How did I not realize that I hadn't posted the second part of our vacation?! Too much work, I guess. Life is exhausting and it doesn't seem to be slowing down... I need to get used to it.

Arches National Park/Canyonlands National Park
Moab, UT
Kokopelli Inn, 5/5
We loved Moab, everything about it. If it weren't so far away from everything I think we'd want to live there. And run a funky little hotel, like the Kokopelli. It was tiny (8 rooms), cute, and so darn fun!

Arches was by far our favorite National Park and that's really saying something because we liked most of the places we went. The hikes were great, the scenery was spectacular and the crowds weren't too bad. We spent 2.5 days here and could have easily stayed longer. The visitors center at Arches couldn't have been better. It had been recently renovated and it showed. The hikes in Arches were great although we tried to do them in the morning and evening; afternoon temps in August are pretty brutal. While here we saw Delicate Arch, Double O Arch, Landscape Arch, and more that I've forgotten or am too lazy to look up the names for.

Canyonlands was less impressive. Honestly, if you don't have the time to go backcounty in this park, my advice would be to skip it. The overlooks weren't that great when compared to the others we saw on this trip and it just paled in comparison to Arches. By this point I was starting to realize that canyons just don't amaze me the way I thought they might. I like getting "up close and personal" with the scenery instead of stopping at (or hiking to) scenic overlooks. Now I know!




Our plan after Arches/Canyonlands had been to drive down to Arizona and do some kayaking on the Colorado River. We decided to change our plans last minute and drive over to Colorado to catch an additional park.

Mesa Verde National Park
Cortez, CO
Super 8, 1/5
I'm trying really hard to come up with something good to say about this hotel. The best I can come up with is that it didn't have bed bugs. And was cheap. And we managed to sleep there. I guess that means it could have been worse.

Mesa Verde was great for a park I'd heard almost nothing about. Totally different from the other parks we visited (history instead of geology) but a lot of fun. Thousand year old cliff dwellings are awesome, and who doesn't love a good mystery?! The fact that this civilization lived and thrived in this area and then just disappeared is way interesting. Interesting is actually an understatement; it was pretty awe-inspiring and I'm not even a history buff. Not even a little. We were both really glad we nixed the kayaking in favor of this park. And we got a chance to see our favorite family of strangers again. They really added something to this trip! If you happen to know them in real life, say hi!




We stopped at four corners on the way to Page. Yes, we know that it's not actually in the right spot and yes, it is a total tourist trap. But go anyway because it's neat to pretend!

Page, AZ
Quality Inn at Lake Powell, 3/5
The hotel was fine. A little more dated than one I'd normally go with but Page didn't have too many decent hotels that were reasonable priced to choose from. It was clean and there was a free breakfast.

No national parks here, but we did get a chance to go to Glen Canyon Dam. Big. Wow. I'm not a huge proponent of hydroelectric power so Zach had to keep giving me dirty looks on the tour as I was muttering insults towards the tour guide. I'm sure he couldn't hear me. Much. After that we hiked into Lower Antelope Canyon and, even though the Navajo charge an arm and a leg to go in, it was worth it. It lives up to all the pictures you see! It was a quick way to part with $$ but worth it. Be sure to appreciate the coal-fired power plant in the distance when you emerge from the canyon. It really adds to the natural beauty ... and also explained all the haze I'd been seeing. Needless to say, this gave me another topic to rant about as we hiked back to the car. We also got to see a horseshoe bend in the Colorado River. Spending 24 hours in Page was perfect; anymore than that and we would have been bored so we were glad we had added in Mesa Verde the day before.







Grand Canyon National Park
North Rim, AZ
North Rim Lodge, 4/5
Staying in the park was neat, but not something I'd pay extra to do. At the North Rim it's the only option though, so that's what we went with. It was neat to stay in a little cabin. Rustic for sure, but that's the North Rim as a whole.

I have to say that the Grand Canyon fell far short of my expectations (and I didn't realize that I had expectations!). It was just ... boring. The hikes weren't as awe-inspiring as the ones we did in Zion/Brye/Arches/everyotherpark. I think I said "Okay, now what?" about 30 minutes after we got there. We did take a mule ride into the canyon while we were there. We had to do something to fill the day and I did enjoy that. Sort of. I enjoyed it more than I would have enjoyed sitting in the cabin. Thanks Ben and Flex for carrying our lazy butts down into the canyon! I'm sure it was the high point of your day too! Really, this park was just not our favorite and it wasn't because there was anything wrong with it; it was just too slow-paced for us. They can't all be winners. But I did get to see a bronze statue of Brighty (of Brighty of the Grand Canyon fame). That was the best part of this park. Seriously. I even had my picture taken with him.




And with that, the trip was just about over. We spent another night in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand again but this time we were exhausted. We did some walking around but we just wanted to crash. Overall we were really happy with the trip. The things we'd do differently aren't things we could have known before taking the trip. We timed things pretty well and I think we'd both recommend this trip to, well, everyone!

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Out West, part 1

So, one month after we got back from vacation, it's time to post some pictures. I had the grand idea of posting a crazy elaborate recap but lets be honest, if I haven't been able to do it in the last month chances are really good that I'm just not going to find the time. Such is life. The vacation was awesome. I'd do it again in a heartbeat and change very few things about the trip. We loved Hawaii so much last year and this trip surprised me as being equally great in a totally different way. It's really impossible to pick out my favorite things because it was all so foreign. That part of the US is so different from what we're used to on the east coast. Surprisingly, I think that I liked it better. I'm more partial to rocks than to foliage so I guess it would make sense.

Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas is Las Vegas; I'm not sure what to say! We had as awesome stay at the MGM Grand and managed to get upgraded to a sweet suite - it was a nice way to start the vacation! They had some pretty wallet-friendly packages available while we were there so we ate and played and drank for less than an Econo Lodge room. And I managed to win $50! We were almost sad that we only stayed for one night.



Zion Nation Park
Springdale, UT
B&B: Under the Eaves, 3/5
The B&B was nothing amazing but it was priced competitively and included breakfast at Oscars, a restaurant right next door. It was worth it for the breakfast alone. I'm still craving the vegetarian omelet and the fresh guacamole that came with every meal. I'd almost go back for that alone...

Zion was fun although the weather on the second day could have been better. We hiked Angels Landing on the first day we were there and it kicked out butts. It was worth it but jet lag + crazy switchbacks on the trail = a really tired Felicity at the end of the hike. The views were amazing but it was a trail to hike with caution; a hiker had fallen and died the day before we arrived and it wasn't hard to imagine falling at several spots along the way, especially towards the end. We were careful though and lived to tell about it.



On the second day we hiked the Narrows, a hike up the Virgin River. We rented shoes and hiking poles at one of the outfitters it town so we were a very attractive looking pair. Fashion aside, I can't imagine hiking in flip flops or bare feet (which we saw people doing) and the pole kept me from falling several times. Money well spent. I wish that I had loved the hike but I didn't. The weather was unseasonable cool that day,the 60s in southern Utah in August (shouldn't happen, every other day was in the low 100s), and it was dreary. Our pictures didn't turn out well because the lighting was so dim in the canyon and we were really too chilly to take out the camera during much of the hike anyway. I think I'm glad we did the hike but I think it would have been 100x more enjoyable on a hot, sunny day. You can't win 'em all. We did meet a family that we'd run into several more times on our trip; they were fun and friendly and looking for each other ("Hey! It's you again!") in the various parks became a game of sorts.


The drive out of Zion towards Bryce was so cool; I wish we'd had an extra day to do some exploring on that side of the park. The rock formations were amazing and I kept bugging Zach to pull over so I could run around looking at them. I have a new found appreciation for sandstone and I liked it pretty well before - it was probably in my top 10 for favorite rocks. I think it's up at 2 now. (And I'm not ashamed that I have favorite rocks.)


Bryce Canyon National Park
Bryce, UT
Hotel: Best Western Bryce Canyon Grand
Nice hotel. Really new; I think it had only been open for 1-2 months. The room was clean and modern and the free hot breakfast was just fine. Of the few hotels around Bryce Canyon, this is the best option by far.

Bryce Canyon was great. We did two long hikes while we were here: the Fairyland Loop and a combination of the Navajo/Queens Garden/Peekaboo trails. We liked the combination hike better but both had spectacular views. They felt very similar though so in hindsight we could have done one less and left a day earlier. Bryce was uber expensive so cutting a day off would have saved quite a bit of money. Both of the trails we did we're relatively empty compared to the ones we had done in Zion. They were both longer though (6.5 and 8.1 miles) so that may have had something to do with it. Hiking among the hoodoos was great and they're very photogenic! I did manage to get a wicked sunburn though.



Capital Reef National Park
Torrey, UT
Sandstone Inn, 1.5/5
Worst hotel of our trip. Actually, there's a tie in that category. It was bad but there we very few options in Torrey. It wasn't dirty but it was very, very dated. It just didn't have a nice feel to it. We survived; it was only for one night.

I didn't expect to like Capital Reef all that much; it's a new park (formed in the 70s) and I didn't know much about it. We only planned one full day here and for this trip that was enough but I would like to go back. There's a lot to see in this park if you go off-roading so we'll rent a 4x4 next time and explore. This park has some unique features, namely the orchard in the middle of the park. Mormons settled here in the late 1800s and planted an amazing variety of fruit trees. The last residents moved away in the 1960s but the fruit trees remain and the park service maintains them. You can eat the fruit off of the trees for free and they also make it into pies that you can buy in the park. The strawberry-rhubab was my favorite although the cherry was good too.



Escalante-Grand Staircase/Calf Creek National Recreation Area
We stopped here on the drive to Arches and did the Lower Calf Creek Falls hike. It was a nice way to break up the drive and it also ended up being one of our favorite hikes (who am I kidding, I say that about all of them). Hiking to a waterfall seemed so strange in a desert but it was great! The water was freezing and I'm in awe of the [insane] people who jumped in. There were some really great campsites along the creek and it would have been nice to spend the night here.

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Updated house pictures, finally! We leave for vacation on Monday so the house is relatively clean and I wanted to document the occasion. I'm really happy with the way things are coming together.

Entry:

We need storage wherever we can find it (remember: no closets in the house) so the dresser, courtesy of Salvation Army, was a great addition to the hall. It stores dog leashes and toys, candles, and our collection of board games.

Living Room:

I.love.this.room. We're finally starting to spend time in here! When we first moved in we basically lived in the two upstairs rooms; one was our bedroom and the other was everything else. It was time to change that so we moved the couch downstairs and with it came the tv. That move also allowed us to turn the upstairs room they came from into a spare bedroom. No pictures of that though, it's our staging area for packing.

Kitchen/Dining Room:

The only real change here is the color. It was a taupe shade before but that never felt right. The room never gets direct sun so it always felt shadowy (new word?). The yellow really warms it up and also looks great with the cabinets.

Bathroom:

My second favorite room! We regrouted part of the floor and put in a new vanity. When we moved in we modified a dresser and used that as a sink cabinet but it was never quite right (looked better in the magazine than it did in real life). So we changed it. Hooray, IKEA! The vanity is actually three kitchen cabinets that we modified (kitchen cabinets are deeper than bathroom vanities) and we made a concrete top for it. We're thinking about doing concrete counters in the kitchen so this was our trial run. It went super smoothly and I love how it turned out. It increased out storage exponentially and I love the pull-outs in the right cabinet.

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I love coming home. I spent the last week at a conference for AP teachers and while it was extremely informative, interesting, and worthwhile, it just wasn't home. It's been a while since I slept in a dorm room and boy, I had forgotten how uncomfortable those beds are! And don't even get me started on the food... Now we're off to PA for a quick family reunion and then back to VA on Monday or Tuesday. I need to post some updated photos because the house is rapidly being transformed into something in which a sane person would want to live. That is good, since we may be looking for a sane person who wants to live here in the not-so-distant future... More on that later!

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Happy 4th of July!

So much for a holiday - we spent the morning sprucing up the front porch instead of lazing around relaxing. Our flags are out, the hanging planters (I love IKEA!) are up and the floor has been painted. And I have the sunburn to prove it! It was worth the work though and after spending two weeks on vacation I really didn't need a day off. Yet.


Here's the porch prepainting. The brown is not quite the shade we were looking for but it's worlds better than the peeling gray paint that was there!

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We're home! Aside from spending too much time in the car, we had a great vacation! I ate boiled peanuts on the drive down and the drive back so I was a happy traveler. (I used to think they sounded gross when I lived "up north" but after moving south I've been converted. They're great!) I love going away but really, there's no place like home. Charleston, St. Augustine, and Orlando were all fun but pulling up in front of our house on Sunday was the best. The time away from everything let me relax but it also gave me the motivation I need to [hopefully] finish some projects around the house that have been dragging on for way, way too long. Finally!

Charleston, SC

Lodging: Doubletree Inn and Suites Historic District, 4/5*
Excellent location (really, couldn't have been better) but the walls were a little thin.

I had never been to Charleston before and I was so, so happy that it met my expectations! The weather was stifling but that's the south in the summer. You get used to it. The houses and buildings were just as impressive as they look in pictures and really, the pics don't do them justice. We'll definitely go back.

St. Augustine, Fl

Lodging: Best Western Seaside Inn, 3.5/5*
The bed wasn't too comfy but the location made up for it. We were right across from the beach and had a great view.

I was looking forward to St. A quite a bit. I love old buildings, obviously, and the beach and St. A has both of those! Unfortunately, it didn't wow me. I've discovered that I'm not a huge fan of Spanish-influenced architecture. Who knew?! The seafood was awesome though and it gave us a few days to veg on the beach when it got too hot to explore. This is probably not a town we'll return to but it was worth a visit.

Orlando, Fl

Lodging: Winsdor Hills Townhouse, VRBO# 53572, 5/5*
Perfect location. Modern amenities, super comfortable beds, clean, spacious, in a gated community. Really, everything we could have wanted.

Orlando was Orlando, incredibly touristy. We only go when we get free tickets, that's my excuse! It is fun though, and the house we stayed in was great - the pool in the yard made everything alright. Disney was crowded and the Magic Kingdom was a total letdown; I remember liking it so much more. The rest of the Disney parks were much better. I think Epcot was my favorite (Soarin' was amazing), although Hollywood Studios (love Rock n' Roller Coaster) and Animal Kingdom (disappointed in Expedition Everest but Finding Nemo: the Musical and the Lion King made up for it) were both close behind. We did Universal while were were there too. It was fine and not as crowded as Disney but by then we were tired of rides and ready to come home. I have to say that Univeral has nicer scenery. In terms of appearance, it beats Hollywood Studios hands down.

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Oh, summer vacation, you can't get here soon enough! We're down to one month of school left (that's 19 school days, not that I'm counting) and then it's three months of freedom! We've been planning our summer excursions for the past few weeks but it's time to kick it into high gear since the time is drawing near. Planning is at least half the fun for me but sometimes you need to stop weighing the options and just book it! We're planning two long trips this summer: Florida for 16 days in June and then Nevada/Utah/Arizona for another 15 days in August.

We're doing the Florida trip on the cheap; actually we're only doing it because it's cheap. Disney is offering free 5 day tickets to service members who were activated during 2008 and discounted tickets to their family members. We also won two 7 day tickets to Universal Studios and decided to combine the two offers into one very long amusement-park-heavy vacation. We're not huge Disney/Universal fans; they're too commercial and we hate wasting money doing things that we've already done before (we did Disney in 2002 during their last military offer) but the price was too good to pass up. We invited my parents and sister to do Disney with us since they haven't been down in almost 20 years. We're leaving right after school is out and will spend one day in Charleston, SC and two day in St. Augustine, Fl on the way to Orlando. We rented a townhouse for the first 8 days while everyone is there and will move to a hotel for the last four. We're trying to plan a few days away from all the madness too - maybe one to the Gulf Coast and another to Homosassa Springs to see manatees. It'll be fun.

I'm really looking forward to our trip out west; too bad we have to wait until August! We're going to visit Las Vegas (nickel slots!), Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Monument Valley, and the Grand Canyon North Rim. I'm not quite done planning this one, but it's getting there. It may not have the tropical allure of Hawaii, but this vacation should be just as amazing as the one we took last year.

June, July, and August - the three best months of the year!

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Spring! The weather this weekend was pretty nice so in addition to running errands and wasting time we took the opportunity to do some work in the front "yard" yesterday. We planted three holly bushes along the back retaining wall and put in some smaller plants along the sidewalk. We also took advantage of the sales at Home Depot to grab some mulch for $.99/bag. We have about 15 bags left so I guess we need to work on the flowerbeds along the driveway now.


All winter we've been planning and practicing to run in the Monument Ave. 10k in Richmond next weekend. Live bands, cheering crowds, and 30,000 other people running just sounds like fun. Unfortunately Zach ended up with an Army engagement next weekend and I'm not too keen on doing the race by myself so we ran our own version of the 10k this morning instead. We treked over to the Petersburg National Battlefield and ran from one end to the other and back again. I know that 6.2 miles isn't all that far, but I haven't done much running since early college and it was nice to have a reason to get back in shape. My time was okay, 71 minutes (with hills!) but next year, assuming the Army doesn't interfere and I don't lose my motivation, I'd like to do it in under 60 min. Zach's pushing for a marathon but I'm not quite sure I'm ready to commit to that!

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I love snow days! Zach and I both had a free day today and we made the most of it. We spent the morning exploring Pburg in the snow - not something we get to do very often. We had about 4-5 inches of snow here which is enough to get me out of school for two days and turn the town beautiful! With the temperatures warming up later this week it won't stick around long enough to look nasty. That's really the worst part of winter snow, I think - the way it looks after it's been plowed.

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Things have been quite on Henry St. This past weekend brought us unseasonably warm weather (welcome February!) and we took advantage on in on Sunday with a walk around town. Zach gave me a Diana F+ camera for Christmas and I took it along to try out for the first time. I'm fully prepared for an ugly first showing but it was fun anyway! I love taking pictures and the Diana is so simple to use; it's a big change from the dSLRs Zach and I both play with on a regular basis. I have four pictures left on the roll and I'm really looking forward to developing it and seeing how things turned out. And, to tie this in to my 101 list, hopefully I'll get some shots from the Diana that are worthy of hanging up around the house. Our walls have been bare for long enough!

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