Day Six - Arches NP & Canyonlands NP, Utah

We're leaving for Zion National Park in a few, so I will have to update my captions a bit later. We went to Arches & Canyonlands in eastern Utah yesterday, then arrived in Cedar City UT last night. It was overcast with a few intermittent showers, but thankfully it never really "rained" and the sun peaked out a bit now and then. The skies have cleared for today so I'm really excited! Here are a few pics:

Skydiver landing at Moab Airport

Entrance to Canyonlands NP - Island in the Sky District. The Colorado & Green Rivers cut through this area, dividing the park into three sections. This one was the closest to Arches NP. There are also the Needles & Maze districts, but be aware - none of them connect and all the roads are out and back.

In front of Shafer canyon

View from the rock ledge

Windy4WD road that was used for uranium ore mining in the old days

View of Monument Canyon from Grand Viewpoint Overlook. This canyon was carved by the Colorado River, which meets up with the Green River south of Island in the Sky district.

Mesa Arch - a beautiful sunrise hike (this is midday)

North & South Windows in Arches NP

Crow in front of Double Arch

Double Arch

At the bottom of Double Arch

Wall of caves

Buses in Moab with Thunderstorm

Colorado River through Moab

Eagle Canyon, part of the San Rafael Swell - the third scenic area that I-70 goes through

Day Five - Colorado & Utah

A late arrival into Colorado last night not only prevented us from getting the “Welcome to Colorado” picture, but it also took away from watching the Rocky Mountains unfold in front of us as we got closer. Or so I thought. Perhaps on a clear day, you would see the Rockies from eastern Colorado. How far east of Denver can you see the Rockies? Someday I hope to find out for myself. I do know that on clear days, Pikes Peak can be seen from the Kansas border.

Since Denver is the mile high city, I thought we’d have to go up some mountains before we got there. I was very surprise that the terrain remained relatively flat and bare, similar to Kansas (from what I could tell through the darkness interspersed with lightning).

We stayed in a pretty sweet place in Englewood, CO, the Boston Commons Hotel. We had an entire apartment with a washer/dryer (discovered in the AM) and dishwasher! Too bad we were only there 10 hours. To date, it has been the nicest and cheapest place we’ve stayed (though the Super 8 in Knoxville was very nice).

Apparently there is Rodeo in Denver.
First stop was Red Rock Amphitheatre, an outdoor music venue where U2 and DMB once played, in 1983 & 1995, respectively. We were 'lucky' enough to get there at the end of a high school graduation....pretty cool place to graduate!

Near Idaho Springs, the place where the Gold Rush began.

Tap the Rockies. Now these are the mountains I was expecting to see!

Driving west on I-70 through Colorado, we passed many ski resorts (Vail, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge) and went through the Eisenhower Tunnel (the highest tunnel in the world at 11,158 ft) and Glenwood Canyon (a rugged scenic gorge on the Upper Colorado with walls that rise 1,300ft). I learned many things: eastern Colorado is flatter than I expected, western Colorado in spring has many terrains – mountains with snow, canyons with green trees, plains/plateaus with not much to them - , and my car definitely notices the lack of oxygen in the air even if I don’t.

Glenwood Canyon

I-70 runs along the Colorado River, which was definitely high and moving

California Condor? Or just a crow?

Outside of Grand Junction, CO, we detoured to the Colorado National Monument. There is a 30mile scenic drive that takes you to the top of a canyon and around the rim (hence crater rim drive). It was a beautiful drive once my car made it to the top, slowly but surely. Unfortunately, thunder clouds were in the area, so at some points I had to photograph from the car due to brief downpours. I missed out on the stamp by 15 minutes because the visitor center was closed. Guess I will just have to come back!

See the V in the center of the large canyon? A new canyon within a really old one!

Due to the burns and break pattern, we decided this tree was struck by lightning. We saw more than just this one. Not the best place to be during a t-storm.

Grand Canyon Viewpoint

After that it was another hour or so to Green River, UT, where we are staying for the evening. Thunderstorms and overcast skies caused us to skip going to Arches for sunset tonight, so we’re just relaxing and resting our bums (mine is actually a little sore). At least we could see the rain in the distance - yes we did go through this. It lasted about 3 minutes and smelled delightful.

Tomorrow starts a weekend of hiking in the national parks! I'm excited for a break from driving/sitting.

Day Four - St. Louis to Denver!

Yesterday we woke up and headed into downtown St. Louis to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, where the Gateway Arch is located. Thankfully, we got there just before all the field trip groups, because the top of the arch is pretty tiny, as are the tram cars that take you to the top! It was a gorgeous day so the view from the top was great!

Here is Cardinals Stadium from the Arch (have I mentioned I love my new Nikon D90 and 18-200mm lens?)

Downtown from the top of the Arch

Looking almost straight down
We were able to see the reasons for all the detours in the area – the mighty Mississippi River has breached the river bank.

Holding on

With such easy access, I couldn’t help putting my feet in the Mississippi.

Gateway Arch

Downtown Kansas City, Missouri
We stopped for lunch at the Flying Saucer in Kansas City, Missouri. They had Strongbow on tap!! The downtown area was very clean with lots of bars to choose from.

There was also a stage area where Kansas City, Live! happens.

Their convention center looks like a UFO – not sure if this is on purpose.

So many windmills!

Stopping for a picture in front of the wind farm in Kansas. I swear we saw this area from the plane on our way out to San Diego last time!

Sunset in Kansas before the clouds came rolling in

Today we are in Denver, heading to Red Rock Ampitheater, Colorado National Monument and Utah!

Day Three - Knoxville to Nashville to Louisville to St. Louis!

Lots of stops today! Headed across TN to Nashville (the Athens of the South) for lunch with Kt at Bosco’s! It’s been forever since we’ve seen each other – so great to see you! It was a perfect day and after lunch we drove through the pretty Vanderbuilt campus then went over to the only full scale replica of the Parthenon in the world. It was built in 1897 for the Nashville Centennial Exposition. Originally made of plaster, wood and brick, it was rebuilt in 1920 out of concrete.


Next we drove through downtown and I snapped some pictures along the way.

Next stop, Mammoth Cave National Park. Unfortunately, we didn’t go in the caves – you can’t self tour and the tours were all a few hours. Since we were still in Central time and headed back to Eastern for dinner, the timing just didn’t work out.

We did hike down to an entrance of a cave where a man named Floyd Collins got trapped in 1925 and a huge rescue was attempted but unfortunately they didn’t get to him in time.

Then we drove down to the Green River Ferry crossing.

Up to Louisville to have dinner with the Sears! Emily is 37 weeks and looks amazing!

After dinner, we drove 3.5 hours to St. Louis (well, Fairview Heights). It was the most boring drive yet, with many miles of one lane interstate, but I’m sure that will be topped today with Kansas. We’re off to the top of the Gateway arch!

Day 1 & 2

Well it's been a long but fun two days! Yesterday was just a short 3 hour drive down to Washington DC where I met up with so many good friends - from VHS, WM & roomies from my time in DC! Walked around the Tidal Basin on a gorgeous day, got another monument stamp, hung out at the National Mall, happy hour at Whitlow's, then the Nationals game!

FDR National Monument

Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin

United States Capitol Building

Amazing sunset over Washington Monument from Nationals Park parking garage
Kerri and I in the field level seats!

Action shot from the Diamond Club level seats (with zoom - heart my camera!)

Today consisted of an early and long, 8 hour drive from DC to Knoxville TN. Thanks to Sherman for pointing out the "Original Italian Restaurant" in Buena Vista, VA - best meatball sub I've ever had besides my grandmom's! It was huge, cheap and delicious. While driving down 29 towards Charlottesville, I was really hit by the reality that I'm leaving the east coast. I mean, I've been about 6+ hours from VA for the last two years, but I visited numerous numerous times. And I plan on visiting more, but it's just farther. I love VA, it's such a beautiful state. I was alone for this portion of the drive, so I was unable to take many pictures but I did manage the Tennessee welcomes you sign!

Once in Knoxville, I picked Ryan up at the airport so I will be driving alone no more! We went to a place called Quaker Steak & Lube for dinner - very yummy! Followed by a trip to a bar near the University of Tennessee called Barley's - reminds me of Capital Ale House in Richmond, due to the wide selection of beer on tap. I can't remember the last time I had a $2 pint.

Well that's all for tonight! Tomorrow, we head to Nashville, Louisville and St. Louis!

One hundred thousand...and nine

I've had my little honda civic for almost 7 years now. she's been to many places - as far north as Maine, as far south as North Carolina & now as far west as Tennessee! All day during my 8 hour drive from DC to Knoxville, I was watching the odometer get closer and closer to 100,000 miles - normally I have it on a trip setting. Not today, today was a big milestone! Then we went out to dinner this evening and somehow on short drives you don't pay attention as much....and I missed it!!!! We caught it at 100,009 so I guess this will have to do. So far, I've gone about 850 miles since leaving CT. Only 2400 more to go!!

Graduation

After two long, challenging years, I am finally done with school (until I decide to go back, ha)! It's a bittersweet time though, because I've made many good friends here and we all are going our separate ways :( The upside is I see many roadtrips in my future to visit people!

It couldn't have been a better weekend - my parents and all 4 grandparents made the trip up to CT from NJ, it finally stopped raining, and it was warm enough to comfortably wear a dress! I also got the lens to my new Nikon D90 DSLR camera so Ryan could take some really great pictures!

The whole family

Ryan & I

Leeanna, Tiffany, Me, Lauren & Steph

Congrats Pathologists' Assistant Class of 2009! We made it! (14 of 18 of us)

Also, congratulations to my sister Stephanie for receiving her B.S in Pharmacy Studies from UConn - only two more years to go for you, it will fly by!

Being able to sleep in has been pretty awesome. I'm just about finished packing here, I just have to load my car. I have a cross country bag, a Hawaii bag and lots of California boxes. I leave on Monday for the 8 day cross country drive - be sure to check back, as I'll be posting pictures and stories from the road!!

Moving

I hate moving. I really do. I have moved in&out 13 times since freshman year of college. This is numero 14. Thankfully, I haven't had to move in TWO YEARS. That's the record. Moving always makes me realize that I have SO MUCH stuff. Stuff that I feel like I need. As I've previously been moving to a place within 5 hours, we've just rented a UHaul and piled the stuff in. My mom always packed extra toiletries, cleaning supplies and food. When I moved to CT, there was a box that I packed my senior year of college and hadn't even touched for two years.

Luckily, the plan for California is as such: take 4 larges suitcases to leave with fam while apartment hunting (check), pack as much in Honda Civic as possible, ship the rest. Purchase "new" furniture & other essentials in California (anyone have tips besides Craigslist?). I have a giant goodwill pile, lots of papers to recycle and lots to give away. Major spring cleaning happening here - break time is over :)