I'm back...
Saturday 16 Sept: I get up early to catch the first train to NYC, to meet a bus to take me to JFK. I flew out on Jet Blue, on time, around 9 o'clock. Got into Las Vegas around 1 o'clock local time, got my rental car, and went directly to a WalMart to pickup supplies, including 24 liters of water and the jar of peanut butter that was a constant lunchtime companion. Oh, turns out I don't care for beef jerky, either, so I don't expect to be getting that again. Got to Zion in the early evening, and checked into the campground.
Sunday: Slept okay, got up and went straight to hiking after picking up a new parks pass (still just $50/year). Hiked to Observation Point and the Hidden Canyon. Great hikes, and totally worthwhile, even though I'd done them the last time I was out here two years ago. I'll probably do those trails every time I visit.
Monday: Did the Angel's Landing Trail, but this time I didn't go all the way. I wasn't feeling as brave as I had before, the wind had picked up, and having someone ask if I had heard about "the girl who died on that trail two weeks ago" didn't help. Didn't matter, though, as the views are great even short of the final push. Another trail I'll at least attempt every time I visit. Also did the Watchmen trail.
Tuesday: Rented some boots and a walking stick to do the Narrows trail up the river. It was very cold, but the neoprene boots helped a bit, and you get used to it pretty quickly. It was a great hike that took the whole day to go five miles up canyon and back, with an additional four mile round trip down Orderville Canyon, a mere trickle compared to the main river. I spent most of my time with a nice newlywed couple from Scotland.
Wednesday: Drove up to Bryce. Much, much colder up here. Only did a couple of short hikes, since the best day trail is closed due to a massive rockfall earlier this spring near the Wall Street section.
Thursday: Did a big loop trail; can't remember the name offhand, but a good 10 mile trip took most of the day. The cold was great and made for excellent hiking weather.
Friday: Drove up to Calf Creek in the Grand Staircase. Took a drive down the Burr Trail (great views of the Henry Mountains, getting pretty close to the middle of nowhere), then came back and did some hiking up the Escalante river to a massive natural bridge.
Saturday 23 Sept: Went back down towards Bryce to the town of Panguitch to see a Pow-Wow. I've never been to an Irish dancing competition, but I suspect it's similar; verious tribes come together to wear their traditional clothes, and do some traditional dancing. It's competitive, and there were some great demonstrations. I was most interested in the drumming circles. Four groups were competing; a circle sits around one drum and plays it together while singing/chanting. It was very cool. I also had my first, and I have to say last, Navajo taco.
Sunday: One more day in Bryce to to the Fairyland loop. Met a couple from Salt Lake who decided to take the Very Long Way to get to San Francisco, where they are moving. They agreed with me that Bryce is the greatest place on the planet, at least that any of us had seen so far. Also took a drive down the scenic road to the 9100 foot southern tip at the end of the Pink Cliffs. The cold front had pushed all of the particles out of the air, so Navajo Mountain, which is usually only barely visible, was completely clear with easily discernible features; it lies 80+ miles away. The visibility was easily over 200 miles that day. Can't wait to get those pictures off the camera. Met a nice retired lady who, with her camera and her husband, was on a five MONTH vacation. Nice.
Monday: You might want to get your atlas out if you want to follow along. Long day of driving up past the Grand Staircase and Capitol Reef. Thirty miles past Capitol Reef, Highway 24 goes north to the interstate; about halfway there, some maps might include an indication of a 70 mile dirt road that goes into the desert then heads north to the town of Green River. This is the only access to the Horseshoe Canyon section of Canyonlands NP. My guidebook said my ordinary car would have no problems with it provided the weather was decent. The weather was, but the road was an absolute nightmare. It took forever to go 35 miles to the trailhead. It was well worth it, though. This truly is the middle of nowhere; I didn't see cars for hours, and if I broke down I seriously doubt help would have been coming anytime very soon. The trail goes past some relatively untouched examples of pre-CE petroglyphs. They are totally spooky, looking more like aliens or Golden-Age-Sci-Fi robots than people (or whatever they were supposed to be). No one on the trail, except for the ranger and a couple of people who must have brought the other three cars I saw at the trail head.
Tuesday: Drove to Moab, which I used as a base to see Arches and the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands. Arches was okay, with some worthwhile trails, but it is perhaps too well developed, with lots of very short trails that are crowded with other tourists. The arches themselves were neat, though they never come in the density that makes other geological features in the region so enthralling. Attended the end of a wedding which was taking place under one of the arches. Island in the Sky is mostly for driving the paved scenic roads to some amazing overlooks, or for driving the very rough 4WD roads into the backcountry. I was content to take it easy and did the scenic drives. I timed it right so that I got some very cool sunset views. Moab itself isn't a big city, but after a week and a half of very small tourist and farming communities, it seemed like a metropolis to me. There was a microbrewery I went to for dinner, which being in Utah meant that the beer was pretty tasty, but had next to no kick to it.
Wednesday: Drove to Durango, Colorado. New state to add to the map; woo hoo! I had hoped to stay in the youth hostel with a good writeup in my guidebook, but it's since been turned into a condo complex. Found a very cheap but clean motel only a mile from the "historic downtown" area and then went up into the San Juan mountains. Made it as far as Ouray before I headed back. Stopped in the town of Silverton for some knick-nack shopping and at the 11,100 foot pass just outside of it, which is now my new highest land altitude visit.
Thursday: Drove past the Four Corners for kitch value before going through the Navajo Nation. Wow, we really screwed them. They did not get very choice real estate. Aside from Monument Valley, it's not even pretty to look at. I stopped at some of the roadside craft stalls along the way, but being such a long day, I didn't stay for long. I made it to Flagstaff in the early evening. There I had planned to stay in a nice place so I could get cleaned up and packed for my flight the next day, but instead I found what may be the friendliest, nicest hostel I've stayed in. $38 for a private room near the downtown, with really friendly people. The only downside, which was significant, was its proximity to the railroad tracks, which may be among the nation's busiest. Literally, all night, trains rattled by every 10 to 20 minutes. I had earplugs, so it didn't really bug me at all. Got a good recommendation for food (another microbrewery, which did a very good job after just two pints) and packed for the trip back to Vegas.
Friday: Got to Vegas in about four hours. There was a bit of a delay at the Hoover Dam, where not long before some construction cranes had fallen into the river and across the road. Dropped the car off and quickly became annoyed by the slot machines everywhere in the terminal, including at the gate. I don't know how anybody can stand being around them, let alone wanting to sit there putting money into them. kirinqueen picked me up at the airport and we hung out for a bit in Balboa Park until hober and other of their friends were able to make it to an awesome pizza/beer joint in Solana Beach for dinner. We went back to one of the local's places (with more booze) and watched a few episodes of Firefly, which maybe thirty percent of us (including me) hadn't seen before.
Saturday 30 Sept (also known as Kabaddi Day... read on): Wow, what a day. After some waffles for breakfast, we went to the beach for a barbecue and games day with some of my hosts' friends. We ended up being early, and while waiting, we saw a large group of Indians playing a game that captivated hober and me. After a half hour of trying to back-formulate the rules by observation, we went over to them and asked them what they were playing. It's called Kabaddi; you can read all about it at Wikipedia. It turns out it's a huge game in Asia, though I had never heard of or seen it. It looks like a hell of a lot of fun; next time I get a group of 20 or so people together, we are so going to play this. More people showed up soon after; we threw a frisbee around (I hit a little girl with an errant toss, which made me feel like crap, though the kid and her mom didn't seem too fazed), tried walking a tightrope (didn't happen for me, and wouldn't without enormous amounts of practice) and generally had a great time. That afternoon, after walking to the zoo only to find it closed early, we met up with laureltree and went to a buger place called Mo's where I learned that gay people like great bugers and large steins of beer as much as us straight folk. We went to a birthday party after that where I continued the beer drinking theme (having brought a six-pack of an O'Connor-recommended quaff) and met a lot of cool people. Then after that we went to La Jolla and met another couple there for a midnight showing of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which ended up being rather more adult-themed than I remembered it as a kid. Got to bed around two o'clock, rather exhausted.
Sunday: We were supposed to go to Mexico for breakfast, but that pretty much wasn't going to happen. Joined again by laureltree we ended up going there for lunch, at a place called Rene's in the town of Rosarito, about 15 miles south of the border. Food was pretty good; we wandered along the beach and some of the stores for a while before heading back. The return trip through the border isn't what one would call expedient, but it wasn't unbearable. Expecially with churro vendors placed strategically among the stopped cars. Walked to the park and threw the frisbee around some more (with yet a few more stunningly awful tosses by your's truly) before going to Mama Testa's, the famed taco place just around the corner. Food was pretty good, and I might have a business opportunity to provide a death ray for my new taco guy. Back at the apartment, we broke open a few bottles of La Fin Du Monde, a Quebec brew which I had seen but never tasted before. It's very good, much like a Bavarian hefeweisse. A tasteful and well-named way to end my trip, as I had to head to the airport right after that. I got to the airport with enough time to buy a neck pillow and some chocolates for the office admin before the red eye flight back to New York.
Monday 2 Oct: Slept pretty good on the plane. We landed a little before 6 am. I got my bag quickly enough, but the bus was twenty minutes late, so I had a thirty minute wait at Grand Central with a fully loaded backpack and daypack. I tried to make the most of it and got a bagel and coffee for the train, a luxury I hadn't had in nearly a month. Got the 8:04 train to Connecticut, and I ended up at work after a shower and a clean (CLEAN! HOW NOVEL!) set of clothes a little before 10.
I can't connect to 68k at work anymore (new security policy while I was away), so it will be a while until I can read email or upload photos, but when I do I'll post that info here. If you need to get in touch with me, call me on my cell phone or write me at work, christopher [dot my lastname] @asml.com.