Jackson Hole

 

Don’t worry, we did not get eaten by a pack of rabid bison in Yellowstone – we have just been home getting back into the swing of life.  Ok, so where did we leave off…

Oh yes, we headed out from Moab in search of some Mormons.  We quickly discovered groups of these in both Provo and Salt Lake.  What vicious young people to get married on a Tuesday and wear long skirts like the Amish.  Actually, they were just fine, though I’m sure they wanted to recruit us – but we came out of it unscathed.  Their temple was pretty huge and no attempts were made by us to enter (we knew better).  We left the hot, muggy, Salt Lake area for the colder nether regions of Wyoming/Montana/Idaho.  Gone were the 98 degrees (no not the band) of Moab.

Jackson was warm when we arrived and we found a delightful tavern to get some vittles and drinks, only to be moved indoors due to the pending rain that would last the whole time we were there.  The porch was roped off and we instead, enjoyed our meal in the great indoors.  Jackson is must go – it’s a very cute little town with multiple little stores to buy the standard (but altered for Jackson) t-shirts (i.e. “Bears Love People”, wildlife focused) – Morgan came out with his own Beaver Beer shirt.  The “Snow King” mountain overshadowed the city and Morgan instantly decided we must move there (don’t worry; no moves are in the horizon).

We enjoyed our time in Jackson; even so the activities were limited.  The summer season hadn’t quite started (so no museums) and the winter was all but over (save for the snow that fell on Thursday).  With light coats, we stuck around the town, going in and out of shops to keep warm.  The best was the one that drew our noses… hmm the candy shop where they had lots of taffy, caramel corn and fudge.  We looked through the real estate listings and decided that this best stay a vacation spot, as opposed to living quarters (that and the fact that Morgan was unable to find a barber no matter how hard we tried).  Finally, we got directed to the Natural Museum and enjoyed a reprise from the shopping.

Dinner was at 43 degrees N and we had a good time chatting with the bartenders and watching TV over beer and food.  The next morning we were to head out through the National Parks just north of the town and hope that the clouds lifted to see the tops of the Tetons.

Off we go!

(there were no pictures taken do the crappy conditions, you will just have to imagine Morgan shopping;))

 

Moab

The drive from the Grand Canyon to Moab wasn’t too painful, in fact it was pretty. We saw Monument Valley (though no pictures were taken) and we arrived in Moab at a semi-decent hour…only to discover that getting a campsite or room was practically impossible on a Saturday night! Morgan had been informed that we would have no problem getting a place there in May. Much to our disappointment, this was completely untrue. The weather was gorgeous and it was a weekend, so we thought maybe the visitor’s center would be helpful, but all it really gave us was numbers for the town’s hotels. Even though it cost much more than a campsite, we were able to get a handicap room at the Motel 6.  On the way there, we drove to a hill top restaurant to enjoy a view of the city from the restaurant’s parking lot. We noticed that the Moabaites make creative canopies.

With a place to sleep at night secured, we got cleaned up and wandered into the cute town of Moab. Shops and restaurants lined the main drag. We noted a couple cars who felt the need to drive up and down that “main drag” in search of…well, we’re not really sure what. One had a couch in his truck bed, so maybe he wanted to get some girls to fill it, either way, even with the 8 times we saw him pass, he was always alone (except for that one time we saw him with that guy in the passenger’s seat). Guess Utah’s a boring place for single teenage boys? Either way, we found some great places for grub at Eddie McStiff’s, Slickrock and Zax. All had cheap menu options with good food and accessible beer. Even with reading the laws from our “Utah guidebook”, we were still surprised when we walked into Woody’s and were told that unless we were members or wanted to pay for a membership we had to leave the bar. Uh, excuse me, what? We learned that unless dining, you were not able to consume alcohol without paying for a membership (which was thankfully cheap). We paid the $4 and sat with our “coldest beer in town” and watched the Swiss/Thai couple play pool. The time spent in the city those nights were peaceful and warm.

Oh, yeah, the National parks, what we were really there for. Haha. On Sunday, we enjoyed a long day of car driving and hiking around the Canyonlands, Utah’s largest National Park. The park was split into 8 sections; we took on the “Island in the Sky” and fully enjoyed our time there. Even though we’d visited the Grand Canyon, it was a much more “hands on”, up close, nature experience out in the Canyonlands. The crowds were smaller, and we enjoyed a nice hike to a Canyon rim. Well worth the trip. We also went to view the famous Mesa Arch (Morgan even scaled it!).

After a long day in Canyonlands, we finally made it to Arches on Monday. Morgan was really excited for this, even though renting bikes was not in the cards for us (we learned that contrary to the pictures, bikes were NOT allowed on the trails or rocks – only on the paved trails). That morning we knew we were down to 70 miles left in the van, but figured the park was close; we should be ok, right? Morgan figured we should start from the end and head towards the entrance. And that we did, we drove all the way to the Devil’s Garden for our first view of a few of the 2,000 recorded arches in this park. This park was definitely more crowded, but worth the visit.

Like I mentioned before, we were slightly worried about the gas in the van and the remaining mileage gage dropped quickly to the point where we were forced to leave the park for the town of Moab. Both of our eyes were constantly checking the predicted miles remaining and we noted it hung around 3 for awhile. Finally, in the town we spotted gas and pulled in just in time for the gage to read zero remaining miles. Phew! That was a close call!! Once we were full of gas, we trekked back to the park and finished our site seeing.

Capping the day off with the beautiful, famous, Delicate Arch. It was still 96 degrees around 5pm at night but Morgan looked forward to this hike, so we did it. Oh my goodness, a 3 mile hike you’d think wouldn’t be too tough, but no, this was uphill most of the way (500 ft) and in the direct sunlight. I was huffing and puffing after the large rock hill. With Morgan’s encouragement and some water, we were able to make it to the top. Wow! So cool, the hike was worth it after all.

After fun in the sun, and some odd burn spots to show it (hands, behind the knees, ankles and backs of the elbows), we took off from this playground for some more fun in Jackson, WY.

TTFN!!

Pitchin’ a Tent

We headed out from Vegas the morning of the 14^th, first stopping to get some necessities – food and liquor:) . We opted for the ½ gallon of Captain and some vanilla coke. Then we were on our way for the 5 hour drive to the Grand Canyon (stopping only to view the Hoover dam). Morgan had only been there once, as a boy scout. I was only there with the Brady Bunch on tv. Needless to say, we were both very much looking forward to it.

Safe and sound, we arrived at our campsite. Home-sweet-home for the next 3 days. We quickly got the tent set up and took off for our first view from the canyon rim. Now, one wouldn’t think finding a canyon, spanning 277 miles would be hard to find, but surprisingly, to us, it was. Finally, we found the correct trail and soon arrived to see that breathtaking view. Awesome! A PB&J dinner followed by a movie was a perfect end to the day – and of course, what became our nightly routine of Captain & Coke (Alia would be so proud).

To say the ground was hard under our tent would be a gross understatement. Morgan even said that sleeping on ice on Mt Rainer was softer! Well, we did survive, though with a few minor injuries – sore backs and bruised hips – luckily that didn’t stop us from enjoying our days hiking both around and into the canyon.

Of course, we were not the only people there enjoying this natural wonder. There were gobs of tourists, from many countries, speaking multiple languages. We were most amused by the ones with the cameras around their necks and video cameras in their hands (you know who I’m talking about!). But to be honest, we did have a total of 3 cameras with us most of the time. Haha. It was hard not to just stare at the view while walking (don’t worry, neither of us fell), and we ended up walking all along the canyon, stopping at all the opportune spots to take a photo (or sometimes 20).

After a long day in the park, showers sounded delightful. We arrived, shower gear in hand, all ready to get clean – only to discover that – they were PAY showers!! Pay for the park, pay for the campsite and still pay for showers. Oh well, we figured we’d just go to dinner a little dirty. For dinner, we decided to venture out in search of food. What we found was a “Spagetti Western”, how exciting (we thought), but sadly, it was just Italian food with Western decorating [i.e. Clint Eastwood posters (written in Spanish) and exchange students dressed in Wranglers].

Our second day’s adventure led us deep into the big ditch, for a 6 mile hike, descending 2,100 vertical feet (yes, afterwards our calves and rumps were sufficiently toned and sore). It was long and hard, but we did it (yay us!). By the end of the hike, we felt we deserved much needed showers. Again, we arrived ready to go, only to discover that they were closed for cleaning. Seriously, how hard can it be for 2 people to get a shower around that place! Thank goodness it wasn’t too long before they were open and we had 8 min to make sure were clean. Both of us got more than we paid for; Morgan timed his and he got double! Guess it was our lucky day after all. All clean, we went for food overlooking the canyon (don’t even ask about the journey there! - for those of you that asked here is the link).

By the end of the trip, Morgan was having back spasms and we learned that we were apparently “long-termers” as we watched every campsite in our view change groups at least once. We also learned that after watching 45 minutes of a movie and then NOT turning the car on causes the battery to deplete. And that after asking every camper around, Morgan finally came across the non-English speaking French couple (though we believe French-Canadian since they drove, hehe), the French man wasn’t too sure about this “jumping” thing and insisted upon reading the Bible-sized-manual. Finally, he came across the battery section and he hooked up the black and red clamps. Within seconds, the van was purring like the Fowler’s cat Fluffy and we made it out of the park… with a few side detours to see more portions of the Grand Canyon on the way out. It was a “Grand” time.

Until Moab…

Sin City

The drive between Disney and Vegas was long and mostly uneventful. I was falling asleep and forced Morgan to finish the remaining 30 miles. This happened to be the most thrilling as we hit the red zone on the gas gage and with this new fangled van were able to see that we only had a few miles left to travel. We made it to the gas station with 8 miles to spare. Phew!

As tired as we were at 2 when we arrive in Vegas, people were still out and about as if it were 8pm. The wait to check in at the hotel was uncharacteristically short and we were ready to find our room in a few minutes. We booked at Harrah’s upon recommendation of a friend and were pleasantly surprised how nice the room happened to be –with even a Michael Scott sized flat screen in the bathroom!

We awoke Tuesday morning to a beautiful, hot day, something we are slowly getting used to . The day was a low-key one. We spent our time walking up and down the strip. When we found a bar with keno machines around mid-day we decided it was time for some “free” drinks. Morgan’s ended up costing $16 worth of gambling money, while I did much better, spending only $6. We played about an hour or so of blackjack, only to print out our remaining dollars to waste them in minutes at the slotsJ. We left with Bud Lights in hand, and while walking across one of the ped bridges we ran into one of the homeless dudes giving away free water, curious, we stopped and took a couple, noting the 2 Las Vegas cops standing next to him. While standing there, the cop said to me: “You know you can’t carry a beer with you” Me, slightly abashedly “Oh, really?” LV Cop, “Yeah, you need two!”

After wandering in 2 malls, the 3^rd finally produced what I was so looking forward to – an H&M. It was worth the wait and the search was supplemented by some nutella and banana flavored gelato. Yummm. With the shopping complete it had to be a game time decision on which show to see. Finding the most convenient discount show store, we purchased tickets for the 7pm showing of Mystere. Unfortunately, at the time we were located near Planet Hollywood while Treasure Island was at the other end. The time was 5:30 and we found out that the catch for those “cheap” tickets was to arrive 1hr prior to the start. Great. So we headed off, booking it faster than a Ditgen walking around a Six Flags theme park. Dinner would have to wait until the show ended.

The line was long when we arrived, but we made it in time to get pretty good seats. The show was interesting, fascinating, colorful, exciting, funny and odd all at the same time. Neither of us “got it” but enjoyed the spectacle all the same. We got out slightly too late to catch the Treasure Island show (which I have wanted to see for awhile now), oh well, Morgan tried to get me there in time. (What a Sweetie!)

It wasn’t too late, but it was definitely time for some grub and what better place than next to the statues of the gods in the Forum. After pasta and a drink we checked out Margaritaville, took some pictures of the lights and watched the fountains at the Bellagio. No clubbing was in the cards for us that night (though we had picked up free tickets for Pure from some street dudes).

Vegas was enjoyable, but I think we were glad it was only a day’s worth; it is such a money suck. We’re looking forward to the Grand Canyon and some less pretentious people to be around.

Sionara for now!

Disneyland

We left from paradise in La Quinta, and set off for the happiest place on earth. Fortunately for us, it was a depressing, overcast day and the masses didn’t show up at the park. We ditched the crowd and walked clockwise in to the Magic Kingdom. For our first ride, we took a Jeep tour with Indiana Jones through the Temple of Doom. Though, we were not able to kiss in the back seat because the car was a rockin’:) . Next, we set off for the high seas with Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean. This time we got some booty!

With the ride lines as low as they were, we were able to make the loop to other rides fairly quickly, and visited the classics like the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, and Space Mountain. In fact, we only used our fast passes twice the entire time! Certainly, the highlights of the day were getting soaked on Splash Mountain, defeating Emperor Zurg on Buzz Light Year’s Space Battle, and catching the last train (two times;) ) on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Sadly, the only closed ride was It’s A Small World, which we were glad not to get stuck in our heads all day.

There were exciting new things to see as well, so with wet pants, we set off for a submarine ride under the ocean, through the Ancient Ruins and the Great Barrier Reef in an effort to find Nemo. We also found a cute new ride in Bear Country, and set off a-buzzing to see Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore. And new for Morgan, was actually choosing to go on the Fantasyland rides with no kids in hand.

Disneyland was not only fun; it was also educational. We learned some valuable lessons

1. It is nearly impossible for two adults (without kids) to get their picture with any of the characters,

2. Don’t ride Splash Mountain at 4 in the afternoon, in the front seat and expect to be dry by the end of the night,

3. How to handle screaming kids, as told by a five-year old sister to her screaming little brother: “Mom can’t read your mind; you have to tell her what you want”, and

4. We make great amusement park partners:)

We enjoyed reminiscing about childhood visits to Disneyland, getting sick on the teacups, running to rides (and subsequently being told not to run), and most of all, enjoying Dole Pineapple whips.

The day was filled with much laughter and Goofy pictures. We’re now off to less wholesome entertainment in Las Vegas, and have found humor in the contrast of the places we’re visiting. Hopefully the rest of the trip matches the fun and excitement this one afforded us. Wish you all were here!

Come baaack…

Paradise

We left Seattle at far too early of an hour Saturday morning (considering that we were up until 1am getting everything ready!). But we arrived in the Palm Springs airport to Morgan’s waiting parents. We had no luggage lost (thank goodness) and our flight was ON TIME! Wow, great start to a vacation.

What a whole new world it is down here, strip shopping mall after strip shopping mall, golf clubs, dry hills, lush green valley. And I think Morgan and I are the youngest couple here;) haha. We were taken back to the house and wow what a beautiful place it is! Mediterranean style with tons of palm trees, hibiscus flowers and grapefruit trees all around. Its on the golf course, overlooking the water with the hills as a backdrop. Morgan’s sister, Vicki, was right when she said, “Pick this one”:D

The rest of the day we road around in the golf cart, laid out in the pool, read, napped and took turns hitting golf balls INTO the pond;) We then got ready for a fish dinner. After dinner, we returned home. The sun was going down and Morgan and I were getting PRETTY sleepy. A perfect finish to the day – roasting marshmallow’s in the firepit until it was dark (9pm haha). After that boy did we crash!

Today was much the same;), rough life of preparing the grapefruit I’d picked the previous day to eat outside in the 75 degree morning. After a lazy morning, we got ready to go golfing (3 par mind you, all other courses around here are like Arnold Palmer designed, PGA practice courses, no thank you!). Morgan’s parents took us, so we made a great 4-some;) It was a long and hot 18, but fun. We were given matching red golf shirts by Morgan’s parents, so we were definitely doing it in style (that’s what she said).

Upon returning from a hard day on the course, we got root beer floats and went swimming in the pool. Now, as we’re sitting here watching the sunset over the hills and reflecting off the water, we’re definitely getting hungry for some Mexican food and margarita’s. Then we’ll get a little packing done for the van to be ready to head to Disneyland in the morning!!

Twas the night before…

What a day, no what a WEEK its been.  We’re up still getting ready to leave, our flight takes off at 7am so we must get in the towncar by 5:30.  Yuck.  And we’re still up.  We both got a couple of sodas to keep us awake.  So far, so good.  Its been a busy week for the both of us, so many things going on.  Goodbye parties, dinner with friends, soccer games, packing, and the list could go on and on.

I think we are both pretty ready to go on vacation by now.  You can tell we’ve both gotten pretty stressed with the move and the job changes.  I think this will be good for the both of us.  No work and all play! 

It was my last day of work and Morgan was down in the Portland office, as he surprised me yesterday by coming for my big going away bash (I loved seeing all my friends there, even if I don’t remember seeing all of you there:)).  So we took our first picture of us officially on vacation from work:

Looking forward to sharing our exciting adventure with you all.  ~Peace~

2 Days until Vacation

Well the trip that has been in the incubator for going on 9 months now, is finally arriving (our luck and the rapture will happen and all the plans will have been for naught).  Either way, I think we’re getting pretty excited.  Amidst all the job searching, packing, cleaning, house showings, working and getting in the last hugs from friends, we have found time to get excited for our trip. 

It begins in the wee hours on Saturday morning, hopefully the earliest day we will have to get up all vacation long.  We will have a little parent time down in sunny Palm Desert before we head out on our own, exploring what the world has to offer and hopefully growing closer together.  I’ve always said that I wanted to take a road trip with a boyfriend before I marry him because you can learn so much about the other person being cooped up in a car.  But I think this trip will be good for the both of us.  So keep checking in and I’ll do my best to find random wi-fi’s to keep you all abreast of our discoveries.  ~Later~