National Parks in UTAH!

I had no idea Utah was so beautiful. For some reason, I thought it was a big, flat desert. Arches National Park totally changed my perspective of Utah. I had never heard of Arches before visiting here. Allison tells me that it is pretty famous. Am I the only one unaware of it? This national park features great hiking trails, interesting wildlife, and of course arches! However these are no ordinary arches. They are created naturally through years of erosion. They are truly a spectacle. This is another example of something that is very difficult to express in writing. Please enjoy some pictures from our time at Arches.

We took a 2 mile hike in Arches through a little valley, and it was pretty!

The Balanced Rock at Arches- way cool

At arches- I don't remember which one this was, but we really liked it

Standing in an Arch!

Our campsite near Arches was beautiful!

Our next stop was further west. We arrived at Zion National Park around lunchtime. I am very grateful Allison booked a campsite in advance. Every single campsite in the park was booked! After a quick lunch, we changed into our hiking gear and went exploring. We braved a long, steep hike to the top of a mountain. At the top was a beautiful pond, called the Upper Emerald Pool. Along the hike we also saw the Lower Emerald Pool, and a waterfall! 

At the lower Emerald Pool- the water fell from the ledge above, all along where the gate is

After a long, hot hike to the upper Emerald Pool- it really was beutiful

A pretty pile of rocks on the trail

These pools are very special, given the desert climate. After taking some time to relax and reflect, we hiked back down. Our after-hike treat was a delicious soft serve twist cone. Hiking in the desert makes ice cream taste extra sweet. The guy ahead of us in line was very particular about his ice cream. He wanted the bottom half of his cone to be chocolate, and the top half to be vanilla. The employee informed him that they couldn’t do that. So, he settled for a twist cone, but not without giving the poor employee a little ‘tude, first. Weary from our hike, we hopped on a shuttle bus. The bus took us around the rest of the park. We were able to hop off and explore as we wished. Allison and I went for a few more small hikes in between sightseeing. One stop was the Weeping Rock, which was a big soft rock. The rock absorbs water, and slowly drips it out. I guess it is sort of like a giant rock sponge? Our last destination was the riverside walk beach. We didn’t feel up for hiking the whole riverside walk. 

A pretty little river at the riverside walk- this guy was very opinionated about how his subject was standing, and was very noisy, so I just took a picture of him! -Allison

We also found some kind of eggs in the river!

If memory serves me, this trail was pretty long. Allison and I were both tired from the last few days. Between Colorado, Arches, and Zion, we did a lot of hiking! It was dinnertime when we got back to our campsite. Allison whipped up Velveeta Shells and Cheese, with some black beans and a can of Rotel. Delicious! Just as the sun was setting, a family of six pulled up to the campsite next to us. I believe they hold the Guinness World Record for the LOUDEST children. One kid was placed in the car for time-out. He proceeded to roll down his window and yell “Hey killer!” to his dad. Geeze. Shortly after this happened, we went to bed. Somehow, we were able to fall asleep, despite all the noise. Since our day at Zion was so productive, we decided to cut our second day. We proceeded to the Grand Canyon, in favor of seeing our family, sooner.

-Marc

Up, up, and up! To Telluride, CO!

After camping at Cow Creek, we made our way northwest to Bandelier National Monument. Since we got there before 9, we were able to avoid the shuttle and drive right up to the visitor’s center. Bandelier National Monument shows off an ancient Pueblo civilization that used to live first in the mountain sides, and eventually moved into the valley below. We took a self guided walking tour and forgot to actually buy the pamphlet, so I can’t tell you much more about the monument from memory, but it is believed that the Pueblo people carved their houses in the rocks by hand, which had to have taken quite a while- the rooms are actually decent  sized!

Explaining that the insides of the homes were fire blackened

We wanted to show you just how big some of these homes were- this one continued to the last hole in the picture on the right, and also on the left side of the ladder

Looking down at the ground level civilization remnants

Lots of holes in the rocks

After spending time at Bandelier National Monument, we started to make the climb into the mountains, north and into Telluride, CO. It was extremely beautiful, but required lots of water and gum chewing to deal with the increased altitude.

Standing right outside of Dan's apartment looking at the mountains

When we got to Telluride, we met up with another wonderful host- Dan! We got unloaded, ran to the local grocery store, and had a delicious stir-fry.

During the rest of our 2.5 day stay in Telluride, we got the chance to window shop in the downtown district, but didn’t end up buying anything- it is a very expensive place to shop, but again, perfectly beautiful.

We rode the gondola over the mountain to mountain village, reaching a top altitude of 10,500 feet. 

I will just tell you- I was gripping the edges of the seat- still not a big fan of heights..

Checking out Bridal Veil Falls

 Another activity that we did was a hike. Oofda! Once we got to the top- Bear Creek Waterfall, it was completely worth it. However, the combination of the high altitude, and our not being in awesome shape, it was a tough hike, particularly for me (Allie). But we all made it!!

Big mountain with fresh snow on top

On our hike, we found an awesome rock garden- this is only a portion of it

Friends at the top of the waterfall

We made it!

Instead of spending a lot of money on overpriced restaurants, we mostly just bought groceries and beer, and prepared meals at Dan’s apartment, including pizza one night. (I had moderate success baking with yeast at high altitudes- score!)

-Allie

(Also- a HUGE thanks to a good friend who provided us with a netbook so that we can work on blog posts, complete with pictures, and homework! You’re the best, Curtis!)

Carlsbad Caverns

After leaving Austin, we headed for the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This beautiful park is located in northwestern Texas, along the border with New Mexico. It was a very long drive to our campsite, but it was worth it. We pitched our tent in the shadow of the Guadalupe Mountains. We made dinner, had a few beers, and went to sleep.

Sunset behind our tent

The next day we made the short drive to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. This attraction was underground, unlike any of parks we have previously visited. We hopped into an elevator that took us 780 feet underground. The temperature in the cavern was about 55 degrees, which was much more pleasant than the 90 degree weather on the surface. 

The main attraction at Carlsbad is the Big Room. The room is made up of natural limestone. The limestone make up forms of various sizes and shapes. The room its self is 4,000 feet long and almost 300 feet tall! It is the third largest chamber in North America. Unfortunately, it is easier to show you with photos rather than explain it in writing. I was able to take a ton of pictures of the cavern. As soon as we fix our computer problem, I'll post them here. (UPDATE- pictures are up at the end of the post!)

After Carlsbad, we started heading to our campground. Along the way we passed through Roswell. This town is famous because a UFO "allegedly" crashed here in the 1970s. Most of the town is decorated with alien imagery (even the KFC.) We didn't stop anywhere in Roswell,  but the Alien Museum looked neat.

We continued to our campground, which was outside of Pecos, New Mexico. After traveling down a long, bumpy, road we arrived at Cow Creek Campground. There weren't any cows,  but there was a nice creek. We  set our tent up by the creek, and prepared for the next day.

-Marc

 

Just inside "The Big Room"

Lion's Tail (or as the little girl next to us declared it- Giraffe Tail)

The three biggest structures in the caverns

This guy reminded us of Marc's drawings

This guy is actually called "The Cave Man"

Crystal Springs Dome- One of the few structures in the caverns that is still being formed- it was white and very shiny, and we watched water drip onto and off of it, helping to continue to form this.

A better picture of "The Rock of Ages"

Austin, TX

Until we hit Austin, we are proud to say that we stuck to our food budget pretty well.
However, when we hit Austin, we went over-budget, and we were totally ok with it. Our first night in town with our wonderful hosts (thank you again Kristin and Alex!), we visited The Salt Lick, which was a wonderful local BBQ place. We brought our own beer, and sat down at the ridden picnic tables inside. Marc and I both had a combination of brisket, pork ribs, and sausage (with sides of course). There was so much food, and it was all so delicious, so we stayed and cleared our plates (or at least the meat..!). We even took some of the delicious looking pecan pie home for later.
Unfortunately, we ate so quickly that we forgot to take any pictures there. But I promise, it was deliciously beautiful!
We rode back to Alex and Kristin's and promptly passed out, our bellies stuffed to the brim.
The next day, our first goal was to visit the Daniel Johnston mural. We got there while it was raining, but braved the rain and took our pictures! 

We spent the rest of the morning comic book shopping and shopping for cheap books. For lunch, we decided we had to try out the southern chain Whataburger. The food was pretty decent, and we were definitely glad to try out out!
After lunch, we visited the humane society for a puppy/kitty fix, and found a stunt double for the puppy version of Maggie.

During our stay, we also got to hang out with Alex and Kristin's dog, Ziggy. He was pretty neat, except that he want our biggest fan. By the end though, he started to like us. :)
For the afternoon, we continued thrifting with Alex.

Alex and his thrift store purchase

We ate at Trudy's, where we had fried chicken avocados, and chicken fajitas, both of which were delicious, and when split, were easily enough for the three of us.
We roughed it with our air mattress in their almost empty house (we happened to come on their move-out weekend), and got up early to continue our journey, after passing though "soco" to see the unique shops, capital building, and abundance of food carts.
Sorry for the lack of cool pictures and inability to format those we have into the actual post- we are still mourning the loss of my computer, and didn't happen to take many pictures on our phones... Hopefully we can get our stuff together soon- thanks to our amazingly generous friends!!
-Allie

Ziggy!

The French Quarter- New Orleans

We rolled into the “Big Easy” on the morning of the 23^rd. Our hotel was able to check us in early, which helped avoid driving around town. After settling in we hoped onto the nearest bus. The bus transferred us to a street car. This was the first time either of us had ridden a street car (it’s basically a trolley on rails.) The street car dropped us off in the French Quarter, New Orleans’ famous district. Finding lunch was our first task. This was a very difficult decision because there were so many options! We ending up at P&G Restaurant. This was a quaint little establishment just outside the French Quarter. They serve their food cafeteria style, which helped keep cost down. P&G offered so many options we had a hard time choosing. We ended up ordering a shrimp po’ boy, a bowl of seafood gumbo, and a catfish dinner, and splitting everything. Our lunch only cost $20! Not only was it affordable, but it was absolutely delicious. I am still having cravings for their shrimp po’ boy… Now that we were completely stuffed we headed to the French Quarter. (We had to walk off the large meal.)

Shrimp Po' Boy, Catfish Dinner, and Seafood Gumbo- so much food!

 The French Quarter truly lived up to the hype. It features beautiful and historic architecture as well as unique shops. Almost immediately after arriving we spotted a street jazz band. It was almost as if New Orleans was welcoming us! The musicians appeared to be our age, if not younger. They each played their instruments beautifully. I could have sat and listened to them play for hours, but we had to press on. We visited several art galleries and tourist shops.

One of the galleries featured works by some of my favorite artists including Andy Warhol, Takahashi Murakami, and Salvador Dali. It was amazing to be able to see them in person.

Eventually we made our way down the famous Bourbon Street. It was a lot smaller than I imagined. The majority of the buildings were bars or other “seedy” establishments. Eventually we ventured to the large Flea Market in the corner of the district. I am a huge fan of thrift stores and flea markets. However, in actuality, this was a large tourist trap. They only sold New Orleans souvenirs at outrageous prices. We ventured on, a little disappointed, and came across a little farmer's market, which was decent, but pretty much a little produce section of a grocery store.

A small ice cream parlor caught our eyes. Originally, we popped in to enjoy the air conditioning. We left with a generous scoop of pecan praline ice cream. Delicious!

We also got to enjoy another band while we ate the ice cream

You are probably thinking “Haven’t these two eaten enough?” Well, the answer is no. Our very next stop was Café Du Monde. This was one stop Allison didn’t want to miss. We enjoyed a plate of their famous beignets. (If you are unfamiliar, beignets are a French style donut that is covered in powdered sugar.) After we finished it was easy to see why the place was packed. 

Beignets and Cafe au Lait- amazing!

As we headed back to the street car stop, we saw the Mississippi River. We even checked out some more shops. The further we got from the French Quarter, the more familiar the shops became. (Urban Outfitters, stuff like that.) I was stopped suddenly by the smell of vinyl. The source of the scent was Peaches Records, a local record store that has been around for ages. Allison and I spent a good amount of time rummaging through their large inventory. Unfortunately, finances and limited car space prevented me from taking any records home.

After seeing everything we wanted, we hopped back on the street car and made our way back to the hotel. We took the time to relax and reflect. Allison had to prevent me (on several occasions) from ordering shrimp po’ boys to be delivered to our hotel. Our day in New Orleans was absolutely amazing. The city is so rich is culture and energy that it’s hard not to take a little bit with you. 

-Marc

Navarre Beach, Florida

For the last 2 days, we have thoroughly enjoyed our time with the Charlton's in Florida!

Florida's Best Kept Secret

I am excited that it is my turn to write this blog post, because this has been such a great time for both of us, but I realized that these last two days were the first time that I have really gotten to spend time with the Charltons, outside of holiday and big family gatherings. I already knew that they were cool, but it was so amazing to be their house guests and learn about their beautiful town!

After spending the night after our long drive catching up, we slept in the next morning, and worked on getting the blog caught up, doing laundry, dishes, and letting our tent dry out. Before supper, we made our way to the Navarre Beach (where the slogan is "Florida's Best Kept Secret"). We had a great time looking for shells with Sue, and relaxed until we had delicious home-grilled steaks and roasted veggies.

We got to realize why Sue spends so much time looking for shells- it is relaxing , and so much fun!

The next morning, we woke up for breakfast, a delicious lunch, and another beautiful trip to the beach, including a trip to the pier, which was very interesting. If I remember correctly, it is the longest fishing pier in the Gulf, and it was busy with fishermen when we visited- we even watched a man pull a very big fish out of the water, and found out later that it was a King Mackerel, which was impressive, even by others' standards.

Everyone with their fishing set-ups at the pier

The guys walking down the pier

The beach!

We even got to watch a winning soccer game! :)

All in all, we had a wonderful, beautiful time in Florida, and already can't wait to go back!

-Allie

I like using the word "bonus", but really these pictures are