The morning after the last post I felt great and decided to do the yoga again. After getting my ass kicked and sweating a gallon, I had to fix my tire problem. I went to the first place and they told me that they couldn’t fix the tire. There was a cut in the side tread and it would be too dangerous to patch. They didn’t sell used tires and I couldn’t afford to buy a new one. I found a place that did and they threw one on for me. When that was taken care of I drove up to LA. I got in touch with my cousin Justin, who just moved out there to live with his fiancée Emily. I stayed with them for a few days last year. Justin left WI to move out here the same day I started my trip. On the way to LA he picked up a dog and is taking a lot of time to train her. We hung out for awhile and soon Emily came home from work. They are getting married in a castle in Germany and having a reception in Wisconsin, and LA. So they defiantly have some planning to do. I was only going to stay for a few hours but a few beers later I just stayed the night.
In the morning I headed out for UT. I drove through Vegas but really didn’t want to go alone to that. So I made it to St. George UT. I was sad leaving the heat and sun, but it had to happen sometime. The whole area is beautiful and I didn’t want to drive through it at night. So I picked up a few things at the grocery store and watched movies the rest of the night.
I started the drive north and saw several signs for Zion National Park. It wasn’t the park I planned on going to, but I figured I would check it out. This turned out to be, what I consider, the most beautiful place in America. You drive alongside a river that snakes up the cannon. On both sides are mountains of every color of stone you could imagine. Red, orange, yellow, green, black, purple, white, brown, grey. I talked to the visitor center; it’s always great to find someone who really knows the park. The guy I talked to worked here for 22 years. I told him what I was looking for and the time I had. He picked an amazing hike for me that took me up to one end of the cannon, called observation point. It was an 8 mile hike with some parts where the trail from frozen over. I was glad I always bring crimp-ons when I’m hiking in winter. After the hike I drove around the rest of the park seeing this amazing place. After the park I continued north. I drove a ways and pulled over to call it a night at a hotel in Richmond UT.
Sense I was at a hotel I figured I would see what’s for breakfast. I always love my free breakfasts. I was going to check out a national forest but it just didn’t seem like what I was looking for, and I would drive through part of it. So I spent the whole day driving east through the beautiful Colorado landscape. I saw a sign for Rifle Falls. I forgot who told me about this place but it rang a bell, I think it was one of my lovely aunts. So I drove over and I was really surprised by the whole place. Of course there was going to be a water fall, but there was actually 3 falls that lead down into a nice trout stream. But my favorite part was all the caves. There were lots of caves that you could crawl into and look around. The deepest one was probably 50 feet or so. But it was great and a lot of fun. When I was done there I made it to Edwards CO. It was starting to get dark and this is what I consider the “base” of the mountains on the west side. It seemed like a nice little mountain town, Lots of shops and restaurants. I found a nice hotel with an outdoor hot tub and pool, and soaked for a while. I really didn’t have anything else to do for the night, and I didn’t feel like hanging out at a bar. While I was soaking I talked to a guy who lives in the Denver area. He suggested to me that I try cross country skiing. Its things like this that I wouldn’t think of by myself. He told me a great place to check out with pretty cheap equipment rentals and lessons. After that I just watched some more movies for the rest of the night. I finally watched Transformers 3; this was slightly funny to me.
I slept pretty good and headed out. I drove to the Frisco Nordic Center and rented the equipment I needed. I signed up for a lesson at 2 and decided to try it out a little before then. I have never been one to think lessons are needed, more of a just do it kind of guy. But I have realized that they always help a lot, even if it’s just a few good pointers. I was the only one signed up for the lesson so it was one on one. The guy, Rob, was a great instructor and I was able to pick it up very quickly. Rob was pretty impressed and had me try several things that he didn’t usually show beginners. It was a lot of fun and I’m always glad to learn something new. If the mountain conditions suck one day I think I’m going to go back and try skate skiing. When the lesson when the lesson was over I practiced a few more things and then hit the road to Denver. I’m meeting up with my friend Matt P out here. He was on the snowboard trip last year and a month after the trip moved out here.
No comments:
Post a Comment