Good Old Fashioned Oklahoma Fun

We pulled into the Oklahoma apartment complex with some apprehension. We would be spending the night with our boy Cole, a friend from work. There is no way to describe Cole other than to mention that his most recent job has been dressing up as a the Statue of Liberty and dancing in the streets to promote filing your taxes. He regularly runs twenty miles a day. He takes thirty minutes to describe exactly what he ate for lunch...in detail. He does not stop moving or talking...ever.  All summer long at work he told us about his four fantastic roommates, who were apparently "just like him". We parked our car and took a deep breath, this was going to be an adventure.

Cole met us in the parking lot and led us to his apartment. We winced as he opened the door and were stunned to find an immaculately clean apartment with two very normal boys sitting in the living room (the fourth roommate would not emerge from his room for the next two days, to each his own). We warmed to his roommates, Frank and Derek, instantly. They were like yin and yang. While Frank eagerly planned our visit to Norman, OK, Derek played the straight man, reeling in Frank whenever he got too excited. As midnight hit Ch'nel casually mentioned that it was now my birthday, the boys smiled and promised me a fantastic 23rd, University of Oklahoma style. Before going to bed we took a quick trip to Cosmic Pizza (or something or other) for some Frosty Fingers which was frosting covered pizza dough. I miss college.

When we woke up the next morning Cole made us a fantastic breakfast of reheated frosty fingers before rallying the troops. Frank laid out the days plans, which basically was a list of restaurants that we were going to eat at, then ordered us all into his car. After Frank and Cole climbed into the front Ch'nel and I climbed into the back and were suddenly joined by Derek. We had taken his silence to mean that he wasn't coming but by the grace of God he was along for the ride. I say by the grace of God because as Frank was simultaneously driving and giving us a tour of town he was not paying attention to traffic lights. As Frank approached a red traffic light at an alarming speed Derek shouted out his only three words of the ride "RED LIGHT FRANK!". New rule, Frank doesn't drive us anywhere without Derek.

Our first stop was one of the Oklahoma school stores so that we could buy t-shirts at Cole's insistence. I bought a red t-shirt that simply said "Oklahoma". I should note that I bought two souvenirs on this trip, a grey sweatshirt at the Grand Canyon that read "Grand Canyon" and a red t-shirt from Oklahoma that reads "Oklahoma".

After dropping Frank off at work Cole and Derek took us on a tour of the University of Oklahoma campus. I'm a huge fan of tours and it was fascinating what Cole and Derek thought we should see. Our first stop was the top floor classroom where Cole took Cherokee. This classroom was surrounded in windows and offered a stunning view of the area. Derek, an Oklahoma native, noticed that we were shocked to see that the area was so green and tree covered and explained that contrary to popular belief Eastern Oklahoma was one of the greenest areas in the US. Interesting.

Our next stop (via Cole's favorite statues on campus) was the music building. A seemingly small unassuming building which happens to house a giant organ. A nice hidden gem. We carried on through campus, passing by the Presidents house and the art museum (and well endowed statue of a woman that accompanied it) before ending up in a parking garage elevator.

As we stepped off onto the top deck Cole pointed out 'What everyone who comes to Oklahoma wants to see' from this point we could see into the gigantic football stadium that rises above campus. Coming from a small women's college and a small science school, college football was something that Ch'nel and I just did not know anything about. My only college football games were Princeton games, where the stadium is accessible to everyone to walk through or run stairs in. Hanging off the top deck of a parking garage was the only way I could truly grab the magnitude of Oklahoma football. A program so impressive that people literally have to sneak onto parking garages just to look at the field on off days. A program so impressive that people WANT to sneak onto parking garages to LOOK at the field on OFF days. It's both cool and ridiculous.

We met up with Frank again and headed off for lunch at Slim Chickens. The decision to go to Slims was the result of a long argument between the guys about which of the area's local establishments would be best. I always thought the lives of women at women's colleges revolved too much around food...I clearly never went to school with boys.

Side story. As the group piled into Slims I got a phone call from my dad wishing me Happy Birthday. I stayed out in the parking lot and was a little taken aback by the situation. I have never spent a birthday away from home (lame, I know) and suddenly here I am...in the middle of a parking lot, in the middle of Oklahoma, in the middle of the country, far away from my family. Old me would have gotten incredibly sentimental and sad...new me felt free and empowered. I was 23 and I was somewhere my family knew nothing about. This would be a great story about how mature and grown up I was except that, well, my 24th birthday was once again celebrated at the family dining room table. Eh, could be worse.

Back to Slims. I rejoined the group and got my meal of chicken fingers and fries. It was delicious. I don't know why, I don't know how, but it was fantastic. It came with dipping sauces and a giant soda and cost about 3 bucks. I love the non-northeast sections of the US, so cheap. Slims is apparently a chain and I will hope and pray that it comes to the Northeast eventually...or else I might just have to head back to the midwest.

Our day was far from over and we carried on to Lake Thunderbird. While I've been told it's a man made lake you never would know, it spread out across the horizon like it had always been there. After taking in the vista from the dock the boys went down to the small beach and started skipping rocks across the placid surface. I sat on a rock and smiled at the simplicity of it, it seemed straight out of a movie. I could only imagine the look on people's faces if they came to visit me and I suggested that we spend the afternoon skipping rocks down at Lake Carnegie, but here it seemed like exactly what we were supposed to do. So skip rocks we did, I celebrated getting three skips while Derek easily got ten or eleven out of a good stone.

Time seemed to slow down with every skip, it must have been Oklahoma. Nothing moved quickly out here, not even Cole. Here the guy who often ran from his house to our office (a distance of at least two towns and unknown miles) and danced as the Statue of Liberty calmly stood on the shore and tossed rocks into the lake. Here Ch'nel and I, who had raced through the country at a fairly rapid speed in retrospect, didn't think about what time we were leaving or what our plans for the next day were...we'd cross that bridge when we came to it. Right now, the only place we needed to be was Lake Thunderbird.

We packed up the car and headed back to the apartment to relax. Frank, who didn't know the way back, was at the mercy of Cole's directions. When Cole suggested that we turn left Frank insisted on heading straight instead. Luckily Derek, Frank's human GPS system, was with us and without missing a beat he bellowed "HE SAID TURN LEFT". Frank turned on a dime without making a peep and within minutes we were home. He Said Turn Left joined "Might I Suggest the Chicken Waldorf" as phrases that will to this day crack Chiz and myself up and confuse everyone else around us.

Back at the apartment we feasted on some pizza, played some video games and watched the Queen Latifah classic, Beauty Shop. The boys had invited some friends over for the night but we'll get to that in the next entry because Mattress Jousting deserves more than being the closing thought in an otherwise rambling entry.

 Cole and Sooner Man welcome us to the University of Oklahoma

 It's a stunning campus

 It was also Feral Cat Awareness Week

 Princeton Stadium it is not...

 These were just the practice fields

 Lake Thunderbird

 Ch'nel takes it easy on the shores of Lake Thunderbird

 Cole and Derek found some string and gum and attempted to go fishing

 The gang

 Frank and Cole take in the view

 Solve your problems off the ramp.

 Frank will now teach us how to skip rocks

It's a good life in Oklahoma

75 in a 70

I want you to imagine what you think the drive from Santa Fe, NM to Norman, OK looks like. Just picture it. We have Eastern NM, the Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma to imagine here. Come on, just try and picture it. Five bucks says right now you are at a loss for what that looks like. That's because it looks like nothing. Maybe time has erased my memories but all I can remember from that ten hour stretch of driving was flat, brown fields of dust and highway stretching for miles. Surprisingly it wasn't nearly as tedious as driving through South Dakota, but I'll never be able to come up with an explanation as to why.

My only memory comes from halfway through the trip, about an hour outside of Amarillo. As I flew down the highway on cruise control I became aware of flashing police lights behind me. To my dismay as I pulled over to let the car pass he pulled over with me. I had slowed down at this point, obviously, but I didn't remember driving particularly fast. I assumed this would be a matter about a broken taillight or something non-speed related.

The cop, right out of central casting with his cowboy hat and giant donut belly, strolled up to the car and greeted us with a friendly hello. After checking my information he asked me if I knew I was going 75 in a 70 zone. A long period of silence followed and I asked him to repeat that. "Do you realize. That you were going. 75. in a. 70. zone?" As much as I wanted to say "Yes. Yes I do realize that." I instead feigned ignorance and made my case for the Academy Award for acting. "75 in a...you're kidding! I'm so sorry, Officer, really I promise it won't happen again!"

The officer stared at me for awhile, then stared at Ch'nel, then asked me to follow him back to his car to get this settled. Wait, what? No. No that does not sound like a good idea. I asked if I could stay there and he said that in Texas you have to go back to the car. I swear this is not a state rule but as I really have problems disobeying any type of authority I begrudgingly left Ch'nel with a look that said "If he tries to kill me, call the real cops" and followed him back to his car. I stood outside the car while he ran my information again. "Here, have a seat in the car" he said, patting the passenger seat of his cruiser. This was leading no where good, I could tell you that. I sat down on the edge of the seat and followed the old boarding school rules of two feet firmly on the ground at all times when sitting alone with members of the opposite sex. With my feet firmly planted on the sun dried dirt of Texas I was ready to make a run for it if things got ugly. Instead, things just got weird.

"So what are two girls from New Jersey doing in Texas?"
"Cross country road trip"
"Really? You on vacation from school?"
"Nope, we graduated"
"Vacation from work?"
"We don't have jobs yet"
"What's her name *motions to Ch'nel*"
"Ch'nel."
"You two go to school together?"
"Nope"
"Well then what made the two of you decide to go on a trip together"
"We're friends"
The long silence that followed and the hard glare from the officer made me realize exactly why we had been pulled over for doing 75 in a 70. Suddenly it all made sense. Trooper Bob, here, was convinced that we were an interracial lesbian couple and he wanted to check things out for himself. Whether or not this is true, the pure idea of it made me start to laugh.
"So then where did you two meet?"
"*giggle* work."
"I thought you said you didn't have a job"
"*more laughter* Well, I mean, summer job...it's complicated"

After running through what each of us studied in school, what we hoped to do for work once we got back and began life as hard working American citizens and where else we planned to go on our trip Trooper Bob let us off with a warning. I shook his hand and thanked him for being so kind then strolled back to the car chuckling to myself.

I climbed back into the drivers seat with a smile on my face and looked at Ch'nel. Without skipping a beat Ch'nel calmly said "He thought we were interracial lesbians, didn't he." "yep." I answered and drove the car back onto the road. A small bump in an otherwise unremarkable stretch of road, but certainly a memorable one.

Getting Resourceful

We woke up in Colorado Springs not 100% sure on our next move. It was either to Kansas, or New Mexico. We were 96% sure it would be New Mexico but were ready to do an about face should we get the urge.

As Ch'nel slept in I went downstairs for the free hotel breakfast that was required at all hotels we stayed at. As I snacked on my orange juice, bagel and prepackaged Cheerios a couple from Kansas sat down at my table. We discussed how lovely Colorado was, our road trip in general and Kansas. The couple told me of the rolling green hills and happy lifestyle that everyone there gets to live. Maybe Kansas wouldn't be that bad? Perhaps we should head that way. I mentioned that I might be heading that way later in the day and the woman looked appalled. "Oh honey, I love living in Kansas but I would never want to visit. Go to New Mexico!" Well then, apologies to Kansas but it looks like we had a trip to New Mexico to plan.

Ch'nel came downstairs and I mentioned to her that we should probably go to New Mexico rather than Kansas. Ch'nel looked confused and asked when did we ever plan on going to Kansas? Well then. 

With a fairly long ride to Santa Fe ahead of us we had to hit the road. There were some things I was hoping to see in Colorado Springs but ultimately it was just a bump in the road for us, a memory and reminder to come back later. We hit the road and headed due south. The mountains got smaller and the greenery became less and less. While the scenery was still good, it was a low key drive. Two hours out of Colorado Springs we heard the stomach dropping thump thump thump of a flat tire. We pulled over to the shoulder to take a look...yep, definitely flat. 

Learning to change a tire was on our "to-do" list before leaving....it never happened. While we pondered giving it a crack ourselves we decided to call AAA instead. While preparing for AAA we set to work unloading our entire trunk onto the side of the Colorado interstate so that we could get the spare tire out of the back. Camping stove, sleeping bags, pieces of Crazy Horse Memorial, all laying on the side of the road. We could have just set up camp there for the night. 

After about 15 minutes a highway aide vehicle pulled over to the shoulder and had our tire changed in no time. As he screwed on the spare we gave the old tire a looksie. The thing wasn't just punctured, it was destroyed. The interior looked like and animal had gotten stuck inside and clawed his way out. Any hope of a simple repair and return to the road were gone. Once the spare was on we turned around at the next exit and drove to the nearest tire store. 

This doesn't look nearly as impressive as I remember it.

On our way to the tire store I got a phone call from AAA. "We're on the side of the highway and you're not here, are you ok?" DAMN YOU AAA INTERCEPTERS! I think the guy that helped us was just a good samaritan because he got nothing out of it, but I swear there's now a note in my AAA file "Never waits for AAA. Do not help this woman". 

At the tire store we once again unloaded our car to put the spare back in. Our tire was replaced and we were quickly back on the road. Less than a block down the road we realized something was wrong. A grinding sound came from spot where the tire had just been replaced like the tire was rubbing against the frame. We pulled over and realized that the new tire was totally bigger than the other three tires. We went back to the store to get a new tire and were told that it was just an optical illusion. Huh? No, I said, the tire does not fit, the car does not move properly. "It's all in your head". What? "Look at how close the frame is to the tire, it is the wrong size, may we please have the right size?" "The tire is fine, you just have too much stuff in your car". Then the English speaking nephew (son, friend, next door neighbor, let's just go with nephew) came by and said "yea, that tires too big, get them a new one". Well then. Thank you. 

We were back on the road and heading for New Mexico. I don't have much to write about this trip because it was one of the few that I fell asleep on. I think that was the most surprising element of the trip. I imagined before we left that when the other was driving the other would be sleeping. However the silence that results when one person is sleeping makes the ride almost unbearable. There were quick naps that led to nice stretches of silence but I'm pretty certain I was out for a good portion of the ride to New Mexico. Hopefully Chiz was able to amuse herself. 

I woke up as we pulled into a Taos gas station to get, well, gas. We explored the town for a bit, famous for their adobe buildings, but ultimately ended up continuing on. I had almost forgotten just how dark it got in the desert until night closed in around us as we drove on. After what seemed like forever we pulled into Santa Fe and checked into the La Quinta. 

After racing to our room to watch the latest episode of Glee we raced each other to the laundry room. Ch'nel won. I went down to the front desk to get quarters and found that Chiz had cleaned the guy out. You win this round, travel partner. I was able to get a load off in the laundry room but still had a bunch of clothes that I was dying to wash. I decided to go with the spirit of the road trip and do my laundry in the bathtub. With my bar of soap I scrubbed the grime out of my socks and t-shirts. I squeezed them out and hung them up in the bathroom to dry. I flicked on the heat lamp and shut the door. It was up to the laundry gods now. 

I woke up in the morning to find mildly damp socks and crispy t-shirts. A quick drying with the hairdryer worked like a charm and I was able to pack up my laundry. Overall I'd give my system a 6/10. It got the job done, but should only be used as a last resort. After a breakfast of peanut butter and banana pancakes we were off on another marathon car ride. A 10 hour journey across the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma. Waiting at the end for us was our boy Cole and his University of Oklahoma gang. We had no idea what was in store for us, but we were anxious to find out. 

From Every Mountainside

Moab marked the end of our plans. For the rest of our trip home we had a vague idea of where we wanted to go but god help us if we knew how we were going to get there. Our next definite stopping point was Oklahoma. Somehow, someway, we needed to get from Utah to Oklahoma without stabbing ourselves in the face from boredom.

Colorado and the Rocky Mountains were an easy choice for a stopping point along the way. We loaded up the car and headed for Aspen. We figured it would be a quick trip to Aspen and from there we could grab lunch and reassess. The boarder between Utah and Colorado was the most defined state boarder we had seen on the trip. Almost instantly after crossing the state line water began to flow alongside the highway and pine trees grew in increasingly thicker groves. The once straight highway began to weave in and out alongside hills and eventually mountains. The sky was bright blue and the rushing water was crystal clear. I felt outdoorsy and athletic simply for being there...even if I was just sitting in my car.

We pulled into Aspen and began to look around. The town was dead, too late for summer visitors, too early for skiers. We were incredibly out of place walking around in our jeans and sweats. Even on this sleepy weekday afternoon women were bustling in and out of stores like Cartier and Zegna wearing Burberry jackets and fine leather boots. Aspen left me unsettled. It was a town desperate to have an identity but torn between being high end and hippie. I know these fashionably dressed women tell their friends back in Manhattan that they moved West because the East Coast was too stuck up for them, yet they still spend their Octobers desperately searching for the perfect ski jacket that will never see the slopes. Our overpriced roast turkey and avocado sandwiches came from a place dedicated Jerry Garcia. As charming and beautiful as it was I felt myself getting angry at the town, it just seemed a little too fake for a state that prides itself on sticking to the basics of nature.

Chiz and I chose Colorado Springs as our stopping point for the night and plotted a route through the mountains to get us there. It was Ch'nel's turn to drive which turned out to be a life saver because as we drove higher and higher into the mountains I started to experience altitude sickness. The air truly is thinner up there and as more and more breaths were required I definitely felt a bit dizzy. The ground became more and more snow covered as we climbed into the clouds. Incredibly weird considering we had been in the desert that morning. We pulled off when we saw a small settlement of houses in a clearing. A sign told us that it was a ghost town, left over from the mining days. I've spent a lot of time on Wikipedia and ghost towns are one of my favorite subjects to randomly learn about. While this town is visited by plenty of visitors each day along this popular route, I was excited to actually see a ghost town up close.

Standing along the side of the road I was able to follow the path of the road up the mountain and into the clouds. At that moment it hit me, we are going to the top of the Rockies. We are going to drive thousands of feet in the air. This is happening. As Ch'nel began to drive along the narrow twisting road I started gripping the door (heights have never been my thing). The guard rail along the side of the road was a joke, a cruel taunt that one wrong move would be the end. I stared out the window down into the valley at my ghost town, which grew smaller and smaller by the second.

Finally we rounded a curve and the road flattened out. Up ahead it seemed to dip. A small parking lot on the side of the road announced that we had reached Independence Pass. At 12,000 feet in the air it was far from the tallest spot in the Rockies but plenty tall for me. We jumped out and began to take pictures. We gasped for air but never seemed to get enough to satisfy our oxygen craving bodies, definitely one of my Top 5 weirdest feelings ever. A man traveling the opposite way pulled in two minutes after us and very kindly snapped a quick picture of us before we all ran back to our cars. 
Ch'nel was still in desert mode and was not prepared for the mountain top.

We headed back down the mountain and continued along our way. I have some great videos to post of that part of the trip but Blogger won't let me post them right now. I'll make them a separate entry later.

We pulled into our the Colorado Springs Howard Johnson later that night and checked into our room. The desk clerk had her family in the lobby, each of them trying to coax a smile out of their 13 year old sister/daughter who was heading off to a school dance. The 13 year old stood by the lobby fireplace for pictures claiming that, as she is 13 and all, she had nothing to smile about. We got our room key and the clerk smiled and said she had upgraded us to a mountain view room. We felt special although when we woke up in the morning we would realize that the entire city is surrounded by mountains and really all of the rooms had a mountain view.

We grabbed our bags from the car, a task we had gotten quite good at, and were just about to head to our room when disaster struck. My camera battery had died earlier in the day and I was itching to charge it up as soon as possible. I dug around in the car looking for it but couldn't find it. What followed was our biggest fight of the entire trip.

Me: Ch'nel, do you have the camera charger?
Chiz: Nope.
Me: I...think you do.
Chiz: I don't
Me: I think you have it
Chiz: I. Don't. Have. It.
Me: I. Think. You. Oh wait, here it is.

What lasted no more than a minute almost ended the trip. To this day we still laugh about the biggest fight we've ever gotten into. Luckily the Golden Oreos were not lost and we settled in for a night of showers, Oreos and cable television. Just another day of memories to last as lifetime.

Back in Action-Moab, UT

Ch'nel and I had dinner tonight with some friends of the blog (shout out to the Weise Family!). This dinner was originally supposed to take place a year and a half ago when we got back from our trip. We were going to relive our favorite moments and bask in the glory of being the adventurers that we were. Much like this blog, we dropped the ball on it. Now, 15 months after we came home, we finally got our act together. As we rehashed broken turn signals and Mt Rushmore I was flooded with the excitement that writing the blogs used to give me. I realized I have so much more to talk about, so much more that I've never shared with anyone who hasn't asked about it. I also realized that I'm losing those memories. I still remember each place we went but I'm starting to forget the looks on people's faces, the casual comments from fellow travelers and the feel of a 10 hour ride across Texas and Oklahoma. I'm going to try and get everything down. These final entries will be different. They're going to lack the fine detail that the original ones had. I'm not going to lie...I might lie in some of them. I've made up a couple of memories over the year and I apologize if those come out. I'm not done with our story and I want to tell it.

Perhaps the strangest thing about writing over a year later is realizing how little has changed. Our great trip West became a great trip East which eventually led us home. Where we stayed. Chiz and I still live at home, we still work at the same office where we met five years ago. I even sold my soul for some health insurance and am working full time. Chiz is holding onto her soul with hopes of selling it to a public health related job in the very near future. I'm happy with my situation, but long for those forty days on the road. My job is far from boring, there's always something going on, but my entire world is contained within four roads. Those vast stretches of highway and endless canyons are a memory now, occasionally popping back into my life on documentaries and calendars. There's nothing to do now but save up my ample vacation time and know that I'll get back to that life soon, if only for short periods of time. For now I will blog.

When I checked in with the blog to see where I left off I was surprised to see it was at Moab, UT. Arches National Park, located in Moab, is much like the Grand Canyon in that I cannot accurately describe it. Never in my life have I felt more disconnected from what I previously accepted as normal.

Chiz and I started the day at the local mechanic shop. Our taillight had burnt out and we needed it fixed. After dropping it off we walked along the road into town to get breakfast. It was mid-October yet the air was dry and warm. The sun bounced off of the red rocks surrounding the town and I suddenly realized this was the first time I had truly seen the desert. Up until now everything had seemed like a bigger version of something I had already seen back east. The Rockies were giant versions of the Appalachians. The Redwoods were the woods behind my elementary school only on steroids. The Pacific Ocean was a Snooki-less Seaside Heights. Kicking up the red dust along the quiet highway brought no parallels. The blinding glare of the sun hitting dirt and sand reminded me of nothing. I was experiencing something completely and totally new.

We found a breakfast place with ease and sat down for our usual pancake breakfast. It was the offseason in the tourist town so the restaurant was quiet and filled with locals. The town sheriff, complete with ten-gallon hat sat down at the table perpendicular to us and proceeded to eat his meal in silence, never taking his eyes off of us. A few tables over some other tourists argued with the waitress over how many cinnamon rolls they thought they could eat. They soon regretted their fight when she brought over a roll for each of them, each the size of a birthday cake. After eating our pancakes (which we declared fine, nothing special though) we walked back up the road to get the car. The mechanic hadn't left his desk since we had left and it was clear the car wasn't ready. He jumped up when he saw us and quickly went to go fix the light. Thanks, buddy. We got our car back and headed down the road to Arches National Park, ready to break out the National Park Pass one last time.

Arches visitor center was small, but informative. While others tended to focus on how parks have changed over the last 150 years or so, this visitor center brought you back millions of years to the parks creation. As I touched pieces of two million year old rock as well as rocks that had fallen from the moon I realized that this was going to be a special place. A place that defies time and space.

The visitor center film strip, my favorite part of any visitor center, also took a different turn that most film strips (ok fine, it's not actually a film strip...but I like that image better). Whereas most parks focused on the parks history and infinite future, Arches also focused on former arches and collapsed rock formations. A magnificent arch the size of a football field was shown as well as footage from the day it collapsed. A giant of nature, brought down by a breeze. The video ended with the narrator imploring us to go out into the park immediately because you never know when another arch might fall. It was both sobering and invigorating at the same time.

We got back in the car and drove up the road into the park with a sense of urgency. As the visitors center dropped out of sight we were on our own, slowly making our way through the most breath taking rock formations I could ever imagine.

Balanced Rock and the collapsed mini-Balanced Rock provided really interesting insight into the National Parks system. As the former Balanced Rock proves, these formations don't last forever. One day Balanced Rock will fall off of it's precarious perch, crashing down on whatever, or whomever, stands beneath it. Yet there are no safety rails, no signs telling you to stay away from the rock. In each of the parks we visited it always amazed me how they took the smallest safety efforts. Guard rails to keep you from steep edges, warning signs for difficult trails. Otherwise you're on your own, let nature take it's course, God help you if you're in it's way. Ch'nel and I dashed around the base of the rock, almost daring it to fall on us. From every different angle it looked even more unsteady, even closer to doom. While we could have stayed and admired all day, we had a lot more to get through. So we got back in our car and soldiered on, off to count the arches.

Our first arch was reached by a seemingly short set of stairs carved into the stone. These stairs were deceptively steep and Chiz and I were left winded at the top of them.

 Another trail led down the the second arch....we settled for viewing it from afar.

A crack in the arch served as another reminder to the fragility of the park. A reminder that what took millions of years to form will one day take a second to the destroy.

We carried on until reaching the stopping point for Delicate Arch, the symbol of Utah. The viewing platform for delicate arch can only be reached via a hike through various terrains. The arch itself takes an additional hike out across the sandstone, only seasoned hikers are recommended to visit. The long hike up gives you a good reason to stop at the top and enjoy the scenery. From the arch, which is impressive, to the wide expanse of stone rolling out in front of you, it's all a sight to see.

 Says the woman taking this picture "suck in your gut, you'll look 10 years younger" Um, I don't want to look 12, but thanks (holy moly, was I really 22 in this picture? It doesn't matter that I was turning 23 in 3 days when this was taken...22 sounds young)

New Friend.

We moved on through the park stopping at various sites, gaping for awhile then continuing on. We expected to do the same at Sand Dune Arch but instead found ourselves relaxing in a narrow sand floored cavern for what seemed like hours. After following the path up a stone pathway and through a narrow entrance we came to Sand Dune Arch. At the suggestion of the Indian family already playing on the arch we took off our shoes and felt the smooth sand between our toes. The sand was so fine it was like walking on a bed covered in silk sheets. We clambered up and down the rocks and cartwheeled in the sand as if this were our playground and we were having the most exotic recess of our lives.

Chiz and I made sand angels and lay in the sand contemplating just how we got to this moment. During our moment of zen the Indian grandmother behind us noticed she had lost her barrette and shouted "SHEET!" leaving us in convulsions of giggles. We would have moved into Sand Dune arch if given the chance but we had the nagging words of the visitor center video stuck in the back of our minds "Go see Landscape Arch before it's too late". It was getting late and we needed to get over there before dusk.

We trekked down to Landscape Arch, waving to different friends we made along the way. A National Park is the ultimate equalizer. No one owns the park, no one is a townie, no one is an outsider. Everyone who is a visitor to the park on that day becomes part of a pack. You see everyone over and over again, but not in an annoying DisneyWorld way, but rather in a familial "we're on this trip together" way. Would I like to travel in the same car as these people? Not on my life. But I did enjoy running into "friends" along the way.

When we reached Landscape Arch we marveled at it's delicateness. On any given day a strong wind could snap it in two yet it stands strong and majestic. We stood for pictures with a somber mood. A knowledge that we might one day show these pictures to our children or grandchildren with the message that we were there when the arch was still standing. There are no guarantees that we will be able to take our children back to that spot to see that arch. This is really a fact of life for anything. Nothing is guaranteed to be there. The Arch just served as a tangible reminder.

Life on Mars

There was one place that everyone told us we should go, Utah. No matter who we asked, everyone told us that a trip to Utah was neccessary. We were surprised to say the least. Almost as surprised as we were when we came home and everyone chewed us out for not going to the Corn Palace. Now THAT was surprising.

As we were preparing to leave my cousins house in Arizona I realized that I couldn't find my wallet. After tearing apart the house and car I realized that it was more than likely at the Grand Canyon. Credit cards...identification...medical stuff...all sitting out in the open at the biggest tourist attraction in the US. Or worse, hanging out at the bottom of it. I called the gift shop and after identifying myself they assured me that they had it. I inquired about the contents and they said the the best of their knowledge everything was still there. Phew....

Unfortunately this put QUITE the detour in our trip to Utah plans as there is no easy way to get to the Grand Canyon. When we finally made it there I ran in to grab it and noted with relief that my cards were all still there. My cash was definitely missing...but I figured I deserved that.

We took a quick look at the Grand Canyon, still impressive, then continued on to Utah. Ha, no, that would have been too easy. Actually we backtracked back down towards Flagstaff again and went to visit Wupatki National Monument. We had a National Parks Pass and we were damned sure going to use it. Why couldn't we have visited on our way TO the Grand Canyon? I forget, but we had a reason...believe me we had a reason...I hope. Wupatki is a series of ruins of an old Native American settlement (I want to say Navajo but I don't think that's actually correct. I apologize). The National Parks Service site gives vague credit to the Hopi, Zuni and Navajo tribes. Long story short, it's impressive. It is a massive structure with the remains of over 100 rooms. Very cool.

The day was quickly getting away from us and we had a trip to Utah to make so we couldn't stay long. We got back on the road, stopping briefly for "navajo tacos" at the Cameron Trading Post. A navajo taco is basically a giant taco made with fry bread rather than a taco shell. They are enormous and they are delicious. I think I will be able to eat one every 15 years. It was delicious, but I get full just thinking about it.

I had never actually seen a food item that I believed could kill...until I met navajo taco

After eating as much of the navajo taco as we could without dying we spent some time wandering around the trading post desperately trying to digest the beast. Unfortunately time seemed to pass even faster while we were inside and by the time we got back on the road we had only limited sunlight left. We drove up into Utah as the sun set amongst the rocks. I know I've talked about sunsets a lot on this trip, but they really are different everywhere you go...and each place seemed to get more and more spectacular. The rocks glowed red and orange as the sky turned from blue, to purple, to black. Once it went black everything went black. We were at the mercy of our GPS. Crossing into Utah I noticed the time on my phone had changed but thought little of it. I was more concerned when we reached a fork in the road and our GPS told us to go one way, while the paper map we had seemed to suggest a different way would be better. We trusted the GPS. One day technology will realize my dependence on it and start to destroy me by leading me astray. Today was not that day, thankfully.

As we drove through the deserted darkness I was vaguely aware of every 60 Minutes special report I had ever seen. We had the makings of a good one, two girls, setting out across the country to find themselves, alone in the Utah desert at night....choose your own ending. I need to cut off my own Law and Order: SVU access. Eventually another familiar feeling crept over me...that feeling that we were on top of a mountain. Sure enough the road began to twist and turn and scenic overlook signs started to crop up. Great, there's nothing I love more than being on top of a mountain in the middle of the night. I really like it when the roads are narrow and trucks are coming straight at you with their high beams on too.

Utah driving had all of this then threw in the added bonus of deer. Deer everywhere. Lining the roads you could see the light reflect off of their eyes creating tiny glowing spheres on either side of you. Does that sound creepy enough? Because it definitely was.

We pulled into our hotel in Cedar City, UT at around 10 o'clock...or so we thought. We were surprised to find the door locked as we were told after hour check in didn't begin until 10:30 or so. We rang the doorbell and waited before a night clerk let us in. We asked why they had closed early and she said "it's 11 o'clock". We checked our watches and said "oh....we have it as 10 o'clock....". "It's 11." she assured us. Chiz and I looked at each other, each silently pondering what our next question would be...clearly there was a code that we had to break. "Could it by any chance be 10 o clock in Arizona?" Ch'nel asked? "Yep!" the woman eagerly replied. I pulled up the map of American time zones that I keep in my brain and attempted to figure out where I had gone wrong, it was my understanding that Utah sat DIRECTLY to the north of Arizona and thus a time zone change wouldn't make sense. "So....there's a time zone change in between Arizona and Utah?" I asked. "Sometimes!" the woman replied. "But it is now 11 o'clock" Ch'nel asked, desperately trying to get a hold of a crazy situation. "Yes. There was a time change. You're in room 212. Good night!" and with that she retreated back into the room she basically hangs out in all night. Whatever time it was, I was ready for bed.

We checked the internet and discovered that Arizona does not observe daylight savings and is thus sometimes on Pacific time and sometimes on Mountain time. I remember my friend Megan telling us about this but I always assumed it was some sort of Wild West folklore.

The next day I woke up and decided it would be a good day for my Red Sox t-shirt. This was a great decision as nothing attracts friends better than a Red Sox shirt. Even in Utah they started coming out of the woodwork. The man sitting behind us in the pancake restaurant wanted to know my feelings on the day's Patriots game (my response: Wait....is it Sunday?!?!?! What time is it again?). We hit the road and went to Zion National Park where a couple from San Francisco (by way of Brookline) were interested in my feelings on what went wrong for the Sox that year. I stuttered through it the best I could (team wasn't cohesive...no clear leader...blah blah blah) before Ch'nel was able to distract them with tales of our road trip. No one is better at changing the topic of conversation than Ch'nel, and that's a fact. Whether she intends to or not....she is quite good at getting me out of sticky situations.

The entrance to Zion National Park marked the last time for the next 48 hours that my mouth firmly closed. From that point on I was in a constant state of amazement. Every twist and turn throughout that park and Bryce Canyon, which we hit up later in the day brought a new mesmerizing sight. We had seen some awesome things on this trip, Yellowstone, Yosemite, The Grand Canyon, but the parks of Utah were out of this world. I actually thought we might have left earth. You could blindfold me, put a spacesuit on me, fly me to Utah and tell me that I was on Mars and I would totally believe you. I am that gullible. And, it's like nothing else on Earth.

As I mentioned after we left Zion National Park we went over to Bryce Canyon National Park. Bryce was awesome, however we didn't give it nearly enough time. In order to fully experience Bryce we would have had to have at least a full day and probably a little more hiking experience. Bryce looked like a giant child (imagine the kid in Honey I Blew Up the Kid but BIGGER) had taken all the wet sand in the world, dyed it orange, and made drip castles like you make at the beach. Also imagine that kid had an advanced degree in architecture and was able to make arches out of said sand. It was cool to say the least.

Once again we were fighting the sun. It was clear that fall had come and we were now working against daylight savings. We had to make it to the other side of Utah for our next days adventures and while we were pretty sure there were no sudden mountains in our way, we definitely wanted to avoid midnight desert driving.

And so we took off across the open desert. Once we reached the major highway signs began to threaten us that we were about to reach a 100+ mile stretch without a rest area. We decided to play it safe and pull off at the last gas station/Subway sandwich shop. Here we also stocked up on CDs and cassette tapes, a steal at 3 for $5. As Chiz painstakingly sifted through her selections I went to go pay for my sandwich.

Cashier: Whaddya have?

Me: Just half a hoagie

Cashier: A WHAT?!?!?

Me: Sorry, sub, half a sub

Cashier: No, what did you call it?

Me: A hoagie? Sorry, it's a...

Cashier: That's crazy. $3.75.

I met back up with Ch'nel at the car and asked her what she picked. She eagerly pulled out The Prince of Egypt and Hercules soundtracks, a CD of patriotic music and a cassette tape of prank calls. Awesome. This was going to be an fun 100+ miles. We threw on The Prince of Egypt and settled back to listen to our first new music in a month. We love Party in the USA as much as the next person (probably even more than the next person) but we were glad to get the opportunity to put our well worn CDs to rest.

We made it through the 100+mile stretch and were just ready to pull into Moab, our base for the night, when lights began flashing behind us. Dammit. Chiz pulled over and we were met by our second state trooper of the trip. This state trooper was infinitely better than our first state trooper as:

1. He pulled us over for a legit reason (our taillight was out)

2. He didn't charge us anything ("Not a problem, but it is a safety issue so if you could get it fixed I'd appreciate it")

3. He really wanted to hear about our road trip ("You're from New Jersey? So where are you going? Moab? Oh you're really going to like Moab. Where have you been? Oh wow, everywhere then. This sounds like a great idea you must be having so much fun!" sadly he was then almost hit by a car and realized he should probably finish up his paperwork)

4. He was hot.

Yes. He was very, very attractive. How attractive? Very. Classic clean cut American male. My type. Loved it. I tried to hand over my own license just so that I could give him my name and address. He thought I was nuts. After Chiz gave him her information he went back and finished up the paper work. When he returned he had a friend with him. Apparently he told his patrol buddy that they had a car with two girls in it. I know I should be appalled by this...but I liked it. I cannot stress how nice and attractive these cops were. Like everything else in Utah, they were gorgeous.

After we finished with social hour we bid adieu and went on our way. Day one in Utah had been an overwhelming success. Nice views, nice people, nice weather...we couldn't wait to see what day two had in store.

Until we reached the National Parks, this was my face in Utah "WHAT TIME IS IT?"

Zion

The scale of these parks is inimaginable

Every individual rock formation is different

Bryce Canyon

I knew I loved Utah!