Hold Your Horses

My life has been hectic lately.  I don't have internet in my apartment and I've been working upwards of 11 hours a day at work.  I will update the blog when I have a spare moment, I promise.

Cross Country, Part Six, The Last Leg

The last day of my trip was tough.  I woke up around 6 because it sounded like it was raining in my room...I think that there was something wrong with the mini fridge...anyway, I woke up and got ready for the day.  Went downstairs to put my stuff in the car and get breakfast.  I noticed the bright and warm Nevada sunshine.  When I got back up to my room to finish up getting ready, I decided I was too tired to drive an additional 5 hours, so I took a nap and woke up again at 9:00am.  Perfect!  I should miss most of the Las Vegas rush hour.  I checked out and got on the road.

I drove and drove and drove some more.  Through the desert, through death valley.  There wasn't really much to see but desert and occasionally a mountain.

It was a very long, very boring drive, but I did see this sign.  If anyone can tell me how to pronounce this correctly, you get a prize...

Driving through, I got to a "pass" where the fog was incredible.  I couldn't see 10 feet in front of me.  It was a curvy pass with a lot of traffic and the fog just seemed to come out of nowhere.  That's when the rain began and it didn't stop until well into the next day.  Of the 3 days that it rains in Los Angeles, I chose one of these days to move in.

I got into LA around 2 and had to find a bank to get a cashier's check for my deposit and first month's rent.  I could not find a Wachovia to save my life.  Supposedly around here, Wachovia's are going out of business and being replaced by Wells Fargo branches.  The three Wachovia branches I had the addresses for weren't there any longer, so I went into a Wells Fargo branch, hoping that I could get the cashier's check there.  Wells Fargo and Wachovia are not integrated yet, so due to ATM caps and blah blah blah, I was sent on a wild goose chase in the rain looking for someplace to get these stupid money orders...Anyway, I now have an account at Wells Fargo so that I don't have to worry about it anymore!

I went to the rental office to sign my lease, got my keys and started unpacking my car.  I'll post pictures of the apartment with furniture next week when it's all unpacked and such..  But for now, you can get an idea of what my place looks like sans furniture.  These pictures are terrible...it was tough trying to shoot artistically, especially when the light was awful...

First, here is the floorplan so you kinda know what you're looking at:

Now for  the real pictures:

My Door

My Doorknob.  My key is a plastic flat card that goes into the top slot to open the door...

The Entrance

The Bathroom

The Dressing Room right off of the bathroom

From the main room looking into the bathroom/dressing room.

The Common Room looking into the kitchen

My cute little kitchen...

In Alexandria, three days after I moved I got a fish because my former roommate wouldn't let me have any pets and I really wanted a pet, thus was born McClellan.  McClellan died and I replaced him with Birkin.  Birkin made the trip across country with me in a large McDonald's cup.  It was touch and go for a bit, his dark blood red color was yellow for a couple of days, but he seems to be fine now.  He likes his new home and his view looking out the window and seeing the Hollywood hills...

Finally, what you all have been waiting for.  It took a couple of days, but I finally got a picture of my view.  This view depends a lot on the visibility, for example, I couldn't see it at all the first day, the second day it cleared up, and today is the first time that the visibility has been limited.  However, when the weather is nice, I can see all the way to the Hollywood sign.  Unfortunately, the Hollywood sign is no longer lit up at night because there were something like 500,000 reported car accidents a year due to the distraction of the sign from the highways, so they decided to stop lighting it but it's still cool to see it during the day.  The little white line in the mountains is the sign.  It is much more visible from my apartment, but of course the camera doesn't zoom that far.  But I can clearly read "Hollywood" from my living room.

So that's my place.  It's very bright and light and the temperatures range from chilly to hot.  My a/c likes to turn on and off randomly and make strange noises (like putting a book down on a table) all the time, but my view is amazing and I only have to run the a/c at night and that's only because I like it cold when I sleep.  There are a lot of sirens in the neighborhood, but so far I haven't felt unsafe walking around.  Parking here is valet and the valet guys are very nice; one of them even offered to come up and help me move my furniture.  I politely declined.  So far I've gotten 5 cards and one bill  Four of the cards were from the same person and the other card was from my parents.  They are displayed proudly on my windowsill.  So far, I love it here and can't wait to see what adventures my life brings me next!!

Cross Country, Part Five

Disclaimer: Not all of the pics in this post are mine, I'll note the difference.

Tuesday, October 13th...I was awoken by the bright Utah sunshine.  I hopped out of bed, excited for my excursion of the day.  I was going to drive down through Utah, check out Zion National Park, then head out to Las Vegas for the evening and if I had a chance in between, I would see if I could make it out to the Grand Canyon.  I drove and passed amazing Utah mountains (these are my pictures):

The mountains were amazing.  In that last picture, you can see the BYU "Y".  It is a random "Y" which looked like the block lettering for Yale.  I asked what these meant and was told:

"At 8520 feet (2597 m), Y Mountain is located directly east of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. The Slide Canyon/Y Mountain Trail leads to a large block Y located 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from a parking area at the mountain's base. The Y was built over a hundred years ago as the insignia for BYU. For years the trail to the Y has been one of the most hiked trails in the Utah Valley and provides a beautiful view of Provo, Orem, and  the rest of the many cities in Utah Valley and Utah Lake. The trail is also regularly used by hikers, bikers, paragliders and hunters to access the backcountry in the Slide Canyon area.

The large white Y on the side of the mountain has become the nationally recognized insignia for BYU and the reason why BYU is often called "the Y". It is made of concrete and is 380 feet high and 130 feet wide (116 by 40 m). No other college in the United States has a larger symbol, in fact, the Y is even larger than the letters in the "Hollywood Sign" in California." (Wikipedia)

I drove for almost 5 hours and finally saw a sign for Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park.  I took the exit to go explore, not knowing what I was going to find.  There was a visitor's center that people had to go into.  I found out then that the entrance fee for Zion National Park in general was $25.  EEK!  That's a lot, but I've heard Zion National Park is amazing, so I sucked it up and paid the fee to get in.  I drove around the first set of cliffs and what I saw literally took my breath away.

But first, a geography lesson.  Zion National Park is the middle section of an immense section of sedimentary rock layers which form the Grand Staircase.  The top step is called Bryce Canyon National Park, the middle section is Zion National Park and the bottom step is the Grand Canyon.  The bottom layer of Bryce Canyon National Park is the top layer of Zion National Park and the bottom layer of Zion National Park forms the top layer of the Grand Canyon, so it's like a giant staircase.  Now, back to pictures and what you really care about:

As I drove around this set of cliffs, the scenery only got more spectacular.  I'm sorry that these pictures don't do it justice, but I did what I could...

That one really light area on the right is from a massive landslide that happened about ten years ago.

A friend of mine decided that we were going to go on a road trip in a couple of years, and I told that person that we are stopping back at Zion to go hiking.  I would love to take the trails around here to see the arch in Kolob Canyons and hike down in the valley between the road and the cliffs...it seems amazing.

I got back on the road drove a few more miles and saw another sign for the actual Zion National Park.  It was a 30 or so mile drive through some little towns, Virgin, Utah, St. George...There were kitchy little shops selling rocks and man made chunks of glass....then I finally made it through into the Zion Canyon.  Zion is a little strange, you have to park near the park entrance and the only way you can access the canyon at all is through a shuttle.  So I got on the shuttle and took it all the way up into the canyon.

History Lesson (don't you feel like you're in school?):  Zion National Park was settled 8,000 years ago when nomadic family groups settled on the canyon floor to collect seeds and hunt.  Farming of corn and other crops came in about 2,000 years ago which created the first sedentary groups to settle on the canyon floor.  Extreme droughts followed by catastrophic flood caused these groups of people to move away from the canyon by 1300 AD.  In the 1800's, Mormon fur traders and farmers settled in the area east of Zion where the towns of Virgin and St. George are now.  The late 1800's brought explorers like Methodist minister Frederick Vining Fisher who made a game out of naming the cliffs with his guides.  He named the Patriarchs, Angel's Landing, The Emerald Pools, The Great White Throne and The Organ...

 The Three Patriarchs,from left to right: Abraham, Issac and Jacob is the sliver of white rock you can see to the right of the third cliff...

Angels Landing is the middle peak at the top of the cliff

The Emerald Pools (not my photo)

Named after the minerals in the water that change the color to a deep green color

The Great White Dome (right) and the Cathedral (left)

Supposedly, Zion National Park is known for rock climbing.  It's second only to Yosemite in the attraction of rock climbers.  The cliff below is the most popular cliff for serious climbers.  It takes approximately two days to get to the top from the canyon floor.  The climbers have to find a ledge about half way up the cliff to sleep for the night.  Yup.  They're sleeping on a ledge which is about 2 feet deep max...I would not be caught dead.

The Cliff that is known for rock climbing...

If you look closely, you can see rock climber in the upper right hand corner...

I was bummed that I didn't get to do any hiking, but can't wait until I can come back and to explore.  Getting back on the road, I had to drive through Arizona and into Nevada.  I wasn't in Arizona long enough to stop but I took some cool pictures:

Arizona

Kept on driving until I hit the great lights of Las Vegas.  I checked into my hotel in North Las Vegas and headed on down to the strip.  I was originally going to go to the MGM Grand but ended up parking at Paris.

I was exploring Paris and starving, so I grabbed some food at a little boulangerie in Paris.  The food was amazing.  I had a ham and swiss sandwich, but it was very french, the bread was french, soft, flaky...I haven't had anything like it since I was in France.  I went out onto the strip, but honestly, I was exhausted at this part, so I didn't do too much exploring.  I wasted 20 bucks in a penny slot machine in about 5 minutes and then headed back to the parking garage.  On the way, I saw a creperie. Many people know, and others don't, I have a major issue with American crepes.  The stupid crepes at IHOP or Dennys are not crepes.  They are pancakes filled with cream cheese and have fruit on top.  Gross.  Since my sandwich was so authentically French, I decided to test my luck.  I got a Napoleon crepe which had fresh blueberries, strawberries and raspberries, topped with lemon curd and chantilly cream.  It was a little bit of heaven.  Seriously, haven't had anything like that since I was in France.  Yum!!

After my crepe, I headed to the parking garage to go back to the hotel and sleep like the dead...

Hours Traveled: 6 travelling, 10 with stops

Miles Traveled: 400 miles

Cross Country, Part Four

Monday, October 12th, I woke up sleepy and slightly grumpy because I was sleepy.  Packed up all of my stuff and went downstairs to put it in the car.  Nature had left me a little treat overnight.

I was so excited that I got to clean off the snow with only a sweatshirt and sneakers on.  It was great.  (That's sarcasm for all of you that don't recognize it.)  I went back into the hotel for breakfast and to warm up and came out a few minutes later to get on the road.  Before I left Scottsbluff, I wanted to check out the Scottsbluff National Monument.  The difference between a National Monument and a National Park is "A National Monument in the United States is a protected area or a historic site that is similar to a National Park except that the President of the United States can quickly declare an area of the United States to be a National Monument without the approval of Congress. National monuments receive less funding and afford fewer protections to wildlife than national parks." 

I drove the 5 miles to Scottsbluff National Monument in ice and snow and cold and coldness and grey skies and rain....Actually getting to the monument was rough but the monument itself was pretty cool...

Scottsbluff Sign

From the National Monument, I got on the highway.  Nebraska either wasn't prepared for the earliest snowfall in recorded history, or they just don't care, because seriously, they don't plow.  The trek that should have taken me about an hour took almost three.  I was so irritated.  But finally I got on the highway.  I wasn't looking forward to the drive that day because it was through Wyoming.  What is in Wyoming?  It's one of those states that people don't visit because they're boring...

As soon as I crossed the border into Wyoming, the skies opened up to reveal a brilliant blue sky.  I was so happy to see sunlight, that my mood just lifted exponentially.  I stopped at a rest stop and in the rest stops in Wyoming, they have a person who can tell you about the state.  The woman told me what I could expect to see in the state and got me really excited about the places I would be passing.

Turns out Wyoming is a pretty cool state!  I know it sounds strange, but it is a cool state.  It started out with farm like everything else, but then developed into these amazing mountains.  Of course I had to take a picture of the wind turbines...

  

I got into the state a little ways and saw a sign for the Vedahvoo.  These are a series of mountains that were shaped by glaciers.  There are huge boulders that were carried by the glaciers and dropped in random spots.  It was a lot like Acadia National Park, but bigger.

I was stupid though.  The little road leading to see Vedahvoo was a gravel road that of course wasn't paved.  I took my little roller skate down the road figuring that I would stay in the tire tracks and be fine.  It was fine until I tried to turn around when the road got too bad and got stuck.  I found a shovel in my back seat and tried to shovel my way out, but two very nice people in a huge truck who had passed me came over to rescue me.  They pushed my car back into the tire tracks so that I could get on my way.  They were so nice!!

I left Vedahvoo and crossed into the mountain range between Cheyenne and Laramie.  It was amazing.  As I told a friend of mine:

"I've always said I was more spiritual than religious.  I think that being religious implies that one needs a church to become close to God. When you're driving through Wyoming, beautiful amber colored fields with cows or horses grazing, and hundreds of miles in the distance, you see enormous snow capped mountains, but in all of it, there is an absence of anything manmade...everything was molded by the hands of God for miles and miles around...you can't help but feel moved by that.  You can't help but feel a spiritual presence when you see that.  The colors are so amazing, it's like an oil painting, only better.  Pictures don't do it justice..."

Continuing to drive through the state, I came across the Flaming River Gorge.  This is a gorge where the rocks are bright red.  You can't see too much of the red rock unless you take a boat through the gorge, but what I saw from the highway was pretty amazing too!

This area was amazing.  I can't wait to go back and explore it more thoroughly.  I continued to drive into Utah and saw some other amazing sights there.  The following pictures are just from a stop at a rest stop to take pictures.  Once I got to Park City, there were really amazing sights...huge snow capped mountains...it was insane.

While at the hotel in Utah, I saw a real Mormon family...here was one man, and he was traveling with 6 women who had the "Mormon uniform" on of long bland colored dresses with tights and orthopedic shoes with bouffant hairstyles....I swear the dude is a polygamist and is traveling with his wives.  He came in and wanted to pay cash for the rooms and after he got the key, he brought all of the women in.  They walked outside again, and I looked up from the computer and smiled and he smiled back, but all of the women kept their eyes glued to the floor.  He looked like a kind old grandpa. It made me feel weird.  Just before that, I went to IHOP next to the hotel.  It was surprisingly decent, but the best part was as I was paying...my waitress was a cute young blonde girl.  She looked like a college cheerleader.  They had a bunch of kitchy things next to the cash register and there was a rack of keychain Beanie Babies.  One of the keychain Beanie Babies was a dog that looked like the Obama's dog Bo and was named "Bo."  I made a comment about how none of the other president's dogs were Beanie Babies, just mumbling under my breath.  The waitress asked what I had said and I told her that I didn't think it was necessary to have Bo the Beanie Baby dog.  She said "Really?  That's Obama's dog?  Ugh."  I chuckled and she said "You know the problem is...never mind."  I told her that we were probably thinking the same thing and she said "Yup.  So we have to make his dog a Beanie Baby because he's black.  No wait!  He won the Nobel Peace Prize because he's black.  Not even that, he won the Nobel Peace Prize because he's half black!  Let's make sure everything about him is celebrated, especially since he hasn't done anything!"  I laughed and gave her a really good tip.  We conservatives may cling to our guns and religion, but it never ceases to make me laugh.

So anyway, that night I fell asleep gearing up for the next day, which would be shorter and less tiring.

Oh, and if you want to buy Bo the Beanie Baby, go here.

Woof!

Hours Traveled: 12

Miles Traveled: 581

Cross Country, Part Three

Day three of my trip...I woke up in a good mood.  I knew that today would be the first day that I would really start to see something of consequence.  I got on the road in Iowa.  I had to take a picture of the midwestern gas stations...they are extremely interesting.

  The Kum and Go Gas Station

After taking the picture at the amazing gas station, I drove for what seemed forever until I got into Nebraska.  The air was freezing outside and soon enough, it started raining.  What was interesting about the rain was that it wasn't sticking to the road or sidewalks, but it did stick to the front part of my car.  My windshield wipers stopped working, my mirrors froze over...I actually had to stop at a rest stop to chip the ice off of my windshield wipers.  Once I arrived in Nebraska, I took a scenic route which took me out of my way but it was worth it.  I drove along a teeny 2 lane road that was mainly flanked by farms, but had some cool scenery.  The route was originally part of the Oregon Trail and there were markers along the road that told the stories of the "landmarks" or what the travelers used on the Oregon Trail to make sure they were going the right way.  There was one place called the Courthouse and the Jail.  This picture isn't mine, I got in online because the rocks were too far from me to get a good picture, but this was a huge marker along the trail....

The Courthouse and the Jail

My view of cool cliffs in Nebraska

The coolest thing that I saw on this day though was Chimney Rock.  Chimney Rock is another marker along the Oregon Trail.  It is a 300 foot tall peak.  It was supposedly struck by lightning in 2003, which eroded the rock, but I haven't been able to find the video that supposedly caught it all.  Anyway, I got to Chimney Rock around dusk.  It still hadn't stopped raining or icing so the roads were getting pretty bad.  I quickly ran, shot a few pictures and then got back on the road.

I photo shopped this picture so Chimney Rock was actually visible.

This is how dark it really was.

After seeing Chimney Rock, it was only another few miles to my hotel.  The roads were so bad at this point that I grabbed some Arby's and went back to the hotel.  I was exhausted and fell asleep by 9:00.

Hours on the road: 13

Miles Driven: 628 Miles