Archive for the ‘Travel Updates’ Category

Lizard at Horseshoe Bend

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Say hello to my new best friend. I found him on a hike down to Horseshoe Bend in Arizona. We had to walk on a long desert sand path to get to the spectacular view. On our way there, right on the side of the path was this little guy. I freaked out when I saw this and scrambled for my telephoto lens thinking he was about to bolt off and I couldn’t miss this shot.

He was just standing there and no one noticed him at all. Tons of people walked by me as I was taking pictures but no one else stopped to look or take notice. I don’t understand that. This creature is beautiful and amazing but so many people wouldn’t take the two seconds of their time to appreciate this little marvel of nature. It made me a little sad but at the same time, more shots of a cool lizard just for me.

He was just posing away for me. Watching me as he cocked his head back and forth. He didn’t move at all. I thought he would run away as soon as I pulled the camera out (that would be my usual luck) but he stayed for a good five minutes as I crept closer and closer. He didn’t really seem to mind. After a while he started doing little push ups and picking up his feet and shaking them because of the hot sand. I was so excited when I got these shots, it made me realize something else. I love doing action shots of animals. It makes me so much happier if I get a good shot of an animal rather than a good shot of landscape. Anyways, it was a lot of fun and I hope that next time you see a girl (or boy) frantically taking pictures of something, stop and take a look; you may never know what you are missing if you just stay locked into your own world. There is a big beautiful world out there, take notice before it is too late.

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Road Trip: Bootjack

Monday, July 5th, 2010

Today was our last day on the road. We finally arrived safe and sound, just slightly busted up (me) ready for fun in Michigan. We started out our day with a nice ride along the Lake Superior coast in Ashland. We passed some really cool old dock pilings out in the water mostly covered by fog.

We are tired but very glad to be at our home away from home with out family. I am glad to have the library and the time to relax finally.

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Road Trip: Ashland

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Today was an entire day of nothing. We went through Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and finally here in Ashland, Wisconsin. It rained almost the entire day and there was nothing to take pictures of at all. The only real event was me slipping in the rain.

Yes, a little know fact about me (unless you know me really well) is that I am a total klutz. So

Me + Rain + Sandals + Slippery Surfaces = bad fall

We stopped at a rest area to throw away some trash and take a much-needed bathroom break. It had been pouring all morning and was still pouring out. So I slipped on my sandals and ran to the rest stop bathrooms. Just as I stopped running and took a few sure-footed steps I stepped on a slippery patch in a puddle and my crappy sandals just flew off. Next thing I know I am rolling around in a puddle in front of a rest stop full of people, probably laughing. I was so surprised I just lay there in a puddle getting soaking wet, thoroughly coating myself in mud and water. I looked over at my mom while I was laying there hoping she hadn’t seen my wipe out.

Finally I got up and limped into the rest stop. I was entirely soaked and freezing. I had busted up my hand and my butt in a major way. Next thing I know my mom comes in asking me if I was okay between her laughs. So we both start laughing at the image of me rolling around on the floor. I was okay but my hand really really hurts and I probably broke my tail bone -.-. Another reason for my utter dislike for Nebraska and Iowa. Sorry for those of you that live there, it may be for you but definitely not for me.

So right now we are in Ashland, Wisconsin on Lake Superior and watching the sunset over the lake and fireworks. Tomorrow I will finally be arriving in Michigan and I can’t wait.

Oh and HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

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Road Trip: Boulder

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

Today was the last day of anything really interesting at all sadly. The first interesting note of our day was some wildlife in an odd place. As we were packing the car my mom noticed a coyote walking on a running path right towards us. The coyote just strolled through the parking lot right by us, took a quick glance and nonchalantly moved onward.

We proceeded to start our day out in Colorado Springs and visited the Garden of the Gods.

It was a really beautiful landscape full of red rock mountains that you could walk around between.

After that we headed up to Boulder Colorado which my mom was very excited about. I really loved Boulder and took a look at the University of Colorado at Boulder for a while and then headed to Pearl Street to get a feel for the Boulder experience. This also included a car full of college kids, one of which is yelling out the window,

YEAH BOOTJACK! MY MOM IS FROM HANCOCK, BOOTJACK IS THE SHIT!

Very interesting indeed…

Down on Pearl Street we had lunch at the Boulder Cafe and I got an excellent veggie pita wrap. We went shopping a little and took a good look around. It was beautiful and I really loved the atmosphere and how friendly the people were. It reminded me of Santa Cruz a little because of the different street performers.

This guy dressed in a shaggy dog suit was pretty interesting. He acted just like a dog, wagging his tail, rolling over for belly rubs, and shaking hands. I thought it was strange because you are actually petting a person, plenty of people had no problem with this though and did it anyways.

From then on out we have nothing to do because we entered Nebraska. There really is nothing there.

We did have an interesting event happen at our hotel tonight. We walked into our room but it was freezing so I turned the air off. When I walk back the smoke alarm is beeping and there is smoke in the room. So my mom runs for the phone which is disconnected and does not work. So we book it out of the room thinking it is going to burn down at any second. No, we still don’t know what happened. We are safely in another room now. Tomorrow will be our last night on the road and I can’t wait to be in Michigan.

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Road Trip: Mesa Verde

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Today was an amazing day because we spent almost the entire day checking out the different Cliff Dwellings in Mesa Verde. I have always wanted to see these ruins and finally I did, and let me tell you, it didn’t disappoint. The first ruins we visited was the Cliff Palace ruins. This dwelling is the biggest in North America and is approximately 700 to 900 years old.

After the Cliff Palace we went to the Balcony House. This was an extremely intimidating hike for me. To get to the cliff dwellings you have to go down a huge amount of stairs and from there it gets really tricky. You have to climb up a 32 foot ladder. I am not particularly afraid of heights but I got pretty freaked out by this. It was a huge ladder over an even bigger cliff. It also didn’t help that the ladder got super heated so it burned to hold onto the rungs. By the end I was ready to freak out. Can you tell by my face that I was slightly concerned?

I made it though and it was worth it. At the top we got to go through the dwellings which were significantly smaller than the Cliff Palace but still very interesting. It had an overlook over a huge canyon without any walls to separate you from the huge drop.

The big ladder was not the only difficult part of tis trek. You also have to pass through a tunnel only 18 inches wide. INCHES not feet, think about it. It was not for the faint hearted but I didn’t think it was that difficult.

It was really funny watching people trying to squeeze into the tiny space. What is interesting about this is that it was really the only way out of the cliff dwellings during the 11 hundreds and 12 hundreds besides a foot hold climb up a 150 foot wall. So that means every day to go anywhere the inhabitants had to go through this tunnel. After this there were two more 15 feet ladders for us to climb but with the idea that the inhabitants had much worse to go through it wasn’t as bad.

The last ruins we saw was the Spruce Tree House dwellings. This one was really fun because you could go right into the living spaces and felt more interactive than the other ruins.

We ended the day here in Colorado springs and we are almost done with our trip. Just a few more days until we get to Michigan. I hope to have more time soon to go back over some of these posts and make new posts with more details and more photos. Stay tuned.

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Road Trip: Monument Valley

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Yesterday was our biggest day yet. We woke up really early to watch the sunrise on the Grand Canyon. We got the best spot, a small upraised platform of a rock that we sat on over looking Bright Angel’s Point.  It was a nice sunrise but very cold out, I spotted Waldo from up there ;).

After sunrise we said goodbye to our beautiful cabin and started our long trek across Arizona to get to Mesa Verde National Park. We made a lot of little stops along our way. The first of which was the Vermillion Cliffs. They were these magnificent red rock cliffs that were gigantic.

Right next to the cliffs were the Cliff Dweller’s houses. They were tiny little houses made out of these leaning rock sculptures. It was incredible. There were native american jewelery stands all lined up in front of it.

The next big thing we saw was Horseshoe Bend. This was beyond incredible. Also a little scary. Out in the middle f nowhere the Colorado River wraps around this huge stone pillar and creates a gooseneck. The water was so green and it was beautiful. We were incredibly high up from it and to get the full shot we had to stand on the edge of these little cliffs super high off the ground. I swear I had like three heart attacks while trying to get the picture. But I got it and it was amazing.

Sadly we didn’t get to go to Antelope Canyon where the Slot Canyons were because we didn’t have enough time. I really wanted to go but time wise it was impossible. Next in our line up was the Navajo National monument. It was an overlook at an old cliff dwelling that had been abandoned after a twenty year drought.

Monument Valley was next on our list to tackle. We headed into the tribal park and looked at all the cool rock structures like the Mittens. It was very interesting but we didn’t go deep into the park because it would take to long. We still got some good shots though.

We were going to go to four corners and take a picture of me doing a bridge into all four states but for some unknown reason it was closed. It was really disapointing, I had been looking forward to that for a long time. Even with the minor pit falls it was still incredibly fun but tiring. We made it into Mesa Verde and we will be exploring that today.

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Road Trip: Grand Canyon

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

I didn’t get to post last night due to the lack of internet connection in our wonderful, western facing room in the Grand Canyon National Park. We left the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas for the peace and tranquility of Arizona’s Grand Canyon. Don’t ask me how but my mother is a miracle worker. Some how she managed to get one of the best rooms in the entire lodge which are always book a year in advance. We had a balcony that looked right over the edge of the Grand Canyon. It was beyond gorgeous.

We didn’t waste any time relaxing in our cabin and instead set out for a hike to the point of Cape Royal. We had a lot of fun posing on the edge of rock cliffs and trying to find the best views possible. There was just so much to see.

As soon as we were done with Cape Royal we headed back to the lodge to watch the sunset from the Transept Trail. Sadly we got the time changes mixed up and showed up an hour early thinking we were right on time. The left over time we had was used well though. We became the photo-takers of the Grand Canyon view-point. Every five minutes a family would come by and we would take the picture of their whole family together. Pretty Interesting, we met some amusing characters. We did meet two really nice people, Christopher and Charity. We talked to them a long time because they too were waiting for a sunset shot of the Grand Canyon. They were really nice and became our Grand Canyon buddies. With their friendship I realized that people down here are actually really really friendly. Anyways, the sunset was gorgeous and people lined up like a flocks of sheep to come watch. It was a good and fulfilling day of travel and hiking.

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Road Trip: Zion & KA

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

We are staying another night in Vegas but during the daytime my mom and I took a day trip up to Zion National Park in Utah.

The park was really beautiful, it reminded us a lot about Yosemite in California except it was in the desert and with red rocks. We went on two hikes today, up to the lower, then upper Emerald pools and after that we headed up to the top of the park to go hike in Zion’s Narrows. It was really hot out and slightly hard to hike in but we had a lot of fun and had some great views of the park.

We met a nice Israeli couple on our trip and we became photo buddies. We would take a picture of them together with their camera then they would do that for us. We basically leap frogged up to the Emerald Pools and met up again on the shuttle up to the Narrows. It was really fun meeting them and I liked his Yamaka.

The Narrows were not quite what I was expecting but that is because we didn’t get to go up all the way. The Narrows is the very top of Zion where the road narrows to just a river. So to get into the Narrows you have to hike up a river with high currents and deep water.

After we left Zion we had to book it back to Vegas because we had a showing of Cirque du Soleil’s KA. I have been trying to go to a Cirque du Soleil show so naturally I was psyched out of my mind.

KA is a show about two twins that get separated by another tribe of warriors and their journey’s. The show was beyond amazing. The music, acrobatics, costumes, and everything else was mind-blowing. I wish I could have taken photos to show just how amazing the show was. Sadly we weren’t allowed to take photos so you will just have to take my word for it.

It was a perfect ending to a very long but fun day.

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Road Trip 2010: Las Vegas

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Day one of my journey to Michigan by car began today at 4:30. I miss the rest of my family already and my dog. The first day of our trip ended in Las Vegas Nevada. First thing I am going to say is this: IT WAS 111 DEGREES OUT WHEN WE ENTERED NEVADA!!

I thought it being sunny was brutal but this heat was unbearable. I kept seeing cars on the side of the road overheated and I felt so horrible for those people and grateful at the same time because if we hadn’t gotten the new car that would probably be us on the side of the road. Our trip out was relatively uneventful but fun. I watched the Hangover in the car to prepare myself for staying in Cesar’s Palace.

These hotels on the strip are so amazingly cool in my mind because last time we went to Vegas we spent a majority of the time in an R.V. park. So in comparison it is amazingly nice. Sadly I didn’t feel good at all for the first part of our time in the Hotel. I had to get over feeling bad though because my favorite part of Vegas was coming up. Eating at the Bellagio buffet. Sad I know that I look forward to food so much but this buffet is the best thing in the entire world. My biggest regret last time I was in Vegas was not getting to  try the desserts because they looked amazing.

Naturally I fixed that this year by taking every type of desert they had and taking one bite out of each. It was fun but to say that I was stuffed by the end is a gross understatement. So much fun! We spent some time walking around the Bellagio and checking out there cool gardens which consisted of animal sculptures made from flowers and giant glass flowers.

The frog was my favorite out of the bees, lady bugs and snails. After the Bellagio we went back to Cesar’s to do a little shopping. It has been a long day and tomorrow is going to be a longer one. Stay tuned for more stories about the rest of the trip!

P.S. I will be posting more elaborate stories on the parts of this day in later posts when my schedule isn’t so hectic.

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Travel Update: Michigan Road Trip

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Tomorrow morning at 4 o’clock my mom and I will be beginning again our yearly road trip to Michigan. This time around we are swinging low down to the blistering southern states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and so on. Everyday I will be updating my blog with details about our trip like Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley and more. So stay tuned to see if I survive another road trip up to Michigan. This one is going to be long and hot but hopefully all worth it!

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