My Best Summary Job

I'm sure you're all quite upset with me because I haven't written one blog to tell you anything about my trip other than some kid saying he had wood in his pants. That really doesn't explain the size of the Grand Canyon, the number of bison we encountered in Yellowstone, or the price of tea in China (what is it, by the way?). Although, I can tell you the two formers, I can't help you with the latter, and besides, I'm sure that's all you want to know right now anyway.

I'll try to summarize this 2-week trip as best I can. In order to do that, I'll share with you a few pictures from some highlight events:

Although seeing Old Faithful go off was quite an incredible thing, I'd have to say this event was just as exciting. I'm not even sure if we were riding through Haynard Valley (the bison capital of Yellowstone National Park, basically) or not, but we came across at least 35-40 bison crossing the road. This picture is the result of that. We had more on the sides of our car and in back. We took numerous pictures and video until a jerk from the opposing traffic didn't feel like waiting and drove up, beeped his horn, and made them scatter. No thanks for you despite your you're-welcome signal as you passed us. You shouldn't be in the park if you don't appreciate the wildlife.

Ah, Avalanche Peak in Yellowstone. It was one of the many hikes we went on while we were in the park. Interesting story behind this one: We decided to go on this hike, and it happened to be the day we were moving from our cabins in Canyon Village to ones in Grant Village. The drive from where the hike started was about 45 minutes or so to Grant. We agreed to meet my mother-in-law and father-in-law at 6:00 that evening, and Jon, my sister-in-law (Erica), her husband (Chad), and I went on the hike. It was in bear country so we were a little nervous, and so were Jon's parents, but we each had a can of bear repellent in case we did run into one (Erica and Chad did earlier that morning on one of their hikes).

It was around 1:30 when we arrived at the start of the hike. We signed in and went on our way. We didn't know what we were getting ourselves into. We didn't make it up to the peak until about 5:00, and we still had to walk down and drive to Grant Village. The hike was 2.2 miles going straight up (10.5 thousand feet), and extremely tiring. We basked in the glory of accomplishing that. The way down was just as trying as the hike up. It took us an hour and a half to walk to the end where we signed out and tried to make it out to Grant Village as quickly as possible. Jon's cell phone was dead, and mine didn't have service, so when we got in service areas, Erica tried to use it to call 411, but only made it as far as asking what number she needed (Grant Village), and she lost her signal.

When we finally got there, his mom was in tears. She had sent out a search party of rangers to look for us. We felt horrible, but at least we were all ok.

We were able to ride mules/horses while we were at Zion National Park in southwestern Utah. I'd never ridden one before, so this was an experience altogether new to me. The mule I had was utterly belligerent and refused to move faster than a half a mile an hour. We were supposed to stay only 5-6 feet away from the horse in front of us. Well, I was more like 100 feet or more behind. Kicking, whipping (which I really didn't like doing), and anything else I tried wouldn't work. The only thing that did was when one of the guides yelled at her, and she'd move faster for a second or two and return to her slow pace. For being named Brighty, she sure didn't act like it (nor look it).

If you so desire to look at the rest of the pictures, I made an album on Flickr, so feel free to take a look at my album.

Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?

This blog has gone by the wayside the past week or so, and for that I apologize. It's been incredibly hard to update while trying to accomplish all that I'm trying to do before we go on the trip. You're probably all wondering what kind of trip this is going to be anyway. It's a pretty big deal to me since I haven't been anywhere past Kentucky/Tennessee, so to go all the way out to Utah and the surrounding states is a jump.

We're leaving late Thursday night to take a train out to Chicago, Ill. where we'll have a several-hour layover before boarding the sleeper cars to head out to Salt Lake City, Utah. While we're out there, we'll be doing everything under the sun. I'm particularly excited for the whitewater rafting trip down the Snake River. I've been wanting to do that for years (I was quite infatuated with The River Wild when I was a kid), so now I finally get my chance.

We'll also be horseback riding and hiking, and we'll be at the Grand Teton Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Canyon. Those rechargeable batteries will definitely come in handy.
From what I hear, it's like a whole different country on the west side. I can't say the eastern part of the country has much to appreciate, but maybe that's because I've lived here my entire life.

Just trying to prepare for this trip is somewhat stressful. I'm afraid I'm going to forget some vital thing, and then I'll be screwed. I've never been gone from home for 2½ weeks, but I'm going to enjoy every second of it. Being away from work for that long is going to be one of the most enjoyable parts. I can't even begin to tell you how these last two work days are going to be the longest of my life.

If I don't get to blog again before my trip, I hope you guys don't miss me too much or stop reading my blog because of my absence. I promise I'll be back at it by July 2nd! So au revoir, paka, goodbye.