Day Five, Some Early 4th of July Red, White, Blue (of a different kind)

The wireless Internet in my hotel wasn't cooperating last night so this post is a little late. Sorry to those who have been constantly refreshing their pages in hopes of reading another exciting post from yours truly, but at least you know you'll get a double dose tonight! Without further adieu, here's July 3rd's blog.

I had a much easier drive this morning, only two hours to Arches National Park, a place I’ve been looking forward to experiencing in person after seeing so many cool images online. On the way to Arches is a place called Hole in the Rock, a little tourist trap/rest stop along the scenic highway. It was amusing. Apparently, it’s been a popular rest stop even before the invention of cars, back when cowboys rode in on horses or covered wagons in the early 1900s. It became more popular in the 1950s when the Christensens opened up a diner in a small shack in the space between two large rocks. Eventually, they got the crazy idea to move the diner into the actual rock behind the shack by blasting out small caves in the rock and carving out rooms for the dining room, kitchen, and gift shop. And once they’d accomplished that, they decided they might as well live in the rock too, so they blasted out more of the rock for their new home, Hole in the Rock. I took the cheesy tour as well and was actually pretty impressed with the construction and engineering skills needed to create such a unique home. I was equally amazed that the couple did most of the work themselves. Even though it was a pretty cheesy-looking tourist trap, I think I might have some proof now that not all tourist traps are bad things and you can actually learn a thing or two from them. It definitely beat stopping at another McDonald’s or even worse, an actual rest stop, to use the restroom!

Not much further down the road, I found Arches National Park. Like all the national parks, it was a bit of a drive into the actual park’s sites, but thankfully it was full of spectacular scenery!

The main sites in the park are amazing and awe-inspiring, almost beyond words, to say the least I stood there looking at these cool rock formations and thought there’s no way these are natural, they must be man-made, and yet at the same time I know that they are completely a result of the beauty and mystery of nature. It’s almost too tough to believe, but to be honest I’d rather believe they were natural, makes them even more amazing, if that’s possible. Since I can’t seem to articulate tonight, I’ll once again let the images speak for themselves.

Wilson Arch

Balanced Rock

Park Avenue
North and South Windows

Double Arches

Turret Arch

Delicate Arch

I think I did pretty well with the tripod today and was fortunate that the attractions always had other tourists around to snap a shot or two of me as well. However, this was one location where I wish I had had a companion so that we could have taken pictures of each other. The really cool thing about Arches that for me makes it even better than the awesome Grand Canyon was that not only could you get shots of the many arches from a distance, but you could also hike right up to them and touch them and sit on the rocks under them and climb on them. It was really cool, but there aren’t really pictures of me doing most of those things because it’s impossible to set the self-timer on the camera and climb up on the rocks and pose all in under the 10 second window my camera allows. And it’s awkward to ask a total stranger to wait a few minutes while I go climb the rocks and get into position for a picture. Most are with their families and are busy taking pictures of each other and I didn’t want to impose to that extent. Luckily, Arches was a definite favorite from the trip so far and I would love to go back someday with someone so I can take those pictures I didn’t get to take this time around. In fact, I didn’t even see the entire park today because it was over 100 degrees and 4 hours in that kind of heat was enough for me! Until next time…

I would love to say that today ended with another rainbow, but there wasn’t any rain, well not literally anyway. You could say there was some figurative rain right at the end of my day, just two miles from my hotel, and it came in the form of a speeding ticket. Yes, that’s right, I got a speeding ticket just 2 miles from my hotel! I’ve never gotten a ticket before for anything and I suppose on this kind of road trip with speed limits constantly changing from highway to highway and state to state, it was bound to happen eventually. It has put a real damper on my great day as you can imagine. I mean I wanted to see some red, white, and blue this weekend, but police lights in my rearview mirror weren’t quite what I had in mind! So Price, Utah is definitely not on my list of places to revisit in the future, or ever again for that matter! On a more serious note, I hope everyone takes my little speeding ticket to heart and drives safely this holiday weekend!

My dad arrives in Salt Lake City tomorrow and I’ll meet him around lunchtime, or later, depending on how slow I decide to drive to avoid another speeding ticket. It’s been fun road tripping alone. I think I’ve learned a lot about myself, what I am capable of, what I can handle, and I’ve been places most people would never go alone and I’m proud of myself for that. But I’m really looking forward to having a travel companion for a little while to help with the driving and to talk to and take pictures with at more cool places like Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and Chicago.

Well, it’s been a long day and it’s time to hit the hay…

And Happy Early 4th of July!!

On the 4th Day of My Road Trip...

On the 4th day of my road trip

America gave to me

4 state borders

3 Mexican dishes
2 lane highways

And a rainbow over Mesa Verde!

Now if only I could sing, then I could be the next American Idol! I mean, with an audition song like this, I'd be sure to get a ticket to Hollywood!

Let me briefly explain the song. I went to the Four Corner monument today, hence the first line of the rhyme. The second line refers to my dinner of a cheese enchilada, a chicken taco, and a tostada tonight (tastes better than it looks, I promise!) at a pretty good Mexican restaurant called Tequila's (sorry to disappoint, but no tequila shots for me!) in Cortez, Colorado, which claims to be Gateway to the Southwest. It's not the Jewel of Black Mountain (aka, my home town community of Rancho Penasquitos for those that aren't familiar), but it's an ok little town. The third line, ugh, just reading it reminds me of today's drive and how many trucks I got stuck behind, as you can see above. And I hate the parts of the road with this sign:

Not cool! Made the drive slower than I would have liked, but that's the price I pay for taking the scenic routes I suppose. The final line is pretty self explanatory, but I'll talk about it in more detail later on in the blog.

Despite the fun song, today wasn't as exciting as the previous days have been as it involved a lot of driving and not as much sightseeing. For some reason, I was grumpy this morning, I sort of overslept past my goal time to leave, then I accidentally reset the mileage I was keeping for the trip on my car, which was upsetting even though I've been keeping track on paper as well, and I woke up too late for breakfast which was a bummer, and I just wasn't feeling like I was having very much fun anymore. But I tried to stay positive. I figured I'm just overtired and having a bad day. No one said every day of the trip would be unbelievably amazing and that everything would go perfectly. There are bound to be bumps along the road, both literally and figuratively. So I put on my Ellen DeGeneres book on tape and she helped cheer me up and put a smile back on my face. Yay Ellen!

So the first of today's two main attractions was the Four Corners Monument. Well, I don't know what I was expecting exactly, but this place leaves a lot to be desired. It's a big square piece of concrete in the middle of nowhere split into four sections, one for each state (Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico), with the state flags flying above, a few souveneir stands surrounding it, some Port-a-Potties nearby, and that's pretty much it. I was amused by the thought that I actually had this on the list of major attractions I wanted to see on this trip. Well, at least now I can say I've been there, done that, and don't need to go back again! I don't want to discourage you from going there or anything, but unless it's on your way to something, well, it's up to you I guess. I just don't want to give anyone false hope on seeing a spectacular sight at the Four Corners, there are plenty of other amazing sights to see besides this, as I've already seen so far! Of course, this is just my opinion, take of it what you will.

Moving on, the second attraction of the day was Mesa Verde National Park. Now, today's plan wasn't thought out as well as I would have liked as it didn't take into account leaving at 10am as opposed to 8 or 9am as I had hoped, nor did I factor in the hour difference from Arizona to Colorado which turned meant I was an hour later after already being late to start out the day, and I also didn't know about the 30-45 drive from the park entrance to an actual site to see in the park besides mountains and trees as I traveled to an altitude of 7,000 feet along the windy mountain road. Fortunately, the park was open until sunset which during the summer isn't until around 8 or 8:30pm and I arrived at 5 or 5:30pm, so I was able to get some time in the park. The problem was that by that time of day, they were no longer selling tickets for the guided tours to the really amazing cliff dwellings which Mesa Verde is known for. I was bummed. Luckily, there is one pretty cool site that had a self-guided trail, the Spruce Tree House. I still wasn't too excited though because I assumed from the name that it was just an old tree house. However, it was instead named for the spruce trees surrounding the cliff dwelling. It was a little pueblo home/community built right under a cliff, using the cliff as a roof of sorts. It had windows and even an underground component, though I was feeling too claustrophobic to climb down the ladder through the small 1 or so square foot hole in the ground. The upstairs was plenty for me! I was worried that the rain storms all around me would catch up to me and I would get rained out of Mesa Verde before I got to Spruce Tree, but luckily, things did go my way for a change today and it began to rain just as I was getting ready to leave anyway.

And to top off a pretty good day despite my grumpiness and poor travel planning, there was an amazing rainbow that I caught a glimpse of out the passenger window as I was leaving the park and I couldn't resist pulling over to snap some pictures. Didn't find any gold, but I guess I could be really sappy and say that the treasure I take with me is worth more than a pot of gold, because my memories are priceless! Although, if I write a novel about my road trip and become a best selling author, then I could have the priceless memories plus a pretty nice house to hang all of my award winning photos and a really expensive car to use on my next road trip! Hmm, something to contemplate on tomorrow's drive...

Day Three, A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

The above proverb refers to the idea that an image often contains more meaning than a substantial amount of text could ever articulate or describe. For tonight's blog, I want to show you all that this is indeed true. I spent 7 hours at the Grand Canyon today and I tried very hard to capture each moment and landscape and color and the feelings and thoughts I had while bearing witness to this amazing natural wonder in the pictures below (more can be found on snapfish.com, see first post for more info). Though many of you have graciously commented on my wonderful writing and while I am flattered beyond words that you think my writing is even readable, let alone good, I am going to keep the words to a minimum tonight. I've been experiencing plenty of peace and silence during the day despite all the tourists around me at the Grand Canyon, but I don't think I'm getting enough of it at night, meaning even though I don't like to, I will be going to bed early to catch some extra peace and quiet in my dreams!

But before I turn in for the night, here are a few brief thoughts and events from the day.

Last night, I ate dinner at a restaurant called the Blue Corn which was attached to one of the many hotels in Page, Arizona. I thought it would be harmless and I just wanted a quick meal that wasn't fast food. I thought about going to the Dam Bar and Grill (Page is near Glen Canyon Dam which helps create the nearby attraction of Lake Powell), but after driving by, I was intimidated by the large crowd as I didn't want all those people watching me dine alone, so I opted for the hotel restaurant where it might not be as wierd to be seen eating alone. Well, I didn't need to worry about crowds there, or being seen by anyone but my waitress. Have you ever eaten in a restaurant alone? How about completely alone? I don't mind eating alone and in fact hate the fact that society seems to feel sorry for or look down upon lone diners in a restaurant, so I try to do it every once in a while, it's very character and confidence building. I figure after this trip, I won't think twice about it, at least that's my hope.

I wasn't looking forward to another meal by myself tonight and wanted to find a fun place to get a decent meal - I haven't been having good luck in the dining department lately, since my cheaper hotels provide little to no breakfast in the mornings, I've been doing fast food while driving during lunchtime, and then of course there's the Blue Corn incident. I did have New York New York pizza on my first night in Vegas which was good, but not unique or different as I've been there many times. I am staying in Flagstaff for the night and my dad told me about a town called Williams at the junction of the 64 and I-40 so I decided to check it out. What he didn't tell me was how cool it was!! It's part of old Route 66, I felt like I was in the live action version of the movie "Cars," complete with neon lights, old buildings, a few old cars in pretty good condition, slow moving cars, and great hospitality. I even saw Lightning McQueen and Mater, well, sort of! And the great thing about old towns is the old memorabilia, including the most important of all, drum roll please, Coca Cola stuff!!

Those of you who know me well know I am a collector and avid drinker of this wonderful soft drink brand! And for those of you who are still confused about the matter, Pepsi is not Coke, and if I'm at a restaurant and I ask for Coke, that does not mean Pepsi, ever.

Now that we have that cleared up, I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that while I did eat alone as is expected while traveling by myself, I was not the only one there this time! I ate at Cruiser's Cafe 66, which was a great classic diner with plenty of outdoor seating and a live music act playing some classics on the guitar that were fitting for the historic Route 66 atmosphere. A burger, fries, and a rootbeer. Mmm, mmm, good! Finally, real food! I had a Southwestern Chicken Sandwich at one of the little food places at the Grand Canyon, and I'm just not sure it was actually chicken, it was more like white mystery meat. So this meal was a welcome respite from fast food and mystery food and just what I needed after a long, full day! I didn't want to leave Williams. The little town was exactly what I had been hoping to find and the best part is that the only reason I ended up there was because I missed my turn onto 180 which is a bit shorter way to get to Flagstaff from the Grand Canyon. I blame it on fate and thank it very much! I bought several souveneirs, including a cool Coca Cola glass to add to my collection! I hope to find more little unique places like Williams along the way! I'm glad I got my kicks on Route 66 at least once on this trip! (FYI: I'm using "kicks" as a synonym for fun or something of that nature, and not in an inappropriate way as I imagine it could be construed, my time was spent strictly sight seeing and eating good food, I promise!)

As I alluded to before, the Grand Canyon was simply too breathtaking to put into words. Even if I were to manage to catch my breath, I still don't think I could clearly articulate my feelings and thoughts from today, so I will leave it to the pictures and hope they do my in person experience justice. Remember, if one picture is worth a thousand words, the images below could fill up a novel! I wish you all could have been there with me, but to be honest, I'm sort of glad you weren't as it would have really messed up the whole theme of peace and quiet and solitude I'm going for on this leg of the trip. Is that bad? Please don't hate me! A little honesty never hurt, right? Ok, I'm sorry, I take it back! I'll photoshop you all in later if that helps take the sting out a bit.

Alright Jessa, enough with the words already! On with the pictures, sheesh!

Enjoy!

One final thought. The pictures with me in them are a combination of tripod, one-handed self-portraits, and the kindness of strangers. There were so many different kinds of people at the Grand Canyon, families, couples, friends, foreigners, and solo travelers such as myself. But the great thing was that everyone seemed very gracious and polite, no pushing or shoving or honking of horns, etc. Everyone I asked was very willing to take my photo, usually with the condition that I take one of them too, which doesn't seem much to ask, a fair trade seems reasonable to me. And many people approached me to take their picture, which earned me a few extras in return. If only the rest of life was this uncomplicated and easy.

Goodnight!