Wednesday, April 29, 2009
No Internet!
Can't really update the blog till I hit Vegas and get regular internet service again - no internet in the National Parks and my Verizon mobile broadband is hit and miss... (I had to drive outside of the park to a little town to write this!) :)
Monday, April 27, 2009
Snow... and a hole in my pants!
The first thing I thought when I looked out the window at 6am this morning was "Holy S&%t"! My cute little blue PT Cruiser was covered with about 4" of fresh white stuff - this wasn't in the plan for driving over Rockies! But the locals assured me it wouldn't be any worse at 11,000' than it was in Denver, so I headed out on my adventure...
Sure enough, within 90 minutes or so I was looking at bright blue skies - yay! Made it to Vail (ooohhhh I miss the slopes!) and stopped in Glenwood Springs - I could definitely live there (that is, if I ever move back to the mainland)... it reminded me of some cute towns I've been to in Alaska. Once I left Glenwood Springs, the beauty of the Rockies changed to high desert terrain (semi-boring compared to what I had just driven thru) so I was anxious to hit Moab by early afternoon to get some hiking in.
After checking in at Desert Hills B&B, I headed over to Arches National Park and was able to squeeze in almost 6 miles of hiking. I'm never prepared when I hike. I never carry enough water. You'd think I would learn... (My mom is now picturing me laying in the middle of the desert under a cactus, with vultures circling above me... hi mom!) The hiking was cool though and it reminded me a lot of Valley of Fire outside of Vegas - - especially the first mile of the road into the park (M, J & A, you know what I'm talking about!). Lots of red rocks, lots of hills, lots of holes.
Arches is full of holes, all caused by wind - pretty amazing - I took lots of hole pictures. Speaking of holes... today I was wearing my all-time favorite jeans which had already started a hole in the lower butt/crotch area - not a good idea for hiking! By the time I got back to the car, the "hole" had become a "window" to my hoo-hoo - - and also started a little chaffing action on the thigh! Body Glide where are you??! Anyway, I absolutely REFUSE to throw out these jeans - no, they're not super sexy and they're a little too big, but they are the most comfy jeans I've ever had in my entire life - I mean, seriously, I could sleep in these things, they're so soft... so I'm on a mission tomorrow morning to find something to close the window to my hoo-hoo and refurbish my favorite jeans.
Speaking of my hoo-hoo.... let's talk about toilet paper. Ya know, I stay at a lot of really nice hotels when I travel for work - and they all use the absolute cheapest, roughest, thinnest toilet paper made, no matter how high the room rate is. And every place I stopped today had the same kind - - really people?! Is there some kind of conspiracy against female hoo-hoos, that you have to use sandpaper instead of Charmin? This doesn't really affect guys, because they only have to use toilet paper like 10% of the time - whereas us girls have to use it 100% of the time. I'm guessing the person making the toilet paper decisions at all of these places must be a man. I was very happy to see Costco brand in the B&B tonight - which is actually way soft compared to the sandpaper I've had to use all day. I'm seriously considering buying some hoo-hoo friendly toilet paper tomorrow cuz I'm pretty sure the rest of the places I'm stopping or staying will only offer sandpaper.
A lot of you thought I was crazy for doing this trip by myself. You asked me things like, "won't you be bored with no one to talk to?" or "aren't you scared to travel alone". Well, surprisingly I'm pretty entertaining (and so is my iPod), I discovered my rental car has satellite radio, and I'm not the least bit afraid of traveling alone. Yeah, it would be nice to have someone in my co-pilot seat, but I'm actually having a blast so far, and I pretty much crack myself up on a regular basis. :) This is the first time I have ever travelled alone - and it's super fun! And you know, I'm not exactly shy, so I've already become best buddies with the owners of this B&B (Anna from SLC and Vic from Italy, who are both like 10 years younger than me!) and just had a beer with them. So yeah, I'm doing just fine on my own - - but I miss all my Hawaii peeps (you know who you are!) and of course my pups who I know are causing major chaos and being well taken care of...
Tomorrow I'm hitting Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park and ending up in Bryce National Park. I know you may not have heard of some of these, but don't worry, I'll educate you tomorrow! Peace out! :)
Sure enough, within 90 minutes or so I was looking at bright blue skies - yay! Made it to Vail (ooohhhh I miss the slopes!) and stopped in Glenwood Springs - I could definitely live there (that is, if I ever move back to the mainland)... it reminded me of some cute towns I've been to in Alaska. Once I left Glenwood Springs, the beauty of the Rockies changed to high desert terrain (semi-boring compared to what I had just driven thru) so I was anxious to hit Moab by early afternoon to get some hiking in.
After checking in at Desert Hills B&B, I headed over to Arches National Park and was able to squeeze in almost 6 miles of hiking. I'm never prepared when I hike. I never carry enough water. You'd think I would learn... (My mom is now picturing me laying in the middle of the desert under a cactus, with vultures circling above me... hi mom!) The hiking was cool though and it reminded me a lot of Valley of Fire outside of Vegas - - especially the first mile of the road into the park (M, J & A, you know what I'm talking about!). Lots of red rocks, lots of hills, lots of holes.
Arches is full of holes, all caused by wind - pretty amazing - I took lots of hole pictures. Speaking of holes... today I was wearing my all-time favorite jeans which had already started a hole in the lower butt/crotch area - not a good idea for hiking! By the time I got back to the car, the "hole" had become a "window" to my hoo-hoo - - and also started a little chaffing action on the thigh! Body Glide where are you??! Anyway, I absolutely REFUSE to throw out these jeans - no, they're not super sexy and they're a little too big, but they are the most comfy jeans I've ever had in my entire life - I mean, seriously, I could sleep in these things, they're so soft... so I'm on a mission tomorrow morning to find something to close the window to my hoo-hoo and refurbish my favorite jeans.
Speaking of my hoo-hoo.... let's talk about toilet paper. Ya know, I stay at a lot of really nice hotels when I travel for work - and they all use the absolute cheapest, roughest, thinnest toilet paper made, no matter how high the room rate is. And every place I stopped today had the same kind - - really people?! Is there some kind of conspiracy against female hoo-hoos, that you have to use sandpaper instead of Charmin? This doesn't really affect guys, because they only have to use toilet paper like 10% of the time - whereas us girls have to use it 100% of the time. I'm guessing the person making the toilet paper decisions at all of these places must be a man. I was very happy to see Costco brand in the B&B tonight - which is actually way soft compared to the sandpaper I've had to use all day. I'm seriously considering buying some hoo-hoo friendly toilet paper tomorrow cuz I'm pretty sure the rest of the places I'm stopping or staying will only offer sandpaper.
A lot of you thought I was crazy for doing this trip by myself. You asked me things like, "won't you be bored with no one to talk to?" or "aren't you scared to travel alone". Well, surprisingly I'm pretty entertaining (and so is my iPod), I discovered my rental car has satellite radio, and I'm not the least bit afraid of traveling alone. Yeah, it would be nice to have someone in my co-pilot seat, but I'm actually having a blast so far, and I pretty much crack myself up on a regular basis. :) This is the first time I have ever travelled alone - and it's super fun! And you know, I'm not exactly shy, so I've already become best buddies with the owners of this B&B (Anna from SLC and Vic from Italy, who are both like 10 years younger than me!) and just had a beer with them. So yeah, I'm doing just fine on my own - - but I miss all my Hawaii peeps (you know who you are!) and of course my pups who I know are causing major chaos and being well taken care of...
Tomorrow I'm hitting Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park and ending up in Bryce National Park. I know you may not have heard of some of these, but don't worry, I'll educate you tomorrow! Peace out! :)
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Here we go!
So as I was cruising in and out of various airports throughout the midwest today, I realized my blog might be a little boring this time around since I only have me to write about... luckily, my trusty sidekick - Sock Monkey keychain - came along for the ride. So instead of boring pictures of me every single day, Sock Monkey will save the day and (hopefully) this blog will be full of exciting Sock Monkey adventures!
After cancelled flights, midwest storms, extra frequent flyer miles and pulling an OJ at DFW Airport (as in, running thru the airport and leaping over luggage - not the "other" kind of OJ!), Sock Monkey and I finally made it to the Mile High City. A brand new blue PT Cruiser will take us on our adventure across the Rockies and thru tons of national parks in Utah before we hit the strip in Vegas! Sock Monkey (and I) are hitting the hay early tonight (and cross your fingers we get on mountain time soon) so we can head out early... stay tuned!
After cancelled flights, midwest storms, extra frequent flyer miles and pulling an OJ at DFW Airport (as in, running thru the airport and leaping over luggage - not the "other" kind of OJ!), Sock Monkey and I finally made it to the Mile High City. A brand new blue PT Cruiser will take us on our adventure across the Rockies and thru tons of national parks in Utah before we hit the strip in Vegas! Sock Monkey (and I) are hitting the hay early tonight (and cross your fingers we get on mountain time soon) so we can head out early... stay tuned!
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