Breck and Beer

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This morning, we "slept in" and didn't leave our hotel for the day's activities until nearly 9am. On the way out of town, we stopped at the City Market (as a joke, we never actually pronounce it that way) to pick up some muffins and a styrofoam cooler. The portable cooler I brought from home is probably not really made for ice, but just insulation. So, we had been having some problems with leakage throughout the day.

From there, I got behind the wheel and we went east towards Frisco, CO. We arrived into town around 10am. Although the shopping outlets they had there seemed enticing, we decided to go for a hike instead. About 3 miles up Ryan Gulch Rd. through neighborhoods of apartments and condos, we reached the trailhead for Lily Pad Lake.

Even though this hike was initially challenging as we walked up a gravel service road at about a 30 degree grade for a good 200 yards, it really leveled off from there. Also from the top of this initial hill was a great view of the Dillon Resevoir below - an enormous lake that is surely a destination for boating and sailing during the summer. As we continued along the path, we passed beaver pounds (with no beavers), streams, marshy clearings and spruce forests. At our destination was a small lake completely overtaken with lily pads followed by a significantly larger alpine lake behind it.

We met some other hikers, as seems to becoming a common thread with this trip, who were from Sedona, AZ and locally in Breckenridge. We snapped some pictures of them and they returned the favor. Then, per their recommendation, we decided to try an alternate trail back to our car called the Salt Lick Trail. The local woman said that in parts the trail would become a bit difficult to follow, but to always KEEP LEFT.

So, we started the trek back to the car with that in mind. The trail seemed easy enough to follow at first, but as Justin was tracking us on his Topo Map (through an Iphone app) he just didn't think we were heading in the right direction. We came to the first fork in the trail about a 1/2 mile in and went left...but it literally seemed like the left fork was almost causing us to double over the direction we had just come from. So, we came to a third fork, and at this point we decided to cut our losses and try to make our way back to the original trail. This was not accomplished by backtracking, by any means, but we continued on the route we had started and consulted the map whenever we would get to a fork in the trail.

Eventually, after about 3 more forks in the trail and ever so slowly seeing that we were getting close to the more well-traveled path, we decided to make a beeline for the main trail. There was a decent clearing in the woods with little brush or other debris blocking our way, so we cut across the area and finally made it to familiar territory. It took us about another 15 minutes to get back to the starting point, and we were certainly relieved to see the car in the parking area.

By this time, it was nearly 1pm and we were quite hungry for lunch. We decided to head over to Breckenridge because it seemed like it would be another cute ski town to check-out. Plus, it's fairly accessible since it's only about 10 miles south of the interstate. After parking (and might I mention, it was free for once), we got a table at the Breckenridge Brewery. Since they are known for brewing their own beer, we both decided to get a sampler. In hindsight, we probably could have done with a single sampler between the two of us. There were 8 beers totaling 32 ounces. When it's actually in front of you, it's really intimidating. The beers included a Pale Ale, an Amber, a Vanilla Porter, an Oatmeal Stout, a Belgian Ale, a Wheat and 2 IPA's. I took a sip of each, and then decided to finish my 4 favorites. So, in all, I maybe had 16 ounces of beer.

For the food portion of lunch, we ordered some peel 'n' eat shrimp to share. Justin had a half rack of ribs with fries, and I had a BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. With a slight buzz and full stomachs, we walked around to some of the shops in downtown Breckenridge. One of the stores we wandered into was a photography store. Justin was looking for a few minor supplies. As we were talking to the owner and he was schooling Justin on his photo equipment, he mentioned that he had shot for Nat Geo many times and had been published in countless other magazines. He was an interesting character, but he turned out to be very helpful. He offered to give us some tips for our next few days in Arches and Canyonlands if we could find him a map. So, Justin and I left the store and found a book store a few blocks down that sold maps. Once we had our map, we went back to the photo store and our unofficial, professional photographer guide marked up areas on our maps that we were not to miss. This would definitely require a bit of reworking of the schedule I had planned.

When we left the photo store for the second time, it was nearing 5pm. It had been a long day and we were looking forward to getting back to the hotel at this point. Away from Breck we went, and we made it back to our hotel around 6pm.

Following a few hours of winding down, Justin and I congregated with our newly purchased maps to figure out a game plan for the next few days. With such a limited time in the Moab area, we really need to time everything perfectly, particularly in regards to the photo opportunities. Then, about 8:45pm we decided we should probably catch some dinner before it got too late. So, we drove a few minutes to a local sushi place called Nozawa and had a few rolls - it was decent for small-town, Colorado.

The final steps of our evening included packing for the next few days and getting our showers in due to a very early morning tomorrow.

Moose Hunt

Maroon Lake

Today we made the trek from Vail to Aspen. After traveling through some pretty awesome cutouts in the mountainside the road took us through several smaller towns including Glenwood Springs. An hour and a half after leaving our hotel we arrived in Aspen. We turned north and headed up into the mountains traveling about 12 miles to our detination the Maroon Bells area. Maroon Bells is a beautiful valley between several towering mountain peaks and is a popular destination for hikers. Our objective was Crater Lake, a gorgeous alpine lake at the end of a 2 mile hike up into the mountains.

The hike was fairly easy with a small elevation gain of about 800 feet. Along the way we were treated to pretty views of Maroon Lake and dense groves of Aspen encircled by several 14k peaks. Unfortunately as we arrived a Crater Lake we discovered the lake was a bit dried up. Combined with the overcast weather the photo opportunities were limited at best. Both Maroon Peak and North Maroon Peak were shrouded in a thick blanket of clouds that refused to budge during our visit.

Crater Lake

We did have the opportunity to meet some very nice folks up at the lake though. A man from Montana with two golden-doodles was just headed out for a week of camping in the wilderness. Another couple was just making their descent from the mountains after camping for 4 days. As we made our descent from the lake the clouds finally parted in the valley below treating us to some very nice views of Maroon Lake.

We drove back down into Aspen and had a nice lunch at the Red Onion. As usual Lauren ordered way to much food and we left with a few leftovers. My Elk Burger with pepperjack cheese was tasty and satisfying after our hike. We spent the next hour or so browsing the shops in and around Aspen. To say that Aspen is not cheap is an understatement. It is a town for the truly afluent. Most of the stores were top fashion designers like Gucci and Prada. We perused the Ralph Lauren store and found the $900 cashmere sweaters to be a bit out of our budget.

During our hike down from Crater Lake we encountered a few patches of light rain and Lauren occaisionally struggled to maintain solid footing - she was wearing regular tennis shoes! After days of trying to convince her she finally conceeded that she needed some hiking shoes. We left the super rich fashion stores and headed into a local outfitter and got Lauren hooked up with some hiking shoes. Success!

Leaving Aspen we drove back to in Avon to catch a free BBQ before heading back out into the mountains. Our final destination for the day was Piney Lake, an alpine lake north of Vail. During a previous hike a local we met suggested we head up to Piney at dusk to catch moose feeding on the lake grasses. After a pretty rough drive up a dirt road we made it to Piney Lake around 7:00 pm. To our dismay it first appeared the area was closed off behind private land, Piney Lake Ranch.

After a few miutes of trudging around evaluting the situation I encountered a few hunters walking up the road. They were camped a bit down the road and were stalking a few elk in the fading light - it is muzzle loader hunting season. The two hunters confirmed that a trail just off the parking lot was indeed public land and would take us to the lake. We grabbed our gear and quickly headed off onto the trail. After a few hundred yards we were at the lake. At first we could not see anything, but we heard deep grunting from the other side of the lake. I trained my long telephoto lense on the other side of Piney Lake to where the forest touched the waters edge and there he was, a huge adult bull moose! Mission success!

Our Moose!

We headed back to the car and met up with the two hunters again. They had come up empty handed but were thrilled that we saw the moose. I showed them a couple of the pictures, we talked a bit more about the wilderness and parted ways. We had a long 10 mile drive down the mountain on a dirt road in the moonlight. On the way we saw lots of critters including a pair of young doe walking up the road. Once we finally got back to paved roads we breathed a sigh of relief and headed home for some beer and snacks.

The Peter's vs. The Mountains

Overambitious, much?? Yep, that's me. The plan for yesterday was to do up to 3 hikes...yeah, we only did one. It's alright though - at least we were still getting in some major calorie burning.

So, this morning we were out the door by about 7:45am. We got to the trailhead for Pitkin Creek by 8:15am, and after some minor confusion due to some signs that said "Path Closed," we exploded out of the gate to tackle about a 600 foot elevation gain in .4 miles. By the time we were a mile in, it was becoming quite evident that this 4.5 mile trail (to Pitkin Lake) would be a bit more than we could handle. The trailhead's starting point was above 8,000 feet, so we were already amongst some very thin air.

We reassessed our goals. About 2.5 miles in, there was a good stopping point with a view of Pitkin Falls (much more attainable). We continued our moderate climb through aspen and spruce forests, wide mountain valleys and occasional encounters with Pitkin Creek. The last .10 mile was a big push and about a 300 foot elevation gain to get to the viewing point of the towering Pitkin Falls in the distance. There were also sprawling views of the peaks to the south from the direction we had been hiking. In total, we had conquered a 1,500 foot elevation gain.

After shooting some pictures and resting for about 10 minutes, we decided to head back. Our food rations were sparse, and we were getting hungry for lunch!

As always, the descent was significantly quicker. We still made several brief stops to snap pictures and take in the views. The wildlife on this hike was unfortunately minimal. We saw a group of marmots bouncing around on what looked to be a former rock slide. Other than that, I'm guessing many of the animals were scared off because there was a family camping near the trail - and the kids were doing lots of running around and screaming. Oh, well.

Also on the way back down, we ran into a group of locals with a beautiful Burmese Mountain dog. They gave us some tips about where to go to see some black bears and full-grown moose. So, we may try to hit those areas over the next few days.

By the time we got back to the car, it was just after 12:30pm. So, that entire hike took about 4 hours. We quickly made up some PB&J sandwiches and had some chips. Then, we decided to do something a little less taxing - some scenic driving.

First, we headed to Shrine Pass Road. This road was mostly dirt and was very marked with many pot holes, but it really took us into the heart of some of the major peaks in the area: Mount of the Holy Cross, the Gore Range and Ptarmigan Pass. From Shrine Pass, we briefly tried to get on another 4WD road called Wearyman Road. Bad idea!! This road was one lane and made out of pure rock - not little gravelly rocks, but big rocks. Once we got to a big ledge in the road that dropped down into a creek, we decided we needed to turn around. It took about a 7-point turn to do so, but we got the heck out of there and saved potentially doing some major damage to our rental car.

We continued on Shrine Pass the rest of the way into a small town called Red Cliff. Then we headed south on Hwy. 24 to do one more scenic drive called Resolution Road (and this was described as Easy). It took a good 30 minutes to get to the end point - where it actually joined up with the other side of Wearyman Rd. The view point that we stopped at was known as Ptarmigan Pass and offered panaromic view of mountains in all directions. It was quite awe-inspiring.

Finally, with our morning-hike exhaustion stil lingering, we decided to go back to the resort to rest up before dinner. We napped, showered and drove into Vail Village for our 8pm reservation at Restaurant Kelly Liken.

They had a prix fixe menu to go along with a weekly event they have called Sunday Summer Harvest. Apparently, Vail has the largest Farmer's Market in Colorado that runs from 9am - 3pm every Sunday. The chef and her staff use the produce and other ingredients that they pick up from the Market to develop the evening's dinner menu.

Justin and I started out with a cocktail - a glass of Viognier for me and a tomato consumme martini for him. Our first course consisted of a salad of field greens, thin red onion, grape tomatoes, radishes and a ginger vinaigrette. It reminded me of a house salad you might have at a sushi restaurant, but way more balanced and refined. For our main course, Justin had pork cheeks with a sweet corn puree and sauteed swiss chard. My dinner was a seared and pan fried black bass on a bed of julienned beans (they were green, but they weren't green beans) with yellow squash and a red beet hash. I finished my plate - that's all that needs to be said. With dinner, Justin had a glass of Cab Franc and I had a Syrah. Finally, a peach tart with a cannelle of fresh vanilla bean cream was served for dessert. We splurged a little and had a glass of ice wine to accompany our dessert - Delish!

We got back to our room by about 10:30pm, and I was ready to call it a night. Justin spent some time editing photos and joined me a few hours later. Another early start for tomorrow as we plan to travel down to swanky Aspen.

Oh, Mountains, How I Have Missed Thee...

Vacation has officially begun! Today, we made our way out to Colorado after a somewhat sleepless night. It was not so much the stress of traveling, but rather procrastination that led to about 4 hours of sleep.

When I got home from work on Friday, I watched a little TV, had a beer, cooked a simple meal, got my Ipod playlists ready to go...before we knew it, it was after 11pm by the time we started packing. Combine that with some choice movies broadcasting on AMC as we were getting everyting together, and it was about 2am by the time our heads finally hit the pillows.

Regardless of this fact, it's amazing how easily it is to get motivated when it comes to a vacation. We left our house this morning about 7:45am to head to Columbus for our $160(!) round trip flight with Southwest Airlines. I snagged a great deal thanks to my dad's tip-off!

Our flight went direct into Denver, CO and apparently the stars were aligned for us on this day. We left Cbus on time, and we actually arrived in Denver 30 minutes early! Of course, once we got our luggage from baggage claim and went to the rental care place, all of that "extra" time was washed away. From the time our flight landed at 11:30am to the time we left the aiport with our rental car, 2 more hours had passed.

So, with our excessive amount of luggage and our GMC Acadia SUV, we got on the road. We made a brief stop before officially exiting Denver-proper to grab some lunch at a Smashburger (what can I say, it's a guaranteed tasty, quick meal). Then, we continued on I-70 W into Rocky Mountain Country. I'm always amazed with these mountains because the landscape literally goes from relatively flat to an explosion of rocky terrain within a handful of miles.

By about 4:30pm, we reached our resort, the Sheraton Mountain Vista, in Avon, CO (just outside of Vail). Shortly after checking-in, my vacation-planning prowess was affirmed as we met with the resort concierge to go over the features of the area. I wouldn't quit my day-job by any means, but I'm pretty damn good. He was impressed with how educated I was about the area without ever having been here.

From there, we went to our room, quickly unpacked and relaxed for a few hours. I don't know why, but plane flights are exhausting! Finally, about 20 minutes after 7pm, we left for our dinner reservation at Vin 48 Restaurant and Wine Bar. It was literally about a 2 block walk to get there. Nice 'n' easy.

Both Justin and I had about 3 samplings of wine with dinner...those 3 oz. pours go down so easy! I had a Sauvignon Blanc, a Syrah and a Red Blend called "The Prisoner." Justin had a Carmenere, a Merlot and a Syrah. Our cuisine included a traditional Antipasti (olives, cheese, proscuitto, almonds, crostini, etc.) and a mussels appetizer. For dinner, I had a homemade spinach papperdelle pasta with mushrooms and Justin has a beef tenderloin with ratatouille and a shoestring potato pancake. We capped off the meal with a shot of espresso.

With renewed energy, we stopped at the Avon Liquor store on the way back to the hotel to pick up some beer and wine for the week. Then, we hopped in our SUV to head to the local grocery store. With the various day trips we are going to take this week, it's nice to be able to eat lunch on the road as well as having breakfast and snacking options.

So, that essentially concludes Day 1. We have some interesting hikes planned for tomorrow, so there will hopefully be some glorious pictures, wildlife and other interesting tidbits on the horizon.

Do a Little Turn...on the Catwalk Canyon

Our cell phone alarms were set to 4:30 am this morning, as there was no clock radio in our wigwam. As early as it seemed, it really didn't make much of a difference from our other mornings because Holbrook, AZ is actually on Pacific time during Daylight Savings. So, basically it was more like 5:30 am since we were on our way back to the Mountain time zone today, ultimately to end up at my parents' house in Las Cruces.

After taking some shots of our wigwam, we loaded up the car, hit up a McDonald's for a mcgriddle and latte, and got on the road by about 7 am (MST). The first 50 or so miles of the drive were fairly boring as we worked our way southward through Arizona. Then, once we hit the Apache National Forest, I got a chance to test my driving skills in curvy, mountainous terrain.

Around 10 am, we approached our first side activity for the day by way of a "ghost town" called Mogollon. The town was about 10 miles from the main highway, accessible only by a one lane road (not to mention that this one lane road was riddled with blind turns and sheer drop-offs the entire way). That was one thing I had not bargained for, but on the way to the town we did not pass one car.

When we got to the town, it was pretty quiet and ghostlike, as none of the little shops or museums were open. You could also tell that there were a few residents in the town, but all was quiet on this Monday morning. Justin took several pictures of the historic buildings such as the theater, general store and museum. I also saw a little gray kitty while I was walking around, but he was a bit to skittish to come out to see me.

Once Justin finished taking pics, we decided to move it a long to our next activity. On the way out, we passed three cars and safely made it back to highway 180 unscathed. Then, we drove about another 10 miles into the town of Glenwood and then out to the Catwalk/Whitewater Canyon area. The road obstacle adventure continued as we had to drive through water wash areas twice, as we made our way to the parking area. Luckily, the current was very light and very shallow...it was more fun than anything.

At the Catwalk Canyon, we decided to do the 1.1 mile trail that weaved it's way up, down and across the canyon multiple times as water rushed below. Even though parts of the trail were labeled as "difficult," it was nothing compared to the Canyon de Chelly trail from the day before. The only major difference is that it was both hot and sunny on this trail, so we were pretty darn sweaty by the end.

When we returned to our vehicle, Justin improvised with his pocket knife and made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. Then, we were swiftly on the road again to continue our journey to Las Cruces. We made one more little side trip to the town of Pinos Altos around 2 pm, but a literal drive-by was sufficient as the historical elements were a little too kitschy for our tastes.

As the afternoon wore on, we both started to feel the race against the clock to get to Las Cruces by 5:30 pm to return our rental car. There was about a 30 mile stretch of road through the Gila National Forest that was so mountainous and curvy that there were road signs neither of us had ever seen before. Plus, it's kind of tough to make good time when you have to contest with 10 mph turns. But eventually, we crested our last hill in the range and descended towards Interstate 25 and 75 mph speed limits. We breezed through the last 60 miles of our drive and reached Las Cruces by 5:15 pm.

After dropping off our car, my dad picked us up and we made our way to Casa Palmier. The rest of the evening was spent eating delicious food such as homemade, fresh salsa, grilled potato slices with citrus aioli, grilled shrimp and Mexican corn salad PLUS drinking way to much wine and beer. It was also a cloudless evening, so the stars were in full force as we chilled out on the back patio. I counted at least 4 shooting stars before I basically got too inebriated to pay attention anymore. Eventually, I went to bed and somehow managed to brush my teeth and wash my face on autopilot. I guess it goes without saying that I let loose and enjoyed my first evening in Las Cruces - what are vacations for, right?

Sunrise, Canyons and Gas Fumes

Today began with an early start – our sunrise tour of Monument valley started at 5:30 am. Our fingers crossed, we rolled out of bed at 4:30 AM and saw our payers answered. The expansive clouds that covered the entire horizon last night were gone! Our sunrise would be clear and blue skies.

We left Gouldings Lodge and headed to the View Hotel inside the Navajo reservation that sits in Monument Valley. There in the lobby we met up with our guide Orville a local Navajo Indian. Soon we headed out to the parking lot and loaded up into the tour van. I rode shotgun and Lauren rode in the back with our fellow tourees a familiy from the French countryside just north of Paris. After leaving the hotel lot we immediately turned on to an unpaved (and super rough) dirt road that would take us in the heart of Monument Valley.

After driving over dirt moguls for what seemed like an eternity the sunrise was getting very close. Just as we started to question whether or not we were going to make our destination in time we made it to a field overlooking the Totem Pole formation. We jumped out of the van and headed to the brick red field below. I setup my tripod in the soft, rust colored soil and and started shooting. The view was breathtaking. As the morning sun started to rise the colors of the sky went from midnight black, to orange, and crystal blue. The sun rose directly between two formations giving me an incredible shot of the sun peeking through the rocks.

Our group jumped in the van and backtracked through the valley and visited several other monuments including Indian Head, Sleeping Dragon, Three Sisters, Castle Rock, King on Throne, and many others. Along the way we learned about the Navajo culture and Orville’s family. His family is one of 14 that live in the Valley itself. Throughout the day we passed a handful of residences within the Valley. Talk about having a nice backyard view! Eventually we found ourselves at the end of our tour about 2.5 hours later. We talked with Orville for a few more minutes and learned that one of the mesas near the entrance of the park is called Grey Whisker and is name for his great grandfather.

Leaving the reservation we headed back to our hotel to pack up and checkout. We stopped by the local gas station and grabbed some supplies and hit the road. Traveling south we left Monument Valley behind and headed to the town Chinle, AZ the home of Canyon de Chelly a National Monument. The Canyon is the ancient home of several native cultures over the last 5,000 years. Once we arrived we decided to hike a trail called the White House Trail which took us down to the bottom of the Canyon. I packed my camera backpack and Lauren strapped on her Camel Back water system and we hit the trail. The way down was pretty easy going featuring at least a dozen switchbacks as it descended the 600 feet to the canyon floor. The views, and the sheer rock faces on either side of the path, were incredible.

After about 40 minutes we reached the bottom of the canyon to find a few Navajo homes, a scenic river, and some ancient cliff face ruins. We took some pics, a few sips of water, and began the ascent back up the trail. The going on the way up was quite a bit more difficult. Especially given that I over packed my camera bag and had 40 pounds on my back. We finally made it out of the canyon and completed our 1.5 mile trek after a total of 1.5 hours. Grabbing some quick sandwiches we continued to explore the canyon stopping at several scenic overlooks.

We needed to cut our tour short and get on the road to our next destination the Petrified Forrest National Park a short 90 minutes away. Then we hit the wall. The hike in the canyon coupled with our 4:00 AM rise was too much for us to handle. We resorted to driving in shifts so we could each grab a quick 20 minute nap. We arrived at the Park at about 2:30 PM thanks to an odd section of Arizona on Pacific Standard Time. Our first stop was a short, easy hike that followed a ridge giving us panoramic views of the Painted Desert. We then hit Blue Mesa and Newspaper Rock. Newspaper Rock was a fascinating slab of sandstone with black sides that featured hundreds upon hundreds of petroglyphs. Our final noteworthy destination in the park was Crystal Forrest featuring petrified logs with quartz and amethyst crystals growing inside their hollow cores.

At this point we almost had an interesting event. Lauren had been driving for quite some time leading up to the park and was now driving us out of the park. After refusing to stop for gas at the beginning of the park she was now staring at an almost empty tank with no gas station in sight. With only fumes left in the tank we had to continue on to Holbrook, AZ where we would be staying the night. Twenty nervous minutes later we arrived at Holbrook and filled our tank lesson learned.

Our overnight stay was at an, shall we say, interesting hotel. In another fit of childhood wishes come true Lauren had booked us at the Wigwam motel. Our room was all of about 200 square feet and featured a bed, a super small bathroom and shower, and a 20 inch TV. We caught the first half of the Bengals vs. Cowboys preseason game (holy crap Bengals, learn how to get some points plz) and then headed to dinner. A few hours later we are now retiring to bed early for another early morning – we have a 350+ mile trek to Las Cruces, NM ahead of us on our next leg.

-Justin

Utah and the Valley of the Gods

I will be your storyteller for today's post. Lauren gladly gave me the reigns when I volunteered over dinner.

So this morning we checked out of our hotel in Santa Fe and picked up our rental car at the Santa Fe airport. We bid Rick and Darice goodbye and we were off on our way to our ultimate destination Monument Valley some 300 miles away. The weather was nice, at first, and we were making good time. Along the way we attempted to stop at a few "off the beaten path" type of places but had zero luck. Several were unmarked dirt roads that proved difficult to find and the others were behind "No Trespassing" signs and barbed wire fences. We resigned ourselves to stay on the well traveled highways and pushed ahead.

Soon we reached the New Mexico border and crossed over into Arizona...then Utah...then Colorado...and back to New Mexico. No, we weren't driving around in circles we were stopped at the Four Corner's monument where CO, NM, UT, and AZ all come to a single point. I would like to add that this point happens to be within the Navajo lands so of course we had to make a $3.00 contribution per person to have the privileged. For some reason Lauren has a thing for this kind of tourist trap. After paying our dues and parking near some dilapidated buildings we hiked up the gravel path, past the Navajo jewelery booths and made it to the Four Corners - where we promptly stood in line to get a few photos. Lauren's experience as a world champion Twister player came in handy on the Four Corner's and she coexisted in 4 states at once.

Before I completely lost it we were again on our way. We continued North through a small slice of Colorado and were soon back on the road in Utah. Several hours from our destination it began to rain. The clouds poured in and soon the whole sky was a mottled gray. Ultimately we came upon Mexican Hat rock, an odd rock formation resembling a sombrero perched atop an impossibly small cliff. We tried our hand at a little off-roading and got a few decent shots of the hat. Little did we know this was but a warm up for our evening activities...

Turning back on to the main road we stopped for gas in Mexican Hat (the town). We crested a final bluff and there before us lay Monument valley. The road seemed to stretch on forever down into the valley and led right to the feet of the giant pedestals of red stone. We stopped for a few pictures - my favorite being one shot from the center of the road - and drove into Monument Valley. We had originally scheduled a sunset jeep tour of the valley but the clouds were not cooperating. Most of the formations were completely lost in the dense white billows of clouds. The rain just made matters worse.

We rescheduled our tour to the next morning for an ambitious sunrise excursion. And just like that we had our whole evening free. Our original tour was slated to last from 5:30 until 8:30 or so, but now we had nothing to do. And in a town as small as Monument Valley it's easy to get bored. So we opted to hit the road again. After we checked in and changed clothes we jumped back in the car and headed back south to the Valley of the Gods and we finally started to catch some luck. To the south, towards the Valley of the Gods, the clouds had started to break. We might catch some blue skies!

The Valley of the Gods is like a mini Monument Valley. The stone outcroppings are the result of the same weathering but are smaller and packed into a denser concentration. The Valley itself can be accessed by a dirt road that loops through the park. On the very first turn of the road we began to question our choice. The afternoon rain storms had washed out a section of the road that traversed a dried river bed. The water was mostly gone, but deep ruts remained where fellow travelers had clearly struggled. Luckily the rain had stopped for about an hour and in such a dry climate that's all it takes. We splashed through a few small puddles, climbed over the river bed and continued on into the Valley.

Several hours and several hundred photos later we reached the half way point of the 18 mile loop. By this time the sun was starting to descend to the horizon. I wanted to stick around and see the sunset. After a few minutes I managed to convince Lauren. We found a nice ridge with a good view and waited. We were soon rewarded. Behind us a faint rainbow connected the horizon to one of the towering formations. What luck! After a few minutes the rainbow strengthened and a second rainbow formed alongside.

After waiting an eternity we decided to head back. The sun was still dipping down below the cliffs, but we had to get back to Monument Valley by 9:00 pm or else we would miss out on dinner at the lodge! Lauren put the pedal to metal and we plunged through the switchbacks and washouts. Along the way we stopped for a few photos of the dusky sky. The clouds were still present, but we found a few holes here and there. We made it back to the highway and had about 30 minutes to make it back to the lodge. Zooming down the road we had several close calls with feeding bats. They seemed to relish swooping into our path, narrowly missing certain doom every time.

We made it to the lodge restaurant at 8:58 pm and just barely made dinner. After some country fried steak and a delicious T-bone, we were stuffed. With depressing efficiency we set the alarms and wakeup calls for our 5:30 AM sunrise tour! Let's hope the Gods are with us in the morning!

- Justin

Leaving Our Mark in Santa Fe

This morning, we awoke around 6:45 am to embark on our one full day devoted to sites in and around Santa Fe. After grabbing some complimentary breakfast to go, my parents, Justin and I headed up to the Santa Fe Ski Basin.

The really cool thing about the drive to this summit is that within about 5 minutes of leaving town, you are met with the complete package of mountainous terrain, aspen and pine-laden forests and plenty of S curves and hairpin turns along the road. We made a few stops on the way up to the ski area. The first one was a viewpoint looking down on Santa Fe and several other peaks in the distance. There was one particular peak that we vouched was at least 80 miles from where we were standing.

The next spot we stopped was purely to get a closer look at some of the aspen groves that are so prolific in this area. We hiked a random trail until we lost the sound of the main road (probably not quite 1/4 of a mile), and Justin took some early morning pictures of the trees with the bright, clear blue sky in the background.

Once we got to the Ski Basin, we basically just looped around the road and proceeded with our descent back into Santa Fe. We made one more brief stop-off at another vista. However, it didn't prove to be as interesting or scenic as our earlier stops.

When we reached downtown Santa Fe, we parked in a lot and headed to some of the popular tourist spots. First, we went to the Loretto Chapel with the famous floating spiral staircase. The chapel was quite small, but very impactful. It was probably one of the prettiest churches I've been to in quite some time...not that we step into churches very often. I'm very excited to see some of Justin's photos that he took at this location...they should be quite beautiful.

Next, we headed back to the plaza, where we had spent some time the previous evening. Of course during the day, there's a whole lot more hustle and bustle since all of the shops are open, including many street vendors. Across the street from the plaza was the Palace of the Governors where Native Americans had all of their handmade wares laid out on blankets. I saw some really cool copper bracelets, but I just didn't have the energy to wheel and deal on this particular day.

We continued on our way and went into a few shops as we made our way to our lunch spot called La Casa Sena. One of the stores I stopped in was called Todos Santos Chocolates and Confections. I picked up a half dozen truffles of varying flavors such as dark chocolate with cardamom center, white chocolate with rose hips, chocolate infused with black pepper, etc. So far, each one has been quite enjoyable. I'm sure we'll knock off what we didn't finish today by some point tomorrow.

So, by 11:30 am we were seated at our table in the courtyard of La Casa Sena. My mom and I treated ourselves to a glass of white wine with our lunch and we each order a different trout dish - hers was Ruby trout, mine was Rainbow trout. Both were very good, but a bit hefty of a meal for lunch. Justin and dad had varying burgers - dad's was organic beef and Justin's was antelope. I tried Justin's burger and it was actually very good. It wasn't gamy at all and was extremely lean and tender. One other highlight of the meal was the complimentary blue corn muffins, which were quite similar to a corn bread.

After lunch, we walked about a block to the St. Francis Basilica. It was much bigger than the other chapel and had some fantastic stained glass windows that were catching the midday sunlight beautifully. But, I definitely prefer the Loretto chapel over the Basilica any day. The thing about St. Francis that I probably got the biggest kick out of was that Stravinsky conducted about 3 concerts there in the 50's...and they were public, free concerts as well!

From the church, we walked about 5 more blocks to Canyon Rd., the art gallery hub of the city. The next couple of hours were spent trying to beat the afternoon heat, while dodging in and out of mostly unaffordable galleries. The one disappointment that I had was that we didn't really find one gallery that featured blown glass pieces, which I love. We did, however, come across a really cool gallery that featured aluminum, copper and stainless steel canvases that were painted with various scenes. The gallery was called Mark White Fine Art. Most of the pieces were 3-4 thousand dollars, but they of course, can work out interest-free payment plans to obtain the art. When we get home, we are definitely going to research the gallery some more and consider purchasing a piece.

Also, while we were walking along Canyon Rd., we made Justin take pictures of cool doors along the way - doors in turquoise and red and various degrees of distress. It's silly, maybe, but they could turn out to be some really cool pieces that can be combined into a set if we decide to print and frame them.

Finally around 3 pm, we had had enough and decided to head back to the hotel for a nap. I crashed for a good hour or so before it was time to get ready for our dinner reservation at Luminaria. By about 6:10 pm, we arrived at the restaurant and were seated in their outside courtyard. As early as we ate, it actually turned out to be quite beneficial because we didn't have to deal with the dinner rush and crowds. It got crowded by the time we were finishing our meals.

So, what did we eat? First, they brought out a light pastry-wrapped beef wellington appetizer. Then, we each had a bowl of the restaurant's award-winning tortilla soup that they kept bragging about. It was very good, but I just love my good old McAlister's tortilla soup. For dinner, I had herbed pork tenderloin with a goat cheese polenta; Justin had beef tenderloin with a wild mushroom torte; mom had chile rubbed shrimp with pasta; and dad had chicken with mushroom, asparagus and truffle mashed potatoes. I think we all enjoyed our main courses, but the soup was so rich, none of us were able to finish our plates but Justin. Where there's a will, there's a way, right? For dessert (which was included with my parents' meal), they had a champagne soup with sorbet and fresh strawberries.

Following dinner, we went to another restaurant and piano bar a short drive away called Vanessie. The pianist on duty was named Charles, and he weaved his way through familiar broadway tunes, classical music, country and rock. After getting our drinks and getting settled, Justin and I got up and sang All I Ask of You from Phantom. Then, a short time later Justin sang Besame Mucho, and I sang Over the Rainbow. Justin, of course, really hammed it up with the ladies and actually serenaded one of the board members of the Santa Fe Opera.

Anyway, the experience was a lot of fun and was a nice nightcap to our evening as well as a great way to wrap-up our time in Santa Fe before we leave tomorrow. Next time we are in town, we'll probably visit Vanessie again.

We got back to the hotel about 10pm and proceeded to re-pack for our journey tomorrow to a landmark in Utah. More to come then!

Do you know the way to Sante Fe?

It's definitely been a long first day adjusting to the new time zone. This morning we flew out of STL right on time at 10:35 a.m. The flight was generally uneventful except from some initial turbulence due to some stormy weather in Missouri.

Around noon we arrived in Albuquerque and my parents met us at the baggage claim. By the time is was 12:30, we had managed to secure all of our luggage and leave the airport. The way we chose to make our way to Santa Fe on this particular day was via the Turquoise Trail. At first, it was fairly unimpressive as we made our way out away from the interstate. By about the time we got a good 10 miles in, the mountains, rocks and building afternoon storms made the drive quite interesting.

In Madrid, we stopped for lunch at a typical tourist spot called the Mine Shaft Tavern. I ambitiously ordered a burger with green chilies and pepper-jack cheese. I underestimated the heat of this dish and ended up eating very little. But, my Santa Fe Brewery IPA was good!

So, we continued the rest of the way through the scenic byway and eventually reached Santa Fe where we checked into our Fairfield Inn room. After freshening up, we headed out for an evening of drinks and apps.

First, we went to the Ore House right on the plaza for some guac and margaritas. Then, we walked to the Coyote Cantina and had more mixed drinks as well as tempura fried shrimp and duck quesadillas. Our third stop was the Bell Tower Bar at La Fonda hotel. This was the spot where we were able to catch a fantastic sunset after a somewhat stormy afternoon.

Finally, we went to the lounge at the Inn at the Loretto, which was quite relaxing. My mom and I sipped on a glass of Syrah, while Justina and my dad had beer. We also snacked on a tempura fried artichoke and mushroom dish with a fig aioli. Yum!

Finally, we got back to our hotel a bit after 10, and I'm typing this and just about falling asleep at the same time. Hopefully, we'll start to adjust to the time change a bit more by tomorrow night so this isn't as much of a chore! Good night!

Another Year, Another Vaca

Well, here we are on the eve of another vacation. Packing has been a gradual process over the last couple of days, but the excitement has been building over at least the last few months. So, where are we heading this year??

Beautiful New Mexico and Arizona...with a little smattering of Utah thrown in. That's all I can really say for now. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty details because I want the reader to experience the great southwest along with me. The really unfortunate thing that I discovered as I was putting together our itinerary was that a week is just not nearly enough to see everything. However, we will have many more opportunities to go back in the future, as my parents now possess a residence in Las Cruces.

So, anyway, here's the deal so far. Tomorrow, we both have to put in a full day's work. I've got all of my projects pretty much together so that it should be an easy last day. But, every time I go into work with that attitude, the shit hits the fan. So, I'm apprehensive, to say the least.

Once we get off work, we will both reconvene at home, load up the car and drive to St. Louis. St. Louis, you ask? No, we are not driving to New Mexico. But, we are flying out of St. Louis on Thursday morning and will be returning there with my parents the following Friday to attend a friend's wedding (Mel) on Saturday. Genius planning on my part, right?

So, I have to say that I will fail in blogging tomorrow, as there will be absolutely nothing interesting to say between Cincinnati and St. Louis (I guess unless we hit some nasty weather on the way or something), but don't count on it.

I will continue, however, on Thursday as we will arrive in Albuquerque right around lunch time...and we'll see which direction we head from there.

A "Sushi-Grade" Kinda Day

Friday was our last day in Florida, so we wanted to make the most of it. Jerry and Justin got up pretty early to go play golf. Linda and I decided to forego this activity and go shopping at St. Armand’s Circle instead. Then, we would all reconvene around 1pm or so to have lunch together.

Linda and I arrived at St. Armand’s right about 10am when the stores opened. We weaved in and out of several shops including typical chains such as Coldwater Creek and White House Black Market to lots of local specialty shops ranging from jewelry to art to housewares. I was in heaven because I love being able to shop and enjoy the outdoors at the same time. Plus, there were tons of unique things that I wouldn’t normally see in Cincinnati – obviously, there were a lot of beachy and island-themed items. On this particular day, I was on a jewelry kick. I had kind of been searching for a cool turquoise necklace leading up to the trip, and other than online, had been unable to find anything. Well, here in Sarasota, there were multiple choices everywhere I went. I ended up purchasing 3 chokers and a pair of earrings from Coldwater Creek. Who would have thought I’d ever buy anything there? Their clothes are totally not my style, but as I discovered they have really amazing, unique accessories. I also bought another necklace at a local gift shop. Other than that, I tried on a few dresses here and there, but didn’t find anything I absolutely loved.

After working our way around most of the circle, the boys arrived. We decided to go to a modern little Italian place called Venezia. I ordered a glass of wine and for my lunch, I ordered wild mushroom pasta. I was pretty hungry. As usual, however, I didn’t come close to finishing my meal and got a to-go box.

Following lunch, we split up into couples so that we could do a little browsing of our own. Justin and I went to a few more clothing and jewelry stores, but didn’t make any purchases. We also went to a little wine shop because we saw they had free wine tasting. When we got in there, however, we realized that it wasn’t the traditional wine we were used to. They had things like strawberry, blueberry, peach, apple, etc. Some of them tasted like juice, but a few of the “varietals” were surprisingly dry. We finally decided to buy one of the blueberry wines as a novelty, not realizing that it was a $24 bottle! Oh well, we’ll drink it at some point.

It was getting to be late afternoon by this time, and it was definitely getting cloudy as if more storms were brewing. So, we went back to the condo to figure out dinner plans for the evening. On our final evening in Sarasota, we really, really wanted to have dinner with just the two of us, and we also really, really wanted to have sushi. So, we reluctantly asked Jerry and Linda if they were okay with our plans, and we researched a couple of local places based on reviews. We finally settled on a place called Vizen and made a reservation for 7pm since it was a Friday night. We also didn’t want to be out too late since we were planning on leaving first thing the next morning and needed to finish packing.

When we arrived at the restaurant, it definitely left a lot to the imagination from the outside. It was located in this little strip mall a couple of blocks from the beach that had a few bars and grills, some various servicing-type businesses, maybe a drycleaner…but never judge a book by its cover. The inside of the restaurant was decorated in a modern and simple Japanese style with colors of red, black and gray. It was also very small, only seating maybe 25 people. When we were seated, we were maybe 2 of about 8 people in the restaurant. The sushi menu was scrolled on a chalkboard. After ordering our drinks, we began to take in what some of the offerings were and quickly realized that we were not going to be having the typical sushi meal we have up north.

We decided to go with some Tuna sushi; the Madai sushi, which is a Tai Snapper; the Black Jack roll with calamari, avocado and a black squid ink sauce and; a Trico roll featuring lobster and roasted pistachios. The unique ingredients and flavor combinations in each dish were incredible. The artistry that the chef used in the presentation of the rolls was beautiful – supposedly this is called Edo style. One of the rolls was even embellished with a soy sauce foam! It was neato! Our last meal in Sarasota was definitely a high point of the many dining experiences we had during the trip. We will absolutely return to this restaurant when we visit again. We finally returned to the condo by about 9:15pm, finished our packing and hit the sack.

Gardens Galore

There was definitely no rush on anyone’s part to get out of bed this morning. We all took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in. Once everyone was out of bed, we decided on what to do for the day since there were quite a few options. It was also somewhat dependent on the weather holding up. We considered going to The Ringling Brothers Museum, The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the Sarasota Jungle Gardens or Myakka River State Park. Then, we also had plans to go out for a nice dinner that night. After weighing our options, we settled on the Selby Gardens for the afternoon activity.

By about lunchtime, we were ready to head out and began looking for a good place to eat. Jerry and Linda decided to take us to Marina Jacks, a place right along the bay in downtown Sarasota. We sat under a large covered patio, which was a perfect spot to enjoy the mild breeze but stay out of the sun. I kept my meal simple on this day, and ordered a spinach salad with walnuts, mushrooms, red onion, hardboiled eggs and a creamy bacon dressing. Following lunch, we went across the parking lot to see the “Unconditional Surrender” statue of a WWII sailor kissing a nurse. I think it was originally a famous photograph published in a magazine in the ‘40’s, and many years later was erected in Sarasota as well as San Diego. Justin and I did our best to imitate the pose for a photo of our own.

From here, we drove a short distance to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. I’m often a big fan of garden exhibits because there are so many unique and colorful plants to look at and the landscaping is immaculate. I also knew that I was going to see lots of lizards throughout the gardens, and I was bound and determined to catch one! So, first we started out in a greenhouse that contained several odd tropical plants and several species of orchids. Directly outside the greenhouse was a bonsai tree collection. I had no idea that bonsai trees could have so many different facades. As I found out, the only thing that categorizes a bonsai tree is that it’s a miniaturized version of a normal tree – there’s not just one kind. So, we saw a cedar, an elm, a bald cypress and a grove of junipers, to name a few.

After exiting this area, we passed by a large koi pond, a mangrove forest and a banyan grove. Wow, are those banyan trees amazing, or I guess it’s just one large, continuous tree for that matter. As we continued along the walking path, I attempted to catch several lizards on trees or benches. I was able to graze a couple, but they were just too quick for me to grab onto. About this time, we reached the far edge of the park which was almost like a peninsula with water on three sides. We were about ready to move along after looking across the channel at a few really large houses on the other side, when someone spotted a large snake in the mangroves. It was completely yellow, so I don’t know if it was a corn snake or what. Then, suddenly a rat appeared. At first, I’m thinking that the snake was going to go after the rat, which seemed pretty much oblivious to his approach. But then, the rat sprang into action and started nipping at the snake, eventually chasing it off. This cat and mouse game continued for quite some time. From what we could devise, the rat was either trying to protect its babies or the rat had come upon the snake’s eggs and was trying to protect his/her prize. The snake finally began to move along when a large white heron entered the picture. The bird spent several more minutes trying to figure out if the snake looked like a good meal. But, we didn’t stick around much longer after that to find out. We walked away excited that we got to witness wildlife in action!

We continued walking along the water through the park until we reached a house that displayed local art and housed a little tea shop. I bought some loose leaf, lavender tea as well as a lavender martini mix. We also did a little sampling of some of their featured teas. The house sat behind an outdoor butterfly garden with several colorful varieties fluttering about. There were these wrought-iron archways with climbing plants throughout this small area, and this was where my luck finally decided to strike. After several more tries, I finally caught my lizard in this spot! He was a little guy about the length and width of two side-by-side matchsticks- really tiny. He was so fragile that I was scared to even try to carry him to the front of the park in order to buy a little cage. Plus, it was just unrealistic to try to keep him anyway…I did what I intended to do, which was prove that I still had the prowess and speed to catch a lizard. After I released my prey, we finally made it back to the garden entrance. I spent time scrolling through all of Justin’s digital pictures on the ride back to the condo.

After killing a few more hours relaxing and freshening up, it was time to go to dinner. Jerry and Linda chose another restaurant that they had been to before and really enjoyed called Selva Grill. It was a Peruvian restaurant featuring traditional and fresh ingredients with a fusion-y twist. Justin picked out a bottle of Malbec to drink. For dinner, I semi- went out on a limb and ordered the mirin roasted sea bass served with corn custard flan, sautéed bok choy and a black bean sauce. The flan was an unusual texture, which I was expecting, so overall the flavors of my meal were fantastic. This restaurant also shed light on the more upscale, trendy side of Sarasota, since everywhere we had been up this point had been pretty casual. This is definitely an area of town that Justin and I will return to upon our next visit.

When we got back to the condo, we convinced Jerry and Linda to watch an episode of the Planet Earth series. As expected, Jerry was snoozing within the first 10 minutes, so we all went to bed as soon as it was over.

Around the World In 3 Hours!

Day 2 of the Disney excursion began bright and early. We met up with Jerry and Linda in the little hotel café around 8:15 for a light breakfast of doughnuts and bananas. Then, we caught our shuttle around 8:30 for the ride to Epcot. After a quick stop at Hollywood Studios, we made it to our destination by 8:50, just in time for the park’s 9am opening.

As soon as we got into the park, we did what most tourists do and posed for pictures in front of the giant, silver ball. I have to say that every time I see the structure up close, it’s quite breathtaking. And with that, we decided to go ahead and ride Spaceship Earth inside the ball because there was literally no wait. The thing I love about rides like this are the animatronics. The creators basically make realistic scenes with mechanized puppets that both resemble and act human. In this particular ride, the action being depicted follows the history or invention from the cave man to the present and eventually into the future. However, when they get to the topic of the future, each “car” of guests takes a personalized quiz to determine what kind of future lifestyle they will have. Then, they play back a little movie with your heads superimposed onto these little animated bodies. Once you leave the ride, you can pull up your movie at a portal and email it to yourself. Once again, Disney always finds a way to outdo itself. I love it!

Next, we decided to head over to The Living World to get Fast Passes for Soarin’. From my last visit in March 2008, this was probably the ride with by far the longest wait in all of Epcot. Our ride was scheduled for about 12:30 or so, so we had some time to kill since it was only about 10am. Then, we decided to tackle one of the more popular rides called Test Track. After about an hour and a half of waiting, we were almost ready to go through the boarding turnstile when we were informed it was pouring down rain, thundering and lightning, and they had to shut down the ride until it passed. When you are waiting in a building with no windows and loud music, you have no idea what’s going on out there. Fortunately, the rainstorm was typical of the Florida climate and ended after about 10 minutes. So, we were able to board the ride, and by the time we got to the outdoor speed track portion, the sun had begun to emerge again.

In all, that ride did take some wind out of our sails, so we decided to head back to The Living World because it was getting close to boarding time for Soarin.’ And thank God for those passes; it just would not have made sense to wait that long for a second ride in a row since it could potentially take up another large chunk of our day. The ride took us through several well-known areas of California by way of a simulated hang-glider such as: San Francisco, Redwood forests, Wine Country, orange groves (with scents), and Big Sur. Linda was a little apprehensive because she’s afraid of heights, but I think she really enjoyed it. Afterwards, we decided to check out a short film called Circle of Life that uses the characters of The Lion King to stress the importance of caring and preserving the environment.

By the time we finished all of these activities, it was well after 1pm, and we were ready to move on to the World Showcase. We also figured it would be a good opportunity to get some lunch, as it had been several hours since breakfast. We quickly breezed through Canada and the United Kingdom without finding a satisfactory place to eat that didn’t have more than an hour wait. So, we continued on to France and put our names in at Les Chef de France that appeared like it would have pretty quick service. In the meantime, Justin went to a few other countries further along that might have something of interest. But, he returned fairly quickly since the next country was Morocco. Also, while we were waiting we went into a few of the French shops, and I was able to get my picture taken with Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. She told me she liked my dress, but she probably says that to all the little girls!

After about 30 minutes, we were seated. Our waiter was literally from France near Dijon, I believe. I ordered a glass of Chenin Blanc, a cup of lobster bisque and the Quiche Lorraine (a very traditional French dish with ham and cheese) alongside a salad of mixed greens. While we were waiting for our meals to arrive, a woman came around from table to table with a little serving platter that housed Remy from Ratatouille. He would move his little arms, head and tail as the hostess spoke to him. It was really adorable, and especially fun to watch when he showed up at tables with children. Once our food arrived, I devoured as much as I could. But, I definitely didn’t even come close to finishing my quiche. It was delicious, but also very rich. As usual, I probably could have done without the soup, as the Disney restaurants never seem to hold back on their portion sizes.

After lunch, we wandered through some of the markets of Morocco and went through the massive Mitsukoshi Department Store in Japan. I was very tempted to buy one of the beautiful serving plates or tea sets in Japan, but it was difficult to tell how marked up the prices were and if I might be able to find the same thing elsewhere for less. Next, we skipped right on through the United States, since we’re all pretty familiar with that country. In Italy, we again checked out a few of the shops, I had Justin snap a picture of me in front of the David fountain (a much smaller replica) and we bought some chocolate gelato. Still being quite full from lunch, I wasn’t able to eat very much.

After Italy was of Germany, where everyone momentarily got separated. They have a lot of specialty shops with some really interesting and expensive things to look at such as a crystal shop with different figurines and a Christmas shop with lots of ornaments. We eventually reconnected, however, and moved along to China to take pictures in front of the pagodas. We also walked through an exhibit that depicted artifacts and art from the warriors of ancient China. We breezed through Norway pretty quickly because the ride, Maelstrom, had about a 40 minute wait, and it was nearly 4pm in the afternoon. We were through waiting for the day. In Mexico, there was no wait for the ride called Gran Fiesta Tour Starring the Three Caballeros, so we hopped right on. It sort of reminded me of a Mexican version of It’s a Small World with some looped animation thrown in of Donald Duck and the other two Caballeros. When we left the ride, we also got to see a few minutes of the resident mariachi band playing.

After the final country of the World Showcase, we decided to start heading to the park exit. I requested to make one more stop at a gift shop on the way out because I wanted some kind of souvenir from our visit. After looking at every imaginable trinket and clothing item, I settled on a silver Xmas ornament that resembled the Mickey Mouse ears. Very simple and tasteful.

We made it back to the parking lot just in time to catch the 4:50 shuttle. Once we got back to our hotel, we retrieved our vehicle and were on the road by 5:30. I have to admit that I did doze a little bit on the way back to Sarasota. There were also some more patches of rain, and some pretty fierce looking storms out along the coast from Tampa down to Sarasota. We finally made it back to the condo by about 7:30, and figured that it would be a good night to cook dinner, maybe play some Wizard and lay low. We ended up having a delicious salad of Boston lettuce, shrimp, hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, mushrooms and a creamy Dijon, mayonnaise and lemon infused dressing. Besides that, we raided the fridge of some other leftovers and had some wings. We relaxed with our wine and played a game of wizard following dinner. But by about 10:30, I could hardly keep my eyes open any longer after an exhilarating but exhausting two days of constant activity.

Cirque du Pluie (Rain)

Disney, here we come! There were no issues rousing me from sleep on this morning. I just couldn’t wait to get on the road to Orlando, or more correctly Lake Buena Vista. We got up around 7am and were finally out the door by about 8:30 am. The drive itself took about an hour and half and was fairly uneventful. However, you can tell that I-4 between Tampa and Orlando generally always has an extremely high volume of traffic.

We arrived at our hotel called Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa and were able to do a pre-check-in since our rooms were not ready that early. We also checked our bags with the bell-man so that when we returned, we could go directly up to the room. Then, we got down to the shuttle area at just a few minutes before 11am. The shuttle typically comes to the hotel every 30 minutes on the hour and half hour to take guests to the theme parks or Downtown Disney. The bus to the Magic Kingdom/Animal Kingdom arrived within about 5 minutes. Unfortunately, it was standing-room only because the buses hit up a couple of other resorts before it got to ours.
We stood for quite some time as well because the bus went to the Magic Kingdom first…not our stop.

Eventually, around 11:30, we made it to the Animal Kingdom. We went to Will Call to pick up the tickets and a few minutes later, we were in the park. Usually the first thing you want to do when you arrive at a Disney park is to go get your Fast Pass for the most popular ride. At Animal Kingdom, that happens to be Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris or Kali River Rapids. We had no plans of getting soaked on Kali River Rapids (as we got plenty wet enough for the day as you read on), so we planned on going for Expedition Everest. Upon our arrival at the Fast Pass station, we found out from a staffer nearby that the typical “one fast pass at a time” rule had been deactivated that day, so we went ahead and got them for both Everest and the Safari. Lucky us!

Following our Fast Pass thievery, we went to DINOSAUR. As we were waiting for the ride, it started to rain, but luckily we were under cover. After about 20 – 25 minutes, we made it to the “prep room” where they describe the back-story to the ride and tell you the safety features. In a nutshell, it was our job to go back in time to the late Cretaceous period to rescue an Iguanodon from extinction because they are closely-related to reptiles of today. The ride was entertaining, as always, tossing us to and fro and creating multiple moments of surprise. Even after having ridden it 3-4 times previously, it’s still always a great time.

It was still spitting rain when we left the ride, and shortly thereafter began to pour. So, we looked for the closest restaurant and ducked inside to eat some lunch. I had a hot dog and fries, my old standard. The interesting thing about lunch was that the prices were close to ½ of what you’d pay at a ball park. That was incredible to me that Disney was so much less, and it kinda makes you pissed that you have to fork out so much money for a losing ball club like the Reds, if and when you actually attend a game.

From lunch, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris to use our first Fast Pass. It was great because the normal wait was at least an hour, and we walked right on. During the “safari,” we saw many animals including gazelles, antelopes, wildebeest, elephants, rhinos, hippos, giraffes, ostriches and cheetahs. The multitude and variety of animals was way improved from my last visit in March 2008, most likely due to the warmer weather. Did I also mention that we were tracking poachers during the ride? There always has to be an element of danger present.

When we exited the ride, it had started to rain again. So, this time we decided to grab the ponchos that Jerry and Linda had bought the previous week at Disney. It rained fairly steadily as we made our way through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, where we were able to view more animals – some of which we had seen during the safari. We also got to see some very large gorillas, and Justin took some pretty amazing pictures of them. I was surprised that they turned out so well through the glass of the cage.

From there, we made our way back into Asia to catch the Flights of Wonder show. They brought out large birds of prey, owls, ravens, macaws, etc. and had them perform little acts while the trainer told factual information about their habitat and abilities. When they would fly from one trainer to the other, the birds were literally within inches of the audiences’ heads. It was both funny and entertaining. Plus, it was incredible to see how large and beautiful they were up close. I think I almost started crying when the bald eagle came out.

We still had a little time to kill after the show before our Expedition Everest Fast Pass was good. So, we went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek in Asia. Here we saw vampire bats (the big ones), komodo dragons, tigers and several Eastern species of colorful birds. Again, Justin went to work with his camera and got some fantastic close-ups of a tiger. When you look at them, you think, “that’s just like my little domesticated cat at home!” It’s very deceiving how docile they look.

Finally, once we got through this area, it was time to conquer Expedition Everest. The fast passes got us onto the ride within about 5 minutes. Everest lived up to everything I was hoping for, and it was pretty clear everyone else enjoyed it too. I should see if I can post a You Tube link to a videotaping of the ride. There’s just so much variety going on, it’s difficult to explain. The people in the car right in front of us tried to tape it, but there are definitely some parts in which you probably wouldn’t see anything on the screen because everything goes completely dark. This continues to be my favorite ride of all the Disney theme parks.

After exiting the ride, Jerry and Linda got some ice cream while Justin and I split a root beer float. This was just enough of a push to get us to the last attraction we planned on seeing for the day: It’s Tough To Be A Bug. ITTBAB (much easier to abbreviate) is basically a 3-D movie with other added features to make it unpredictable. Flik appears on-screen and wants to introduce people to all of the unique bug abilities in a stage-show setting. Danger arrives when the villain from the original movie (a grasshopper or locust figure) arrives and decides that the entire audience should be exterminated. They bring out hornets and the audience gets poked in the back by “stingers,” then black widows come down suspended from the ceiling, and finally they spray everyone with bug killer. The spider part was freaking hilarious! I was looking around during the scene and all of the kids in the room were screaming and carrying on. I was cracking up! Finally at the end, I jumped in my seat a little bit while we were waiting for the cockroaches to exit the building so we wouldn’t step on them. Disney did it again…no element left out.

Upon leaving the park, we went to catch our shuttle to take us back to the hotel. As we got closer, it was evident that more rain was moving in. But luckily, we made it back to the hotel just in time, so we didn’t get caught up in it again. It was easily 5:30 by the time we got back to our room, and we only had about 45 minutes to get ready before meeting in the lobby for dinner and La Nouba. The fact that we had a fairly short time to freshen up was a blessing though. It didn’t give us a chance to get tired after spending most of the day in the theme park.

Once we had all convened in the lobby, we hopped in the Lexus and made the 2-3 minute drive to Downtown Disney. It was nice to forego the shuttle on this one and have our own personal space. After we had parked, I picked up our tickets from Will Call. Then, we went to Bongos Cuban Café for dinner. I got some sort of fish, maybe grouper, but it was a little weird. Plus, the plates were so huge, that it was quite intimidating, and I lost my appetite. Who knows, I could have been so excited about La Nouba that I may have not had an appetite either.

So, dinner came and went with little fanfare. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to kill before seating opened, so we went to a store called Magnetron. I ended up getting a dolphin mosaic magnet (I already have a couple of Disney magnets at home). Then, it was finally time to go claim our La Nouba seats for the 9pm showing.

I enjoyed every second of the show, probably as much, if not more than the first time I saw it 10 years ago. The talent of the performers is incredible, the accompanying music is great, the transition of the set is seamless, and the overall presentation is mesmerizing. So far, La Nouba has been my favorite experience on this trip – nothing else compares. I don’t anticipate that changing either.

When we returned to the hotel, we had just enough remaining energy to grab a drink in the bar. I had a glass of red wine, of which I can’t recall. In fact, I was tired enough that I had to finish the glass back in the comforts of our room. Just a short few minutes later, we were both asleep in preparation for Disney Day Two.

Life's a Beach

I was excited about waking up early on this morning because we were going to get to spend the day with our friends, Kelly and Pat. So, I got up around 7am, and Linda and I went for a walk through a small portion of the neighborhood. It was evident, even as early as it was, that it was going to be a scorcher that day.

Justin and I left the condo around 9am so that we would have a little bit of extra time to do a few side trips on the way down to Ft. Myers. First, we stopped off at Gilchrist Park in Punta Gorda. This was a park that my parents used to take me to as a child when we would visit my grandparents. I didn’t really recognize much of it except for maybe the Fisherman’s Wharf area in the distance. But it was apparent that the park has probably changed multiple times over the past 20 years due to weather or just general renovations. The grounds were beautiful and well-kept with a playground, tennis courts, a covered gazebo on the water, an old pier that went out into the bay and a monument dedicated to Ponce de Leon. Even though we were only there for a few minutes, I really enjoyed the experience.

After driving about another 4 miles, we reached the former neighborhood of my Grandma and Grandpa Palmier. When we got to their street and house, I recognized it immediately. You could tell that it had been refinished since Hurricane Charley in 2004 because the siding and everything looked almost like new. One thing that was really surprising to me was how close together the homes were and how narrow the streets were. As a child, your perspective is soooo different. But once again, it was really cool to recognize familiarities from the past as we drove through the neighborhood.

A little after 11am, we arrived at Kelly’s place within a gated community of Ft. Myers called Gateway Golf and Country Club. We spent a good 30 minutes suiting up, putting on sunscreen and packing a picnic lunch. Then, we were off in Kelly’s parents’ red convertible to head to the beaches on Captiva Island.

The drive took a healthy hour because we were about 30 minutes from the islands, and then it took another 30 minutes to drive through Sanibel and Captiva. Although, I was sweating bullets and my hair had blown into several nasty knots, it was nice to have that fresh ocean air and to look at all of the huge vacation homes along the way. At the very edge of Captiva, where the road literally dead ends, was the beach. We had to wait a good 15 minutes for a parking spot because space was minimal, but once we got parked we were on the beach within 5 minutes.

We set up camp, and as soon as we were finished, everyone agreed that it was time to cool-off in the water. Plus, the sand was unbearably hot!! It was nothing like the cool sand at Siesta Key. Every time we went from our blanket to the water or vice versa, we had to run like it was a 50-yard dash. The water was great and there were some wonderful shelling opportunities. But, once again, little to no waves!! I’m starting to get annoyed with this. I think it’s pretty common in the Gulf to have calm waters, so I guess you have to be really lucky to get surf above 1 – 2 feet. Not this time…

Also, pretty early on while we were out in the water (about chest deep), I stepped on something slimy. When I said something, Justin started to come over to me and on the way, he stepped on something slimy as well. Then, Pat was like, “I didn’t say anything, but I think I stepped on something too.” Within about 10 seconds of this conversation, all of sudden we all see a big, dark, flat, sea creature come to the surface about 10 feet away and start swimming parallel to the coast. As it passed people, you’d see them start to freak out because it was hard to tell exactly what it was. The ultimate consensus ended up being that it was a manatee. From what I’ve heard they are docile and harmless, so I’m going to stick with that hypothesis.

As the afternoon trickled by, we basically ate lunch and spent most of the rest of the time in the water. We ended up taking one of our umbrellas from the shore and staking it into the sand out in the water, so we could stay cool and get some relief from the sun at the same time. I also dragged a lounge chair down to the edge of the water so I could relax and allow the waves to lap at my feet.

Finally around 4:30pm, I could see that some rain was starting to move in from the southeast, so I told everyone we should wrap it up. On the way back through Sanibel, we stopped at a little souvenir shop, She Sells Sea Shells so Pat could get a gift for his niece and nephew. Most of the stuff they had there was junk, but a lot of the shells were cool. Right when we got back to the car, the rain started. So, up went the top, and we headed inland towards Ft. Myers Beach.

As we got closer to our destination to hit the rooftop restaurant of the Lani-Kai motel, the lightning display was incredible. It’s not very often that you get to see that around Cincinnati because of all the trees and buildings. But along the coast, pretty much all you do see is the sky and the water line, so it’s fantastic. Once we got up to the roof, it was perfect because all of the rain was well enough off the coast that we were able to sit outside. For dinner, we split a few appetizers of peel ‘n’ eat shrimp and boiled clams. Then, I kept it simple by having a pizza, which I later managed to spill my Hurricane on (didn’t bother keeping the soggy leftovers).

We continued to hang out until sunset, hoping that things would clear enough to catch a good one. But, it just wasn’t meant to be on this night because the storm clouds didn’t want to let up. So, we headed back to Kelly’s place to get our car so we could get back to Sarasota for the night. After a quick dip in Kelly’s pool to rinse off that yucky sand, we hopped in my TSX and proceeded north. We finally got back to Jerry and Linda’s around 10:45pm and after another full day of activity, I got ready for bed. The next two days consist of my favorite place on earth: Disney World. Can’t wait!

Bogey City

Day Two got off to another early start. However, on this morning, we woke up to a much quieter house. After eating a leisurely breakfast and lounging in the lanai for a bit, Justin, Jerry and I decided to head out for a few errands. Jerry needed to replace his fishing pole, which had mysteriously snapped a few days earlier. Justin and I went back to Total Wines to make our purchases after I had had a chance to compare the Buying Guide to my Wine Spectator list. It’s a Sunday morning, mind you, and the store opens at 9am! I guess people like their alcohol down there. In all, we left with 15 bottles of wine totaling about $210. Not bad, considering everything I bought had ratings of about 90+ points. That brings our total wine count (at home) to 40 bottles. We have some serious drinking to do over the next several months.

After a light lunch, we made our way to the clubhouse so we could tee off for a round of golf. Of the holes I did play, I had a small handful of decent shots. However, most of the time I either lost count of the strokes it took me to make it to the hole or I ended up picking up my ball. I think my best hole (and I only maybe played 8 of the 18) was a triple bogey, but I’m not even sure. Around hole 13 or so, we caught a glimpse of a gator in one of the lakes. On that same hole, I had a brief encounter with some fire ants as we were looking for one of Justin’s balls. Those things are not nice!

As everyone continued on, I spent the latter holes trying to catch lizards. I didn’t have much luck because they were pretty quick, but I ran over a few with the golf cart. Oops! Also, from about the 13th hole on, it was pretty evident that the afternoon storms were beginning to build. It seemed like thunder was coming from all directions. At the beginning of the 18th hole, it started to rain pretty steadily, but then it suddenly let up as soon as everyone had teed off. Still, the winds were whipping, the lightning was beginning to get closer, and we definitely wrapped it up just in the nick of time.

Once we got back to the condo, I laid down for a little bit. Then, it was pretty much time to head to dinner. On this evening, we kept it really casual and went to a local joint called the Alehouse. I had a salad with boneless wings on it and Justin had (surprise, surprise) hot wings. Then, when we got back, we all watched an episode of Planet Earth on DVD while attempting to keep Jerry from falling asleep. Justin wanted to watch another episode, but I think the rest of us were ready to follow Jerry into the land of dreams as well. So, off we went.

"Official" Day 1 in the FLA

I'm fixing to hit the hay in just a few minutes, but I wanted to give an update on the trip so far. I didn't get a chance to compose anything yesterday, so I'll give a summary in a nutshell:

On Friday, we ended up leaving our house by 6:30 am. I drove to Atlanta, where we stopped for gas, lunch and bathrooms. Then, Justin took over and drove and drove and drove some more. Finally, just after 8pm, we arrived at Jerry and Linda's condo in Sarasota. So, that was 950 miles in 13.5 hours...I'd say that's pretty stellar!

After we arrived, we had some cedar plank grilled salmon for dinner and visited with Jerry, Linda, Jason, Julie and the kids before turning in for a night of well-deserved sleep.

So, this morning, we were awakened to a combo of the kids banging on walls/doors, sand cranes squawking and coffee-maker alarms going off. At least it was after 8am. Then, after eating a protein-filled breakfast and showering, we decided to head to Siesta Key beach with Jason, Julie and the nieces and nephew.

For a few hours we frolicked in the small waves and watched the girls (+ some random kid) work on a sand castle moat. Through some stroke of luck and minor skill, I was able to catch a few minnow-sized fish in a little net so that the kids could watch them swim in their moat and dig a path to help them escape back into the ocean.

By the time all of us were sand-covered and hungry for lunch, we headed back to the condo for grilled cheese and deli sandwiches. Finally, around 2pm, Jason, Julie and family left to begin their long trek home. It got really quiet around the house when they left. But don't get me wrong, it was great getting to spend close to a day with everyone. Those kids have such unique personalities, and I pretty much constantly laugh at their little antics.

Around 4pm, Justin and I and his parents went for a drive into downtown Sarasota to check out the lay of the land. Then, we crossed over the bay and drove through the other various islands such as St. Armands circle, Longboat Cove and Anna Maria Island. At Anna Maria, we stopped at a restaurant called the Beachhouse and had frozen beverages and a few appetizers. Then, just in the nick of time, we left to head back to the mainland just as rain was moving in.

Before heading to dinner, we briefly stopped over at Total Wines (the spot I was talking about a few days ago) and browsed around. However, we are planning on going back tomorrow once I've had time to compose a more specific list, rather than just randomly wandering around. Just across the street was Stonewood, where we grabbed some dinner. Justin and I both had steak, and of course some wine with dinner.

After returning to Jerry and Linda's we launched ourselves into a competitive game of Wizards, and finally Day One drew to a close. More fun in the sun to come tomorrow!

Trip Prep Frenzy

As the trip looms closer, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done as I scramble to clean the house, buy trip items, BLOG and pack. Since we are making the long 15-or so-hour drive down to Sarasota, I want to make sure that we have some entertainment.

So, I’ve got crossword puzzles and a “People” activity book that my mom gave me ready to go. Yesterday, I bought a Marvel Comics coloring and activity book that hopefully Justin will enjoy. It’s goofy, I know, but sometimes you go to great lengths for entertainment during a monotonous car ride. And finally last night, I printed out some free travel bingo and scavenger hunt games from the internet that we will be able to participate in together. Unfortunately, I was having my parents try to locate “The World’s Greatest Travel Game” which is this awesome game from the 80’s that I played as child. But I guess they didn’t realize how valuable it was to me and probably sold it in a garage sale long ago.

Besides the games and activities, we always have our music. Both of us have our I-pods/Phones and we have my free XM/Sirius radio.

Another project I’ve been working on fairly consistently has been to go through Wine Spectator magazines and take note of wines (all under $20) that I’m interested in purchasing. The reason being, there is a giant wine and spirits warehouse in Sarasota called Total Wines that we are planning on spending a couple of hours at one day. Apparently, they have a larger and more eclectic selection than any of the wine stores around here. I find that pretty hard to believe because Party Source, Cork ‘n’ Bottle and even Jungle Jims around this area are quite large, although I’ve never really scoured their stock for anything in particular. So, stay tuned on that one.

The last (slightly unnecessary) thing I did was I bought some additional beach-wear. When I was in St. Louis last weekend, I picked up a cute little strapless terry cloth cover-up. This, I actually did need, because I haven’t had a true cover-up for as long as I can remember. Then, on Monday after work, I bought not one, not two, but THREE new bathing suits. It was a little excessive, I know, but there are incredible sales and I haven’t bought any bathing suits since the summer Justin and I got married 6 years ago. I got one bikini for $20, 1 tankini for $30 and a monokini for $40. Pretty darn good!! I have one more suit that I bought this summer the last time I was in Florida in June as well. So, I will be more than set for beach-bummin’ it on this trip. Oh and one more thing, I did get rid of 4 old bathing suits last night. In with the new and out with the old (not quite the right order, but better late than never!).

Countdown to Florida

Well, an entire year has gone by since the trip out west, and we will be heading to Florida at almost precisely the same time we went on vacation last year. Once again, long stretches of driving are in the near future because we decided to fore-go the airport scene.

After several weeks of a hum-drum sort of summer, I'm definitely looking forward to a week of entertainment. Unfortunately, I'll be trading in mountains for the beach, but as long as there are decent waves and sea shells, I will be content. Another MAJORLY exciting thing about this trip is the fact that I will get to spend a few days at Disney World (one of my favorite places on the planet). Justin and I have been together for nearly 10 years, and it will be the first time we get to experience the "Magic" together.

So anyway, I will try to keep the tradition alive once again this year by blogging about my trip experience. I'm not sure what the plans are as far as computer access is concerned, but I have a hunch that the laptop will come with us since Justin may have to do a wee bit of business down there.

Til tomorrow...

Heigh ho, Heigh ho, it's off to bed I go!

Geysers, Springs and Fumaroles, Oh My!

Our final day in Yellowstone was entirely focused on thermal features. And boy did we get more than a sampling. After a really good night's sleep, which I needed, we got up around 6:45am. Yes, the Robitussin and the pint of beer I had did not go too well together, but it did make me drowsy enough to get a full night's rest since I've kind of been sick. I still have a cough to contend with, but other than that I'm feeling almost back to normal.

So, after checking out around 8am, we headed towards the first stop of the morning: Old Faithful. It has sort of been a running joke, because Justin has been asking me every day since we've been in Yellowstone if we are going to Old Faithful, full well knowing that we weren't going until our last day in the park. We got to the Upper Geyser Basin, where Old Faithful is located, just before 9am. Within about 2 minutes of walking over there, she began to erupt. Justin didn't even have enough time before the eruption to set-up the tripod, so we both tried to get whatever shots we could with our respective cameras.

After Old Faithful was finished, we went to the Visitor Center to see if we could find out additional eruption times for some of the other predictable geysers in the area. An older man recommended that was go see Grand Geyser which was scheduled to erupt within 2 hours of 10:30am. We figured we would give it a shot since Great Fountain Geyser was such a disappointment from the day before. We walked the 1/2 mile to the seating area while passing some of the other geysers in the Upper Geyser Basin area. A few of them were erupting when we went by, but they were pretty small at 8-10 feet high bursts. We reached Grand Geyser a little after 9:30 and proceeded to play the waiting game - again.

The way Grand Geyser works is that a neighboring geyser called Turban Geyser has small eruptions about every 20 minutes. When the pool from these eruptions does not drain in between each spurt, it means Grand Geyser will soon erupt, itself, during one of those Turban eruptions. We continued to wait for nearly two hours and still no eruption. Another couple who had been waiting it out had been there since around 8am, and they were sticking it out...what troopers! Around 11:20am, I decided to take a walk to see a few of the other geysers in the area. Turban had just erupted, so I knew I had 20 minutes to kill. I took off at a fast pace, while Justin stayed back with the camera. After about 12 minutes I decided to turn around and head back. When I was still about 2/10ths of a mile away, I could see that Grand Geyser was suddenly putting off a huge amount of steam. Uh-oh, it was starting! I started running along the boardwalk, while passing all of these other people milling around who were none the wiser. I reached the geyser just as it began some of its larger shots of water into the air, rising to nearly 200 feet. After watching it for a minute while catching my breath, I went to find Justin. He happened to be on the side of the geyser where most of the excess steam and water was falling, so he told me to watch his tripod and camera bag while he went to the other side where I had been previously. So, I waited..for maybe another minute. I began getting so drenched by salty geyser water that I scooped everything up and moved. In total, the geyser erupted for nearly 10 minutes and was totally worth the wait. Just like the people who go to the park strictly to watch wildlife, we met a handful of geyser experts at this spot. They were basically going to go from this geyser, to another one to stake out a spot for the rest of the day. And they probably spend several days doing that. They even had walkie talkies, so that various people could keep tabs on different geysers. It would be cool to come back one day and do something like that, but we just didn't have time on this trip.

By the time Grand Geyser was finished, it was nearly noon! So, we worked our way back to our car while viewing some other geysers on the way. We watched one little eruption at Anemone Geyser. It was so cute! It resembled a sea anemone and looks fairly quiet and harmless until suddenly it burps up water, begins bubbling, shoots some small spurts of water, and when it's finished, sucks all the water back down its hole. It all happens in about a 45 second time span, so it gives a quick educational tutorial on how a geyser works.

After leaving the Old Faithful area, we checked out a few other spots in the Upper Geyser Basin: one known as Black Sand Basin and the other called Biscuit Basin. Both of these areas had some really colorful springs and other small geysers.

The next area we headed was the Midway Geyser Basin to see one of the most famous and largest springs called Grand Prismatic Spring. It's nearly 300 feet around. Because of its enormous size, however, it's difficult to take a good picture!

The final stop we made was to the Fountain Paint Pots area in the Lower Geyser Basin. This small area sort of gives an overview of all the different types of thermal features that exist in the park including geysers, springs, fumaroles, paint/mud pots and pools.

It was well after 2pm by this time, and we were geysered out. So, we decided to begin our drive to our Best Western hotel for the night in Lander, WY. It's close to halfway between Yellowstone and Denver. Looking back, we are glad we left the park at that time because there was some major construction on our route that delayed us nearly 30 minutes. We also got to see the Tetons one more time before heading out of the area...they are just so beautiful.

Despite the construction hiccup, the drive to Lander was quite pretty with several landscape changes along the way. Once we left the pine tree rich forests of the Shoshone National Forest, the rocks changed to layers of reds and browns. It was almost like entering into the mountains of the Southwest and the Grand Canyon. Then, the mountains opened up a bit to rolling hills of prairie and occasional outcroppings of rocks. Throughout these fields were several ranches or farms with horses, cows, and some wild pronghorn deer scattered about.

We reached our hotel in Lander around 7pm, and decided to keep it simple for dinner tonight - both effort and price considered. So, we went and picked up Taco Bell and brought it back to the room to eat while we watched the Olympics. All that's left to do tonight is reorganize our luggage for the airport tomorrow and get a decent night of rest.

We're really looking forward to seeing Oskee and sleeping in our own bed tomorrow night!