maybe that was just me.) </div>
<h2>
Addendum</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I found out later that many people love driving the Million
Dollar Highway—which I can understand, since it is very pretty and it
apparently has a ton of really amazing ATV trails leading off of it, etc.—but
they always recommend driving <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">north </i>from
Durango, instead of south from Ouray. That way, you’ll be hugging the
mountainside through much of the drive, rather than driving two feet away from
the edge of a cliff. Which, I imagine, is considerably less stressful. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If only we had known,” etc. </div>
<h2>
A Truly Random Side Note</h2>
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Incidentally—and this may only be interesting to me—it turns
out that about 50 miles west (as the crow flies) of where we were driving in
the San Juan Mountains sits the La Garita Caldera—the site of one of the
largest volcanic explosions in the history of the world. It was several times
bigger than the much-ballyhooed Yellowstone supervolcano. For some reason, I
find that kind of thing cool—even if it was 25 million years ago. I'd love to visit the site of the eruption one day when I have access to an ATV. </div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpilyFXBCCG58YCSFGo-GPFu4yBQf-O_a3zzpgBksmHk2pHLCaeFUADF8QcPGwGUBP5Oh4nLiMG5U3sqCzuiNxefl6QvD5SmjTDRfStLPmEpl5ArAridQUOZQlKRT9jaidFoIDzV0S42s/s1600/Wheeler3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpilyFXBCCG58YCSFGo-GPFu4yBQf-O_a3zzpgBksmHk2pHLCaeFUADF8QcPGwGUBP5Oh4nLiMG5U3sqCzuiNxefl6QvD5SmjTDRfStLPmEpl5ArAridQUOZQlKRT9jaidFoIDzV0S42s/s400/Wheeler3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We didn't see this (in other words, not my photo,) but this is part of the "Wheeler Geologic Area" where the La Garita supervolcano erupted a long, long time ago. These weird formations are a remnant of that eruption.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<br /></div>
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- </div>
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<br /></div>
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*Ok, so it's quite possible that you've been on more terrifying roads - I mean, at least this one was paved and well-maintained. It was really only terrifying because of the steep, steep dropoffs and the lack of guardrails (and the narrow lanes, and the speed limits, and...) </div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-79178553231030040992013-08-09T11:44:00.002-06:002013-08-09T15:52:30.454-06:00Black Canyon of the Gunnison (Western Colorado, Part II)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</xml><![endif]-->Nobody’s ever heard of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National
Park—partly because it’s one of the newest parks (it was founded in 1999,) and
partly because it’s not really on the way to anywhere. If you just happened to
be driving through the town of Montrose, Colorado, you would never guess that
you’re only a few miles away from an enormous canyon. Until you’re inside the
park itself, the landscape around Montrose isn’t particularly inspiring (just
some rolling hills and small mountains.)
<br />
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<br /></div>
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But the park deserves to be more well known—because it’s
really, really cool. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Basically, Black Canyon is a smaller version of the Grand
Canyon—but it’s also unique enough to make it a worthwhile visit, even if you’ve
already been to its more famous Arizona cousin. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Here’s why it’s so cool:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6lzvuE_pcKw_ZAW9E9quzphPrvqjHHFskoPfxxUZZ9QRRKwcRTE9MC6A6qMYWUh-BI9xkA8Z__LgFq9Aw8etPbCUiOU7BXonBi5RfD1RlRrKQUXtEinUROmQgtr9zD7Kaoz04-Ke-Ozs/s1600/DSCN3130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo6lzvuE_pcKw_ZAW9E9quzphPrvqjHHFskoPfxxUZZ9QRRKwcRTE9MC6A6qMYWUh-BI9xkA8Z__LgFq9Aw8etPbCUiOU7BXonBi5RfD1RlRrKQUXtEinUROmQgtr9zD7Kaoz04-Ke-Ozs/s400/DSCN3130.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dark coloring of the rocks in the canyon made it more... Foreboding. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimFwo22xEecwbsYmsH04qHQvgdW0sk2aEffC-uy6tw4cnJ7M3jk38UNiQzPLZUGQwW402q7kKUwo4m-9ak2E5-RO61M1hehcFlzbDnrmfbcwYVuRZb4Iu6lvnzAxrHI5WHeFyPZD7bsAjX/s1600/DSCN3098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimFwo22xEecwbsYmsH04qHQvgdW0sk2aEffC-uy6tw4cnJ7M3jk38UNiQzPLZUGQwW402q7kKUwo4m-9ak2E5-RO61M1hehcFlzbDnrmfbcwYVuRZb4Iu6lvnzAxrHI5WHeFyPZD7bsAjX/s400/DSCN3098.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Xw-VF8C99AschBWhDv4iyP8UYAJHNvoI3Y3F1cXsUqlpFUwnV29HP597z3yh1qEaUoCyaGZN2OjtAKYNMK2Z1uQj-iIHHJbIs2g_dMOOhvojXxV3uFhRXxPQVG23f6t28GbJGC-QLW5H/s1600/DSCN3104.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Xw-VF8C99AschBWhDv4iyP8UYAJHNvoI3Y3F1cXsUqlpFUwnV29HP597z3yh1qEaUoCyaGZN2OjtAKYNMK2Z1uQj-iIHHJbIs2g_dMOOhvojXxV3uFhRXxPQVG23f6t28GbJGC-QLW5H/s400/DSCN3104.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjIi9cA58gNJIaY8prJBAK0ttmFeyJKww0Nvfn0usagrDSWUSHKFBAZUF7RANdvwtMxlXuPg1WAEVGiI0ImtHfhcsuQTFBPXyreYN2coHn9lHbn7MfsGIa_0FAzrgbGiv8wcQ4ZzN_cadF/s1600/DSCN3122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjIi9cA58gNJIaY8prJBAK0ttmFeyJKww0Nvfn0usagrDSWUSHKFBAZUF7RANdvwtMxlXuPg1WAEVGiI0ImtHfhcsuQTFBPXyreYN2coHn9lHbn7MfsGIa_0FAzrgbGiv8wcQ4ZzN_cadF/s400/DSCN3122.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wall with the stripes is called "The Painted Wall" - a 2250' sheer cliff (the tallest "vertical wall" in Colorado)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBcE2attZM589kqScZLTVPiGI8PgvqzODj7Ojh5I-HqxFHL4j5rA6EabWAFaEWvxQX8wrrECEBM-JYc71y1ubCOumicMgf68cvF6-lu8o5t2kSfK-m45Kl2HGJ4zWZNte6zG6WNR8VcPo/s1600/DSCN3124.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBcE2attZM589kqScZLTVPiGI8PgvqzODj7Ojh5I-HqxFHL4j5rA6EabWAFaEWvxQX8wrrECEBM-JYc71y1ubCOumicMgf68cvF6-lu8o5t2kSfK-m45Kl2HGJ4zWZNte6zG6WNR8VcPo/s400/DSCN3124.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qu_Sy5dPv61NVY8ZKQgLygkZCE7_FUHU9FQk6QIDgk5EAljBW-aNOv6x8HT1oFxJ0mNgwSnZDiXcA8vC_MlfCzk-KhKMJVR3D7vZjRRxnTSB9c1Ah7wVIaULHqPvFaG2YqX4-FQwjJVG/s1600/DSCN3114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_qu_Sy5dPv61NVY8ZKQgLygkZCE7_FUHU9FQk6QIDgk5EAljBW-aNOv6x8HT1oFxJ0mNgwSnZDiXcA8vC_MlfCzk-KhKMJVR3D7vZjRRxnTSB9c1Ah7wVIaULHqPvFaG2YqX4-FQwjJVG/s400/DSCN3114.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The top of the canyon was surprisingly pretty, with lots of wildflowers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabX2Fv-Jjo5BJlGkRyaVa81reG5CPcfeIJIZc5EzzV1eCey154eRAgZECbbrE5M2pJq2lhOBw4kUijOnULNLR052YDvqr48fV7VjmtNruXlDXtpK4ZPawk704J8WwLr-E0QkZB9NQOBZy/s1600/DSCN3118.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabX2Fv-Jjo5BJlGkRyaVa81reG5CPcfeIJIZc5EzzV1eCey154eRAgZECbbrE5M2pJq2lhOBw4kUijOnULNLR052YDvqr48fV7VjmtNruXlDXtpK4ZPawk704J8WwLr-E0QkZB9NQOBZy/s400/DSCN3118.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgQqqxAMRr1-rif4xl4yexXzb3qq2WiMGeOZXUv2HPA0ZF7V_GjMFGfEigKHtLiyJaur-6I2OTVHrhtYNxQeo3tPBql1HOhLYVQaSyjmOefHFObu9Jd59jUEW2Hl2vuVcN8DEacJ198Qmr/s1600/DSCN3112.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgQqqxAMRr1-rif4xl4yexXzb3qq2WiMGeOZXUv2HPA0ZF7V_GjMFGfEigKHtLiyJaur-6I2OTVHrhtYNxQeo3tPBql1HOhLYVQaSyjmOefHFObu9Jd59jUEW2Hl2vuVcN8DEacJ198Qmr/s400/DSCN3112.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5af6ThTtFEBrgsSZOL7ltDlLlg-3VQX-yRRqqiaQX73SiQpBuN9SFGb-iA7rsSdXPBdQhT3QLobPQ5ld2R72mrsyqIQebb_q_db49y1aQsw5YNxLrbN4FBtD0-Q1UGv4GVLazfoI1uLY/s1600/DSCN3120.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5af6ThTtFEBrgsSZOL7ltDlLlg-3VQX-yRRqqiaQX73SiQpBuN9SFGb-iA7rsSdXPBdQhT3QLobPQ5ld2R72mrsyqIQebb_q_db49y1aQsw5YNxLrbN4FBtD0-Q1UGv4GVLazfoI1uLY/s400/DSCN3120.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There’s nothing like walking to the edge of the viewing
platform and looking down—straight down, 2,000 feet. It’s acrophobia-inducing,
yes, but also rather awe-inspiring. </div>
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(It's also quite cool to see birds flying <i>below </i>you.) Unfortunately, cameras (and my camera in particular) are not very good at capturing the sheer depth and enormity of landscapes like this. It's one of those "you kind of have to be there" things.<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></div>
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I also took one of the short (mile or so) hikes that travel
along the canyon’s edge beyond the end of the scenic drive—I was able to see
some different views of the canyon, some wildlife, and the rather verdant
plateau located right outside the park. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7BXqDSF-c7PbYgY5ahu0RzIJxaN1uq0ouNR4UHoFzWJ8-e8PKBag3t23eygNxRQJwtP27U9bZIzZai-YlcpxQ9ry1h44nmsoMskNyO-1fNwhDXx39qK2BYki8gmqVt-AIEyZrqm9Jp3tl/s1600/DSCN3138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7BXqDSF-c7PbYgY5ahu0RzIJxaN1uq0ouNR4UHoFzWJ8-e8PKBag3t23eygNxRQJwtP27U9bZIzZai-YlcpxQ9ry1h44nmsoMskNyO-1fNwhDXx39qK2BYki8gmqVt-AIEyZrqm9Jp3tl/s400/DSCN3138.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I liked this really green plateau at the bottom of the mountain, with the snow-capped mountains in the distance.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfoaGXQmDAykkelDSM9FjkYvFajcEJTMWQT_GmiZ_znh2ja_HDGeEOs9A62QsISnk6ifhD9zoje8q1GszvsmUcoThSs0KPrKKyAq2nDMv_zuBEV8h8I5eFTHkSEyL0IfgNhFn4f72aija/s1600/DSCN3141.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfoaGXQmDAykkelDSM9FjkYvFajcEJTMWQT_GmiZ_znh2ja_HDGeEOs9A62QsISnk6ifhD9zoje8q1GszvsmUcoThSs0KPrKKyAq2nDMv_zuBEV8h8I5eFTHkSEyL0IfgNhFn4f72aija/s400/DSCN3141.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UmAz1ZjXTs8sN8ss4VINKn4mtHZ-mh6I2SXKZjq2XFyCTcF3ukyYAflRUCLMvZkPGxGkbfVgSDz-r6WSqu6uhfbuxIbOjUP36MNyoFDBKGd4Pwfu5_E5DfDokV87smb5sdGKwRS1GjCj/s1600/DSCN3149.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UmAz1ZjXTs8sN8ss4VINKn4mtHZ-mh6I2SXKZjq2XFyCTcF3ukyYAflRUCLMvZkPGxGkbfVgSDz-r6WSqu6uhfbuxIbOjUP36MNyoFDBKGd4Pwfu5_E5DfDokV87smb5sdGKwRS1GjCj/s400/DSCN3149.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some more of the landscape outside the canyon area.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMbnhbU4eoZZ24osYDa5B61jTNfYWsLiL8AFd3NaQas5nzZoNEGhN5AU0YKZUSL3WEb0Gz1CuGll_UyC4OakQy0BFCCVCi0xWL-LtKvjdlLX5n1bbkVSXOSFliccZjGZ-Wfgcwykd8BTOJ/s1600/DSCN3150.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMbnhbU4eoZZ24osYDa5B61jTNfYWsLiL8AFd3NaQas5nzZoNEGhN5AU0YKZUSL3WEb0Gz1CuGll_UyC4OakQy0BFCCVCi0xWL-LtKvjdlLX5n1bbkVSXOSFliccZjGZ-Wfgcwykd8BTOJ/s400/DSCN3150.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiWxKJBI1SHN3j4dMJC2vMnFmYCFYZrHntA-ONnM9kkuie6R8K0Wq9pTfb1-oXQX6a1_yr4y1c4x6FPa85r5KKhIrhmywbyHZe-K7EHfCuvBluoI7i5ZNAorMz08mUz_AfsNWHjHUs5GEg/s1600/DSCN3154.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiWxKJBI1SHN3j4dMJC2vMnFmYCFYZrHntA-ONnM9kkuie6R8K0Wq9pTfb1-oXQX6a1_yr4y1c4x6FPa85r5KKhIrhmywbyHZe-K7EHfCuvBluoI7i5ZNAorMz08mUz_AfsNWHjHUs5GEg/s400/DSCN3154.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKAvr5UxNsw5N99BppQQm-1dOnkP5xBq_a-4YzoJ8YeiGuqDPP2k9q8-vedSG8Pvs_iG6z3dHuGJAfyEIEYo50ScaWWON7BehUX28jJxgXEkXeECayQ8YRtpgRry6lOfqM3E34onGDdouu/s1600/DSCN3170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKAvr5UxNsw5N99BppQQm-1dOnkP5xBq_a-4YzoJ8YeiGuqDPP2k9q8-vedSG8Pvs_iG6z3dHuGJAfyEIEYo50ScaWWON7BehUX28jJxgXEkXeECayQ8YRtpgRry6lOfqM3E34onGDdouu/s400/DSCN3170.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvjfCs6g41ULD093ojnqevCH-_SPQcSLFPM87FEKONfP9l-m6GQ2r2Dt26TSlxtarZAPUx7cuOqEJql1se2d_7i4wvGVnjghqQyLraGVR0UG2z0mPMMzwhVZHkOi2Ztnsm38WNsHqXMU3_/s1600/DSCN3176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvjfCs6g41ULD093ojnqevCH-_SPQcSLFPM87FEKONfP9l-m6GQ2r2Dt26TSlxtarZAPUx7cuOqEJql1se2d_7i4wvGVnjghqQyLraGVR0UG2z0mPMMzwhVZHkOi2Ztnsm38WNsHqXMU3_/s400/DSCN3176.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this is a Collared Lizard.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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One of the things that make Black Canyon unique is that,
unlike the Grand Canyon, you can actually get to the bottom without taking a
multi-day hike. Yes, there’s a road to the bottom—however, the road has a 16%
(!) grade in spots, so you have to take it careful and slow. However, it’s a
worthwhile visit, since the view from the bottom is really, really different
from the view from the top. You actually get to see the river, and it’s rather
cool looking straight up the sides of the cliffs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigDyQRuCo6TB_v_i0mkg5NcjFbImMqwq8ug8zdqgWJ8S6aAgc2qWft1h6hPVGjZVKZ_Fuwlo03FZKIRoMn2ZlrWt6b2hNCGuYoEdHZK8v-VgfU68WdmKjj014wHMdGUSgAQpLmuMGJu63b/s1600/DSCN3097.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigDyQRuCo6TB_v_i0mkg5NcjFbImMqwq8ug8zdqgWJ8S6aAgc2qWft1h6hPVGjZVKZ_Fuwlo03FZKIRoMn2ZlrWt6b2hNCGuYoEdHZK8v-VgfU68WdmKjj014wHMdGUSgAQpLmuMGJu63b/s320/DSCN3097.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hey, it's me on the rim of the BCotG!</td></tr>
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It’s an awesome park and anyone that happens to be visiting
Western Colorado [but who visits Western Colorado?] oughta pay it a visit.
However, it’s also a pretty small park—unless you want to hike to the bottom of
the canyon, you can easily see it all in just a few hours. Fortunately, it fit perfectly
into our travel plans, and it was only a few miles out of our way. We were able to take the tour in a few hours, and then
leave without feeling like we had missed anything—a rarity for national parks,
which are usually so full of possible hikes and tours that you feel like you
could never see everything that there is to see. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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After we left the park, we continued to drive south towards
Mesa Verde—little did we know, however, that we were about to drive on one of
the most terrifying paved roads in North America. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-1789246171584628112013-06-30T19:18:00.000-06:002013-06-30T19:18:09.883-06:00I Need Rain (or: Rain, Rain, Come This Way)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<b>Warning: This post does not have a point. I apologize for the weirdness and pointlessness of it in advance. </b><br />
<br />
The desert is nice and all, but recently I've been feeling an intense desire to go somewhere that's, well... Wet. And green. <br />
<br />
I don't really know why I love moisture and precipitation so much. I don't know why the thought of big thunderclouds approaching on the horizon brings me such joy. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I've been living in the Utah desert for 13 years. I'm sure it also doesn't help that it has been 100 degrees here recently. But the fact of the matter is that I <u><b>love</b></u> rain. I crave it. Overcast days make me happy. And when it rains... Well, I feel euphoric. Sunny days, on the other hand, just feel: Oppressive, deadening, exhausting.<br />
<br />
It annoys me when the weatherman or the people at work get upset because it's overcast or because it might rain - and then they tell me I'm weird when I say that I like clouds and rain and so on and so forth. They ask me if I'm "emo." <br />
<br />
My response: "We live in Utah. It's the desert. You have lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of time to play and melt in the sun. Are you really going to get upset because 30 of the 365 days in the year aren't witheringly hot and bright and sunburny and all that?" <br />
<br />
Even when it does rain here, nine times out of ten it sprinkles for ten minutes and then it's over and we're left to look forward to our next "rainstorm" in four months. <br />
<br />
Of course, everyone responds: "You should move to Seattle."<br />
<br />
And, well, I would if I could. One of my dreams is to move to Portland or Seattle or anywhere on the Olympic Peninsula. In fact, from every description I've read, those places sound like paradise on Earth. They get lots of moisture, they have lots of big, growing, green things, and lots of little streams and rivers and so on. So, in other words, they're kind of the opposite of Utah. <br />
<br />
Of course, I might change my mind after a few months in Seattle. I'm sure the strong attraction I feel to those places has at least something to do with how very different they are from Utah. Perhaps I'd go there, get tired of the constant rain, and then decide I really just want to live in a place where you can expect more than three rainy days in a year. Of course, I don't want tornadoes and I don't want flooding - but I have to believe there's a happy medium out there. <br />
<br />
...In the meantime, I've taken to Googling pictures of thunder clouds and rain and staring at them, daydreaming that I'm living somewhere where real, honest thunderstorms are more than just the stuff of fantasy. Somewhere where you can look out in the distance and see those big, epic thunder clouds approaching and where you can wake up to the sound of rain on your window.<br />
<br />
I like pictures like these:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpO5pKFgf6UT0mZcnCgs-lvoAHzzVjJhcHzjdiCik8rjSQVmI7TYui_SGfQETt6KJq4ccD3jVzIyky8Xr1juu-tOEM74IYBxmGOezAG-aTd6E24sqc-6sY2UQzf6KvcLeK88RTcWbwn-M/s259/thundercloud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpO5pKFgf6UT0mZcnCgs-lvoAHzzVjJhcHzjdiCik8rjSQVmI7TYui_SGfQETt6KJq4ccD3jVzIyky8Xr1juu-tOEM74IYBxmGOezAG-aTd6E24sqc-6sY2UQzf6KvcLeK88RTcWbwn-M/s259/thundercloud.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWlLcxpcU0L0Kj1w1JeSILTOm6Tdu_LAB9AM0-KX6DCCQX2XIqTxd47xfxR11o-ZWOQy9GW8_NbGXStrYW-haC1N_Rye8gOEmnuOnaYH_sctgjZa2FHCWStGJSx39LfUHrtgAhwWdWTcV/s1279/thunderstorm3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghWlLcxpcU0L0Kj1w1JeSILTOm6Tdu_LAB9AM0-KX6DCCQX2XIqTxd47xfxR11o-ZWOQy9GW8_NbGXStrYW-haC1N_Rye8gOEmnuOnaYH_sctgjZa2FHCWStGJSx39LfUHrtgAhwWdWTcV/s320/thunderstorm3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-66584271814229764642013-06-01T21:58:00.000-06:002013-06-01T22:09:11.846-06:00Western Colorado Adventure - Part 1: Colorado National Monument and Grand Mesa Scenic Byway<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<h3>
Foreword </h3>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
After 13 years of living in Utah, I’ve finally begun to
realize just how much there is to do in the area. If you have a car (and money,)
there are about a million awesome road trips you can take without ever getting
more than about half a day’s drive from Alpine. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
That’s why this year one of my New Year’s resolutions was
to go on a road trip every month. I’m <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not
</i>going to be in Utah all my life, so I figured I really need to take
advantage of our amazing location by seeing as much as possible before I
(please please please) get a new job and move out of state within the next year
or two. (So far, the trips have been more like every other month (Sundance Film
Festival in January and Moab in March)—but a lot of the cool places are harder
to access (or partially closed) in winter, so I’m hoping to make up for it in
the coming months. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
In order to reach my goal, over the last few months I’ve
been doing a lot of research to find all the places in the Utah-Nevada-Idaho-Northern
Arizona-Western Colorado area that I would like to visit. Then, using Google
Maps, I try to find all the sites that are within relatively close proximity of
each other and that could feasibly be reached over a weekend. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
As it turns out, there are a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lot </i></b>of hidden gems in the
area (along with the more famous world-renowned destinations), and it would
take years and years of traveling every weekend to see everything there is to
see. I have a long-term goal of visiting all the national parks (most of which
are disproportionately located in the western half of the United States,) so
those are a high priority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other than
that, I just try to pick and choose the sites that sound most interesting—while
realizing that I’ll probably miss out on some great stuff and that I’ll never
be able to see everything. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
…And that was how our Western Colorado Trip was
conceived. This Memorial Day weekend, to kick off the summer travel season,
Dad, Mom, Heather, and I all headed out into the wilderness to visit some
places none of us had ever been (or heard of.) </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Over the course of the two-day trip, we visited (in
chronological order): </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 38.05pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Colorado National Monument</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 38.05pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Grand Mesa Scenic Byway</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 38.05pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 38.05pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Ouray and the Million Dollar Highway (aka: The
Most Terrifying Paved Road in America)</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 38.05pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Mesa Verde National Park</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If I may say so myself, the trip was kind of
perfect—compact, with lots of amazing sites in a relatively short period of
time, but without ever feeling rushed or overwhelming or exhausting (I actually had time to take hikes in both the national parks.) We left
Friday afternoon after work, and arrived back home at around 11:30 on Sunday
night—in the meantime, we saw some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere and
tested the absolute limits of my acrophobia. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
So, without further ado:</div>
<h3>
Chapter 1: Colorado National Monument & Grand Mesa Scenic Byway</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We woke up in Grand Junction on Saturday morning and drove
about ten minutes out of town to Colorado National Monument (henceforth
referred to as CNM.) Like several of the places we visited on the trip, CNM is kind
of obscure and easy to miss. You won’t see any evidence of how amazing it is
until you’re actually driving into it and looking down at Grand Junction from a
great height. In fact, Dad mentioned that he had driven through Grand Junction many
times and never even suspected that such a place existed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyways, the Monument itself consists of several deep
canyons, as well as some really cool rock formations. We wound up the steep
road until we were about 2,000 feet above the valley floor. But instead of
describing it, I’ll just post some pictures (even though none of my pictures
really do it justice): </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxJezWrJGkxNt4iYjp0uU7YFK4kSv-t4ZXVrOPWfKraxQZUXIF_yWh2XLN3x-CCNicT9V-JADLCf2T_O1fytwyQIhvEEo9cu7gkrooQ-634V1Je2LnolY7TF-CMGl7Zjxb4tUpO_Qgb8K/s1600/DSCN3066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxJezWrJGkxNt4iYjp0uU7YFK4kSv-t4ZXVrOPWfKraxQZUXIF_yWh2XLN3x-CCNicT9V-JADLCf2T_O1fytwyQIhvEEo9cu7gkrooQ-634V1Je2LnolY7TF-CMGl7Zjxb4tUpO_Qgb8K/s320/DSCN3066.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENSusj4wOXXP5ypdkT-lC3dMML9X5GfQtugt1OUr7NHyxjKdDuCp2OkrVXN6w5jlV-ly34Rvn_TMl2URLmSJ0ZQMP5fAah6wCrBW3d-dXUedZiQmQXaEyP5qoYx0GzzJL_EhahVmBJbRR/s1600/DSCN3070.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENSusj4wOXXP5ypdkT-lC3dMML9X5GfQtugt1OUr7NHyxjKdDuCp2OkrVXN6w5jlV-ly34Rvn_TMl2URLmSJ0ZQMP5fAah6wCrBW3d-dXUedZiQmQXaEyP5qoYx0GzzJL_EhahVmBJbRR/s320/DSCN3070.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some awesome rock formations</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLdIxSqEmmSJcUTPg24HH0ixOUe9HI8-cvMVcw9HQAChWN45h-v1wOHkC5t2oJUWLxJijP8t96sDxBVyHdzFn3XxYQLVWo2RoHCB0Ir6Z0toSm-AAZ8P9faExKec6dgD_qRY3ACyAN0UEI/s1600/DSCN3077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLdIxSqEmmSJcUTPg24HH0ixOUe9HI8-cvMVcw9HQAChWN45h-v1wOHkC5t2oJUWLxJijP8t96sDxBVyHdzFn3XxYQLVWo2RoHCB0Ir6Z0toSm-AAZ8P9faExKec6dgD_qRY3ACyAN0UEI/s320/DSCN3077.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some more awesome rock formations</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qqb2GH6wR8VenKHbxItfgw-_-KYRf0X17QPTxHu22JfXzHbU3QacL6pVCvkESqh0gE9ERm4ExlXw2WCLPC02rjmvx-aeHpcgfO4eKatWDVFrkn_oApKLhcCeQdaw-fZ5KsWQgctZbHq_/s1600/DSCN3078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qqb2GH6wR8VenKHbxItfgw-_-KYRf0X17QPTxHu22JfXzHbU3QacL6pVCvkESqh0gE9ERm4ExlXw2WCLPC02rjmvx-aeHpcgfO4eKatWDVFrkn_oApKLhcCeQdaw-fZ5KsWQgctZbHq_/s320/DSCN3078.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some meta-photography</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It should be noted that even though the road to The Monument
is steep and involves extreme elevation change, we actually saw more bikers
than cars once we were at the top. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
-</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Once we left CNM, we made our way east towards the start
of the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway. The Byway takes you to the top of “the world’s
largest flat-top mountain.” The road takes you through some really gorgeous
high elevation scenery, with lots of lakes (I love mountain lakes) and
extensive alpine forest. The road’s highest point was about 10,500 feet—which is
really high, but not the highest point we’d reach on the trip. Nevertheless,
there was still lots of snow (and ice) at that elevation. In fact, we stopped
at a summit rest area to eat lunch—only to find that the one picnic table we
could see was almost completely covered with snow. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures of this part of the trip. </span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx__0Q05dwqRVOrCx7EX1cQmnuCfOK9SFt8a9pT9UPt547aDx15StQa_vBjJtqlmhiYSarU261_P5XfvrSRb7Ff1ovfgigjH5QWjG4cVa3FF4GftXIql6pEdCuoApT1Wh_Lpprf4zcxL1k/s1600/DSCN3082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx__0Q05dwqRVOrCx7EX1cQmnuCfOK9SFt8a9pT9UPt547aDx15StQa_vBjJtqlmhiYSarU261_P5XfvrSRb7Ff1ovfgigjH5QWjG4cVa3FF4GftXIql6pEdCuoApT1Wh_Lpprf4zcxL1k/s320/DSCN3082.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view from the top</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOdVg0cc_BxYxGIyWIvumgtmZewMg3eFKZuT-0Vb28UsA-HAtUtN2PGQBf5_9NIvDN1WnlkrU1Kxno6DXjhz1Uy4_S0igGrDxUHSNZtCxJhWAtt-8Tv6E55DzdNGnxFBCDeCoPAgx_tp4E/s1600/DSCN3085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOdVg0cc_BxYxGIyWIvumgtmZewMg3eFKZuT-0Vb28UsA-HAtUtN2PGQBf5_9NIvDN1WnlkrU1Kxno6DXjhz1Uy4_S0igGrDxUHSNZtCxJhWAtt-8Tv6E55DzdNGnxFBCDeCoPAgx_tp4E/s320/DSCN3085.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rivers and lakes near the top were still mostly frozen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8pVzqLVCbOHjDNZrFD_qkJ3dWuaxfdBWTxU6YVirS8bC8-9c9dzw-DUbTkZIpAjEq55LUJUc7GU3e9QwNbkfTJCra1GbGRECGUEyd54AaM0o_VUvlrmqFb3udYtwfLhHP3qM6phGUYd1x/s1600/DSCN3088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8pVzqLVCbOHjDNZrFD_qkJ3dWuaxfdBWTxU6YVirS8bC8-9c9dzw-DUbTkZIpAjEq55LUJUc7GU3e9QwNbkfTJCra1GbGRECGUEyd54AaM0o_VUvlrmqFb3udYtwfLhHP3qM6phGUYd1x/s320/DSCN3088.JPG" width="320" /> </a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Once we were off the mesa, we headed towards Black Canyon of the Gunnison - but you'll have to wait for the next post to hear about it. </div>
</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-56029902077676229782013-05-18T13:17:00.000-06:002013-05-18T16:00:57.891-06:00What Are You So Afraid of? (or: My Adventures in Phobialand) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Do you really get more scared as you get older?<br />
<br />
I swear I didn't used to be terrified of heights or spiders or planes - but now the very thought of seeing a spider or flying on a plane at 38,000 feet (or, worse, being on a plane WITH a spider!) freaks me out. <br />
<br />
I remember flying on planes quite a lot when I was young, particularly when we lived in Russia. Someone else can confirm this, but I don't remember it bothering me at all. But sometime around junior high or high school planes began to freak me out. And recently I've been finding that it's not just planes that bother me, but heights in general.<br />
<br />
<br />
I discovered this latest fear just a few weeks ago, when I went to the Utah Symphony for the 11th or 12th time in the past eight months. But this time, instead of sitting on the orchestra (ground) level like I had during all the previous shows, I found myself being ushered up... Up... Up... UP to the third balcony. Which might have been fine if I had been sitting a few rows back - but instead my seat was on the sides of the balcony, right up against the 50-foot drop to the orchestra level. <br />
<br />
Suffice it to say, I couldn't handle it. I immediately felt myself getting dizzy as I looked down at the performers in the symphony. I had to clutch on to the sides of my seat and
keep my eyes closed for much of the performance. Even then, I found
myself getting lightheaded and breaking out into a sweat. I
was terrified I was going to pass out and somehow fall over the 3-foot
railing. Or maybe there would be an earthquake, and the balcony would
collapse and I would go flying into the eternities. When I walked back
up the aisle during intermission, I had to keep one part of my body
touching the wall at all times (I probably looked drunk to the other concertgoers who saw me staggering up the aisle, clutching to the wall for safety.) <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVp7lmBQeoiBEwjx6HpiM4Y0VAXhMspY2BInKgoVQAVLJl7C_1BxA4l09jYc0jPtHfSs245rPbfRaHu0LJIr5VzdeTSKRaOsHjNI60u0SCWd3neHYvseTyFed3Af7JvuRHOnXujJ4yLr0/s1600/abravanel+hall.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVp7lmBQeoiBEwjx6HpiM4Y0VAXhMspY2BInKgoVQAVLJl7C_1BxA4l09jYc0jPtHfSs245rPbfRaHu0LJIr5VzdeTSKRaOsHjNI60u0SCWd3neHYvseTyFed3Af7JvuRHOnXujJ4yLr0/s400/abravanel+hall.gif" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abravanel Hall: I was on the highest balcony, right up against the edge.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I almost left during intermission, but mustered up my courage since it was a concert (of John Williams music) I had really been looking forward to. I still spent the rest of the concert terrified, but I was proud of myself for enduring it. <br />
<br />
That's the thing about phobias - they're completely irrational. I was never in any danger at the concert - the chances of something catastrophic happening were approximately .0000003 (I put myself in considerably more danger when I got in my car to drive to and from the concert.) And there's also a big difference between a phobia and a regular old fear. I don't like snakes, but they don't make me want to scream and run in the opposite direction like spiders do, and they don't make me spend the next hour flicking invisible creepy-crawlies off my body. I can rationally tell myself that as long as I keep an appropriate distance from a snake, then I don't have anything to worry about. But I can't do the same with spiders - even if the horribly evil-looking spider is in a very well-secured glass cage (at a zoo, for example) it will still freak me out. Even if it's not a poisonous spider that could ever do me any real harm. I can read all the statistics about how airplanes are considerably safer than any other means of transportation, but it doesn't change the fact that cars and boats and trains don't frighten me while planes still do. One part of my fully realizes that it's irrational, but I can't seem to help it.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLtyYp2i_-3-rfW51pKgDQpd_iDIvubxFJY5n5l1QlJfkKikbxt9wJnN2xwMk4ZTdnd_j5fQy729x7kk0VfIeBlk1LJzl2aoYAt5m1l2J8cMmn3IUom_e4S_FE4_Q4er6MF2bCnCXJV6ju/s1600/free+climb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLtyYp2i_-3-rfW51pKgDQpd_iDIvubxFJY5n5l1QlJfkKikbxt9wJnN2xwMk4ZTdnd_j5fQy729x7kk0VfIeBlk1LJzl2aoYAt5m1l2J8cMmn3IUom_e4S_FE4_Q4er6MF2bCnCXJV6ju/s400/free+climb.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is one of the most terrifying images I have ever seen. Ever. No, he's not using a harness or any ropes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
And so you say: "Well, ok, most people have some sort of phobia. You just learn to live with it and to avoid the things you're afraid of as much as possible." But that's the problem - some of the things I love to do the most require me to do the things I'm afraid of. I really love to travel, and I dream of month-long tours of Europe or Southeast Asia or South America - but how am I supposed to do it if the thought of being transported to those places makes me break out in a cold sweat? In an ideal world where I have unlimited time and money, I would just use alternative means of transportation to get everywhere - however, boats are kind of slow, and they still haven't invented trains that go under seas (thanks, shortsighted engineers!) <br />
<br />
I mean, how do you prevent phobias from keeping you from doing the things you want to do? Two of my friends live in Phoenix and I'd love to visit them - but even though round-trip tickets are only about $100, I still can't gather up the courage to get on a plane. I'd love to go spend a long weekend in Florida or Washington state - but, well, planes! Metal tubes at 40,000 feet! Not my idea of a good time.<br />
<br />
I will, however, force myself to get on a plane the next time an opportunity to spend time in Europe presents itself. Maybe.<br />
<br />
(Ok, so I don't really know what the point of this blog post was. I'll just sum everything up and say: Phobias suck.)<br />
<br />
The end.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-44719177971471660042012-09-26T15:18:00.000-06:002012-09-26T15:28:15.445-06:00India & Nepal Narrative: Day 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where was I?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ahh yes… 10 months later, and I’m finally writing Part II of
my India and Nepal narrative. This will probably be a bit faster paced, since
at this point I mainly just want to get this all down somewhere before my
memory completely fails me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><p>
[Edit: Haha. Never mind about the faster paced thing]</div>
<h2>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Day 2 – Delhi </h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When we last left our
protagonists, they had finally arrived at their Delhi hotel after more than 24 nightmarish
hours of sitting in airplanes. It’s the middle of the day in Delhi, but they
collapse in bed and don’t wake up until the next morning. Will the new day
bring better fortunes for our exhausted heroes? Let’s find out…</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s always kind of fun to wake up in a new city after a
good night’s rest. You lie there in bed, trying to figure out where you are and
why you’re in this strange bed, when suddenly you’re like: “Wait! I’m in Delhi!
India! What am I doing in bed?! There’s so much to do! So much to see!” And
it’s really exciting and stuff.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<p>
And then you roll over and go back to sleep for two more
hours.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
-</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Several hours later, and we’re both ready to start the day. Now
fully rested, we realize that we really are in India—one of the great countries
of the world, and one with more than a billion people and a fascinating culture
and thousands and thousands of years of history. It’s an enormous country, and
you probably couldn’t explore all it has to offer in ten lifetimes. So the
first thing we do is get on a plane and fly to Nepal. </div>
<h2>
Day 2 – Kathmandu</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Nepal is less stressful than India. Kathmandu’s a big,
crowded city, but it seems slightly less overwhelming than Delhi. Even though
the taxi drivers are just as bad.<p><br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<p>
Upon getting out of the Kathmandu airport (which is much
less nice than Delhi’s super new and sophisticated airport with its enormous
(enormous) billboard outside customs suggesting that we all invest in mangoes),
we find ourselves accosted by various Nepalese men trying to convince us to
travel with them in their taxi so they can take us to their travel agency which
is the best travel agency in this city of thousands of travel agencies. We
choose one at random, and find ourselves on another of those crazy and
frightening rides through a large city (“Lanes? What are those?” says our
driver. Or at least I’m going to pretend that he said that, for art’s sake or
something.) I’m more awake this time, and thus more cognizant of the fact that
I’m in a moderately dangerous situation. So I close my eyes, clutch onto the
door, and hope that I don’t die. And eventually we do reach the travel agency
relatively unscathed. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPa2-CVfYf4rdIOIGvn7BoDbuE0wEpcKcwv3w2kD90iEGpSzZweTT-FRA1BEaXONno8t-WSJAdsGZ0AbiVmd2fJ4pKgXIfTavUhOK6hvvnEpUjh4lK4KacSKfLpIpZzoTXQyzThaRYOUJ/s1600/DSCN0143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTPa2-CVfYf4rdIOIGvn7BoDbuE0wEpcKcwv3w2kD90iEGpSzZweTT-FRA1BEaXONno8t-WSJAdsGZ0AbiVmd2fJ4pKgXIfTavUhOK6hvvnEpUjh4lK4KacSKfLpIpZzoTXQyzThaRYOUJ/s320/DSCN0143.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kathmandu traffic is a bit chaotic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The travel agent guy is nice, and speaks English pretty
well. He tells us that he has a brother who also owns a Nepal travel agency in
Florida, but we’re not entirely sure whether to believe him or not. Regardless,
we tell him what he hope to do in Nepal and how much time we have. He’s
slightly incredulous that we can get everything done in the four days we have,
but we insist that we can and he agrees (he’s going to get money from us, after
all.)<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<p>So within an hour or so of arriving in Kathmandu we’re in
another taxi on our way south—and down (several thousand feet down)—towards
Chitwan National Park. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<p>The ride out of Kathmandu is fun. That is to say, it’s a
little bit scary as we travel down poorly maintained winding mountain roads.
It’s also a well-traveled road, so you’re not only driving on scary mountain
roads, you have the double <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">thrill </b>of
driving on scary mountain roads <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with </i>lots
of crazy Nepalese drivers. At one point, we go over a bridge with a hole in the
side barrier, and the driver cheerfully informs us that a few years ago a taxi
driver lost control of his car and went off the bridge and into the gorge and
died and stuff.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
-</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPgihNp16R8CjW-6vi4r3hQX5voGCFjj2q2WiwCGqXSGbCUjQ8lb-s6TkHUALY1cC85I4rMgGvK9E6dV5cpCVA29pouduccGbs32tRvsMMKEQxw56IF0Y_gRMBa9qfv3rlU5VE1WJFMmuz/s1600/DSCN0171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPgihNp16R8CjW-6vi4r3hQX5voGCFjj2q2WiwCGqXSGbCUjQ8lb-s6TkHUALY1cC85I4rMgGvK9E6dV5cpCVA29pouduccGbs32tRvsMMKEQxw56IF0Y_gRMBa9qfv3rlU5VE1WJFMmuz/s320/DSCN0171.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The roads in the foothills of Nepal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h2>
Chitwan: Where the Tigers (Allegedly) Roam</h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyways, we eventually get out of the mountains. We’re now
in the jungle of Nepal where the ground is flat. We breathe a sigh of relief.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglIkTHcNS7eiKXrDA_krtBgsfUiS45L4kVotlnes3EIyDILEMhXsqZ7tcAHslwqi4zmG3O4NUehyphenhyphenPPLED5zSvuZz7a87SrMgM0tBJc03r1CKU-BAa3lIOehGZkHQLtt70PRVZmFkXv9Ltn/s1600/DSCN0199.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglIkTHcNS7eiKXrDA_krtBgsfUiS45L4kVotlnes3EIyDILEMhXsqZ7tcAHslwqi4zmG3O4NUehyphenhyphenPPLED5zSvuZz7a87SrMgM0tBJc03r1CKU-BAa3lIOehGZkHQLtt70PRVZmFkXv9Ltn/s320/DSCN0199.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The town outside Chitwan, plus some elephants</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<p>It should be noted that this taxi ride was 4+ hours long,
and we only stopped for concessions/etc. once the whole time. The taxi was
small, and by the end of the trip my legs were in excruciating pain. It turns
out that trying to get from Kathmandu to Chitwan National Park and then back to
Kathmandu in a single day isn’t the best idea in the world. In fact, in a
ranking of the twenty-nine trillion best ideas in the world, trying to get from
Kathmandu to Chitwan National Park to Kathmandu in a taxi in a single day
wouldn’t even get an honorable mention. Riding through the jungle on the
crowded back of an elephant where you can’t even stretch your legs after
spending four hours riding in a cramped taxi would also fail to rank on such a
list. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But still…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<p>Chitwan National Park is a famous park known as one of the
few places in the world where you have a decent chance of spotting rhinos or the
endangered and elusive Nepalese mule deer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Err…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tiger. I mean tiger. It’s
one of the few places in the world where you have a decent chance of spotting
the elusive Bengal tiger. The hotel that marks our starting point looks decent,
and it’s right next to a river that apparently houses the rather ugly (and critically
endangered) Gharial crocodile.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitIZkzEs3Jx5q9upPxgjy6q4wm1YVbfJALVPQ8zfRjpfhTCWQiQGkvNRW90Vj45R_Yp2Fu9K__7twwsD9aP6sGj7rNVJn7smdliWimQro4cL2ZcVYT8p9nAE3hK0Bfmjw2RYyuLUVrSQ4v/s1600/DSCN0194.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitIZkzEs3Jx5q9upPxgjy6q4wm1YVbfJALVPQ8zfRjpfhTCWQiQGkvNRW90Vj45R_Yp2Fu9K__7twwsD9aP6sGj7rNVJn7smdliWimQro4cL2ZcVYT8p9nAE3hK0Bfmjw2RYyuLUVrSQ4v/s320/DSCN0194.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our delicious (?) meal at the hotel outside Chitwan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<p>I kind of wish we were spending a night or two
in the hotel, since Chitwan is the kind of place you go to spend several days,
with expeditions into different parts of the park each day. We only have one
day (only a few hours, in fact) so we make the best of it by taking an
elephant-back safari. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My legs still hurt,
but:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCECka_LmglyJuMQs7a8aKKLD07xWV-eYY3YUUXGQiLyxhKbEUzzyA8YqwXQTlpJva7dBOlHU1URJwgvcN0VgtJEyV3CXfoRaFJKktGGZLx5OtwAZD_1b9Kv8eSilSkbhXJe21LaPE7v1M/s1600/DSCN0227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCECka_LmglyJuMQs7a8aKKLD07xWV-eYY3YUUXGQiLyxhKbEUzzyA8YqwXQTlpJva7dBOlHU1URJwgvcN0VgtJEyV3CXfoRaFJKktGGZLx5OtwAZD_1b9Kv8eSilSkbhXJe21LaPE7v1M/s320/DSCN0227.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the back of an elephant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8t12pKBxysU8YieN29NBhCMNsqo1pq_6GtSvjHOsnUFW4pbEIH7JGBAQZAxMGBjgpTwaV2f-L1tQ2ITt_z4xzQ_Ghxb5XbTPsqetT3NMJlx6A_k9Ag2JKRGm6dxCVxNZAsTms1PiULlU/s1600/DSCN0219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU8t12pKBxysU8YieN29NBhCMNsqo1pq_6GtSvjHOsnUFW4pbEIH7JGBAQZAxMGBjgpTwaV2f-L1tQ2ITt_z4xzQ_Ghxb5XbTPsqetT3NMJlx6A_k9Ag2JKRGm6dxCVxNZAsTms1PiULlU/s320/DSCN0219.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fourth most exotic creature we encounter on our adventure</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUa7vdHeK5SH4TVlTZjega0O8V8fcgNBZYeXZ3VBH9ovEX-hyvrYvxOAaVcbaVVDni8l3OgwuY-UP-bdAMUxaqmZ51GHKmavNAaM9UsodtSEEY_hR6TGjQTbDWmoO1UhGZV9jfcUzSRawv/s1600/DSCN0232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUa7vdHeK5SH4TVlTZjega0O8V8fcgNBZYeXZ3VBH9ovEX-hyvrYvxOAaVcbaVVDni8l3OgwuY-UP-bdAMUxaqmZ51GHKmavNAaM9UsodtSEEY_hR6TGjQTbDWmoO1UhGZV9jfcUzSRawv/s320/DSCN0232.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
I’m riding on an elephant through the jungle of Nepal! We’re
hunting tigers! There are trees! My legs hurt! Strange, jungle noises! More
trees!<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<p>We were hoping to see a tiger or rhino, but they were pretty
rare and I was just happy to see:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLMPTmiqYfNO3l4ds1VMF5DrbCA9f99Zr6b2XsVOpBMXqSyTSpWJVDFmpcj7tvZglB6qt1kNoKcnF5BNDkAqJBX17f-vBZHHwnMddjgkXvdQJ4d9ERIvCQXdnqA3FWOwwf7jDvowu9k4Z/s1600/DSCN0242.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfLMPTmiqYfNO3l4ds1VMF5DrbCA9f99Zr6b2XsVOpBMXqSyTSpWJVDFmpcj7tvZglB6qt1kNoKcnF5BNDkAqJBX17f-vBZHHwnMddjgkXvdQJ4d9ERIvCQXdnqA3FWOwwf7jDvowu9k4Z/s320/DSCN0242.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peacock?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A peacock!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<p>Its plumage wasn’t spread out, so it mostly (my legs hurt) just
looked like a colorful bird with a really long tail. I kind of love birds, so
it was kind of (my legs hurt) awesome to see.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<p>We also saw:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje-Z4zRX5IY5xGFkLJS0y_Zq_NMA93Qas_ASlzuFE4bGWm-edY98BxGNK6RL_kkuPcptloP2_sBg1_yU8wSuSL82STJy3OuAyBAaEk9Gey3FPXX6dp9KZJTxRivE411lDUEkjvXcJD7_W5/s1600/DSCN0238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje-Z4zRX5IY5xGFkLJS0y_Zq_NMA93Qas_ASlzuFE4bGWm-edY98BxGNK6RL_kkuPcptloP2_sBg1_yU8wSuSL82STJy3OuAyBAaEk9Gey3FPXX6dp9KZJTxRivE411lDUEkjvXcJD7_W5/s320/DSCN0238.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The exotic deer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A deer!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<p>Ok, the deer wasn’t particularly exciting—after all, we see
them all the time in our yard in Alpine (albeit, probably a slightly different
species of deer)—but still! A Nepalese deer!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<p>And a monkey!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<p>We saw a monkey flitting through the tops of the my legs
hurt tall trees.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbx5jQT1V4G8tXXtGOWWHMQ23yEJhNO1sdtkUTMiYh8YoDW84UX6zf6kvJx1rP5VSAB1TQooRFdCjYk6C8hLJCMG5797eQ0Kvpgrufe9Z88oVpc6JfZq5EXfCyvgL1DB-R9OpUAOMDCRbT/s1600/DSCN0274.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbx5jQT1V4G8tXXtGOWWHMQ23yEJhNO1sdtkUTMiYh8YoDW84UX6zf6kvJx1rP5VSAB1TQooRFdCjYk6C8hLJCMG5797eQ0Kvpgrufe9Z88oVpc6JfZq5EXfCyvgL1DB-R9OpUAOMDCRbT/s320/DSCN0274.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tiger track?</td></tr>
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And the footprint of a tiger, probably planted by the park
owners to make us think that there are actually tigers in the area.</div>
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<br />
And trees!</div>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCvS6E5CDLtyVKxzxQv4_WDANturUR00KGfb0jdKEj3kx8Fv4Ifr2A9wV3tvw8QsIrVJSFOfUxhsnewpUQ4-Egw-6AXKbu4jquZmdQMkyVYtUfYL_FQJNuLgqfjzePFHuL0qLT4H3cnB3/s1600/DSCN0269.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrCvS6E5CDLtyVKxzxQv4_WDANturUR00KGfb0jdKEj3kx8Fv4Ifr2A9wV3tvw8QsIrVJSFOfUxhsnewpUQ4-Egw-6AXKbu4jquZmdQMkyVYtUfYL_FQJNuLgqfjzePFHuL0qLT4H3cnB3/s320/DSCN0269.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The exotic deer, part deux</td></tr>
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And a jackalope! (Wait, what?) </div>
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<br />
Lots of trees. It was very jungle-y. Tall trees, swamps,
tall reeds and bushes. </div>
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<br />
<p>And, uh…</div>
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<br />
<p>We’re riding on the back of an elephant in Nepal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> </div>
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<br />
<p>That’s cool, right? </div>
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<br />
<p>And then off the elephant and back in the taxi for the 4+
hour trip back to Kathmandu. </div>
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<br />
<p>On the way back, I see a small group of monkeys on the side
of the road (or was that India? I don’t remember.)</div>
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<br />
<p>It turns out that Kathmandu has traffic jams at one in the
morning. As we’re driving up the mountain to get back into Kathmandu we find
ourselves riding behind a huge line of trucks bringing supplies into the
valley. So the last few miles take us a long time. And I just want to sleep.
And we’re leaving for the airport to Lukla in five or six hours. And I’m tired.</div>
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<br />
<p>And my legs hurt. </div>
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-</div>
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PS. These India/Nepal posts are turning out to be really
long. I meant for this to cover several days of the trip, but that didn’t quite
happen. At this rate, I could get six or seven more equally long posts out of
the topic (the final post to be made sometime in October of 2018.) While all
the detail is good for journal purposes, I hope I’m not boring everyone to
death with all the mundane details… </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJGlGIi7InmKA2ZmkX_P-803YEcKW9W1G15ffi3vxQsGGT3INOMHMGHOSgyNi1Nd7bFW40_igNlXeyI__axJT1Qh5fsDU3bQvPCLwPJ7cte7mmJ8qJyJ-AU_yVJRJyyYtFKU3fcsrmOI_/s1600/DSCN0283.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJGlGIi7InmKA2ZmkX_P-803YEcKW9W1G15ffi3vxQsGGT3INOMHMGHOSgyNi1Nd7bFW40_igNlXeyI__axJT1Qh5fsDU3bQvPCLwPJ7cte7mmJ8qJyJ-AU_yVJRJyyYtFKU3fcsrmOI_/s320/DSCN0283.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bad picture of me (and some Danish guy,) just to prove that it happened</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Four Side Notes Before My Next Post Goes Up in 2014</div>
<h2>
A Danish side note</h2>
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Our elephant-back partners were a young couple from Denmark.
We talked to them a bit before starting the elephant ride, and learned that
they were currently taking a break from their university studies as they took a
world tour. And by “world tour,” I’m being quite literal. They were spending 8
months or so traveling to Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and so on.
<p>Jealous.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmek_Q3uQ6ZLAmb4bw6TMr3S1jKg3SObzyHCDpeUD-xsPKEbINIRgwcXYu1O_q_E7Y6PHsnngag33DoxyLtyF_-YTJsrkVOCsHaJT8IC49hU7xtT7Ns4J_Y3jHFKpZaBp1DX3-MObalLVW/s1600/DSCN0225.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmek_Q3uQ6ZLAmb4bw6TMr3S1jKg3SObzyHCDpeUD-xsPKEbINIRgwcXYu1O_q_E7Y6PHsnngag33DoxyLtyF_-YTJsrkVOCsHaJT8IC49hU7xtT7Ns4J_Y3jHFKpZaBp1DX3-MObalLVW/s320/DSCN0225.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, and a little bit of Nate and the back of the Danish guy</td></tr>
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<h2>
An elephantine side note</h2>
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Elephants are smart. And I hated the way our driver treated
his elephant. Whenever it stopped to eat some of the delicious foliage or to,
uh, relieve himself, the man would start beating on its ears with a stick. By
the end, part of the elephant’s ginormous ear was clearly bleeding from the
abuse. Still, it showed a certain amount of loyalty. The man got off to do
something or another, and shortly thereafter the blanket he had been sitting on
fell to the ground. After doing whatever he got off to do, the man did his
little trick of standing on the elephant’s trunk and then having the elephant
lift him up to his seat. However, he didn’t notice that he had lost his
blanket. Nevertheless, and without any prompting, the elephant used its trunk
to pick up the blanket and “hand” it to the man. Which was pretty cool.</div>
<h2>
A note about Nepalese trucks</h2>
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Nepalese trucks are cooler than American semis. They’re
quite colorful, and often contain amusing, poorly worded English phrases that
probably don’t mean what the drivers (or whoever painted them) think they mean.
Nevertheless, I was inspired by phrases like “Take Love Easy” and “No Time for Love" There were
lots and lots of trucks as we slowly made our way up the mountains and back to
Kathmandu, so I got to see lots of fun phrases (many were repeated, and I’ve
now forgotten many of them because I didn’t write this earlier.) The traffic
was especially horrendous in the last hour (around 1 am) when we were stuck in
a veritable traffic jam of these trucks coming into Kathmandu and carrying
everything from fruit to yaks. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPNxTnZ1NtS3upcZdyVu_zZE5kKxjUphtM90iDTxo_pQyHB9cm_nRTKdVnG_DfDbi273e4xq_a-N076vl8clqUbwrVFxpyBZFkO0ooenoEdmvfb0q7X0FKN5LRNlXkx6PA3k5Q6_nXqX85/s1600/DSCN0144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPNxTnZ1NtS3upcZdyVu_zZE5kKxjUphtM90iDTxo_pQyHB9cm_nRTKdVnG_DfDbi273e4xq_a-N076vl8clqUbwrVFxpyBZFkO0ooenoEdmvfb0q7X0FKN5LRNlXkx6PA3k5Q6_nXqX85/s320/DSCN0144.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many profoundly captioned trucks we encountered</td></tr>
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<h2>
A note about yaks </h2>
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Yaks are fantastic. I mean, just say their name a few times.
Say it ten times. Say it a hundred times—it never gets old. If I ever get
reincarnated, and I can’t be reincarnated as an aardvark or as a quadrilionaire
in the future when there are flying cars and moonbases, then I want to be
reincarnated as a yak. An attack yak named Zach (or Mac) that carries a
knapsack and eats flapjacks and TicTacs and likes to read paperback(s).</div>
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<p>(Wait, what?)</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-87346430224573505752011-11-23T17:01:00.004-07:002011-11-24T14:02:07.953-07:00Flight Time - India Trip Day 1It disturbs me that six months have passed since I visited India and Nepal. Fearful that I will start forgetting details of my trip, I have finally decided to record my memories of the trip on this here blog.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Day 1 – May 23rd (ish): Flight Time (sans Big Easy)<br /></span><br /><br />I thought about omitting the details of our flights, but decided that this is a good opportunity to whine about how much I hate airplanes.<br /> <br />During my trip I flew from Salt Lake City to San Francisco to meet up with Nate, then flew from San Francisco to Seoul, then from Seoul to Delhi, then from Delhi to Kathmandu, then from Kathmandu to Lukla (on a 14-seat plane), then back from Lukla to Kathmandu, to Delhi, to Seoul, to San Francisco, to Orange County (to meet up with Kristina & Tom and Mom & Dad.) About a week later I flew to DC, so that’s four more plane rides. So, for those keeping track, that’s 14 flights in about a month. Which is way too many, especially for an aerophobe/aviatophobe/pteromerhanophobia (yes, those are all words for “fear of flying”) like me. At no point, during all those many hours in the air, did I start to feel acclimated to flying in a metal tube at hundreds of miles per hour at 40,000 feet above the ground. <br /><br />So how do I sum up the psychological effect of so many airplane trips in such a short space of time?<br /><br />Well, I’ll begin like this: I hate airplanes. They’re cramped, uncomfortable, utilitarian, smelly, aesthetically disastrous, frightening machines. The airline companies shove you into as tight a space as possible and don’t care if, say, they make you wait on an airport tarmac for eight hours, after having already spent many, many hours in the air.<br /><br />But I’m getting ahead of myself. <br /><br />When I fly I’m constantly at high attention, alert to every little bump and jerk and unexplained noise. This is a rather tense state of mind to be in for hours at a time, and, suffice it to say, I can’t sleep very well when I’m on planes. I can doze off for a few minutes, but at the first sudden noise or bump I’m as alert as can be. Heck, I can’t even concentrate on books, or movies, or video games. It’s as if some part of my subconscious is telling me that I’m not allowed to focus on anything else other than the plane, as if it’s only my mental concentration holding the plane up. <br /><br />Basically the best I can do is sit back, turn on some comfort music, close my eyes, and hope that I don’t die. <br /><br />In spite of all that, we got on the plane in San Francisco, made it safely over the Pacific, and after 11 or so hours of flying were able spend an hour or two in the very clean, very modern Incheon International Airport outside of Seoul before getting on our next would-be seven hour flight to Delhi. We flew over China. We flew over various other southeast Asian countries I hope to visit someday. We flew over eastern India. We fly over Delhi. We start to land in Delhi. We start to land in Delhi, but the pilot announces that we can’t land in Delhi quite yet. Because of a storm. So we circle around Delhi.<br /><br />We circle around Delhi.<br /><br />We circle around Delhi.<br /> We circle around Delhi.<br /><br />We circle around Delhi, 10,000 feet above Delhi, in the middle of a severe storm. We see lightening flashing outside our windows. The plane moves up and down, up and down. The plane shakes like a very old, very rough wooden roller coaster. I get nauseous. <br /><br />We circle 10,000 feet above Delhi, in the middle of a severe lightning storm, in the midst of some rather nauseating turbulence, for over an hour.<br /><br />And then the pilot gets on again and announces that we won’t be able to land, and that we’re going to be flying to the airport in Ahmedabad (“Where’s Ahmedabad?” the 150 non-native passengers ask at once.) We start to ascend through some pretty crappy weather—the plane goes up and down, up and down—and I feel that this is it. I’m about to die in a plane above Delhi, India. <br /><br />But I don’t die, and we leave the turbulent altitudes, and two hours after our scheduled landing time we land in Ahmedabad, and are all extremely excited. We might be hundreds of miles away from where we wanted to be, but at least we’re on the ground, in India. It wasn’t a part of our plan, but maybe, even though it’s one in the morning, we can go take a quick driving tour of this random Indian city—get a chance to see what there is to see in Ahmedabad, India—while we wait for the weather to clear over Delhi so we can take off again. At the very least we can go out into the airport terminal and walk around and use real bathrooms, bathrooms designed for people larger than a member of a Pygmy tribe. At the very least we can get off this damned plane.<br /><br /> (I bet you can see where this is going.) <br /><br />So we’re all tired, and covered with the grime of hours of air travel (if not physical grime, then psychological grime.) I feel dirty. Stiff. Tired. Unwashed. <br /><br />Gross.<br /><br />I want to take a shower, brush my teeth (is there anything more satisfying than brushing your teeth after 24 hours in the air?), and sleep in a clean, fully reclined bed. A clean, fully reclined bed located safely on the ground.<br /><br />The flight attendant comes on and tells us to stay in our seats - tells us that we can’t leave just yet.<br /><br /> It’s the middle of the night at this point, but once we’re on the ground and stopped the air conditioning goes off, and it’s hot. Hot and humid. Humid and gross. <br /><br />But we wait. Sweating, sleeping the sleep of people who are too hot and tired to really sleep.<br /><br />We wait.<br /><br />We wait.<br /><br />After three hours of waiting the pilot comes on and announces, in Korean and English, that the copilot has exceeded his maximum number of flying hours for the week and that he had to leave to go to sleep. He then states, quite nonchalantly, that it will be another five hours before we’re ready to go.<br /><br />And I’m pretty sure that moment where he said “five hours” was one of the worst moments, ever. In all the history of human civilization, and of the universe in general.<br /><br />Words can’t really describe the sense of frustration and futility and anger of 200 people, sitting on a tarmac, but unable to leave the plane. Rather than try to describe the indescribable, I’ll simply provide some fragmentary memories and impressions that will hopefully give a glimpse into our rather sad state during those dark, dark hours: <br /><br />The people are restless. Lots of arguing with flight attendants. <br /><br />There’s something pleasant about being in a foreign airport late at night. So much potential. In this case, so much potential wasted.<br /><br />But a stronger sense of overwhelming lethargy and listlessness. <br /><br />I hate airplanes.<br /><br />It’s hot, but we’re only offered water twice during the eight hours. <br /><br />We wait.<br /><br />People are gathered around the single open exit of the plane, because there’s a cool breeze coming from outside. No one makes a run for it through the exit, but they should have.<br /><br />Je déteste des avions<br /><br />Why do airplanes always smell so… Airplaney?<br /><br />There are interesting birds that I’m not familiar with hanging out on the wing of the plane. <br /><br />The explanation for why we can’t even go and wait in the airport terminal: The passengers of a single international flight would exceed the holding capacity of the Ahmedabad International Airport. That’s right—200 people would be too much for an international airport with fairly expansive terminals (in view of our plane), and with multiple jumbo jets already sitting on the tarmac (also within view of our plane.)<br /><br />Can’t sleep. <br /><br />Ich hasse Flugzeuge. <br /><br />Everything is terrible. <br /><br />Turgenev and Dostoevsky were wrong. The nihilists are right. <br /><br />-<br /><br />-<br /><br />...<br /><br />-<br /><br />-<br /><br />After 8 hours, we all wake out of a daze as the pilot announces that we’re ready to take off. Less than an hour back to Delhi. We circle for a while, but are able to land. We immediately head for our hotel, which Nate reserved in advance—but in order to get there, we must endure our first Indian taxi ride. <br /><br />Which, really, after all the hype, wasn’t as terrible as I had been led to believe. Yeah, it was incredibly stressful and frightening. Yeah, we were constantly inches away from a collision with cars on every side of us. Yeah, they don’t seem to care much about lanes, and instead choose to drift here and there as they will. Yeah, the whole time you’re hearing a cacophony of horns, which is how drivers communicate there (turn signals are for sissies,) which can be really aggravating to people who haven't slept (really slept) for more than 24 hours. Yeah, I spent the whole time clutching tightly to the handle on the car door. But at least it was better than riding on an airplane.<br /><br />After 30 minutes of that we arrive at the Crowne Plaza hotel, which advertised itself for its close proximity to the airport. <br /><br />While the hotel is fancy, it seems to have randomly been placed in the middle of the slums. Which is kind of weird. It sticks out from the rather squalid surroundings like a sore thumb—which is probably why the place is surrounded by high walls, and why there are guards at every entrance, and why they even xray your luggage and send you through a metal detector before actually getting into the lobby. <br /><br />But it was a fancy hotel, in spite of its location. You could tell it was fancy by the fact that everyone wanted a tip, including the person who stood outside the elevator and pushed the Up button for us.<br /><br />Our 4th story room had magnificent—even breathtaking—views of the surrounding slum. <br /><br />Anyway. We’re tired, even though it’s noon. We were supposed to have arrived about twelve hours earlier—this was supposed to be our Taj Mahal day—but oh well. We change our plans around a bit, decide we’ll go to Agra on our last day in India and will still leave for Kathmandu tomorrow morning, as we had planned. We’re too tired to go out and see Delhi—plus it’s looking like it’s going to rain—so we clean up, eat a fairly decent meal (including fresh mango juice!) at the hotel, send emails at the hotel’s internet café, and then head back to our room to go to sleep. <br /><br />And they were pretty decent beds (located, as they were, safely on the ground), and it was a pretty good afternoon’s and night’s rest. <br /><br />DAY 1 (or DAY 20, depending on how you count, and how long that 8 hours on the ground felt) in INDIA – FIN<br /><br />-<br /><br />After endless delays and endless anxiety, will tomorrow bring better fortunes for our two protagonists? The day will start off with another aeroplane ride, which is never a good sign—but will their trans-world trip finally prove fulfilling and enlightening? Will they finally get to see Mt. Everest, and the Taj Mahal, and all the other things they flew 10,000 miles to see? Tune in next time, dear reader, to find out!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-72938398027199070262011-03-20T03:42:00.007-06:002011-03-20T04:25:32.062-06:00Llama!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWZx2ULcYM1Zn7W-9PXaPOZL1Jd5kCKMf2gFAz1Jsq7khRwKh102Mb_yhfNELT9j6hpDvVBR8z4aZke2fAMiTGHkYE-eSnzawrdb6IZ-5mDVsoyKNO2Ulvq_D7_NU6_1iGp5Fzl-_4soqO/s1600/p_00124.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWZx2ULcYM1Zn7W-9PXaPOZL1Jd5kCKMf2gFAz1Jsq7khRwKh102Mb_yhfNELT9j6hpDvVBR8z4aZke2fAMiTGHkYE-eSnzawrdb6IZ-5mDVsoyKNO2Ulvq_D7_NU6_1iGp5Fzl-_4soqO/s320/p_00124.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586102009693679458" /></a><center>The only photo of the llama that has been confirmed to be genuine</center><br /><br />So those who have ventured into that fearful realm known as "The Face Book" may have noticed a strange posting that went something like this:<br /><br />"Ran into a llama on campus today."<br /><br />After much demand (2 requests), I've decided I would share some information about this, uh, llamic encounter (of the second kind.) <br /><br />-<br /><br />The llama (or "Lama glama," as snooty people say) is a South American camelid, widely used as a pack and meat animal by Andean cultures since pre-hispanic times.<br /><br />The height of a full-grown, full-size l...<br /><br />But that's probably not what you came here to hear about. <br /><br />Instead of telling you what happened, I decided I've give you three, equally plausible, equally exciting options to choose from. All of these MAY be the circumstances that led to The Encounter on Campus.<br /><br />A. The llama in question is the pet and best friend of an eccentric millionaire widower that lives a mile or so from campus. He (the owner) had decided to take his bosom buddy on a walk to the At War! exhibit at the art museum and that was where The Encounter occurred. <br /><br />The llama, by most accounts, adored the art exhibit. <br /><br />B. The runners of BYU's annual "Choose to Give" charity drive decided to use a llama to draw attention to their cause (and nothing gets attention better than a llama.) BYUSA president, Jasper Willikins* says "Our charity is great. Llamas are great. So why not combine the two into a wondrous joy-o-rific supercombo of llama-charity amazingness?!"<br /><br />C. A truck carrying multiple exotic animals headed for the Hogle Zoo overturned on I-15 near Provo, and Mr. Llamakins decided he wanted to use this brief, miraculous respite to visit the At War! exhibit at the BYU art museum. He made it to the exhibit (and loved it, by most accounts) - but was captured shortly thereafter (though not before the Encounter.) <br /><br />Incidentally, the other creature to escape the wreckage was a muskox, who has yet to be found. Zookeeper Wilson Odenka!mp wants everyone to know that the muskox is not dangerous, and asks his fellow citizens to immediately call the DCHSFSWSQ (the zoo's animal control agency) should the shaggy beast be sighted. The muskox'sss1s name is "Hrothgar," but it also responds to "Jill." It also very much enjoys Wensleydale cheese. <br /><br />Odenka!mp says of the llama's return, as well as the continued absence of the muskox: "We are so glad that the Lama glama has been returned to us, and we hope that we will soon be reunited with our dear Jill."<br /><br /><br /><br />*Some/all names may have been changed to protect the... Something. <br /><br />**Some/all quotes may have been utterly fabricated.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Ovibos_moschatus_by_Dixi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Ovibos_moschatus_by_Dixi.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><center>Not a llama</center><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Marmot-edit1.jpg/800px-Marmot-edit1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Marmot-edit1.jpg/800px-Marmot-edit1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><center>Neither a llama or a muskox, but it's so adorable I had to share it anyway.</center>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-30772717003576132882010-10-24T02:31:00.004-06:002010-10-24T02:46:35.733-06:00The Fall of AlpineIt was my favorite kind of day - gray, cool, cloudy, rainy (yeah, I'm kind of a depressing person) - so I decided to go on a walk and take some pictures from our neighborhood. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzSsdS4d-BlXReAqmAAMmb5BN706NNlpZdSAQECbBP4f2fSPopvhZTACihzga1YznCsf5gdZgTb6HPdQzWryFxiHyUQSgd_1Brz7rtP8R5M0o6VCNYqGFXFawb8l8QahtSWaLxqoEOfhb/s1600/P1010031.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzSsdS4d-BlXReAqmAAMmb5BN706NNlpZdSAQECbBP4f2fSPopvhZTACihzga1YznCsf5gdZgTb6HPdQzWryFxiHyUQSgd_1Brz7rtP8R5M0o6VCNYqGFXFawb8l8QahtSWaLxqoEOfhb/s320/P1010031.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531531021977446290" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihKgzLgYwo5di3N8VqltVu1yI-vf6At0vsqBUBz9TL_60RNyOrWyCDpJ_WOMRdKAqTADVd8_OGJkoghJOU_eB_1rce6-mczb_CSIDCpNdLh15R1EF1pJoDrYpAHrV3wiUuR-HRnAkrgVrG/s1600/P1010025.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihKgzLgYwo5di3N8VqltVu1yI-vf6At0vsqBUBz9TL_60RNyOrWyCDpJ_WOMRdKAqTADVd8_OGJkoghJOU_eB_1rce6-mczb_CSIDCpNdLh15R1EF1pJoDrYpAHrV3wiUuR-HRnAkrgVrG/s320/P1010025.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531531016163972690" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguoa9IWqn_CslzUqY9kbnW05cLbLhcyrmc6xByXwhIv9vDwVoedGPFPLY-Zj-1dPD-KaQPfXyHo7hFd2Wd3GSQPnG5UJ-zTG9utuMljHXzE2T9wh7Nn2sD0mzZ88J4oNIc3FCz4kH12joz/s1600/P1010019.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguoa9IWqn_CslzUqY9kbnW05cLbLhcyrmc6xByXwhIv9vDwVoedGPFPLY-Zj-1dPD-KaQPfXyHo7hFd2Wd3GSQPnG5UJ-zTG9utuMljHXzE2T9wh7Nn2sD0mzZ88J4oNIc3FCz4kH12joz/s320/P1010019.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531531012306698514" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhceUkpNcAk3nWyTDmnwxq-kMOOe6tLypKGKC3ddXWxLOJx0l6K8Va0QxeaJQmyKkuO26amHvGLznkWg_aG7lSWNZA1CyPO5C4oiw6-dszZWpGKrPEzVoKKgaaCh7d1-Va9X5RH0vWMSe2o/s1600/P1010014.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhceUkpNcAk3nWyTDmnwxq-kMOOe6tLypKGKC3ddXWxLOJx0l6K8Va0QxeaJQmyKkuO26amHvGLznkWg_aG7lSWNZA1CyPO5C4oiw6-dszZWpGKrPEzVoKKgaaCh7d1-Va9X5RH0vWMSe2o/s320/P1010014.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531531004682458802" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPB1C4oyqNqnY6DnNUqQ_yrcrnfkxpq_PJvR5u2zAWHRaghZIdoxC6gNM8BzMT9bcdK5obm-ygy_QeEgYWT4-T0HGQ8zCnbr9UOwA_yctBXLodo_jZnvKVMvPKonZ4hNU3qC7g1xf10kZn/s1600/P1010009.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPB1C4oyqNqnY6DnNUqQ_yrcrnfkxpq_PJvR5u2zAWHRaghZIdoxC6gNM8BzMT9bcdK5obm-ygy_QeEgYWT4-T0HGQ8zCnbr9UOwA_yctBXLodo_jZnvKVMvPKonZ4hNU3qC7g1xf10kZn/s320/P1010009.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531529556107594450" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSeXeCpFZsUcH_AdDnzT8AsrSTkUx8lt0CJaYiL-oapp94fIiAnvecCi4CCVmaCGGd0L45vUG26bxuAZ-T1bHCyW3Ag6VdKC03CUSJj6QrkGvPSBezKrxXGsOMZ28J7fIFA922BhYVrcz/s1600/P1010001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSeXeCpFZsUcH_AdDnzT8AsrSTkUx8lt0CJaYiL-oapp94fIiAnvecCi4CCVmaCGGd0L45vUG26bxuAZ-T1bHCyW3Ag6VdKC03CUSJj6QrkGvPSBezKrxXGsOMZ28J7fIFA922BhYVrcz/s320/P1010001.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531527912636431666" /></a><br /><br />I would have loved to have been able to go home afterward and take a nap and then maybe make a cup of hot chocolate and read a book... But, well, I had homework and work and those two things always seem to be conspiring against my happiness.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-47109994765312047232010-10-17T22:41:00.004-06:002010-10-17T23:07:21.040-06:00My MusicIt's been a particularly stressful semester, and I've been listening to a lot of classical music as a way to relax. These are two of my favorite new discoveries, and I listen to them almost every day (I actually discovered both of them when they were used to memorable effect in two different movies.) No guarantee that anyone else will like them, but I find them very beautiful and evocative. Neither, unfortunately, has a particularly exciting video (though the first does show the movie where I first heard the piece.)<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-tEgzGnzojc?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-tEgzGnzojc?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/AsD0FDLOKGA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/AsD0FDLOKGA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br /><br />Does the second piece remind anyone else of "Beauty and the Beast" for some reason?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-11345383848333962182010-09-28T00:25:00.000-06:002010-09-28T00:26:24.217-06:00This could be amazing...<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HvZTqRKX0GA?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HvZTqRKX0GA?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-35685506129655695032010-08-22T22:40:00.007-06:002010-08-22T23:06:02.617-06:00DenverI went to downtown Denver to do some work, and ended up completely captivated by this strange and wondrous building near the place where I parked. So, before my big post about Rocky Mountain National Park, here's a smaller post with some pictures of some of the absolutely amazing sculptures (and an interesting building) located in that lovely little complex. <br /><br />And, really, I just want to increase my post count on my blog - if I play my cards right, I'll be able to double my current post count just with pictures and stuff from this Colorado trip.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH7Um115_2sypUeTt7NGyFpwlEBPWMW7cSzuffg02lwdbl-pMDQQlTUQyvvu_MgC3xlUXJqL7Ht0P8aKxcHn0ZazdxR0ksRw35RjgJ4OgkUGVh1_qpAdfutxxsoQKkkvcJBYbJwYFTCp2W/s1600/P1010026.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH7Um115_2sypUeTt7NGyFpwlEBPWMW7cSzuffg02lwdbl-pMDQQlTUQyvvu_MgC3xlUXJqL7Ht0P8aKxcHn0ZazdxR0ksRw35RjgJ4OgkUGVh1_qpAdfutxxsoQKkkvcJBYbJwYFTCp2W/s320/P1010026.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508462980331341746" /></a>The Denver Arts and Civics Center, from afar. The Center contains several museums, a library, and maybe some other stuff (maybe.) <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF93h3YuVep4q33eWPnchgSmxO6HFGUcWaGMD2FJbMMhGQBzth4zqgru_88p6vu8DDDiKA99uR4v3rJhMdPu15FXnrPpxHz8yGKdMgQ8P-cnLaemEG_ZB8rqlrm0oVRS7f98RHF_L6unEI/s1600/P1010037.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF93h3YuVep4q33eWPnchgSmxO6HFGUcWaGMD2FJbMMhGQBzth4zqgru_88p6vu8DDDiKA99uR4v3rJhMdPu15FXnrPpxHz8yGKdMgQ8P-cnLaemEG_ZB8rqlrm0oVRS7f98RHF_L6unEI/s320/P1010037.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508462509969141314" /></a>The Denver Arts and Civics Center, from aclose. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsKV8p3A_nRZHhKd9Cknxlgl35CrjBY9mWQlcGhGpPiXzRzS_pKwnJ6d-vbiq9bndZhHAHkDr1Vx4a6zILd7qsIo-Dl4XerFX2Amj_0ugPnvo5OQIfHYkGjXXR4sLI_wp1HppLzhivdr2/s1600/P1010029.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJsKV8p3A_nRZHhKd9Cknxlgl35CrjBY9mWQlcGhGpPiXzRzS_pKwnJ6d-vbiq9bndZhHAHkDr1Vx4a6zILd7qsIo-Dl4XerFX2Amj_0ugPnvo5OQIfHYkGjXXR4sLI_wp1HppLzhivdr2/s320/P1010029.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508462503308673810" /></a>A sculpture, located within the same complex as the above two pictures.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEKrAY7QLEgk4UiZXau1pD6yRNLxkbvEMsaafuLxF_fS1t5zIecL4UPxv5m78IM_jT16Ldzx5Jxq_6q1xo7VoZfUvLHoa0tgRCvj5WJl5qTDwxBZYcsvDz7gZBQtWP53WAdz-mpmCcAar/s1600/P1010059.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqEKrAY7QLEgk4UiZXau1pD6yRNLxkbvEMsaafuLxF_fS1t5zIecL4UPxv5m78IM_jT16Ldzx5Jxq_6q1xo7VoZfUvLHoa0tgRCvj5WJl5qTDwxBZYcsvDz7gZBQtWP53WAdz-mpmCcAar/s320/P1010059.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508462497627228738" /></a>It's a horse. On top of a chair. Got it? <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip7knHAeKrxka6amAKT1Evc9FGEeMUz3IgF-rkKJp73i2z5hKD91MMOCaKz6BWWZ_Dyvq17-AtUfaDdLE8DPzy0yxaCc_nQH7cPNO60AwPv0ksDPPEsqZqMCqRTBvHMaGZh3CQu39QKst6/s1600/P1010033.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip7knHAeKrxka6amAKT1Evc9FGEeMUz3IgF-rkKJp73i2z5hKD91MMOCaKz6BWWZ_Dyvq17-AtUfaDdLE8DPzy0yxaCc_nQH7cPNO60AwPv0ksDPPEsqZqMCqRTBvHMaGZh3CQu39QKst6/s320/P1010033.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5508462487310691490" /></a>This pretty much speaks for itself.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-63404033504875071382010-08-16T22:49:00.013-06:002010-08-16T23:35:18.735-06:00Not quite an epic adventureOver the weekend we drove up into the mountains west of Denver. It was truly a thrill and a joy, and probably the most exciting thing I've done all summer (yeah, that's the kind of summer that I've had.) <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCSPfwq6yUUKcZ3RybO1T4qMLZL_IxyUCqMfzDJpWEMVJh47yDJ-genNDvmIExb4VJeAChvcEQagRDniHdm1UMEuqIaIQMxNTIeZ2DmQw3oM4ReeyuMesNLo75MoKIE5f7NYXk5lx0qIjz/s1600/P1010001.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCSPfwq6yUUKcZ3RybO1T4qMLZL_IxyUCqMfzDJpWEMVJh47yDJ-genNDvmIExb4VJeAChvcEQagRDniHdm1UMEuqIaIQMxNTIeZ2DmQw3oM4ReeyuMesNLo75MoKIE5f7NYXk5lx0qIjz/s320/P1010001.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506242813377959042" /></a><br />A fairly nice lake, though its reservoirness detracts from its niceness. Natural lakes are, quite simply, vastly superior to any manmade body of water. <br /><br />Yeah.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj459-YLz81avvdIgKNzDqEF1iknrCvrBVft5z66-gyZb8lz5XwDONxTDP3BUqFE0P4vZwXeiUIHl9hJdvBJ7WhO9nXOvw_n9xe1_l-gMZbjl58uPG7hZfdkQ_Sw-PJ-MDpJJAWqbiBvKJn/s1600/P1010012.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj459-YLz81avvdIgKNzDqEF1iknrCvrBVft5z66-gyZb8lz5XwDONxTDP3BUqFE0P4vZwXeiUIHl9hJdvBJ7WhO9nXOvw_n9xe1_l-gMZbjl58uPG7hZfdkQ_Sw-PJ-MDpJJAWqbiBvKJn/s320/P1010012.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506242809474750322" /></a><br />It may not look it, but we're actually pretty high up here, elevation-wise. We spent most of the trip at elevations between 8000 and 11000 feet, and many of the mountains (including those in this picture) are over 14000 feet, placing them among the tallest in the continental United States. Wow! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzIvCGAbps6SWXGXTMfk-0fe7__nf4u6gzc10wYcIFjm5LOP37SmlOB-3P5tMaAgxuYvhirKGlXRWaM9rRCRzd_Znh7a3p5ehVp95VklQJH0uJr1x2G3lPTICQyJl7WHhn2ZLXfzUFp9AY/s1600/P1010009.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzIvCGAbps6SWXGXTMfk-0fe7__nf4u6gzc10wYcIFjm5LOP37SmlOB-3P5tMaAgxuYvhirKGlXRWaM9rRCRzd_Znh7a3p5ehVp95VklQJH0uJr1x2G3lPTICQyJl7WHhn2ZLXfzUFp9AY/s320/P1010009.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506242800169727234" /></a><br />Leadville is an old (emphasis on old - also, decrepit) silver mining town that is, officially, the highest incorporated city in the United States (thanks Wikipedia!) Along with being the one-time host of a gay and cultivated social life, it was once the birthplace of some truly fabulous fortunes. Nowadays, however... <br /><br />It's also near the headwaters of the Arkansas river. Incredible! <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnT9FxIStDqaLZS5KGtjVhGYR36qFwHsng04bxGQehcmx7LeJaXOjTjwinjinKNJ9FX93zfSnxXKCsWbOIqSKW5-Ox5EhtO0iNPB_veyb36JHAEviVjtfBuOS8bqrCNx6A3ONiPp3Pcpgn/s1600/P1010019.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnT9FxIStDqaLZS5KGtjVhGYR36qFwHsng04bxGQehcmx7LeJaXOjTjwinjinKNJ9FX93zfSnxXKCsWbOIqSKW5-Ox5EhtO0iNPB_veyb36JHAEviVjtfBuOS8bqrCNx6A3ONiPp3Pcpgn/s320/P1010019.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506242797663632690" /></a><br />The long and not-so-winding road - to the future!<br /><br />Coming soon: My journey into the wild and wacky world of Denver architecture!<br /><br />This post brought to you by <a href="http://www.nutellausa.com/">Nutella</a>, the <span style="font-style:italic;">original</span> hazelnut spread.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-54341292791368144422010-04-21T00:57:00.007-06:002010-04-21T09:37:06.618-06:00So I like totally updated my blog! (Looking for traveling and time-passing ideas, yo.)Finals are done - only three semesters (or so) to go! Let the boredom of summer ensue! And any ideas of what I can do to pass the time? Other than sitting in my room and watching movies on my totally cool TV? <br /><br />-<br /><br />Also, I've decided that I want to take a few trips over the next year or so, and would like some suggestions from the four people who read this blog.<br /><br />Firstly, I'd like to go on a sort of mini-trip sometime this summer - preferably one that wouldn't cost more than two or three hundred dollars. My initial thought was to fly out to New York, catch a few Broadway shows (I do desperately want to get to "Sondheim on Sondheim"), and then go down to VA for a few days... But, unfortunately, that's sort of out of my price range at the moment. So any ideas for that? It'd probably best be somewhere I can go in my car, possibly with a few friends. Somewhere cool, and maybe somewhere I've never been before (not a new state or country though, obviously.) <br /><br />Secondly, the recent, uh, <span style="font-style:italic;">list</span> that has been passed around (you know the one of which I speak) has inspired me to, well... It's made me feel more competitive than I have in a while, and I've decided that next year I'm going to go somewhere I haven't been before, country-wise. What I'm saying is that I really need to drive up my number - there are certainly individuals I can't beat, but I need to drive up my ranking a little bit... Right?<br /><br />So any ideas? Australia/Asia, etc. are too expensive, but I think there are other places that are relatively cheap. I'd only ask that the place not be <span style="font-style:italic;">entirely</span> dangerous (half-dangerous is all right.) <br /><br />These would, of course, only be a warm-up for the <span style="font-style:italic;">Ultra-Awesome-Mega-Ultimate-Fantabulastical Trip</span> that I'll be taking after a few of my friends and I graduate (so it'll be a while, since at least one of them probably has a good three years left - enough time to save up for it.) <br /><br />So, yeah, any and all suggestions are welcome! You could even suggest that I don't worry about stuff like this just now and focus on saving for school and the future and wait until I get a good career before I start planning epic trips - but, well, you know... I've gotta get more little black X's on <span style="font-style:italic;">the list</span>!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-19291211544510250172009-12-15T13:45:00.001-07:002009-12-15T13:47:34.160-07:00Lazing on a Sunday (err... Tuesday) Afternoon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWh_fRxAKdQZYGNc-aGh2AA4NI96FOyLr1XpVJkvqAvTazWIcO6eg5INyPJ5wc5cCdvqwf_3p9vs99Vwk3Nh50CGVvtyYERwT3XCYGT5J3yiZGZFd_dDLMtDEdXxTLqEIk6VZvP5_2-yJM/s1600-h/P1010004.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWh_fRxAKdQZYGNc-aGh2AA4NI96FOyLr1XpVJkvqAvTazWIcO6eg5INyPJ5wc5cCdvqwf_3p9vs99Vwk3Nh50CGVvtyYERwT3XCYGT5J3yiZGZFd_dDLMtDEdXxTLqEIk6VZvP5_2-yJM/s320/P1010004.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415567412390088370" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-18680890264034428922009-06-08T16:34:00.004-06:002009-06-08T17:08:26.637-06:00Staying Up All NightA very important milestone in my life took place between the morning of Saturday, June 6, 2009 and Sunday, June 7, 2009. What was that milestone? Well, it was the first time I'd ever gone twenty-four hours without sleep! And, one might ask, why would I do such a stupid thing as staying up that long if I had no major homework assignment due the next day? Because I could, that's why! <br /><br />Not that it was a conscious decision. I got home from work at 11:30, sat down in my room, talked to my roommate, surfed the internet, listened to music, and the next thing I knew it was six o'clock in the morning, and I only had three hours to go before the start of church*. Being one of those unusual people who has a hard time waking themselves up to get ready for church after only two-and-a-half hours of sleep, I decided that it would be best to wait until after church to go to bed. Which was a stupid idea. <br /><br />To make a long story short, I made it through Priesthood (that's the first class of the day, since it's one of those crazy psycho wards that reverses the Proper Order of Things) and then I went home and slept for six hours. It was exciting. And sad. <br /><br />I'm sure you can all guess the moral of this story, so I won't bother to say it. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcuXhuFQfsxsMgTaNvcOOzU120X0sqzgG_wUo1_3rtEqa5T19ANgBtx9pS93UEYd2gKKSpNiDce3OXXC-QIC_YTiHqvdf-LJ4gf9ZPaTSaFOHpkmvBS5X1QMHG4dfrAVVHFtSOCdHGXAr/s1600-h/IMG_0400.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRcuXhuFQfsxsMgTaNvcOOzU120X0sqzgG_wUo1_3rtEqa5T19ANgBtx9pS93UEYd2gKKSpNiDce3OXXC-QIC_YTiHqvdf-LJ4gf9ZPaTSaFOHpkmvBS5X1QMHG4dfrAVVHFtSOCdHGXAr/s320/IMG_0400.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5345091030285473074" border="0" /></a>What I'm pretty sure I looked like to everyone that saw me at church.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">*Does anyone know why of the four student wards I've had, all four of them have started at nine o'clock in the morning? Because I sure can't figure it out. <br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-74687542249394646312009-04-25T19:00:00.004-06:002009-04-25T19:09:29.078-06:00It's Magnificent! (or: Film Nirvana)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ata378_Tx5uNUEruJmtl-3ieEacfBnlMWdfiaTxLmV9AHBLLGieAscWnTT7hjtG6F5yb0rU-42Fio67LfnWGll4bkSd5UD1dFL9dB8Ig0zgJFM6CpkmZGQLKDNkM5FlfLlnb6SFrHnuc/s1600-h/P4260018.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 444px; height: 332px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1Ata378_Tx5uNUEruJmtl-3ieEacfBnlMWdfiaTxLmV9AHBLLGieAscWnTT7hjtG6F5yb0rU-42Fio67LfnWGll4bkSd5UD1dFL9dB8Ig0zgJFM6CpkmZGQLKDNkM5FlfLlnb6SFrHnuc/s320/P4260018.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328799944786061090" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-69250247059370325392009-04-12T20:29:00.004-06:002009-04-12T20:36:33.399-06:00KafkaesqueThis might be a bit esoteric, but as a literature fanatic I have to share it. <br /><br />If you're not familiar with Franz Kafka, he's the Czech-born author of the short story "The Metamorphosis" (about a man who changes into a giant bug) and the novels "The Trial" and "The Castle", all of which involve individuals caught up in a "nightmarishly impersonal and bureaucratic world." (The last quote is from the ever-useful Wikipedia.) <br /><br />And, well, hopefully that's all the background you need to watch this utterly fantastic video from The Onion:<br /><br /><object width="480" height="430"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="movie" value="http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/onn_embed/embedded_player.swf?image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/KAFKA_AIRPORT_article.jpg&videoid=94031&title=Prague%27s%20Franz%20Kafka%20International%20Named%20World%27s%20Most%20Alienating%20Airport"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/onn_embed/embedded_player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" width="480" height="430" flashvars="image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/KAFKA_AIRPORT_article.jpg&videoid=94031&title=Prague%27s%20Franz%20Kafka%20International%20Named%20World%27s%20Most%20Alienating%20Airport"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.theonion.com/content/video/pragues_franz_kafka_international?utm_source=twittershare&utm_medium=twitter">Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-44356935465220064592009-03-07T13:58:00.006-07:002009-03-07T14:13:37.220-07:00Truly Random Photos!Well, since there's no way to match the cuteness of several of my siblings' blogs, I decided I might as well make a random picture post. Mom might recognize some of these from her brand new scrapbook.<br /><br />But really, it's all just an excuse to update my blog, since I can never think of anything to write. And if anyone wants to give me an idea of what to write about, feel free. And if anyone wants to give me an idea of how to make my blog look like it wasn't designed by a manatee, feel free. (It's kind of ugly right now.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQx0_fg44ys-bGLLSTn_IDQUAyYvvSyrJ-uCt-rJDyewFRJRSjmilZA2YlbXfAm-t8F0QwGQa_W2wV92DZQ8rfulfxoQDRiNGZi95XwUEhKM7XMMfkZ7ai5Yi5d2WnCUrtO3qW_i_M3Srz/s1600-h/P8200018.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQx0_fg44ys-bGLLSTn_IDQUAyYvvSyrJ-uCt-rJDyewFRJRSjmilZA2YlbXfAm-t8F0QwGQa_W2wV92DZQ8rfulfxoQDRiNGZi95XwUEhKM7XMMfkZ7ai5Yi5d2WnCUrtO3qW_i_M3Srz/s320/P8200018.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310554056031508946" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-aJC_tAHZdIYYqzpBG3VbQN-u-i7MVy_XKc1bVyEbX_MRFRsko1Xcixspl1iWJz6eXSV9cxKUSfLwpeofvT7ntOkj6TeY9yA8qexe00EV_AIdYYMiZY1E9pG8ynEmptSPnqZzttUgTSG/s1600-h/P5310131.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 347px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC-aJC_tAHZdIYYqzpBG3VbQN-u-i7MVy_XKc1bVyEbX_MRFRsko1Xcixspl1iWJz6eXSV9cxKUSfLwpeofvT7ntOkj6TeY9yA8qexe00EV_AIdYYMiZY1E9pG8ynEmptSPnqZzttUgTSG/s320/P5310131.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310554369191167762" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAAtVOPni5GbTexuebVuiEr00zXbIPKqKA8VCmn7NZ0WWDTUId3ZkLdqrn7REAcVNa1L0hjl6-i9EC9CDNNogb2RoXZ4B-5FpEJGSDlyiOxLIjxs3Szg0QoTsqz72qUP4zhm90qli-DgOo/s1600-h/P3070004.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAAtVOPni5GbTexuebVuiEr00zXbIPKqKA8VCmn7NZ0WWDTUId3ZkLdqrn7REAcVNa1L0hjl6-i9EC9CDNNogb2RoXZ4B-5FpEJGSDlyiOxLIjxs3Szg0QoTsqz72qUP4zhm90qli-DgOo/s320/P3070004.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310554538422965970" border="0" /></a> Sitting in my room on a cloudy, workless Saturday afternoon<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-15611587545570253482008-09-14T15:28:00.003-06:002008-09-26T15:31:38.434-06:00The Egypt Epic (Part II)<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 9"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Timmy/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:donotoptimizeforbrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --></style>
<br /> <p class="MsoNormal">I hate trains.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">And this Egyptian train was the worst of all.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Of course, it started out innocently enough.<span style=""> </span>My “roommate” (the T in the MBT, for those in the know) and I had our own cabin with cute little bunks that folded out from the wall.<span style=""> </span>A cute little Egyptian man came around and gave us our dinner—which consisted of a roll, honey, rat meat, and rice.<span style=""> </span>And as I was eating the rice a mouse came and sat by my foot, looking all cute and mouse-like.<span style=""> </span>It was really a nice change of pace from all the cats that ran around our feet during most of our meals in Egypt.<span style=""> </span>And then I laid down on the sliver of wood some would refer to as a bunk.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">For the information of anyone who hasn’t slept on a train, you should know that it’s impossible to sleep on a train.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The random jerks and rattles and whistles and explosions tend to prevent sleep.<span style=""> </span>And, also, every time another train passes on a neighboring track, a noise is created that sounds something like the universe exploding.<span style=""> </span>And that drives away sleep.<span style=""> </span>And so does the fear of thieves.<span style=""> </span>And so does the awareness that one is laying among bedbugs.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">-</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I had already been paranoid (thanks Dad!) about sleeping in the beds, so I had “gone to sleep” wearing my daytime clothes.<span style=""> </span>Unfortunately, I only had on a short-sleeve shirt, and the bed bugs, upon seeing my exposed arms, decided that they would make an excellent place to bite and do all sorts of mean things.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">By the time morning rolled around I had a dozen bites on each arm—bites that itched like mad for the next several days.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I was also very tired.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The next morning I also had very sore legs.<span style=""> </span>But that wasn’t because of the bedbugs, whose powers were limited.<span style=""> </span>No, the soreness of my legs was the result of the previous day’s fiasco inside the great pyramid of Khafre the Little Person.<span style=""> </span>The fiasco, readers may recall, in which I exercised muscles that were never meant to be exercised, all for the purpose of seeing the Room In Which Nothing Is Contained Other Than Gullible Tourists (the RIWNICOTGT, for short.)<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">So yes, in addition to crazily itchy (itchily crazy?) bed bug bites, I also experienced great difficulty (and pain) moving up and down stairs for the next several days.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">-</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Before leaving the train we were served a breakfast of gross things, which I declined</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And then we arrived at Luxor, which is a lot unlike Cairo.<span style=""> </span>That is, the Nile is slightly less polluted, you don’t feel like you’re breathing in 5 packs of cigarettes with each breath, the roads are safer, there are less than 57 trillion people, we had a new (and massively improved!) tour guide, and the merchants were slightly less pesky.<span style=""> </span>(Okay, that last one was a lie.)<span style=""> </span>All in all, compared to Cairo, it was like paradise.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Only better.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">And sure, I’ll admit the hotel was kind of nauseating, but what town is perfect?<span style=""> </span>Even a perfectly paradisiacal place like Luxor can’t be perfect.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But before we could experience the hotel, before we could shower and wash off the three inches of grime that had formed on us during the night among bedbugs and mice, before we could get rid of our bags, before we could get just a little sleep, they dragged us to the Valley of the Kings.<span style=""> </span>And I’m sure it’s a fantastically cool place—how could any place with lots of dead bodies and treasures not be cool?<span style=""> </span>But I sure don’t remember it.<span style=""> </span>That is, I have fleeting memories—I seem to recall passing through King Tut’s tomb, and walking up and down lots of stairs, and lots of colorful things on walls—but I’m not sure.<span style=""> </span>Maybe it was all a dream.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">-</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I woke up once I saw the hotel.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I deposited my bags on the floor, then, looking around, decided that I valued my safety and cleanliness so I went and slept in the dark alleyway outside the hotel (where the local gangs rumbled.)<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Later that day we rode a falucha on the Nile, which is altogether a forgettable experience.<span style=""> </span>Which is not to say that it was boring.<span style=""> </span>It was.<span style=""> </span>But, also, it was bland and tiring, and, again, forgettable.<span style=""> </span>Maybe it was just a slow day, but we drifted about half-a-mile in our entire ninety-minute “voyage”, which is not anywhere far enough a distance to travel when one is on a boat on the Nile River (a three-month long voyage into the “heart of darkness” would have seemed more appropriate, but alas.)<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I also touched the Nile.<span style="">*</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">-</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">After the falucha ride, a small group of us went to a local shopping mall.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">It was much more exciting.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">You can imagine what it’s like to walk through a Luxorian shopping mall if you imagine an American shopping mall, but just replace all the English (and Spanish) being spoken with Arabic and pretend that at every single shop there is a man waiting and calling for you to come in and that he is reaching out to grab your arm and drag you and he will use violent force if necessary and that he is offering you a very special price that’s available only to American tourists.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Now spend a moment, re-read that paragraph, close your eyes, and try to imagine the place. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Ok.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">And then we went to the Luxor Museum, wherein we viewed many random artifacts, two ancient dead people, and a few other things.<span style=""> </span>It was better than the Cairo Museum, but worse than the Smithsonian.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">We spent the night at the hotel (the alley was closed for renovations), whose scumminess I believe I already mentioned, and the next day we went to Karnak and Luxor temples which were both pretty cool (the latter was located in the middle of downtown Luxor, just a block away from the Nile.)</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">-</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">That night it was time to return to Cairo—this time by air.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Yes. The people who run the Jerusalem Center bought us plane tickets back to Cairo, proving that, despite appearances, they do in fact have hearts.<span style="">...</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">-</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=""></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="">...But only very small hearts, as we will see in the third and final part of the Egypt Epic, estimated to arrive December 22, 2012.
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">*Please note: You are under absolutely no obligation to tell my future wife that I did this.<span style=""> </span>I have been assured the consequences of this action (genetic mutations, etc.)<span style=""> </span>won’t show up until the fifth or sixth generation of grandchildren, so neither of us will be around to feel bad.<span style=""> </span> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-72593916697455557422008-03-28T14:31:00.015-06:002008-03-28T21:32:29.859-06:00It's coming...After months and months of anticipation, part two of my Egypt Epic is now finally almost here. In fact, I'm now willing to guarantee that it will be up within... Well, it'll be up. So, yeah, keep checking back. This one's longer, and it makes even less narrative sense than the last. So be excited.<br /><br />Just to let you all know that I haven't forgotten. ("You all" being Dad, and Mom, and the three other people who have ever visited this blog.)<br /><br />-<br /><br />Meanwhile, here are some links to amuse and delight:<br /><br />-Read about the <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23844529/?GT1=43001">Swiss scientists</a> who are trying to suck the Earth into a black hole (or something.) And the brave Hawaiians who are the only ones who stand between us and utter destruction.<span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><br /><br />-Test your awareness by watching this video: <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ahg6qcgoay4&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ahg6qcgoay4&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br />-Experience the wonders of The Onion: <embed src="http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" flashvars="file=http://www.theonion.com/content/xml/72981/video&autostart=false&image=http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/conentric_circles.jpg&bufferlength=3&embedded=true&title=Breaking%20News%3A%20Series%20Of%20Concentric%20Circles%20Emanating%20From%20Glowing%20Red%20Dot" height="355" width="400"></embed><br /><br /><br />-And after all that, <a href="http://www.freerice.com/">feed starving children in Africa.</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.st.com/stonline/stappl/publish/stwebresources/PL__Press__Release/CERN_LHC_t2030shigh.jpeg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 319px; height: 206px;" src="http://www.st.com/stonline/stappl/publish/stwebresources/PL__Press__Release/CERN_LHC_t2030shigh.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1595742240329755203.post-79424606159239750612007-10-04T14:26:00.000-06:002007-10-04T14:30:57.625-06:00Egypt: The Epic (Part I)<p class="MsoNormal">Our trip to Egypt began with a bang:<span style=""> </span>And by bang, I mean it began with a tour through a Jewish socialist community an hour outside of Egypt.<span style=""> </span>Those within the Jewish socialist community refer to themselves as the Yotvata Kibbutz.<span style=""> </span>But that’s just a euphemism for what they really are: a Jewish socialist community.<span style=""> </span>Our personal tour guide and propagandist explained to us the many benefits of socialist community life.<span style=""> </span>The advantages include:</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p>-Equality for all</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">-Freedom from want </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">-Freedom from care</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">-Everybody loves their neighbor</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">and</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">-Nobody does anything less than what they believe their share might possibly be.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">-So on and so forth.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The only cons, we were led to believe were that, being such a close-knit community, people tended to gossip, and also that some people like to take advantage of the community and try to steal the money for their own gain.<span style=""> </span>That’s it.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Dinner was at the kibbutz’ restaurant, and there we spent several hours walking around in crazy circles as part of what they called a Jewish dance, but I suspect they were just making fun of us unknowing tourists.<span style=""> </span>We also ate ice cream made right there on the kibbutz (and it was, admittedly, quite good.)<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> We left that place of peace and joy and stayed the night in another kibbutz, but this one was different from the other one, because it was privatized and aimed at tourists.<span style=""> </span>I liked it more than the other one.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Border crossings make me nervous.<span style=""> </span>It’s not that I’m a particularly dangerous person, nor do I have plans to become a dangerous person in the future.<span style=""> </span>But I’m always afraid that they’re going to suspect me of something, or they’re going to think my MP3 player looks suspiciously like a bomb, or that a million other things might go wrong that cause them to detain me.<span style=""> </span>In the U.S. that wouldn’t be so bad – I speak English, most Americans speak English – I could defend myself and explain anything that seemed suspicious about me.<span style=""> </span>But here they speak broken English (at best), and they might mistake my trying to defend myself as a confession and use that as an excuse to execute me on the spot.<span style=""> </span>Or to at least throw me into an Egyptian prison for a couple of years (which, I guess, is better than a Turkish prison, but still.)<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> I blame Dad for my paranoia.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> In spite of my fears, we made it through safely and in a lot less time than we had been told it would probably take.<span style=""> </span>We got onto our new (shiny) Egyptian buses and continued on our journey.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> That is, we got on the buses after AnnaLisa and I had taken a few pictures so we could prove to Dad that we had indeed beaten him to Egypt and Africa.<span style=""> </span>(As it turned out, the border crossing didn’t actually mark the crossing into Africa, but that’s not the point.)<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> Our first stop in Egypt was (anti-climatically) a rest stop.<span style=""> </span>There we had lunch with the local cats, who liked to slink against our legs at unexpected moments.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> We then paid a tip to be granted access to the restrooms, which consisted of small booths with semi-functional doors and a hole in the ground, plus a hose.<span style=""> </span>(One word: Scumbuzzling.) </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--> One hour and 1000 hand washings later we continued on our journey.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><span style=""></span>After many hours of riding through the desert (on a bus with no name) we crossed underneath the Suez Canal, which, I have been led to understand, marks the real boundary between Asia and Africa.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But of course, it doesn’t really matter where the real border crossing was located.<span style=""> </span>The point is that we beat Dad to Africa.<span style=""> </span>Right?<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">-<br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I love large cities.<span style=""> </span>There’s something I find endlessly fascinating about so much humanity living together in such a relatively small space.<span style=""> </span>Cairo is one of the largest of all cities (it’s one of the ten biggest in the world, even larger than New York City, if I’m not mistaken.)<span style=""> </span>Later in our trip we got to a point where we could look over the entire city (or, as far as the haze would allow us to see) and I was blown away by how vast the city really was.<span style=""> </span>Buildings spread as far as the eye could see in every direction (you could just barely make out the hazy silhouette of the pyramids in the far distance.)<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Speaking of which, the moment we caught our first glimpse of the pyramids, silhouetted against the “modern” buildings of the Cairo skyline (semi-modern, as in they looked like they might fall in the event of a small earthquake) was one of those sure to never be forgotten moments in my life.<span style=""> </span>There’s something almost mystical about seeing something in person that you’ve seen reproduced so many times in photographs and movies and so on (it was kind of like seeing the Acropolis for the first time, only different.)<span style=""> </span>It’s just too bad that Dad has never seen those things before.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We stayed that night in a fairly nice hotel in Giza, not too far from the Giza Plateau (upon which the pyramids rest.)<span style=""> </span>The beds in the hotel were nice and clean, and I appreciated them even more when we returned to the hotel after spending two nights in beds that weren’t nice and clean.<span style=""> </span>But we’ll get to that later.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The next morning we went to the pyramids.<span style=""> </span>They’re really cool.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">On the outside.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After a (long-winded) 20-minute lecture from our Egyptian tour guide (jerk), given to us while we sat on a bus less than a hundred meters from the pyramids (yes, meters.<span style=""> </span>I’m not in America, I’m going to use the rest of the world’s vastly superior measuring system while I have the chance.)<span style=""> </span>If only I had known the horrors that awaited me within the pyramid, I would have gladly been willing to sit on the bus for another two hours (but no more, because the tour guide really was kind of annoying.)<span style=""> </span>We did get off the bus, at which point I began to be stalked and harassed by a souvenir seller guy that sounded something like this:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span><i>The (Lying, Manipulative, Ridiculously Annoying) Merchant of Giza<o:p></o:p></i><span style=""><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Souvenir Seller Guy:<span style=""> </span>“Please take this, it’s free.” </p> <p class="MsoNormal">(Man tries to give me a plastic bag containing an unidentified garment.<span style=""> </span>I refuse.)<br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Souvenir Seller Guy:<span style=""> </span>“Free.<span style=""> </span>Gift for Ramadan."<br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">(He tries again to shove the package into my hands.<span style=""> </span>Fails.<span style=""> </span>I speed up to catch up to my group, but he continues chasing me, in spite of the millions of other tourists on the plateau who, I’m sure, would have been gladly willing to take his free gift.)<br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Souvenir Seller Guy:<span style=""> </span>“Free, please, hello, it’s for you.”<br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">(He opens up the package, takes out the still unidentified garment, shoves it under my arm against my will, I try to hand it back to him, he refuses.)<br /><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Souvenir Seller Guy:<span style=""> </span>“Only $1!”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Me:<span style=""> </span>No, no, la’ la’, please no, thank you, go away, I hate you. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Souvenir Seller Guy:<span style=""> </span>“Free!<span style=""> </span>Only $1!”<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">(I shove it back into his arms, and run to catch up my group.)</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Souvenir Seller Guy: (calling futilely after me) “Free! Free!”<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">THE END</p> <p class="MsoNormal">So we get to the pyramid, and we start walking inside, and I’m horrified to discover that the tunnel that leads into the heart of the pyramid is too small for me.<span style=""> </span>That is, the tunnel was designed for people under 90 centimeters, and I’m significantly taller than that.<span style=""> </span>In fact, most adult humans are significantly taller than that.<span style=""> </span>So I’m not entirely sure who it was designed for, but it certainly wasn’t for humans.<span style=""> </span>Still, I was anxious to see what treasures lay at the center of the pyramid (treasures so precious that we weren’t even allowed to bring our cameras inside, for fear, I imagined, that pictures of the treasures would be leaked to the outside world, and people would see how astonishingly beautiful those treasures were and everyone in the world would flock to the pyramids at once to lay their eyes upon the surpassingly beautiful stuff, and there’s no way Cairo could contain the entire population of the world, so that’s why they don’t let us take pictures, to avoid a sudden worldwide immigration to Cairo), and so I pressed on, my heart full of gleeful anticipation.<span style=""> </span>So I crouched, and “walked” down the sloping path straight into the mouth of He…<span style=""> </span>Err…</p><p class="MsoNormal">It’s very hot inside the pyramid.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Lots of people are inside the pyramid, many trying to go in, many trying to leave (understandably.)<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And you walk a long, long ways using muscles that should never have to be used, and the heat is stifling, and people are pushing, and the walls are pushing in, and you reach the end and…<span style=""> </span>There’s nothing.<span style=""> </span>An empty room.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">That’s what lies at the heart of the pyramid.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">The real reason they don’t want us to take pictures inside the pyramids:<span style=""> </span>So their fraud isn’t exposed.<span style=""> </span>But, ladies and gentlemen, I’m here to expose the fraud.<span style=""> </span>To pay to go inside the pyramid is no more a better way of spending than your money than if you paid to go walk through the sewers of your local city.<span style=""> </span>In fact, I’d suggest that paying to go walking through the sewers of your local city would be a better use of your money, because there their would be fewer people and the air would be fresher.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I left the pyramid, feeling nearer to death than I ever have before, and for the rest of the day (or most of it, at least) the hot Egyptian wind felt rather cool.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">-</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We walked around for a long while, took lots of pictures, (they’re still pretty cool – from the outside,) and then we got back on the bus.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We drove along the plateau a ways until we got to a place with lots of camels and some more annoying merchants.<span style=""> </span>We ignored the merchants, got some cool panoramic pictures of the main pyramids, and then got on the camels.<span style=""> </span>Camels are pretty fantastic.<span style=""> </span>Camel drivers are not.<span style=""> </span>Ours wanted an extra $1, merely for taking three (poorly framed, lame) photographs of us atop the camel.<span style=""> </span>That was in addition to the $2 we had already given him as a tip, and the money our tour guide had paid.<span style=""> </span>Lame.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">After our lovely but over-priced camel rides we proceeded to drive away from the pyramids, towards Saqarra and Memphis.<span style=""> </span>It was in that area that we saw the Step Pyramid of Zoser, which is kind of like the bigger pyramids, except it’s smaller and different.<span style=""> </span>I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of it, so I won’t bother to explain it’s appearance.<span style=""> </span>Our (long winded) tour guide (jerk) gave us another (long winded) lecture, and unfortunately by the time he was done we only had about ten minutes at the actual site of the pyramid (it was closing for the day.)<span style=""> </span>So we were kicked out by the tourism police and I wished vengeance on our (long winded) tour guide (jerk.)</p><p class="MsoNormal">We then ate dinner at another fantastically (un-) hygienic restaurant and once again found cats rubbing against our legs at unexpected moments.<span style=""> </span>In fact, every non-hotel restaurant we ate at had cats wandering around it.<span style=""> </span>As did the room we held Sacrament in on Saturday.<span style=""> </span>But that’s a story for a later date.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">That night we boarded a train for Luxor.<span style=""> </span> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I hate trains.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But I’ll tell you why in my next entry.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Which is to say:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></p> <h1>TO BE CONTINUED…<span style=""> </span></h1>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4