The Adventure Continues! And the sweet coincidences of a good road trip

Greetings from Grand Junction, Colorado!

Thus far, this fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants roadtrip is turning out even better than I had planned! Let me back up to my reunion with Maria in Flagstaff...

Although she is down to the punch line with finishing her thesis and defending on Nov. 13th, she graciously invited me out for the weekend. I hadn't seen her in 3 years, and she was one of my best friends in Colorado when I moved out there right after college in 2003. Our lives almost crossed path many times - from trying to get in with the same professor for grad school at Montana State, to me being offered a last minute grad research position (that I obviously didn't accept) that would have landed me in the same office as her at Northern Arizona - but it was now or never if I wanted to visit her in the city I almost called home.

After a 12-13 hr drive from Lyons, I rolled into Flagstaff on Friday afternoon and it was like no time had passed between us. That's the sign of good friends. :) We spent the evening strolling through downtown and around campus, catching up on everything and enjoying the warm, moonlit evening. Flagstaff is beautiful, and the campus reminded me more of the University of Michigan than even Boulder does. I would have loved living there; but it's a good thing I didn't take the offer because the advisor is overloading the poor student she picked and she's having a stressful, terrible time. It was also the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) and downtown was having an Art Festival Open House - so we ate dinner for free, feasting off the goodies and enjoying the display at local art shops.

The next morning, she took me down to Sedona for a hike in the Coconino National Forest. There had been a fire there earlier this year and a few trails were closed due to flash flooding/rock slides, but we did a nice little hike in the Red Rocks district (don't remember the trail name) and I decided that I need to convince my dad to move out there - warm in the winter, but still has deciduous trees that are beautiful in the fall and just beautiful country.

After we stopped and bought Apple Cider and Maria bought a turquoise ring (it's all the craze out there, since it's abundant and important to the local indian tribes), we went back and took a nap. Isn't that great?? We haven't seen eachother in years and we took a nap. ;) But we needed it. That night we went out and at Karma Sushi - good place - and went to bed early again so we could be ready to head to the Grand Canyon on Sunday.

The Grand Canyon = just as breathtaking as you can imagine. We just stayed on the South Rim Trail (as opposed to hiking down to the river) so I could see as much of the park as possibe. I think we probably hiked about 9 miles (flat and easy) and watched a beautiful sun set and a full moon rise simultaniously over the Canyon.

Monday, Maria had to get back to reality and I needed to be on my way. She'll hopefully be moving back to CO in the next few months and we'll hang out again. :)

From Flagstaff I drove 6 hours to Moab, Utah where I knew I would have free camping on the river. I decided to watch some football and have a quick bite to eat at the Moab Brewery. As I'm sitting there, sipping my beer by myself, I glanced over to the door and in walks a very tall guy and a short girl... It took me a second to register that I KNOW THESE PEOPLE... I work with these people... They look at me with the same sort of astonished "I should know you but you're out of place" expression and say, "Lisa!" I say, "Oh my gosh!" It was Travis, a maintenance worker on the west side of the Park, and Tina his girlfriend, who worked the gate on the west side. What a totally random and pleasant coincidence.

We sat down and caught up; their season ended about a week ago and were on a 2 month road trip before she heads off to grad school in Texas. They invited me to camp and hike with them the next couple days, which I was thrilled to hear. The Colorado River had flooded a few weeks previous, so the road to our free camping area was an absolute mess and only those with good 4x4 and who knew the way around the deep ruts in the road could get back there; needless to say, we had that whole area to ourselves for the whole time. We had a bonfire, drank boxed wine, and watched the nearly-full moon come up over the canyon walls and illuminate the river. I love that camping spot!

Tuesday we went to Arches National Park and got a pass to hike in the "Fiery Furnace" - a maze of rock pillars and arches, with fragile "cryptobiotic crust" that we aren't supposed to walk on ("What we're following is NOT A TRAIL" - a favorite saying as we followed some well worn cryptobiotic crust, which you're not supposed to do but it's impossible in some spots) - and we clambored through "Crawl-Through Arch", squeeze between tight slot canyons, scrambled steep rock jumbles and sat on top of large rock bridges. Travis knew the area well, so he showed me neat rock formations and areas that I would have probably never found by myself... or at least gotten severely lost in the process. ;)

Wednesday, Travis used his knowledge as a winter local to find us this "No Name Canyon" that supposedly only locals are familiar with. We went through a gap in this fence and bushwhacked our way through the jumble of trees, shrubs, rock washes and debris that had been jarred around by the same flooding that gave us our solitude at our campsite. It was wet, humid and relatively lush at the bottom of this canyon, and at the end we reach this deep pool underneath a tall rock face that spouts a temporary waterfall when it rains enough; it was dry now but was probably a sight to see when it was flowing. We even brought Travis' dog Chewy and she climbed up the slickrock with us like a pro. We kept going from one canyon into another, alternately travelling on the striated sandstone slick rock, and walking along the sandy washes in the bottom. I'm so lucky I ran into those guys, because I would never have seen this "hidden treasure"!

In the meantime, Tim had invited me to come out to the National Monument in Grand Junction, Colorado for a few nights for some hiking and off-roading. Met up with him and the trails guys at a sushi place last night and today, I went to town for an oil change and some online errands while he is finishing his last day of work here. For most of his crew, it's the last day of the season. When he gets back to CO, he is going to start "Blaster Training" - training to blow rocks and crap up with explosives for trail work. I'm mildly envious. ;)

Now, I will just post a link to my pictures so far (click on "Epic Road Trip" - no captions yet, maybe in a few days), pack this computer up and head back through the busy town of Grand Junction up to this little pocket of rock arches and canyons - Colorado National Monument. It's awesome that this little park is a neat little contained area of geologic wonder, all the while looking down on busy cities.

I'll be here until Saturday probably... then, off to Glacier National Park in Montana, most likely!!

Wish me luck! ;)

The latest puppy picture:

 

ps: Tara if you really wanna meet me somewhere, we'd just split gas money and stay in hostels... Just say where and when! ;)

Roadtrip gone EPIC

I'm sitting in Macy's Coffee Shop in Flagstaff, AZ, going about my usual routine... Checking email, harassing people on Myspace, looking up weather in Moab; Great Falls, MT; Calgary, Canada; Tok, AK (high of 7 degrees!); Anchorage, AK; Seward, AK; Vancouver, Canada; Seattle...Checking out maps of my possible routes north, finding out which cities have Hostels I can stay in if it's too cold to camp...

My intentions were innocent enough from the start. Visit Maria in Flagstaff. Hang around Arizona and Utah, see some new sights, maybe visit Tim at CO National Monument. Be back the 9th or 10th. But sometimes, plans change.

Now, with the blessings of many friends and family, a few useful phone numbers of people along the way, it looks like I just might be on my way on an epic journey across the US, British Columbia, and... Alaska.

Crazy?? No. Maria and I decided we are both at huge "crossroads" and sometimes, travel is the best therapy. In 7 weeks I will have a puppy; next spring I may have a term position with the Park Service; right now, what do I have?? No commitments. Lots of spare time. A little bit of money to spend. And really... why not??

We'll see just how far I get. I'm going to take my time, see the sights, camp when it's not too cold, stay in hostels when I can't camp, and make this the roadtrip of a lifetime. I've wanted to do this since high school, and although Steve can't come with me like we used to dream of, it will still be EPIC. It's not even so much about the destination, but the journey. I might not make it; I might turn around at Glacier National Park. Who knows. But I'll try to keep ya'll updated along the way. When I can, I'll stary with my photos from Sedona and the Grand Canyon.

Now, off to Moab!

PUPPY!

Got my first baby picture of my puppy! Well, ok it's one of two that I will probably pick from - I do have pick of the litter, SWEET - but he's only a week old. Really not much to see but a fat little black body, but it's SOOOOOO  CUTE!

Probably going to name him Logan, but my mom said it's a good name for my first born son... if I ever have kids... And I have to agree, I'm kindof keen on Logan! ;)  But that's way off in the distance, ha ha. (To my poor mom's dismay; I think she's getting used to the idea of having grand-puppies instead of grand-children!)

I just rode my motorcycle the 1/2 hr from Boulder to Lyons back from the shop, she runs like a DREAM! But did I mention it's all of ohhhhh 35 degrees outside at MOST; throw in the shade and the wind; my fingers literally HURT from thawing out. I thought I was going to lose at lease one of them. Needless to say, I don't exactly have the right gear to ride in anything colder than this (nor do I have the desire to do so!). The windshield on would have helped; finding my warmer gloves would have helped; not having it break down in the first place would have helped a lot! But they did some stuff to it to make it run better here at altitude and it needed to get done anyway.

Time for a warm shower. It will hurt too much if it's hot. ;)  I've got puppies on my mind and can't wipe the grin off my face!!!

Bachelorette night at home

Yep, that's right. Tim's out of town. I'm watching a CHICK FLICK. Failure to Launch. So far, pretty freaking funny for a chick flick. I've decided I really like Zooey Deschanel - as an actress, and as the bitter beer drinking roomie in this movie. The cynicism is right up my alley. ;)

Found out tonight that one of my friend's wives has the same heart condition I do - mitral valve prolapse. She's younger than me and her symptoms can be much worse than mine... but she explained a lot of things that the docs never told me. So hey, maybe it will get worse, maybe it will stay the same... but I'm not gonna stop doing what I do - firefighting, mountain climbing, getting into trouble - and if it freakin' kills me so be it! At least I'm having fun. ;)

Motorcycle is fixed! I went down to Boulder to pay for my bike (picking it up tomorrow) and they started her up... and boy she sounds freakin' fantastic! I didn't know my bike could sound so good. Bob's Motorcycle Shop did a great job.

Just found that they updated the Bassetts Fire webpage with a lot of really sweet photos - not from anybody I know, but they are definitely worth looking at!

I didn't take this but it's a pretty neat picture of the fire before dawn.

Besides that, just looking forward to visiting Maria in Flagstaff this weekend!

 

Hillbilly Ball and puppy news

Bettie Page

Paul and I at the Hillbilly Ball

The Halloween party at the Rock Inn was fantastic! Here's a few pictures from that, and from visiting Matt at Keystone. Whitewater Ramble played and there were some fantastic costumes - the winner was dressed as Steve Irwin... complete with a sting ray coming out of his chest. Yeah, it's a little twisted but at least we all knew who he was. Needless to say, most people didn't know who Bettie Page was, but those who did said I looked just like her. It was just fun running around with a riding crop and 6" stilettos, ha ha!

My puppy was born on Wednesday, but unfortunately there were no solid blacks. There are some very dark ones and that's fine by me, and it might look like Scout, one of their other dogs:

I'll get to pick one out in about 4 weeks, take it home in 8. Woo hoo!

I was so psyched my friend Matt was in Keystone, and even more pumped for that snow storm we got! Matt had tried to warn me before I drove out there, telling me to be careful in the snow. I just figured there were some flurries or something on Loveland Pass... I showed up at the Inn at Keystone and still had no idea. We sat in the bar next door to the hotel, drank a little bit, shared shots of Jim Beam, and caught up on the last year of our lives. The Avalanche were on tv - LOSING! - and then the Wings came on - WINNING! - and somebody mentioned the huge snowstorm we were supposed to get.

"What snowstorm?"

Matt laughed and said "What, you thought I was just talking about some flurries, that I don't know what a lot of snow is since I'm not from Colorado?! We're getting hammered tonight!"

And we sat in the bar, laughing and drinking and remembering the past and musing over the strange places we seem to cross paths... watching the snow pile up... I tried really hard to convince him to blow off the training he was in town for and hit the slopes at A-Basin instead. All that fresh powder...!! And what goes better with a late night blizzard than hot tubbing?! The front desk guy said that hot tubs are required to close at 10 pm in Colorado (seems strange to me)... I pleaded that well that's just silly, I'm sure there's some way to get some hot tubbing in, and he was cool enough to mention that "Well, the nigh man already made his rounds...I'm the only one here at the front desk... And the locals, well they just jump the walls!"

Cool guy. ;)

We went downstairs and poached the outdoor hot tub, snow piling up outside. I love this time of year!

The next day Matt had to go to training and I was going back up to Estes. Of course, when I tried to leave is when I found out I-70 was closed! Darn, I was forced to snowboard at Arapahoe until it opened. ;)  I went back to Estes that evening; I was going to go back down to Keystone on Friday night, and hoped Matt was coming up to Estes for the Hillbilly Ball, but plans changed and we didn't get to meet up again. It was still great to see him though, and we joked about the next place we're going to hang out... Alaska? Maui? Always an adventure, that's for sure!

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Here's the link to the photos from the party and a few from Keystone/Arapahoe Basin. Shutterfly is being stupid and won't load correctly so I'm back to Trekshare. I have pictures all over the freakin' internet!!