More Recently...

So this past week was Fall Break and I decided to head out of town and see some more of the National Parks.  I left on Friday Oct. 8 and headed to Bryce Canyon.  I drove in along scenic Hwy 12 through Dixie National Forest and Red Canyon.  I enjoyed Bryce but hated that the trail I'd wanted to try was washed out from the 4 inches of rain they'd had earlier in the week.  That evening I drove to Kanab, UT and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express (and thank goodness I'd made reservations in advance because they were sold out the entire time I was there!).  Janae at the front desk was really helpful.  She warned me that there would be three tour groups eating breakfast from 6-7 and when I told her I was actually planning on leaving out at 5am and she realized I'd miss the breakfast completely, she took to their prep room and got me a couple of bagels and some fruit to take with me.  It was very thoughtful of her and greatly appreciated!

So Saturday, I did indeed get up and leave at 5am.  I was in the state of Arizona for the first time less than 10 minutes later.  I remembered having a gentleman come into the office at AAA and talk about going to see the sunrise over the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and what a sight that was, it always stuck with me.  I made it in good time, though I didn't realize until much later that the time had changed when I'd crossed into Arizona, and took the trail out to Bright Angel Point.  It was chilly, the North Rim is at least 10 degrees cooler than the South Rim and I think 1500 feet or so higher in elevation.  And there were a number of people out there to watch the sunrise.  A lot of them left shortly after the sun popped up over the horizon, luckily I was not one of them.  I'd started talking to a lady from Phoenix on the walk out and she told me to wait, that everyone was leaving too soon to really see the beauty of how the canyon changed with more and more light.  It was something spectacular to see!  When I got back to the Lodge, I bought a postcard to send to my parents, there is actually a post office at the lodge.  And I got something for lunch at the deli, it was in the deli that I realized I was an hour ahead of everyone else.  Arizona doesn't follow daylight savings time.  So for right now they are the same as Pacifici time, in a couple of weeks they will be on Mountain time (which is what I was on).  I went to Cape Royal point and walked to Angel's Window and all the way to the end of Cape Royal.  I got my picture made sitting on a cliff!

I think the people who took the picture were more worried than I was!  And the drive to get to Cape Royal and Point Imperial were absolutely beautiful this time of year.  Mixed in with the Ponderosa pine were lots of Aspen in full fall color.  I could only go 30 mph and I was absolutely okay with that!  It seemed like there was no one on the road in front of me (to slow me down) or behind me (to hurry me up) and I met very few cars, the drive was definitely part of the fun!

Sunday was the day I hadn't really planned ahead of time.  There were a lot of other options and I just didn't know what to do.  I stopped at the Bureau of Land Management visitor's center in Kanab on my way out of town to get some ideas.  I intended to drive this loop that went out to Page on 89 and then come back to Kanab via Jacob Lake (which is the turn-off to head to the North Rim).  And I'd be able to stop and see whatever I wanted along the way.  I stopped at Paria View that's part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and went off-road for a bit.  It was pretty rough road because they'd had heavy rains as well in the past week.  The scenery along the way was still really pretty and colorful! I got to a point, however, where it said 4wd and high clearance vehicles only.  I decided not to risk going further and damaging my car, but the minivan that'd been tailing me decided to go on.  I certainly hope that it was a rental or that they have great insurance.

I ended up at Lake Powell and Glen Canyon.  I went into the Lake Powell Resort, initially for lunch only, and decided that taking a cruise to see some of the canyon and be out on the water sounded great.  Plus, since I'd changed time zones again, I had plenty of time for lunch before the boat left.  We went into Navajo Canyon and Antelope Canyon before going to see the Glen Canyon Dam.  I wanted to go further into Antelope Canyon because on the other end is where the slot canyons are, but because of rains and the debris that the rains had washed into the lake, we couldn't without getting into a lot of muck.  I'll have to leave the slot canyons for another trip (a drier time of year too).  I drove on to the visitor center for the dam, where I became a tourist attraction, or rather my license tag did, before heading into Page, AZ for dinner.  By the time I left, it was dark so rather than the loop, I went back the way I came.

On Monday, I left Kanab and headed to Zion National Park.  The roads getting into Zion are under some pretty heavy construction right now, so keep that in mind if anyone is planning on going.  But the drive in is beautiful and their shuttle service into the canyon area where all the major points of interest are located runs smoothly and efficiently.  I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of the shuttle, but I was very suprised and I enjoyed the commentary on the way out about each of the sections.  I rode to the end and got off at the Temple of Sinewava.  The trail there is mostly paved and a very easy walk that ends at the river, which is where people pick up the trail to the Narrows.  I couldn't wait to get in the water and didn't even think about getting one of the hiking sticks they had sitting along the rock wall (not so smart of me).  I went up 150 to 200 yards before I realized that as much as I wanted to continue, I just was not prepared.  I hadn't brought my backpack, no lunch and again no stick.  I headed back in, reluctantly, vowing that I will go back to Zion and be prepared to go all the way up.  I had lunch at the picturesque Lodge before heading back to the visitor's center and hitting the road towards, you guessed it, Vegas!

Tuesday morning I woke up to the Strip!  I was excited to be in Vegas for the first time, mainly because I wanted to see the hotels!  I just love themed hotels (must come from working at Disney)

Since School Started...

My next trip was the week of Labor Day.  This semester I have a class on Sustainable Tourism with Dr. Kelly Bricker (who's also the Chair of the Board for the International Ecotourism Society, TIES) and each year TIES hosts the Ecotourim and Sustainable Tourism Conference which for 2010 was in Portland.  I wanted to go and since I'd never been to Idaho or Oregon, I decided to drive.  The conference was on Thursday and Friday and I had Saturday free to explore.  I got to hear Rick Ridgeway, VP at Patagonia, talk about Freedom to Roam which helps establish wildlife corridors for animals to migrate and Bruce Poon Tip, founder of GAP Adventures speak at the conference.  I attended sessions on reducing climate footprint, voluntourism, and creating a sense of place to name a few.  Overall it was an interesting and informative two days that also featured a sustainable culinary showcase and the announcement that Hilton Head will be the location for 2011.  I've got my flip flops packed!  On Saturday, I took the opportunity to travel into Washington state and go to Mount St. Helens since it was only 70 miles or so north of Portland.  I definitely ended up spending more time than I had originally intended but I had an awesome (and educational) time!  While in Portland, I also stopped by Voodoo Doughnut.  I'd seen them on either the Food Network or the Travel Channel and thought it would be neat to check out.  I gotta say they have the most unique doughnuts I've ever seen and if you're ever in Portland try the Maple and Bacon doughnut, it looks kind of funny but is actually really good!

More recently, again traveling as part of my sustainable tourism class, we went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  Ten of us drove up on Friday Oct. 1 and drove to the Kelly Campus of Teton Science Schools.  We got there at 10:30 at night and you'd probably think we were just a bunch of city slickers standing in the cold looking at the stars, but you can see so many more stars out there than you can see even out in the country in NC.  I hadn't seen that many stars since I was in South Dakota (ten years ago, I think).  I even got to see shooting stars (and yes, Mom I know they're actually asteroids and not stars).  Then the next morning after breakfast (we were at breakfast at 6am) when we went back outside there were the Tetons in the predawn light. 

After that we loaded up and went to meet our guide Megan who works for Wildlife Expeditions that is actually a division of the Teton Science Schools.  She took us up to Yellowstone where we watched Old Faithful erupt, walked beside the Grand Prismatic Spring, saw the mud pots, walked to Artists Point to see the lower falls in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  The next day we also had a guide from Wildlife Expeditions, Colin who took us into Grand Teton.  And while we were there...we saw a black bear!  That evening we stayed in Jackson at the Snow King Resort and had dinner at the Snake River Brewing Co. We drove back to Salt Lake on Monday.

The Last Couple of Months...

Everything that's been happening the last couple of months started a little over a year ago when I went to Hawaii with my mom.  I'm a big believer that God puts you in places and people in your path to show you where to go.  Our last day in Hawaii, I was out swimming across the street from our hotel when a girl swam up to me out of the blue.  She said she thought we were staying at the same hotel, that she'd seen me walking along the beach earlier and that when she saw me out swimming she thought she needed to come talk to me.  I found out her name was Alitha and that her birthday was March 5 (see the strange similarities).  As we were talking, I explained that I was discontent with how things were going in my life at the time and that I knew a change needed to be made but I didn't know what I was supposed to do.  She looked me in the eye and told me to go to grad school.  I was taken aback because grad school was something I'd been considering, in fact, Mom and I'd gone to the University of Hawaii at Manoa to check it out the day before.  But I hadn't brought up the subject of grad school with Alitha.  I took that as about an obvious of a sign as I was ever likely to get and made up my mind that I was going to apply to schools to start Fall 2010.  I got accepted into the University of Utah in Salt Lake City at the end of April and began planning my move to SLC in August. 

My mom ended up driving out with me, she didn't like the idea of me making the cross-country trip by myself, plus I'd planned a really cool trip (if I do say so myself) to places she'd never been before.  We left out on August 8 with a plan to arrive in SLC on Aug. 14.  That first day we made it to Mount Vernon, IL.  The second day was probably our longest driving day.  Through St. Louis and Kansas City (though we were sure to stop in KC to try their BBQ) and on to WaKeeney, KS.  The third day was the start of the fun.  We drove to Colorado Springs and straight to the station for the Pike's Peak Cog Railway and up the mountain we went.  It's a really neat train trip if you ever get the chance to go, be sure to take plenty of water!  The change in altitude is no joke going up Pike's Peak!  The fourth day we went to Royal Gorge, which is home to America's highest suspension bridge.  We road the aerial tram, I walked across the bridge, Mom rode the trolley and we took the incline railway down to the bottom of the gorge.  We covered all the angles, the only thing we didn't do was ride the SkyCoaster and go flying out over the gorge! (Mom didn't realize that Jamie and I had already ridden the one at Carowinds the summer before we started college) The next day we headed out from Colorado Springs, but stopped by the Air Force Academy just north of town.  I went and made pictures of the chapel and I think I got lucky because a tour group had just pulled up out front when I got there, so I got to go inside and take pictures.  I thought I heard a gentleman saying that he'd been unable to get inside.  The inside is absolutely gorgeous!  From USAFA we drove into Denver and went to the Capital building before driving on through the Rockies and stopping in Glenwood Springs.  The next day we stopped at the Colorado National Monument before crossing into Utah.  That afternoon we went to Arches National Park and stayed in Moab.  Then finally it was Aug. 14 and we drove into Salt Lake, though we kept going past the city so we could go out to Antelope Island and go see the Great Salt Lake.  Antelope Island is really the best way to see the Lake, there's a beach where you can get into the water, a visitor center and on the southern end of the island there's a wild buffalo herd.  Sunday morning, Mom and I went to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and that evening she flew back to NC.  I moved into my apt on campus on Aug. 16 and had orientation on Aug. 17 (where I met two fellow Southern gals).