JonSheldonAcrossAmerica

I Heart Colorado Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

Jonathan — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 06:14:00 +0000

Current Location: Douglas, WY, N 42 45.736', W 105 24.207', elev. 4880 ft.

Wednesday I had gone to bed real tired, I was just worn out, exhausted. I had done so much driving, so much exploring in the past month that I was just physically, and mentally numb. I realized I hadn't had a "day off" in over a month. I realize that in essence, I am on a great big vacation, but the vacation has been very tiring at times. Please don't yell at me, informing me how hard you work. I have kept myself on a very grueling schedule, driving 4 to 8 hours a day, often visiting 2 or 3 attractions in one day, writing and preparing photos at night. All of this can be considered work in one form or another and I'm putting in 12 to 16 hours a day. I haven't had even a single day off in a long time. So thursday, I woke up, called the front desk and asked to stay an extra night in the motel. I did not do a damn thing all day. I even kept the do not disturb sign up, so my room was not prepared. I just sat in the air conditioned motel all day, watching TV, the Hurricane Katrina news, playing video games, and reading. I did not do anything for the trip at all, no writing, no assembling photo galleries, no website work, no planning any next steps. I only went outside for a short while to get a few groceries. It was delightful, and the one day off was all it took to recharge my batteries fully. I got two full great nights of sleep on a comfortable bed, took some nice showers, and relaxed. I need to do that more often.

With that all out of my system, I was back on the road and ready to explore on friday. Unfortunately, it seemed like friday was the day all the shit hit the fan on the Gulf Coast. The levees started breaking, New Orleans was a dead zone, Mississippi and Alabama were in awful shape as well. New Orleans is one of my favorite cities, and I have huge regrets not spending more time there on this trip. I only spent a few hours, and I wrote that I'll be back someday. I just hope New Orleans is there when I go. I listened to the news on the radio, and it just got worse and worse. Donate (money and blood) and / or volunteer with the Red Cross if you can. It is not much, but I'll be donating 100% of money I receive [text removed] for this website (currently around $17.00), plus whatever else I can spare out of my own pocket. $17 is not all that much, in fact I can't even collect from [text removed] until I reach $100, so if you happen to [text removed], I won't tell the police on you. It will be our secret. And if [text removed] happens to be reading right now, I certainly did not just try to drive traffic to [text removed]. No sir, I would never do such a thing to violate my [text removed], not even for charity.

With all that going on in the back of my mind, I went to a gas station and got a little dose of my own Katrina reality. $4 gas prices and a 10 gallon limit. But My troubles are paltry compared to the gulf region. I drove around Pueblo a bit to get my bearings, then headed east from Pueblo on US 50, until I got to Cañon City, CO. Cañon City is the gateway to the Royal Gorge, the canyon near the source of the Arkansas River.

The very interesting thing about the Royal Gorge, is the bridge built over it, the highest bridge in the world; 1,053 ft. above the river below. The bridge does not support much traffic anymore, and a theme park has built up around the bridge. It was $20 to enter the theme park, which includes admission to the bridge, the aerial tram which flies over the gorge, and the incline railway which takes you down into the gorge. On the way out, you get a $7 rebate if you spent less than an hour in the park, which I ended up doing.

The bridge

Damn, I was all set to cast from the 1053 ft. bridge!

The main attraction is clearly the bridge, and it was the only thing I was interested in. I walked right out onto it, and it was very very windy. Windy enough that the bridge swayed a little, a little scary, but it was a lot scarier for others than me. Also scary was the bridge was al wooden slats, some old and starting to show a little rot, some new, but all spaced further apart than one likes to see, and all had a different plane, so if you weren't careful, it was easy to trip. Which I did. Twice. To the delight of my fellow bridge goers. Luckily I didn't trip enough to fall completely over, and get splinters in my face. I did one of those half trips where you catch your balance in mid air. I may be klutzy, but I am a graceful klutz.

Looking through the slats

Looking out over the side of the bridge was incredible, you could see little rafts and rafters in the river below, and the handiwork of eons of wind and water erosion. The bridge is an engineering marvel, and isn't bland or utilitarian, it was definitely designed with aesthetic in mind. You can see the rest of the photos here. This place, though very goofy and kitschy, was quite amazing. CT: you'd love it. KB: this is the bridge I mistakenly thought was in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. JS: enough with the personal little in-jokes, back to the narrative. Hi Mom.

Next I drove north and east on Colorado 115 to Colorado Springs. Let me just say I loved everything about Colorado Springs, and it would be the perfect city to move to if it were next to the ocean or located in Oregon. Colorado Springs is big, but not too big. It is located at the base of the Rocky Mountains, so you have spectacular views towards the west from all over the city. To the east are the plains as far as you can see. And in the sky are the planes in constant motion, in formation 2 to 5 at a time, because Colorado Springs is where the air force academy is located.

It was getting close to sundown, so I quickly drove to the eastern part of the city, to a very beautiful monument / park called Garden of the Gods, which my dad insisted I see. It is not part of the national park system, but I have to say it is probably most beautiful municipal or private park I have ever seen. (Not sure which it is). Garden of the Gods (N 38 52.864', W 104 52.810', elev. 6482 ft.) sits at the base of Pike's Peak, which I got some excellent views of. I went to the visitor center and got some info about the park and the formations inside. I also paid $2 for a short film explaining the geology of the park, and the original finding of Pike's Peak by Zebulon Pike back in the day. Pike's Peak is significant for some reason that I don't know; I probably don't know since I slept through the film. I'm sure it was interesting.

Anyway, very quickly thereafter I left the visitor center and went to the park and walked around a bit. I did some hiking in the park and got some photos, which can be enjoyed here. You better enjoy them, I do not offer refunds. As you can see towards the end of the photos, a great big storm was rolling in, and threatening with lots of thunder and lightning, but never actually reached me.

It was getting pretty dark at this point, so I wanted to find a place to stay. I went to a few motels in Colorado Springs, but since it was labor day weekend, and it was also parents weekend at the Air Force Academy, I had no luck finding motels with vacancies. I continued north on I-25 until I arrived in the town of Castle Rock, CO, halfway between Denver and Colorado Springs. I found a decent place and stopped for the night. All motels usually bump their prices $10 on the weekends, but on holiday weekends it is $20 or $30. Bastards.

Saturday I got up and drove north on I-25 into Denver. Colorado is so perfect, the air and the views and the people. I had Sublime on the stereo, and I couldn't think of more perfect music to cruise around Colorado listening to. It is both laid back and edgy at the same time. When I reached I-70, I headed west towards my next destination, Rocky Mountain National Park. Driving east on I-70 into Denver, which I had done two weeks earlier in my trip is a lot of fun, driving down hill at a very steep grade over the course of 12 miles as you exit the Rocky Mountains. Well, unfortunately, driving west back into the mountains is the opposite of fun, driving up hill at a steep grade over the course of 12 miles. Lots of trucks going slow, lots of cars trying to pass, even quite a few vehicles pulled over overheated. My little car made the trip, but definitely used a bit of gas in the process. Over the course of three hours from Denver, I slowly made my way into the western edge of Rocky Mountain NP.

I won't bore you with a lot of description of the park. Other than to say it covers a lot of mountain road, including the highest pass me and my car have yet reached as we crossed the continental divide for the 10th time on the trip. This is the spot N 40 25.624', W 105 45.482', elev. 12,222 ft.. The air up there is very rare and you have to have care, as you climb the stair that you don't run out of breath up where. And watch out for bears! Or something. Anyway, Rocky Mountain National Park is very similar to Glacier National Park, which I have already described in detail here.

Here are a few photos of Rocky Mountain NP:

And here's a picture of a big ass bug that somehow landed on my windshield and managed to stay a good 4 miles:

Little bugger must have been 4 inches

And some more of the park

And finally, towards the end of the park, I got to see some wildlife. A huge herd of huge elk, males and females.

The highlight, by far, was two elk fighting:

And a third elk fighting a tree - and only barely winning.

So that was pretty much it for me in the park. You can view the rest of the photos here. I exited on the eastern side via US 34, which I took east until I reached I-25 again. On I-25 I drove north until well after dark, into Wyoming, passing through Cheyenne. In Wyoming, I was finally reaching the plains. There was a lot of wind and it seemed like another thunderstorm might be rolling in; my only indication of this is that it was too dark to see the sky. The wind brought tumbleweed across the road, which is so very scary driving at night on a dark highway. You'll be cruising along at 70 or whatever and all of a sudden a very fast, bright white object jumps right in front of your car. You can't tell if its a rabbit, a deer, an alien or something else so your natural instinct is to brake. Even if you were able to hit the brake before hitting the object, you're still hitting the object, just maybe 5 mph slower. It is a relief when the object bursts into a ball of weeds and makes a whoosh sound. But it is still scary every time. I kept on driving in Wyoming on I-25 until I reached the town of Douglas, where I stopped for the night. I caught a quick glimpse of my car, and there were little bits of tumbleweed stuck in every single crevice. Colorado is beautiful, I'll be back sometime.

Updates have been delayed (in case you hadn't noticed)

Jonathan — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 17:29:00 +0000

The reason is that my website has run out of server space. In fact, the server has run out of disk space, so I'm just waiting for the fine folks at Arena One to install some extra disks. Then I can upload my last week and a half of photos and finish off my story.

In the meantime, I have made a few posts on my Manifesto and will continue to do so when whimsy strikes.

I was in a bad car accident, but somehow walked away and with minimal damage to my car and the vehicle I collided with. I was very lucky. I was going 60 to 65 in the left hand lane of I-90 Westbound (headed to Connecticut) when my rear driver's side tire blew, I lost control of the car, and skidded across three lanes of friday rush hour traffic. I ended up facing the wrong way on the highway, but somehow only collided with one car as huge tractor trailer trucks narrowly avoided side swiping or crushing me.

Other than that I have mostly been relaxing the last month. I haven't concentrated on doing much of anything, other than spending some quality time with my family, riding my new wheels and attending some things including a wedding I had been invited to.

As far as life decisions, I'm pretty sure I'll have figured out what I want to do next by the end of next week. Resume is all together if I want to pursue a job, and I also picked up a GRE study guide and have looked at some possible Masters programs.

Trip Is Over

Jonathan — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 22:00:00 +0000

I am home in Massachusetts. I have to finish up the writing though. I have about 7 more entries to finish off the trip. They will be coming soon.

Windy City

Jonathan — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 04:50:00 +0000

Current Location: Sturgis, MI, N 41 47.143', W 085 25.737', elev. 902 ft.

Sunday, I drove into the city of Chicago and cruised around the south side. Chicago is a huge sprawling city with an interesting mix of modern buildings and areas and old, crumbling, rusted facades, architecture reminiscent of 100 years ago. Elevated train platforms and their pillars have grown thick with layers upon layers of paint, and it seems likely that in some places, the paint is holding them up. Because a lot of the infrastructure is above ground, Chicago just has a feel of a city built upon recently discarded ruins, as opposed to say Manhattan, where you feel discarded ruins are removed completely before the area is built upon.

Sunday was the four year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. I have very specific memories of a lot of days from that summer, graduating college, post college vacation, and my first day of work. But it was the day, September 11th, barely a month after my first day of work, and 3 days after buying my first new car, (the car I'm sitting in now with 90+ thousand miles) that I remember more vividly than any other day that year, or any day in the past 10 years for that matter. That is all a story for another time, but the details are something I'll never be able to forget, as long as I live, even though I may forget the details of my graduation, my first day of work and other days. Never forget.

I drove through the neighborhoods of the south side of Chicago, and wound up parking in a lot for US Cellular Field (formerly new Commiskey Park). After waiting in lines of traffic, waiting to pull into parking, I see a sign that tells me parking costs $17! I had no way of turning around or leaving the parking lot, I was forced to pay the $17 and felt completely raped. Walking from my car to the ballpark, I noticed more tailgaters, a phenomenon I didn't realize was so prevalent at baseball games. The south siders seem to have a real chip on their shoulders about the Cubs. I saw easily double anti-Cubs jerseys being sold and worn outside the ballpark as I did pro-White Sox jerseys. The Sox played the Angels, and lost the game 6-1. Not a lot to mention about the game, other than they shot off some fireworks before the game, and inside the stadium they seemed extremely loud and very unnecessary. Towards the end of the game, I went for my usual walk around the stadium, only to be foiled in my attempt, as you can't reach different levels of the stadium unless you have a ticket for those levels. So the photos I have are all from my seat pretty much. Here are the photos.

After the game I just drove all over the city, up along the coast of Lake Michigan, over on Michigan Avenue, and up into the northern suburbs like Evanston. I drove through the beautiful campus of Northwestern University, and eventually back to the motel I was staying at over near O'Hare airport.

Monday I had intended to explore the city some, but instead ended up driving around some more after writing and preparing photos. Later in the evening, I found my way over to Wrigley Field to see the Cubbies. It was actually tough to find the stadium, since my atlas only shows the heart of the city in great detail, and there were signs off of the highway, but they only told you what exit to take, not how to get to the stadium off of the exit. I found some parking which would have been free, and I could have taken a shuttle bus over to the stadium, but I was unsure of this since I am not familiar with the city, I would be wary of finding the correct bus after the game, and I was even unsure if I'd be able to find my car if I had to walk back to it. So I eventually happened to cruise by the park, I only just happened to notice it out of the corner of my eye a few streets over so I started looking for parking. Parking here was even worse than US Cellular, the closest I could find was about 3/4 of a mile from the stadium and still cost $20! Incredible.

My ticket cost $14, for an upper deck seat with a very good view of the whole field. I was lucky though only a few seats to my left, my view would have been severely obstructed by a pole. The fans in Wrigley were incredible. First off, there was no mention of the White Sox in any capacity, neither White Sox fans, nor anti-White Sox shirts. Secondly, I would estimate about 50% of the fans in Wrigley were sporting some type of Cubs gear, whether a hat, a top or something else. Of those 50%, at least a third were wearing at least two items of Cubs gear. The stadium was a sea of blue, an incredible sight. Wrigley is not a bad stadium, the second oldest in baseball, it doesn't feel as cramped as Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium, the other two old-timey stadiums. As an extra large guy, not feeling stuck in my seat is very important. It's amazing, this stadium has been in use for 90 odd years and has never been home to a World Series champion. I had a hot dog, and it was delicious, easily the best ballpark hot dog I've ever had. Aside from the completely awesome game atmosphere, there were two highlights of the game. The first was the three Reds homeruns being thrown back onto the field (1 only after much razzing of the fan who caught it), a tradition at Wrigley. The second was the seventh inning stretch, where they have a guest come and lead the fans in the singing of Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Greg Maddux pitched, but wound up losing 5-2. You can view the photos here.

Tuesday, I slept in real late, even later than usual, and it took me a while to start my routine. I eventually drove into the city and just drove around some more. I was kind of hoping to get out and do some touristy things such as the Navy Pier and the Sears Tower, but I was only halfheartedly looking for parking. I decided any parking I did find would be too expensive, so I ended up just cruising out of the city east on I-90 / I-94. I really loved the city of Chicago (N 41 52.467', W 087 37.443', elev. 757 ft.), and need to go back, but next time I'll stay within the city and do city things. I drove east and I-90 eventually met up with I-80 somewhere in Indiana. I kept on driving east until into the eastern part of Indiana. When I got off the highway, the only town was slightly to the north, Sturgis, Michigan, so I crossed from Eastern Standard Time in Indiana to Eastern Daylight Time in Michigan, my first time back in the Eastern time zone in nearly three months.

We're Not Worthy

Jonathan — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 05:42:00 +0000

Current Location: Glenview, IL, N 42 05.084', W 087 52.004', elev. 757 ft.

Friday I drove east on I-90 / I-94 in Wisconsin. I drove through Madison, got off the interstate and drove around a short bit to check out the town. I continued on east until I got to Milwaukee, and Lake Michigan. Milwaukee is a cool town, and the girls are amazing. I usually prefer dark haired girls, but there's just something about those blond, midwestern farm girls with their Minnesota and Wisconsin accents, and they love to drink. Its great. Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers began visiting here in the late 16th century. Isn't Milwaukee an Indian name? Yes, in fact, it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land." And did you know its the only major American city to ever have three socialist mayors?

My plan was to go to the Brewer's game friday night, but it was sold out, I assume because Roger Clemens was pitching, so I traveled onto Racine, WI (N 42 41.769', W 087 50.636', elev. 689 ft.), a suburb, and found a place to stay for the night.

Saturday, I didn't do much, I just hung around until about 4 PM when I drove back to Milwaukee and drove around the city a bit before the game. I eventually made my way back to the stadium and paid $6 to park. The game started at about 7, and I got to the lot at about 6:15, and there were tons and tons of people all around me tailgating for the game. It was crazy, I have never seen tailgating for a baseball game, but I guess these Wisconsin sports fans are really hardcore. And people were really getting smashed in the parking lot too. On the way into the stadium, I would say about a third of the people I was walking with were totally drunk and rowdy. Very fun! I paid $12 for a ticket, and the seat was awesome. It was upper deck, but almost dead center in the park. Unfortunately, I sat next to a guy who was a bit of a weirdo. He was older, and smelled and dressed like a homeless person. He kept trying to talk to me, but the stuff he was saying was a bit off. He was very into the game, but every time a ball would go into the stands, a homerun or a foul ball or whatever, he would catch all the people around him off guard by yelling something unintelligible at the top of his lungs. I think he was asking the person who caught the ball to throw it to him (they might be hundreds of feet away), but I'm not sure.

Miller Park is a retractable roof stadium, and it is huge; far and away the largest baseball only stadium I have ever been in. They sell pickles at the refreshment stands, so I had to buy one. The fans were really into the game and many were decked out in full Brewers gear; they really had a great time at the game. I saw a ballpark proposal on the big screen in the stadium. I can't believe anyone would propose at a ballpark, how unromantic. An interesting point in the ballpark is the home run slide; whenever a Brewers player hits a home run, Bernie Brewer, their mascot, slides down the slide and the folks go wild.

Another fun part of the game that the folks were really into was the sausage race. Everyone in the stadium was on their feet in the middle of the 6th inning, cheering on their favorite sausage, be it Italian, Polish, Bratwurst, or Hot Dog. In the end, Hot Dog came in victorious.

On my walk around the stadium, I came to the bullpens where I got to witness a drunk fan getting tossed after throwing beer into the bullpen. I imagine this is a common occurrence. Despite an exciting 9th inning comeback by the Brewers, the Astros won the game 7-5. You can view the photos here.

After the game, I drove south (east) on I-90 / I-94, and branched off on I-294 in Illinois, until I reached Glenview where I stopped for the night.

I Love The Smell Of Commerce In The Morning

Jonathan — Fri, 09 Sep 2005 03:44:00 +0000

Current Location: Tomah, WI, N 44 01.387', W 090 30.373', elev. 961 ft.

On Tuesday I woke up and drove east from Sioux Falls on I-90, into Minnesota. Along the way, I passed over 25,000 miles for the trip. I got to Minneapolis and checked into a motel, and a pal of mine, Odin, met me there after work. Odin went to college with me and also worked with me for a summer. I was pretty psyched to see Odin; going weeks at a time talking only to strangers can wear on you. He greeted me with the same greeting almost all the friends I have met up with have: a huge laugh and a constant grin the rest of the night. I think people aren't quite expecting to see me with a long, scraggly beard and even longer hair.

We hopped into Odin's car and began a great conversation about his future plans, my future plans, about how almost no one we know is willing to take risks, whether on a real good idea, or on an adventure. Some people can't because of their situations, they have children and or mortgages, but a lot of people are simply too afraid. If I can give anyone advice, it is to take the big risk when it comes. I no doubt talked Odin's ear off, because I am a little chatty kathy.

Odin took me to dinner at a local haunt in Minneapolis, a real shit hole in the wall called Matt's. I love these kind of places, you really feel at home. We got a pitcher of beer and ordered some burgers called Jucy Lucys. The Jucy Lucy is a large burger pattie with cheese on the inside. When it is served to you, the cheese has turned molten and can't wait to ooze out and burn your tongue. The waitress and Odin warned me not to eat them for a few minutes, to let them cool. They were greasy and cheesy and delicious. Perfect.

Next up, we traveled to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, to see the Twins game. There's not much to say about the HHH, except that is a very awful stadium. It is a multi-purpose stadium, hosting the Twins baseball, Vikings football and Minnesota Gophers football. It doesn't work as a baseball stadium because it is too big and irregular shaped and has artificial surface, and it doesn't work as a football stadium because it is too small. What a mess. I hate these multi-purpose domes with all of the hate I have to give. Most baseball stadiums do Take Me Out To the Ballgame at the seventh inning stretch, but some will also add a second song. Sometimes it is God Bless America, or even America the Beautiful. Well in the HHH dome, they played that awful Proud To Be An American song, the Toby Keith version. Damn, I hate that song. The game was pretty uneventful, Kenny Rogers started for the Rangers, and wasn't booed all that much. The Rangers hit a grand slam in the second to go ahead 5-0, and the crowd was pretty much shut up. The Twins made a comeback, eventually pulling ahead 7-6 by the 8th inning, but in the 9th, they gave up four runs, blowing the game, losing 10-7. Everyone filed out of the game with a resigned look on their face, because this has been happening all season. You can see the photos here.

Odin next drove me around Minneapolis a bit, showing me the neighborhoods and the sights. We stopped at Nye's Piano and Polka bar and had a drink. What a colorful place. This bar had a lot of character and charm, and is definitely a place to visit if you ever find yourself in Minneapolis. Afterwards, we drove to another bar, called William Peanut Bar, where we had a final drink and some peanuts. Odin drove me back to my motel and we parted ways. I had a really excellent time catching up with Odin and hanging out in Minneapolis. Minneapolis gets a check mark in the cool cities column.

The next day, I didn't do much, I drove around a bit. Driving in Minnesota, you get the feeling this is the capital of American retail. In addition to the Mall of America, the largest mall in the US, Minnesota is the corporate home of many of the big specialty retail chains such as Target, Best Buy, Barnes and Noble and the Federated Department chain, owners of Macy's, Filene's and others. After my drive, I just relaxed the rest of the day.

Thursday I went to the Mall of America. The place is huge, but extremely well organized. There are 4 stories of stores, and the mall is laid out in a large oval, with an amusement park in the center. All the stores are on the outside oval, which makes it very easy to figure out where you are and where you are headed. If you get lost, you can just keep walking and get back to where you entered. Because of this, the Mall of America is much easier to navigate than Crossgates in Albany, NY and Palisades in West Nyack, NY, the other two giant malls I have been to. I walked the entire length of all four floors of the Mall of America, and somehow I managed to keep from buying anything, save for a few postcards. I even had enough will power to skip out on buying an iPod Nano. I took a few photos in the Mall of America, mostly of the Lego store and the amusement park. You can view them here.

In the evening, I left the Mall of America and Minneapolis and headed east on I-94, into Wisconsin, stopping in the town of Tomah for the night.

This Means Something

Jonathan — Tue, 06 Sep 2005 05:30:00 +0000

Current Location: Sioux Falls, SD, N 43 31.100', W 096 46.748', elev. 1395 ft.

Sunday I woke up in Douglas Wyoming, and drove north on Wyoming 59 for two hours until I reached the town of Gillette, and the intersection of I-90. I followed I-90 east to the town of Moorcat, where I veered north and east on US 14.

This means something

US 14 took me up to Devils Tower National Monument, the fist national monument. Driving up, I was expecting to see the monument at any moment, and when I got about 20 miles away, I could finally see it. Despite the distance, I was still awed to see it.

It is very strange to see this huge monolith, sticking up in the middle of the prairie land. Driving up to the monument itself, I was very surprised to see how textured the sides are. Reading up at the visitor center, the Lakota and other tribes all had an origin story to explain the tower, right down to the detail of the side texture. Devils Tower is sacred in many Indian cultures.

I spent a while at the monument, hiking all around, admiring the views and watching the rock climbers.

Rock climbers

Finally, I started driving out of the monument, but not before stopping at the prairie dog town. The prairie dogs are very interesting to watch, as they scurry around the town area, going into their little burrows. They make a cheep cheep barking sound which can only be described as cute.

Prairie Dogs

From Devils Tower (view the rest of the photos here), I kept on heading east and south on Wyoming 585, eventually reaching US 16, passing into South Dakota. I passed a lot of cattle along the way, and for the first time on the trip, I found myself mooing at all the cows I passed, I couldn't stop. I think this is the first sign that madness has set in. US 16 led me through the town of Custer, where I continued north past Crazy Horse Memorial. I wanted to stop at Crazy Horse, but it was getting late, and I was on a mission to see Mount Rushmore, and I was afraid it would be closing. I finally arrived at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Driving into the park, you get a very cool side view of George Washington, which is very impressive.

Mount Rushmore is an incredible place, very beautiful to see. There is a parking lot, where they charge you $8 to park, and the national park pass doesn't give you a discount. It is a little ironic, Mount Rushmore is featured on this year's National Park Pass, but the pass doesn't really do anything for you in the park, since the parking lot is run by an outside company. I walked the 1.5 mile trail through the park, taking lots and lots of photos of the very cool memorial.

When I entered the park, I was informed there was an evening program, beginning at 8PM where they light the monument, so I decided to stick around a few hours and wait for that. By 8 PM, the park's amphitheater was full of families anticipating the program. The lights around the monument were all turned off, and a park range came out and gave a neat program about the history of the monument, the project to carve it, and the history of the Lakota and other Indians from the area. It was a very cool program, and at the very end, everyone was asked to join in the singing of the national anthem and America the Beautiful as the memorial was slowly lit up. I captured this moving scene on video, but unfortunately don't have enough room on my webserver to load up the file.

You can view all the photos from Rushmore here. At the end of the program, I rushed out to my car, because it was getting late and I wanted to beat the traffic out of the garage so I'd be able to find a place to sleep at a reasonable hour. I was one of the first people in the garage, and I started up my car. It had the air conditioning and the stereo on, and recently, I've been having a few power problems when backing up with the AC on. I forgot about this and started to back up to leave, and my car completely stalled out dead. I tried to start it back up several times with no luck. I kept trying and in the meanwhile, people started to file into the garage. I was getting panicked, I thought I would need a jump, I was convinced my car had a battery or power problem. I couldn't get my keys out of the ignition, which should have been a clue to me, but I popped my trunk to get out my jumper cables. This is a huge hassle, since the cables are buried in the tire well of the car, under all the other items in my trunk. I had to remove all those items to get out the cables. I popped the hood of the car and decided to wait for the people from one of the cars next to me. As I was waiting, I decided to try the ignition a few more times. While in the car, I realized I never put the car back into park after it stalled. Of course it won't start while in reverse. I put the car back into park, and it started with no problems. Yes, Mom, Dad, your son is a tremendous idiot. I piled all my stuff back into the car and made my way out of the garage very slowly. From the memorial, I drove north on US 16 to the town of Rapid City, South Dakota, (N 44 06.144', W 103 12.070', elev. 3356 ft.), where I stopped for the night.

In the morning, I drove east on I-90, passing through Badlands National Park. Badlands was cool, but not really worth a lot of description as I have seen many similar places so far on the trip. The highlight was seeing some bighorn sheep.

The grass the sheep are eating smelled like a cross between a skunk and marijuana

You can check out the Badlands photos here. South Dakota is actually a much cooler state than I had assumed it would be, with a lot of history and a lot of interesting destinations. It is worth a visit. There is also a lot of Jesus, as I passed a ton of religious billboards and churches. I continued east on I-90, and along the way, I passed into the central time zone and my car passed 90,000 miles. Holy. Crap. I arrived in Sioux Falls by the end of the day, and stopped for the night. My intention originally was to head north from Sioux Falls and spend the night in Fargo, just so I could say I had been to North Dakota, but my travel had been delayed longer than I had calculated, and lost the hour passing into central, so it would have been way too late by the time I arrived in Fargo. Now that I am back in the central time zone, I am starting to realize I don't have a lot of trip left. Most of my itinerary the rest of the way is baseball games, and no more national parks.

I Heart Colorado Part 1

Jonathan — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 05:20:00 +0000

Current Location: Pueblo, CO

Wednesday morning, I woke up and drove quickly to my first destination, Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is an archeological national park, dedicated to hundreds of years of American Indian habitats, cliff dwellings and kivas. There were a lot of good hikes in the park, and a lot of history to learn. I spent a few hours going through the museums and historical sites and exploring the cliff dwellings. The park was very interesting, and was very similar to Bandelier outside of Santa Fe. You can view the photos here.

I noticed that in Colorado, people were extremely friendly. I met a lot of east coast transplants who have moved to Colorado to live the figurative cowboy lifestyle. Everyone has their own take and what they fell in love with in the state that prompted them to up and change their lives and move out there. I have loved meeting people on this trip, especially people with passion for life. Colorado is definitely a great place to live. Plenty of wide open land, great big cities, lots and lots of mountains for skiing, and crisp clean air.

I drove east across Colorado via US 160 which skirts the southern end of the Rocky mountains. I veered onto Colorado 112 in the town of Del Norte, so I could get to Great Sand Dunes National Park. Great Sand Dunes was very cool. At the very southern and western edge of the Rocky Mountains are these huge, immense sand dunes, they grow to an elevation of 400 feet. The sand blows in from the deserts in the west, and when it hits the Rockies, it has no place to go, so it has just been collecting for thousands of years. I got to Great Sand Dunes near sundown and I pulled up to the dunes and tried to walk out to them. The base of the dunes are about a half mile from the parking lot. I kicked off my flip flops and began walking and came to a river buried by sand. The water comes to the surface but there is not enough flowing water to create anything but wet sand.

The sand river

I started walking and walking out to the dunes, and the sand was very cold only about an hour after the sun stopped directly shining on it. It reaches 140 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, but it must have already been about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The air was cold too, and the wind was blowing steady, at least 30 mph, with gusts much greater. The sand was very deep and it was difficult and slow to walk out there.

Walking out to the dunes

The sand was picked up by the wind and really drove hard into me. It was so thick, you could actually see the wind, and feel the sand. It felt like hundreds of pin pricks a minute. I got about halfway to the dunes, and I was so cold and so beat that I had to turn around. I couldn't even make it. The only problem now was, heading back to the parking lot, I was now heading into the winds, and the sands are so expansive, I wasn't even sure I was facing in the correct direction or heading towards the parking lot. I felt like I was on Arrakis, it was amazing. The spice must flow. Luckily I saw some people, so I headed towards them. Due to the increasing wind and difficutly walking, it took me about 15 minutes to walk the quarter mile back to the parking lot. When I got to my car, I had to brush myself off. I was covered in sand, it was in my eyes, my hair, my mouth, my nose, my ears, in my toes, clothes, pockets and even in my camera.

At this point, it was getting real dark outside, and the sun was going down. I couldn't see the sun, because it was west beyond the dunes, but I did get some nice sunset photos.

You can view the rest of the Great Sand Dunes photos here. Great Sand Dunes was the 11th national park in the past 10 days (Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Saguaro, Petrified Forest, Canyon de Chelly, Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes). An amazing whirlwind. I continued east on US 160 to Walsenburg Colorado, then north on I-25 to Pueblo, where I stopped for the night.

Get Out Of The Heat

Jonathan — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 07:24:00 +0000

Current Location: Cortez, CO, N 37 20.961', W 108 33.525', elev. 6191 ft.

On Sunday morning, I woke up, grabbed some breakfast, and started heading south on I-17, but I quickly went off the main road, to avoid an accident backup, and also because my Dad wanted me to investigate the town of Sedona, AZ for him. I don't know, Dad, Sedona seems very touristy. I kept driving south, eventually hooking back up with I-17 and on into Phoenix. In Phoenix, I attended the Diamondbacks game against the Phillies at Bank One Ballpark. I parked for $7 and started walking towards the stadium, and met up with some really desperate scalpers. I ended up getting a $50 face value seat for $12 after a little bit of bargaining. My bargaining weapon was that I'd be able to get a cheap seat at the box office and wander around to better seats in the stadium.

Bank One Ballpark is a dome, but its the first dome I was glad to enter. As a purist, I generally don't feel baseball should be played inside on artificial surface. But in Arizona, it was 112 degrees Fahrenheit at 5 PM when the game started, so the indoor air conditioning was definitely welcome. I found my seat and settled in to watch the game a bit. I noticed that the team employs actual cheerleaders, young men and women who go around to the different sections getting people excited about the game. I also noticed that Bank One Ballpark has more disabled access seating than any other park, probably due to the high number of retirees in the area. Finally near the end of the game, which the D'Backs won 10-5, I did a final loop around the stadium and went to check out the pool in center field. I took a photo of the pool and got yelled at, because some mom thought I was taking photos of her kids. Whatever. View the photos here.

Phoenix look slike a nice town, easy to get around, but I didn't spend too much time there. i did get stuck in a tremendous traffic jam as the game was letting out. A freight train had arrived in town, near all the exits to the ballpark, and was thousands of feet long. It may have been over a mile. It just sat on the tracks for about half an hour, waiting to pull into a train depot, and in the meantime, it was blocking at least 8 streets where people were trying to leave the ballpark. When I finally did get to leave, it was about 8:30 PM, and I continued on south on I-17 until I reached the town of Casa Grande, were I stopped for the night.

Monday I continued south on I-17 heading close to Tucson. In Tucson I found Saguaro National Park (pronounced sa-wa-roh). Saguaro is a monument to the saguaro cactus tree, those famous cactus that grow arms. The trees live to be about 300 years old, and don't start sprouting those arms until they reach about 75 years old. Saguaro is arguably the most famous type of cactus, when you think of cactus, a picture of a saguaro is often what comes to mind. They may be famous and popular, but they actually only exist in a very small area in the whole world: the Sonoran desert of southern Arizona, and northern Sonora, Mexico. Not much to say about the national park, it is mostly a road through the Saguaro "forest". Here are the photos.

There was a lot I could have done in Tucson, but I was pretty sick of the desert and the heat, and definitely wanted to start heading back north into more temperate weather, so I met up with I-10 and headed east until I reached US 191, which I took north to US 70, in the town of Safford, AZ, which I took north and west to US 60, in the town of Globe, AZ, which I took north and east to Arizona 77 in the town of Show Low, AZ, which I took north, all the way back to I-40, in Holbrook, AZ, where I stopped for the night.

Tuesday, my first destination was Petrified Forest National Park, a desert monument containing many many interesting specimens of mineralized wood. Entering the park, it is made very clear that removal of objects from the park is a federal crime, and while this is true in any national park, in the Petrified Forest, there seems to be heavy enforcement, even vehicle checks. Petrified Wood can be found in every country, but the stuff in Arizona is some of the most beautiful and colorful. The northern end of the park includes part of the painted desert. The park road leads you right onto I-40. Here are the photos.

I continued east on I-40, meeting back up with US 191 only about 25 miles from the New Mexico border. I took US 191 north to the town of Chinle, AZ, in the heart of the Navajo nation, also passing into Mountain Daylight Time. Arizona is on Mountain Standard time the whole year, except the Navajo nation, which moves to Mountain Daylight Time when the rest of region does. Chinle is the gateway to Canyon De Chelly National Monument, which I investigated a bit, but not for too long, because of my ultimate destination for the day, which I'll get into in a minute. Here are the photos for Canyon De Chelly.

I continued north on US 191 until I reached the town of Mexican Water, AZ, where I headed east on US 160, taking me the Four Corners monument. Four Corners is one of just a few places in the world where 4 major territories all intersect. Four Corners (N 36 59.940', W 109 02.711', elev. 4856 ft.) is where Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado meet, and you can stand in all 4 states at the same time. Four corners is technically on Navajo land, and to enter the monument costs $3, but that is well worth it. I took a lot of photos in the monument, including of the monument itself, and looking into each state. Additionally, there are several booths selling Indian goods and foods. Four Corners is a very neat destination, and though it was close to closing time, there were quite a few tourists there. For some reason, some guy came up to me and asked "has anyone ever told you you look like Matt Groening? [the creator of The Simpsons]?". Can't say that anyone ever has, aside from that guy. I'm not even sure what Matt Groening looks like, but I do wish I had billions of dollars like him though. Here are the photos I took at Four Corners.

I continued east on US 160 until I reached the town of Cortez, CO, where I stopped for the night. I was very close to the Rocky Mountains, and the temperature was already much cooler and more comfortable.

Grand

Jonathan — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 05:35:00 +0000

Current Location: Flagstaff, AZ, N 35 13.056', W 111 35.640', elev. 6822 ft.

Friday morning I woke up and drove south on US 89. Part of the trip was through the Navajo Nation reservation, and there were a few roadside stands selling jewelry, pottery and other Indian crafts. I got down to the other end of US 89A and took that west through desert and rocks, crossing the Colorado river, and then driving up onto the Kaibab Plateau, the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Driving up there, I popped a Bob Dylan CD into my stereo, because something just felt right about listening to Dylan while driving through the desert and up to the plateau.

Upon reaching Arizona 67, I drove south into Grand Canyon National Park (North). The surprising thing driving into the canyon from the north side, is you pass through miles and miles of the Kaibab National Forest. It was very strange to see forest in Arizona, especially after being surrounded by barren desert and rock lands the previous few days.

As I was driving through the forest, I remembered that as of tomorrow, I have no medical insurance, and no chance to sign up for COBRA, as tomorrow is the three month anniversary of my last day of work. I have no medical, dental, or vision insurance, no life insurance, no insurance on any of my items in storage, or any items in my vehicle (includes laptop, camera, etc.). In fact, the only insured item I have is my car. It feels strangely liberating. Plus, who likes insurance anyway? Insurance companies are like opening presents on Christmas day. Only the presents are all bags full of weasels, and you get a bill two weeks later for upkeep of the bags and the security of the weasels. Of course, I'm probably jinxing myself by writing this, but I've had pretty good luck so far. I also forgot to mention this, but I went over 20,000 miles for the trip when I was driving from Denver to Crested Butte with Keith.

Anyway, back to the Grand Canyon. Driving in was amazing, seeing forests, trees, and large open meadows, probably with lots of wildlife. The temperature was nice and cool, high 60's, a very refreshing break from the heat of the Utah and Arizona deserts. I got to the canyon itself and... its impressive. Its huge, its massive, its 10 miles across. And I was only seeing a small section of the canyon, it extends 280 miles to Nevada. Impressive as it was, grand as it was, it didn't strike me as being extremely beautiful. Please don't get the wrong impression, I'm not downplaying the effect of seeing the canyon at all, it really was beautiful, but my personal opinion is that Canyonlands National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park were prettier to look at and photograph. That didn't stop me from taking hundreds of shots of the canyon. The sheer size of it was overwhelming.

On the north side, I met a lot of people. I'm not sure what it is, but in the national parks, people are friendly, virtually everyone says hello and wants to have a conversation. I met a family from Manhattan who saw my Connecticut license plate and struck up a conversation, and later on, I saw some New Jersey plates and struck up a conversation with a couple, though I found out the car was only a rental, they were actually from St. Louis, but had been in most of the same places in the past week as me. The north side was not very crowded at all, there were actually very few people, probably because the north side is pretty far from anywhere.

Getting near dark, I didn't stick around for the sunset, because I wanted to take a few photos of the forest on the way out of the park. Plus, I was planning on going to the south rim the next day, and it is a very long drive. Even though it is only 10 miles across the canyon, it is 225 miles to the south rim by car.

By the time I got out to the heavy forest area it was getting dark, but I saw a critter up in the road and slowed to find out what it was. It was a porcupine! The first time I have ever seen one of those in the wild, so I tried to get a few photos. Since I have never seen one, I actually got out of my car, and probably made a great site running across the street and following the porcupine, happily chasing it through the mountain meadow for a photo.

Bad photos of porcupines

I left the park pretty much the way I had come in, Arizona 67 to US 89A, to US 89 which I took south to Flagstaff, Arizona and stopped for the night. On saturday, I drove back north on US 89 until I reached Arizona 64 which headed west to the park. This was all through Navajo land, so it was nice to see during the day. In fact, there were a lot more Navajo boutiques on this side of the canyon, though I didn't stop at any. Arizona 64 takes you through the south rim of the canyon, and about 25 miles worth of the park road. I immediately found that the south side of the Grand Canyon (N 36 02.311', W 111 50.234', elev. 7435 ft.) is not as nice as the northern side. Not that its bad, just not as nice. For one thing, you are at a lower altitude, (about 9000 ft for the northern rim, about 8000 ft for the lower rim). This causes hotter weather, which causes less trees to grow, which causes less shade which causes hotter weather. Additionally, the south side is a lot more accessible, there are more airports, and Flagstaff, Phoenix, and even Las Vegas are relatively closer to the south side. More accessibility means a lot more tourists, which also makes the south side less nice.

I still took a lot of photos, and in general, spent more time on the south rim than I had on the north rim.

Desert View Tower

I noticed that a vast amount of the tourists were European. While I don't have a problem with Europeans in general, the ones I saw that day all seemed to be very rude. They didn't seem to care if they were in your way, (whether you were taking a photo or simply walking), they didn't seem to have a sense of awe about what they were seeing and to be honest, they seemed to have an overdeveloped, overactive sense of entitlement. Yes even 500 years after the discoverer-conqueror-colonizer phase, Europeans seem to think everything is theirs and have a ho-hum attitude about it. The least they could do when coming to this country is be awed by the Grand Canyon rather than have their pompous, Avant Garde attitude. They don't have to like the inhabitants, the politics, etc, but at least enjoy the Grand Canyon, something completely natural and something completely breathtaking. I came to one canyon overlook, called Grandview point, and when I first walked out to the overlook, there were very few people, but within minutes, I was overwhelmed by a throng of Europeans, and didn't see one American in the crowd. The Europeans with their loud chatter, yelling, screaming kids and other touristy behavior really ruined the overlook for me. I ended up taking photos of them, rather than the canyon.

They all just seem to be standing around, not really enjoying the view

You can view the rest of the photos here. Anyway, I got out of there pretty quickly, took a few more photos at various other view points, and went to the general store and giftshop in the main Grand Canyon village in search of one or two gift items I had in mind. I didn't really find what I was looking for in the gift shops, which meant I had to go back to the Navajo shops on the side of the road leading up to the canyon, rather than heading directly south on Arizona 64 to Flagstaff (because the Navajo lands are only on the eastern side of the canyon). So I drove back east on Arizona 64, backtracking on everything I'd seen, until I departed the canyon where I started coming to the roadside stands. I stopped at most, picking up a few items, purchasing a few trinkets to give out as gifts, and actually shrewdly haggling for the first time in my life, because the marked prices were a little higher than I had assumed. I stopped at several places and all the merchants were friendly and most wanted to talk, especially about where I was from and why I was in Arizona with Connecticut plates. I love chatting up with people, telling them about what I am doing. Can you imagine, me? Me loving to talk all about himself over and over? :) That is sarcastic, since its pretty obvious I am narcissistic and love to hear myself and love having this outlet to do it. And its quite possible that the Navajo I talked to were thinking of me what I had been thinking about the Europeans earlier. Anyway, it was pretty late, and it was dark by the time I made it back to Flagstaff, but I was able to take a few sunset photos on the Navajo nation.

Take The Red Pill

Jonathan — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 06:23:00 +0000

Current Location: Page, AZ, N 36 55.186', W 111 27.784', elev. 4238 ft.

Wednesday was just a travel day as I made my way across southern Utah. I drove west on I-70 from Green River until I reached I-15, which I took south, all the way down to the very southern part of the state, where I picked up Utah 9. I drove east briefly on Utah 9 reaching a town inexplicably named Hurricane (N 37 10.628', W 113 17.608', elev. 3273 ft.) where I stopped for the night. I'm pretty sure a hurricane has never passed through Utah. When I was in northern Utah, I wrote that the state felt like a different country. Well, southern Utah may as well be a different planet. It was like I was driving on Mars; all you see the whole way across is canyons, rocks, sand, mountains, and very few other vehicles. I've driven on the planet Mars and I had this one stretch of about 200 miles where I only saw one other vehicle, but that story is for a different journal entry.

Thursday, I woke up and drove east to Zion National Park, just a short distance from Hurricane. Zion, and most of the landmarks inside were named by the Mormon explorers. From what I had read regarding the park, it is one of the most popular and beautiful of all the parks, and that it's canyon floor is compared to that of Yosemite valley, only more colorful, so going in, I had high expectations. One thing that concerned me going into the park: due to the overwhelming popularity, a mandatory shuttle bus was implemented in 1999 for most of the highlights to visit in the park. Getting into the park, I could see why the shuttle bus was necessary as the park was very crowded and had only one main road through the canyon. I found it very tough to park at the visitors center, where there were over 500 parking spots. They closed off the visitor center parking shortly after I parked, so I lucked out. I think if I were to spend a whole day exploring the park, the shuttle bus would have been great, I could take it to the hiking spots, or off to the mountain stream to swim. But for someone like me, I am sort of just cruising through the national parks, not stopping for very long at any of the landmarks, mostly just enough to take pictures and take in the scenery. A shuttle bus makes this incredibly difficult, since you can't take very good photos through the windows of a moving bus. Additionally, there were about 8 stops along the 7 miles of canyon road, but getting off at a stop meant having to wait upwards of 25 minutes for the next shuttle bus. This is perfect for hikers but very difficult if I am only taking a few moments for photos, so I only got off the bus in a few spots. Additionally, the summer months meant huge construction projects in the park, particularly the roads, delaying the shuttles even more as they had to wait for permission to drive past certain points and/or wait for pilot cars to guide them. At one point I was on the shuttle bus, and everyone on the bus besides myself was European, but they weren't all together. If not for the desert canyon scenery, I very well could have been on a bus in Rome. I heard French, Spanish, German, Polish, possibly Greek, and the most common was Italian.

Unfortunately, I had high expectations for Zion, and it was my first and hopefully only bad time in a national park, it just wasn't all that fun for the usual activities I do in the parks, and I spent a tremendous amount of time just sitting around waiting for the shuttle as opposed to traveling.

Here are a few pictures:

This photo is from inside the shuttle bus, where you could see a sign above the driver's head which read Your Operator Is: <name>. This particular driver was named Bent, making the sign a little comical.

The rest of the photos can be viewed here, though I didn't take too many. I exited the park continuing east on Utah 9, then north on US 89 to east on Utah 12 where I reached Bryce Canyon National Park. I arrived about an hour and a half to two hours before sunset, so I had plenty of time to explore the park and take a few photos and wait around for sunset. At the visitor's center, I learned that Bryce (N 37 28.519', W 112 14.413', elev. 9110 ft.) is not actually a canyon, but a mesa. There are formations along the "canyon" floor called hoodoos, they look like pillars and chimneys and are very spectacular.

Visibility in the park is incredible, from some points you can see the Grand Canyon area, over 100 miles distant. Due to the elevation and the wind directions, Bryce has some of the cleanest air in the lower 48 states, as almost no outside pollution winds up in the park.

Finally, it was time for the sunset, and the incredible views became even more incredible.

You can view the rest of the photos here. Leaving the park, I came across some deer, but I have seen so many on the trip, I don't even bother stopping for photos anymore. I headed back out to US 89 and headed south, intending to get to Fredonia, Arizona to stop for the night. I got to the border town of Kanab, UT, and continued driving on US 89, when it turned east in town. I wanted to get to Arizona because I would gain an hour as they don't observe Daylight Saving Time. Kanab is relatively close to Arizona and at this point I started to look at my cell phone, because it should have changed times as I passed into Arizona. I was driving for quite a while after passing Kanab, and I was wondering why I wasn't getting to Fredonia yet, because it hadn't seemed that far on the atlas. After about 40 minutes of nothing but road, no other vehicles I was wondering just exactly what was going on, since I hadn't arrived in Fredonia yet, and my cell phone time hadn't changed. It was eerie, and something made me feel like I had traveled back in time to before the invention of cars. So I looked at my atlas and realized in Kanab, US 89 breaks off into US 89A on its way to Fredonia, and I was traveling east, still in Utah. I sat for a minute and thought before deciding to turn around and head back to Kanab to catch 89A. After about two minutes I looked at my atlas again and realized I was much closer to Page, AZ that I was to Fredonia, AZ, so I hemmed and hawed and decided to turn around again. I was real tired and it felt real dangerous to be on that road at night, so I jut wanted to get off as quick as possible, even though heading to Page would make my trip to the Grand Canyon the next day longer.

Come On Home To Green River

Jonathan — Wed, 24 Aug 2005 06:03:00 +0000

Current location: Green River, UT, N 38 59.549', W 110 08.199', elev. 4069 ft.

Tuesday I woke up with an ambitious day ahead. A visit to two separate national parks with a lot of driving on each end. Southern Utah has a stunning 5 national parks (Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion), 3 national monuments (Natural Bridges, Grand Staircase-Escalante and Rainbow Bridge) and 1 national recreation area (Glen Canyon). I drove west from Fruita, CO on I-70 for about an hour until I reached US 191 in eastern Utah. I took US 191 south until I reached the resort town of Moab, the gateway to both Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. Moab seemed like a pretty cool little resort town. I was impressed that it wasn't too much of a tourist trap, and that there seemed to be a cluster of bars in the downtown area which would make for interesting night life.

My first stop after checking out Moab was two miles back north on US 191, to Arches. Arches has hundreds of sandstone arch formations, as well as sandstone pillars, towers and other formations, the result of erosion over time due to wind, rain and sand and other forces. Arches was simply an incredible place, home to some of the most jaw dropping sights I have yet seen on the trip. The park drive takes you through many sites, some which can be seen from the road, some requiring short or long hikes for optimal viewing.

Park features had charming or appropriate nicknames, such as Three Gossips, Tower of Babel, Balanced Rock, and Window Arch.

Most of the arch formations are deeper in the park, and only a few had hikes of a mile or less, so these are the only ones I got photos of.

North Window Arch

Turret Arch

Near the very end of the park road, you get to the most famous of the arches, Delicate Arch, the unofficial symbol of Utah. It's image appears on license plates, travel brochures, and other items. The hike to the arch is a good 4 miles, which I wasn't going to venture that day, but there is a view point where you can see the arch pretty well from three and a half miles.

From there, I pretty much had my fill of arches (view rest of photos here), so I drove out of the park, and north about 15 more miles on US 191 to reach the main entrance for Canyonlands. It was getting pretty late, and for me, Canyonlands was just a throw in destination, I wasn't expecting much. Low expectations were something I shouldn't have had, because Canyonlands proved to be even more beautiful and amazing than Arches. Maybe it was just the lighting or the time of day, but what I saw was absolutely incredible. The main area of the park is called Island in the Sky. I wasn't sure why at first, because the first few lookout stops were not all that spectacular, certainly not as cool as Black Canyon of the Gunnison the previous day. To me, it looked like a lot of mesas, buttes and open areas, and not much of a canyon at all.

However, I then arrived at the Green River overlook point, and I was totally blown away. I was standing at the top of a huge, beautiful canyon, but I was actually only looking down onto a plateau, on which was carved another immense canyon. I was standing atop a canyon within a canyon. It was incredible.

I've seen a lot of great stuff on this trip, a lot of varied, natural beauty, but this site ranks right up at the top with the best of them, and I only ended up at this park because I had extra time after Arches! A bit of a distance down the road, I came to a similar stop point called the Grand View overlook. This was actually a totally separate canyon from the Green River Overlook, and was just as spectacular, again, another canyon within a canyon. Incredible. It was very near the end of the day, and I got some very good light for photos, but unfortunately, my camera batteries ran out so I was only able to get a few here.

I got a lot of incredible shots for the day, the rest of which can be viewed here. As I was leaving Canyonlands, night had set in, and the incredible darkness compelled me to drive. There were often no lights for miles on long stretches as I headed back north on US 191. I got back to I-70 and headed west to the town of Green River, UT. It was almost 9 PM, and I could have kept driving, except I saw a sign that read "Next services 106 miles". I could have driven, but I wasn't willing to drive a guaranteed two more hours, so I exited the interstate in Green River and found a place for the night. Moab is an excellent spot for a long weekend or a week's vacation, even in the summer. The resort town is cool, has a good vibe and is not overly touristy. There are 2 beautiful national parks within 30 miles, where you can do plenty of hiking and camping. I'll go back again, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

Thin Air

Jonathan — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 03:14:00 +0000

Current Location: Fruita, CO, N 39 09.103', W 108 44.194', elev. 4504 ft.

On sunday, Keith and I went to the Rockies game at Coors Field, the highest elevation field in MLB. The Rockies are an awful team, and I recognized few players on their roster, but I rooted for them, since I always root for the home team when I am visiting a stadium, unless that stadium happens to be in the Bronx. Keith rooted for the Cubs partially to be contrary, partially because I think he actually likes the Cubs, who ended up losing the crazy game by a score of 9-7. There were 4 home runs by each team in the thin air of Denver. Photos here.

After the game, we set out for Gunnison, CO to pick up Keith's luggage, heading south west on US 285 from Denver, then due west on US 50. The entire journey took about 3 hours. When we got to the airport, we found a parking lot full of cars, and a tiny terminal completely empty of humans. Everything was locked up and no luggage was to be found. Oh well, it was evening on Sunday after all. From there, we drove about 30 minutes north on Colorado 135, arriving in the mountain town of Crested Butte, where Keith's sister lives. I got a tour of the town and his sister's amazing apartment, before we all went out to dinner at a nifty gourmet pizza restaurant that happened to be a drug parlor in a former life. At the end of the meal, the waitress handed us all fortune cookies, and I happened to get the most bizarre fortune I have ever received in my life; one that didn't make sense in any context I could conjure. I'm not going to write it out here, but if you look hard enough, you just may happen to find it elsewhere on this website.

I went to sleep in a loft in Keith's sister's apartment, and for some reason, I had one of the best nights of sleep yet on the whole trip. Perhaps it was the mountain air, or the warm coziness of the loft, or maybe it was just good to see people I know, but I slept incredibly well. I woke up in the morning and toured Crested Butte a bit with Keith and his dad. We went up to the ski resort and then back to the town, and I took a few photos. I then walked around the town a bit going into a few stores looking for souvenirs while Keith made the half hour drive back to the airport for his luggage. I met him and his dad there, only to find out they still did not have any luck with the luggage, as there was still no one manning the airport. I hope Keith eventually got his luggage. After a quick lunch in the town of Gunnison, I said my goodbyes and thanks and I was off again. So far I've loved everything about Colorado, no complaints. The views are terrific, the air is great, and the people make you feel at home.

I continued west on US 50 for about an hour, eventually reaching Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. This park wins the award for longest unnecessary name. I did all of the park in under three hours, since it is relatively small. The park road is only about 20 miles one way, with 12 canyon overlook points (1 of which was closed), and a windy road down to the river. I stopped several times to take some photos of the very amazing canyon. From what I read, I learned that the canyon walls are 2700 feet at their highest, and that the canyon is often taller than it is wide, an unusual occurrence. The canyon is very photogenic, and many spots have a lot of marbling in the walls where the water just cut through indiscriminately.

You can view the rest of the photos here. After the canyon, I continued west on US 50 until I got to Grand Junction, CO, where I met up with I-70 again and headed west a short distance to Fruita, CO, where I stopped for the night. Tomorrow I'm headed back to Utah, but I'll be in Colorado again.

You Can't Aim A Duck To Death

KWB — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 03:57:00 +0000

It started out as a beautiful day New Jersey. I guess I should have recognized the irony in that. Usually when I get to the airport, I'm already stressed because I'm 30 minutes later than I had planned, I don't know where to go, and I hate flying. But today was different.

I woke up, finished my packing (without forgetting a thing), and started the drive to Newark, a solid four hours before my flight was scheduled to take off. Due to the lack of traffic on the Merritt, I decided to take a route I'd never taken, down the Hutch and just followed it to the GW. I wasn't sure where to go, but I figured if I ended up someplace crazy in Manhattan, I'd find my way out to Jersey. This is where the story is supposed to go wrong...but it doesn't. I made it to the bridge, hopped on the Jersey Turnpike, and made it to Newark in plenty of time. I think the sheer lack of stress on my arrival to the airport locked me in a relaxed mood that got me prepared for the flight. So I sat for two hours at the gate, and eventually boarded the flight.

Ding. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking," pre-departure banter is my favorite part of the flight. I'm not sure I've ever met, make that seen, a member of the flight deck, but they always sooth me with their voice and confidence in the cockpit. This has to be a prerequisite for all pilots: 20/20 vision, check. Aptitude for flying a big object, check. Soothing voice, check.

"It seems that we have a bit of a problem with our instrumentation, we'll be looking into it and get back to you shortly. Thank you for your patience." Now let's backup here, why is he thanking us for our patience already? There is clearly something he's not telling us. After two hours and several updates, it was determined our flight's landing instruments were bad and couldn't be replaced so we are waiting for the weather to clear in Denver before takeoff so we can have a "line of sight landing". And my subsequent adventure beings.

After exiting the delayed plane for some stretch time during our wait, I called up Jon and I informed him I wasn't going to make it to Gunnison, our meeting place, tonight due to the fact that flights don't operate at night from Denver to Gunny Municipal. A conundrum easily fixed. When my flight finally departed from the east coast, Jon was on his way to Denver where we met up.

Huge fan base or not, I assure you Jon Sheldon Across America is still just Jon Sheldon, and that became apparent to me as I walked towards him while he was sitting near baggage claim, chatting on IM or whatever it was he was up to on his laptop, unsuspecting of the travelers as they passed. Beard or not, I immediately smiled knowing this is where my travel happenstance was going to turn into an "adventure".

United Airlines was gracious enough to set me up with a hotel which Jon and I shared at the Denver Radisson. After checking in, we sat at the martini bar, got some food, and began catching up. I think the great thing is that people that are true friends, the conversation style doesn't change even after not seeing one another for three months. Jonny and Keith-o, shooting the shit. This is where the plan began.

Now before I get into my day of "Jon Sheldon Across America”, let me just give some props to UA for being really awesome with me. Yes, they delayed my flight (for safety reasons), but they paid for my hotel, refunded the part of my flight I didn't take, and even still flew my luggage to Gunnison so Jon and I didn't have to haul it around in the already cramped Grey Ghost. I was impressed with the customer service.

After a good night's sleep, we headed to the shadiest establishment I have ever been to for breakfast, a Waffle House placed nicely next to a redesigned Denny's. Now if you ever want to turn your average day into an adventure, simply say to Jon "where ever you want to go is fine with me." Seedy establishment or incorrect direction is a predictable outcome. Nice looking Denny's? Nah, the Waffle House looks perfect. The nice thing was they gave us a choice between the smoking section and the non-smoking section separated by...well, nothing, but at least they gave us the choice. Our waitress's nervous toothless smile clued me in that quality was not necessarily the number one ingredient here (I'm still searching for the number one ingredient). This place was so shady, I tried to snap a picture which you can see below. The quality of the shot is directly proportional to the quality of the restaurant, so it is safe to say that you are not missing much.

Seedy in any city

During breakfast (I got an egg white omelet for health reasons, it came out smothered in butter. Yum.) we discussed out plans. First stop was to Coors Field to get tickets for a Rockies game, and then onto the U.S. Mint for a tour before the game. Plans are nice thing to have and an even better thing to disregard. We got the tickets for $7.00 (much less than I was expecting) and headed towards the state capital (covered in 250 ounces of 28 carat gold leaf from the mines in Colorado). We parked on Broadway and walked around the capital park area through beautiful fields of flowers surrounded by classical architecture. The mix of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns in this setting was incredible and I wish I could have spent more time taking pictures, but Jon was tired of the area as he has seen tons of similar buildings on the trip, so we pressed on. As we walked towards the mint, it occurred to me that they were probably closed on Sunday, and my suspicions were right. So we continued to walk around the parks.

One cool thing about Denver is the mix of classical and modern art and architecture...plenty for the eye to see. Here are a few of the photos I took to display the contrast, please bear in mind this is all within two city blocks of each other. A buffet for the eyes.

Next was to the game, Red Sox hats on for Rockies versus Cubs. Jon continued to root for the home team, and I rooted for the Cubbies. One thing we could agree on was whenever Garciaparra came up, we yelled "NOMAH!" as loud as we could to disrupt everyone around us. One Cubs fan seemed to enjoy it as he egged us on asking for more Bostonian inflection the next time. I wish I could have worn my Sox 5 t-shirt as this would have probably been the only remaining appropriate time to do so (well, besides changing my oil).

After the game we headed out on the road towards Gunnison. Here I got a feel for what Jon's trip is all about: the open road and beautiful weather. While we talked and listened to the Red Sox game, it started to make sense. I understand why he is doing it and realize that I will probably never get to follow suit, but I at least had this one day. I got a break from reality while watching the red landscape and low sunlight create a perfect backdrop for doing exactly what I hoped to do on my vacation, relax. The drive was a perfect ending to a great adventure.

After we arrived, we had dinner with my father and sister, met the roommates, and walked around Crested Butte. The next day Jon Sheldon Across America was off again without me, and I smiled as the Galant drove off as I realized I got to be a part of something special.

One Giant Leap - Chasing Paradise

Jonathan — Sun, 21 Aug 2005 03:20:00 +0000

Current Location: Denver Airport

On friday morning, I left Idaho Falls headed west on US 20, which met up with US 93 in the town of Arco, ID. From there I drove west and south into Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was a very hot day, well over ninety degrees, almost too hot to be wandering around lava flows and formations. Craters of the Moon is the remains of a relatively recent (2000 year old) volcano eruption, with hundreds of acres of lava flow and cinder hills. It is actually a very interesting place, the rock is all dark black, with fragile little plants growing on top with little soil.

Craters of the moon is a very interesting place, unlike anything I have seen. In the middle of the park, there is a huge cinder hill, with a hiking trail. Which I climbed.

Because of the heat, lack of shade, the elevation and not being in any shape whatsoever, it was a pretty tough climb to the top, and I was definitely winded. However, it was worth it, as the views from the top were very cool. Close to the cinder mountain, there were a few large craters. Inside a few of the craters, there was still snow! The snow was able to exist in the desert, because the craters were so deep, the sun barely reaches the bottom of the crater, and the lava rock provides very good insulation.

A crater with snow

All in all, the park does make you feel like you're on the moon. There were only about 5 other people in the park with me, and there was hardly a sound. I was mostly surrounded by my thoughts as I wandered through the park and climbed the craters. Nifty. You can see the rest of the photos here.

From the craters, I continued west and south on US 20 / US 93, until it met up with US 26 again. I took 26 south to I-84, which I then took east and south into Utah, where it met up with I-15. I drove south on I-15 until I got to Salt Lake City (N 40 46.215', W 112 00.190', elev. 4239 ft.), where I stopped for the night. My first impression of Utah was that it is a weird state. Their alcohol laws are a bit different from most other states, partly because of the fact that 73% of the population are Latter Day Saints (Mormons). I stopped at a restaurant, and usually if I dine by myself, I like to sit at the bar. Well, that is hard to do in Utah. The "bar" I sat at was actually very thin, since there were no alcohol bottles, kegs, refrigerators, glasses or sinks behind the bar walls. There were 8 beer tap handles, but they were only for show, letting you know which beers were available. The beer taps were actually in the kitchen, and from what I understand, the maximum alcohol level for beer is 3%. Along the highways, there were many advertisements for things you'd probably only find in Utah; LDS magazines, billboards very much against divorce, and advertisements for ministries overseas. (I'm not sure what the requirements are, but I think most LDS young adults do missionary work outside of Utah). Utah is a weird state in that it is mostly desert and mountains, with a huge salt lake, with 10 times the salinity of the ocean. Seems like a very difficult place to live and farm.

I found myself thinking that Utah is almost like another country, its citizens, with different customs and different religions may as well be foreign. But I started to think about it some more, and I realized that the story of the Mormons is uniquely American. Not only do the Mormons have a place in American history and the founding of the west, but America was probably the only place in the world in the 1800s where you could found a new religion, survive many years of harsh religious persecution, go west seeking a promised paradise, and then actually build a paradise out of nothing, in the harsh desert and dead soil of the salt lake, just by the sheer will and determination of the followers. I just can't picture this happening in other countries. (It can't be denied that polygamy helped). I might get a little ridicule for this statement, but I find myself wanting to read the Book of Mormon, not so I can become a follower, but so I can get a better idea of the beliefs of these interesting, persevering people.

I woke up saturday morning, and drove south on I-15 until I reached US 6 in the town of Spanish Forks. I never did see the great Salt Lake. Whoops. I drove south and east on US 6 for about 2 hours until it met up with US 191, which I took south and east some more until I got to I-70. My good friend and former roommate and co-worker Keith was flying into Gunnison, Colorado for a week's vacation with his sister who lives near Gunnison, and his dad, who was also flying in, and I was going to meet up with them on saturday night. About 10 minutes before I would get to the town of Grand Junction, CO, where I would turn south to head to Gunnison, I got a call from Keith, telling me there were problems with his flight from New Jersey, and because of the delay, he would miss his connection flight to Gunnison and wouldn't get there until sunday. I suggested I could pick him up in Denver and he could skip his connecting flight and we could drive to Gunnison and have a traditional Jon and Keith adventure. He thought for a minute and decided this was definitely what he wanted to do, so I diverted my course, and continued east on I-70 until I got to Denver. When I got to Denver, about 8PM, it was very dark. I found that the airport is a good 15 miles from the city. The only way to reach it is from a single road off the interstate, where you travel 10 miles through empty fields of nothing, and very few exits off this one road. I heard somewhere that the Denver airport has more land than all of the city of Boston, and driving out to the airport, I could see why. All I could see were empty fields and airport lights. I'm not sure why the place is so big or even how they acquired all that land in the first place, since it looked like it maybe could be farm land. I parked at short term parking and entered the terminal building. The airport design seems pretty awful to me, especially for a modern airport. The security looked awful in the sense thatr it would be nightmarish for travellers to pass through, and everything seemed so disorganized. I also remember watching a television show on the history channel once that was discussing modern engineering disasters, and the Denver airport was one of them. From what I remember it was a full 6 years after construction that the airport actually opened full time; it took that long to work out all the bugs in the systems. Anyway, that is where I now sit, waiting for Keith to arrive.

Post script: I think we may have a guest columnist / photographer for the next entry. That is, if you can behave yourself, and if I can work out the contract details with the guest.