Friday, August 26, 2005
Take The Red Pill
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Come On Home To Green River
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.
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.
Monday, August 22, 2005
Thin Air
posted by Jonathan at 11:14 PM
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.
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.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
You Can't Aim A Duck To Death
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.
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.