Where I am

One of the best things about McCarran Airport (Las Vegas) is free wireless internet, particularly when one is spending six hours in said airport today. It's a good consolation prize considering I found out yesterday that my credit card gets me into a new fancy pants lounge for free, but that lounge is in the other terminal. Other consolation prizes include my Moe's burrito and the pretty sunrise hitting the mountains.

So that's where I am right now: the airport. Heading home to New Jersey via Charlotte and Philadelphia (because I couldn't rationalize a layover in New York City to fly to Philadelphia but it was $40 more to fly just to New York or Newark).

Where I am in my life, personally, emotionally (and metaphysically, as Si Robertson would say)...

...that's another story. I am really, really excited for my new adventure in New Orleans starting at the end of the summer, which is sounding better and better all the time (I promise more details soon). I'm excited about another summer at Johnsonburg doing a job that I love. I'm excited about working at the Jersey Shore Arts Center a little in the meantime. I'm excited to see my parents, my family, my friends, the ocean, and pine trees. I'm excited to run the Muddy Buddy in Richmond with Brian in April and see Josh Ritter in D.C. with Brittany in May (and see what other Virginia shenanigans I can create).

I'm really sad that my cat won't be there when I get back tonight.

I'm really really sad about being so far away from Mike. I have a lot of things to be thankful for and excited about, but today it's feeling a lot like, "Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"

There are things I will miss about Arizona. The desert turned out to be pretty interesting, full of very unique beauty and some glorious adventures. I will miss my hilly morning walks, the weird desert plants, the big sky, and how nice my hair looks when humidity is absent.

I will not miss being unemployed. That made me nuts.

I'm doing all right. Actually, my life is generally pretty awesome these days. And, now that I've wasted some time putting some words down, only one more hour till boarding begins!

Arizona, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Arizona, Utah

Brian had a flight out of Vegas on Wednesday (March 13) and the Smithbauers had a flight tour of Lake Powell and Antelope Canyon, so Mike and I drove from Flagstaff, Arizona to Kanab, Utah via Las Vegas, Nevada, which involved a lot of weaving in and out of states on weirdly beautiful highways.

Going from Flag to Vegas was weird, losing the beautiful snow cover as we went down in elevation, back into the juniper-pinyon elevation before the high grasslands and eventually the scrubby desert. It was probably in the teens when we woke up in Flagstaff, and kind of toasty once we got back to the Mohave Valley and Desert on our way up to Vegas. We hit the In-N-Out Burger, whose veggie burger is stupid (a hamburger minus the beef, so a bun, lettuce, tomato and onion) but whose fries and grilled cheese are adequate enough. That was the most local cultural thing we could think of.

The drive continued on through ALL of Clark County, Nevada, which is way bigger than I thought (Nevada, which is more than 12.5 times the size of New Jersey, has only 16 counties, while NJ has 21). It is all desert and passes through some wide open empty reservation land (Moapa).

Back into Arizona, I-15 passes through the Virgin River Gorge and over the Virgin River seven times. It was stunning. There is little in the way of geologic lead-up to the gorge, nor did I have any idea it was coming despite my frequent staring at maps, so I was in absolutely awe when we got there. For an interstate highway, it sure has views. We drove through more reservation land (Kaibab-Paiute) and saw a few gas stations and rest stops but little else.

Then Utah (the first time!). More little gas stations and rest stops till we got to Washington, then Hurricane (why is it even called that?!), before hooking a right and heading back into Arizona, through Navajo land before heading back into Utah.

We stayed in Kanab, which seemed like a sleepy little tourist stop (in the middle of the Golden Circle of national parks, including Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion). Most of the main roads were under construction, but we had a great meal at a Mexican restaurant across the street from our hotel. Even in town, we had a nice view of the beautiful mountains, which would only get better as we carried on to more national parks for the rest of the week...

Mojave Desert

We've taken to adding a prefix to anything we (Mike, his fellow teachers and I) don't understand: "weird desert ______". It's fitting, especially given some of the crazy and beautiful things I saw in the Mojave Desert last weekend.

Last Saturday, a few of us went to Joshua Tree National Park. The drive there down CA-95 was nauseating, not in appearance, but in the up and down and up and down and up and down of the road. We're not even talking serious mountains here, just a road that dipped and rolled with a horizon that looks deceptively flat. I'm to blame for the route though. I picked it because Google Maps suggested it took the same amount of time as the bigger highway, and figured it'd be more scenic. It was actually really interesting to look at-- desert as far as you could see, which I'm learning includes a lot of weird desert plants, more than I ever would have guessed. The southwest is actually not like the Sahara, I've learned.

Something we thought was especially interesting was that as we paralleled the train tracks, was this intricate sort of graffiti made out of sticks and different colored rocks. People's initials, dates, names, images. I've never really seen that before.

California Route 62 drives along the edge of Joshua Tree National Park for a while, but not one Joshua Tree was spotted until we were well within the other side of the park near Twentynine Palms, CA. They are almost Dr. Seuss like. I can only imagine their weird shapes are a long-perfected adaptation to windthrow or something, knowing that root systems and branches have some balance to them. The weirder looking their crowns, perhaps the weirder looking and more anchored the roots? I don't know. They were really bizarre but very, very cool to stare at as we hiked and visited different parts of the park.

In addition to weird desert trees, the geology in the park was pretty weird looking. Everything was smooth and rounded and curved, as though a child was given some green, brown and grey crayons and told to invent a new planet. It was very beautiful, but kind of eery. I've never seen anything else like this place.

We stayed in Barstow, and the next day, Mike, Dustin, Hannah and I headed to Death Valley National Park. My ears rejoiced as we hit sea level, and despite how hot it was at -282 feet (close to 90 degrees till the sun began to decline), it was a really cool place. You can see snow capped Telescope Peak (part of the range that Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental US is in) from the salt flats in Badwater Basin (the lowest point in the US). There were mountains in every color, a stunning natural bridge, weird salt formations, and of course, weird desert plants. I was amazed at how much was growing in the park (not much, but more than nothing).

After a good rest in Pahrump, NV (another weird desert gambling town) we spent the next day meandering back to Bullhead City, with a stop at Red Rock Canyon just outside of Las Vegas. This place was really beautiful, and really unexpected. For one, the desert heading into Vegas seems so barren and empty (although we were proven wrong later, there are way more plants, including Joshua Trees, visible when you drive south from Vegas during daylight); the desert in this park had a lot of weird desert plants, and even some wild horses. Again, the rocks came in every color, and the wind erosion created some really great rock scrambles. We were able to sit pretty high on top of some red rocks and have a great view of the place.

The drive back to Bullhead City was pretty direct, but like I said, we saw way more plants than we knew were there. Having only flown into Vegas at night, I've seen some of the brush by the road, but it mostly looks like you're on the moon when you drive through the Mojave Desert. It turns out, the incredible darkness of the desert is hiding all sorts of yucca, Joshua trees, distant mountains, and other weird desert things. Really cool. Well, warm, it is February, and it is up over 60 degrees most days already...

1475 pictures later...

The rest of my southwestern expedition was good. After sleeping like rocks, we woke up and drove west on I-40 through forests, mountains and fields, with our first stop at Dunkin Donuts in Kingman, AZ.There are not many Dunkin Donuts in Arizona, in fact, Dunkin Donuts and Google were both incredibly confused about this one existing at all. If we hadn't seen the sign on the highway, we wouldn't have known.

We drove back down through the mountains to the desert, passing by the occasional trailer or shack on our way to Hoover Dam. Fascinating landscape. So apparently there is this history of forestry and mining in the region, but I don't understand why someone would just build a tiny house in the middle of the desert with nothing and no one for many miles. I mean, I saw outhouses. Legit outhouses. And not all of these places were connected to the power lines. Very interesting.

Lots of cactus.

We arrived at Hoover Dam in the middle of the day, and were very disappointed at how much money we were fooled into spending just to see the thing up close. We paid for parking-- ok, reasonable. But then we were charged to enter the visitor center, with no real clue that you didn't have to go through there just to visit the dam. We just wanted to walk across the damn dam. It was impressive though, tons and tons and tons of concrete and so much water backed up behind it. I kind of hate the ecological impact of something like that, but it is kind of impressive. Lake Mead is mind blowingly large.

We drove to Vegas with a stop at Del Taco, which was very tasty. We stayed at Circus Circus-- really nice room for super cheap, probably because they expected us to throw all of our money into their machines. Free parking, too. We took a cab down to the main part of the strip, spending the evening being exhausted by over-stimulation, but it was cool to see the lights and fountains and madness.

I'm home in New Jersey now, and have survived the first day of classes at both William Paterson and Rutgers Brookdale. I'm excited about teaching again but I definitely have my work cut out for me. I have a few small outings planned but will pretty much be staying in New Jersey this semester-- at least, as best I can guess right now. After I left camp last fall, I didn't expect to do much traveling this summer, if any besides the Jr. High Mission trip. Lucky for me, my life is more exciting than that--


From June to August, I visited 16 states (NJ, CA, NV, PA, OH, MI, NY, DE, MD, VA, NC, CT, MA, NH, ME, AZ) and 4 provinces (Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island), took 4 flights (Philadelphia to San Francisco and back, Philadelphia to Las Vegas and back), drove/rode in a car for over 6500 miles. I took 1475 pictures and experienced an infinite number of beautiful and awesome things.

I am pretty fortunate.

THREE corners

Yesterday, Mike took a half day from school to get his Arizona driver's license and plates. Obviously other adventures ensued...

After 2.5 hours at the Motor Vehicle Department, we set off to find the Three Corners. That's right, three. It's not really a thing, I just wanted to find the spot where California, Nevada and Arizona came together at the Colorado River. The earth view on Google Maps suggested that there would be agriculture on the Arizona side, desert in Nevada, and a small access road in California.


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Leaving Arizona, we drove into the Fort Mojave Indian Reservation, which I learned from NRCS this week is actually kind of checkerboarded with BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands and privately owned lands. It was amazing to smell the greenness (I'm serious, it smells way different than the desert) of the alfalfa and cotton along the river.

The road that I saw on Google Maps turned out to be a dirt road, which we didn't feel super comfortable going down 1. without four wheel drive (the sand is pretty soft in places) and 2. not knowing whose land it was. We were just about in three states at once when we crossed the bridge though--


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So instead we went back into Arizona to drive down to Needles, California because I wanted to visit California on this trip. There is pretty much nothing in needles though, but we did find a riverfront marina park, and I got to put my feet in the Colorado River. It was cool water, but very refreshing.

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Fort Mohave on our way back to Bullhead City. Upon getting home, Mike changed his license plates over, and we washed the New Jersey plates and hung them on the wall.

We've planned a trip to the Grand Canyon this weekend before I fly out of Vegas. It will be the first time for either of us to visit there. Pretty excited!

AZ hot as I thought...

So, I'm in Arizona. That makes 15 states and 4 provinces since June, 4 states and 3 provinces of which were new for me. And I thought I wouldn't get to travel much this year...

This is my first time to the southwest. I've had a layover in Las Vegas before, but that only counts so far as running through the slot machines at the terminals to make my next flight and seeing nothing but darkness surrounding all of the lights of Vegas as we landed and took off.

I landed around 10:30 PM local Friday/1:30 AM EDT Saturday after spending a sweet day in Philadelphia with a few friends. Mike kindly watched my flight status and was there waiting for me at baggage, even though I was half an hour early. We left the airport for our hour and a half drive back to where he's now living in Bullhead City, AZ, and I swear I felt like I was on the moon (a little bit tired, but really the landscape with nothing but headlights on it looks like the moon, hilly and rocky and sandy).

Mike had a blood-borne pathogens test to take at his school on Saturday morning, so I got to see his classroom and his school (there is NOTHING around it but desert and some far-off looking mountains) and met a few of his fellow faculty members. Other than that, I admittedly spent most of the weekend napping. I find it remarkable how much I love traveling, given the fact that I am terrible at time zone changes (not to mention excessive car sickness, which thankfully hasn't been an issue so far this trip). We did have dinner with a woman he teaches with and her husband, who live at the edge of a country club-- it's very weird seeing grass, but there are quite a few golf courses here in the desert (Mohave County at least borders the Colorado River, so they aren't pumping water too terribly far...)

While Mike goes to school, I've mostly sat around working on my Soil Science course online, or my syllabi for the three courses I'm teaching at William Paterson and Rutgers this fall. I have spent two days this week volunteering with the local NRCS office, which has allowed me to get out and adventure a little bit. I've mentioned once or twice on here that I've been volunteering with them since April, and I LOVE IT. Seriously. I just adore the things I've been able to see and learn about in the name of conservation all over New Jersey, and now in a small part of Arizona.

On Tuesday, I drove from Bullhead City through Union and Coyote Passes (~3500 and 3700 feet, respectively), through the Golden Valley and into Kingman to meet up with Erin, a rangeland specialist with NRCS. She took me to Peach Springs, in Hualapai Territory, via Old Route 66 for a meeting with some producers and conservationists about concerns and conservation practices in the area.


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It was a long day, but I got to see a lot of upper desert, into the mountains and across a plateau. I asked poor Erin about a million questions about Arizona vegetation, landforms and conservation, but she didn't seem to mind (she chose this as her career, after all). It has rained a little bit recently, so there are a lot of new grasses popping up all over the place, making the desert a lot greener than I expected.

Yesterday, I got to help Erin with a Natural Resource Inventory, which is basically taking note of every soil, rock and plant (and animals, which there weren't really any where we were) in a circle 150 feet in diameter. It took us about five hours, and we finished measuring and sampling just before noon. I was very grateful that there were some clouds and it was cooler at the higher elevation in the Kingman area, but it was a very cool experience getting to know the ecosystem pretty closely. Hopefully my Soil Science course will land me a job with these people in the future.

In the meantime, having a wonderful stay in Arizona!

post dated

This post is not actually being posted when it happened (4-6 June). Right now, I am secretly in Reno, Nevada.

"Ne-vă-da! Short A!" -Mike

I don't even know where to start with this. Mike had an interview in Reno and decided to fly into San Francisco and make a trip of it, and talk me into joining him, mostly by promising me redwood trees. Twist my arm, will you. It worked.

EPIC.

We landed in San Francisco and got on the road about 10AM local time. We'd already been awake for 11 hours at this point, with all of the adventures ahead of us still. Excellent. We wandered around Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39, acquiring caffeine and Ranier cherries and checking out the sea lions.

Drove up and down Lombard Street. Drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. Glorious.

At my dad's good recommendation, we stopped in Golden Gate National Recreation Area and drove up the windy, windy (one of those was weather and one of those was the adjective describing the not straight roads) road to an awesome vista of the bridge, the bay and the Pacific Ocean. The clouds even lifted for about thirty seconds of ridiculous scrambling to take pictures.

Next on the docket was an important, life-altering, beautiful thing. Tree of the day: Muir Woods. Because I was secretly on this trip, I couldn't tell anyone that this was happening AND IT WAS KILLING ME. I offered this on facebook in hopes that the few people in the loop would share my joy, but... REDWOOD TREES... and I couldn't tell anyone. It's like nothing I've ever seen. They're just so tall, and... tall. So tall. My mind was blown by one that was measured and determined to be as old as the United States. This 236 year old tree just seemed so tiny, because others around it were hundreds more years old. Just stunning.

Sadly, I had to leave that place because we did need to eventually make it to Reno. Driving on I-80 in this part of the country is very different than at home in NJ. We drove through Tahoe National Forest and into the Sierras after a brief stop for lunch in the Napa Valley. We noticed it was getting chillier as we drove up, and were shocked/ amused by the signs we passed announcing the elevation (for two kids who grew up at sea level, one of whom had not left the time zone before in his life? It was kind of awesome.)

We continued to ascend until we reached Donner Pass, which was kind of mind blowing to see in real life when I'd mostly only known it through the Oregon Trail computer game. I can imagine how one would get stranded there in the spring or fall, given that we were there in JUNE and there had been several inches of snow that morning. Out of the ordinary, for sure, but it still happened. In fact, it was so unusual that a news team was parked at the rest area where Mike and I stopped to have a snowball fight... and then they interviewed us for the evening news.

Reno itself was very interesting, just a big empty town in the middle of mountains and desert. We stayed at a casino just a few miles from his interview, just absolutely passing out after a full day (and a half, when you consider travel time and time change!) of adventures. The next morning we drove around town a little bit to kill time before Mike's interview, which went really, really well.

We celebrated at Great Basin Brewpub in Sparks (which is basically just the other, slightly-nicer half of Reno). Great food-- jalapeno wonton poppers? We need to figure out how to make those at home. But the beer was also really good. We tried samples of just about everything they had on tap, some better than others. The Cerveza Chilebeso (chili kiss beer) was pretty awesomely done, but we were most impressed with the Ichthyosaur IPA, also known as Icky. In fact, we brought a six pack home with which to celebrate whenever he would eventually get his first full time teaching job.

The rest of the trip was kind of hurry-- we didn't really leave much time for wandering off the beaten path, but we woke up early enough to see dawn in the Sierras (gorgeous, and now we more fully understand what "purple mountain majesties" means) and head back to San Francisco via Lake Tahoe, which was REALLY chilly for it being June. Beautiful though.

Cool trip. I loved seeing a part of the country that I had never seen anything like before. Also cool was finding out when we landed in Philly that he passed the first round interview and was eligible for hire in Washoe County, NV... except, we now know what would come of that... but it gives me a new place to visit in less than two weeks!