Arches National Park

Before I show you pictures of my brief visit to Arches National Park, I have to tell you the most exciting thing that happened to me during my 3-day drive back to New Mexico:

I saw Tabitha Stevens in a restaurant!

Ok, most of you probably don't know who Tabitha Stevens is, unless you are a fan of Dr.9021o, a fabulously graphic plastic surgery show. If you are as devoted a watcher as I am, then you will remember the infamous anal bleaching episode. (If you haven't seen this, and aren't squeamish or highly moral, then I highly recommend you click here.) THAT was Tabitha Stevens! She lives in Utah, and while Jason and I were having dinner in Green River, I spotted her sitting a few tables over. I said to Jason, "Doesn't that look like that porn star who was on the plastic surgery show?" He agreed, so when I came home I looked her up online, and it most definitely was her. Sigh, I have never seen a celebrity before... and when I finally do, its a porn star. Such is my life.

Anyway, it so happened that our route home went right by Arches National Park. We didn't have too much time to sight see, so we drove the park road and stopped at all the overlooks. The rocks are orange, and sometimes they have holes in them. That's the gist of the park. Here are some pictures:

Here's Delicate Arch, which is famous because it's on the Utah license plate. It looks tiny in the picture, but you can hike up to it and it is apparently quite big. (Or so they say; it could be a scam and just be a little clay model.)

Maybe I'm jaded by the desert after living here for so long, but I wasn't totally wowed by this park. The arches were interesting because they are freak occurrences, but most of the park is barren desert. It's also a fairly small park, and hot, so my recommendation would have to be not to make a specific trip here. If you are nearby, or are going to other attractions in Utah, then it is a worthwhile detour.

And who knows, you might also see a porn star!

On the Road Again (Soon)

First, knitting progress:

Inga is coming along OK, but slowly. The hat is curling so badly that it is frustrating to work with, particularly on needles that are too long. But, that will all be fixed by blocking in the end. I haven't yet perfected my fair isle technique, but that was sort of the point in knitting this hat in the first place.

The pile of stuff in the living room grows steadily. Tomorrow morning it will all be shoved into the car and we will take off towards Utah. I have never been to Utah before, so I wanted to at least drive through while I was close. (Notice the stuffed bison? I'm generally against stuffed animals, but because this is a BISON, I made an exception. The only other exception I may make in the future is a stuffed two-headed calf I once saw at Ripley's Believe It or Not.)

It's been a fun 2 months up here in the north, but I'm looking forward to warmer temperatures, a room full of craft supplies, my own kitchen, weightlifting, kickboxing, satellite TV, my own bed, and my new Netflix Roku! And, my Grand Canyon trip is coming up in just one month, so more stunning nature pictures will be coming.

Koolhaas: Finished

I think it's pretty obvious that this hat is awesome, considering that there are almost 2,000 of them on Ravelry! 2,ooo knitters can't be wrong. This pattern appears to be daunting upon first glance, but like most knitting, once it clicks, its not that bad at all. Oh, yeah, you probably want to see some pictures.

This is an example of the perfect yarn for the perfect pattern. The Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran is squishy and soft and stretchy. It was a little splitty to work with, but it was worth it for the great stitch definition. Next up is the Inga hat, which is my first foray into fair isle. I had a pretty good system, until I realized that I needed to twist the yarns on the long floats, and I haven't figured out a good way to do this. Internet, here I come!

Trail Journal: Mt. Washburn

Trail: Mt. Washburn
Date: August 29, 2008
Distance: 6.4 miles
Elevation change: 1400'

As we are leaving Yellowstone in six days, this was our last major hike. It'll be sad to leave all of the fascinating landscapes here, but at the same time I feel like I've conquered Yellowstone. There will always be more trails to hike, but I've seen all of the major parts of the park, along with some not-so-major ones.

Mt. Washburn is the park's "most popular day hike," with about 10,000 visitors per year. However, when you consider that last year the park had 3,151,343 visitors, that means that only 0.3% of them hiked the most popular trail! Even so, the parking lot was pretty crowded.

Not long into the hike we encountered some mountain goats. I've never seen mountain goats in the wild before, and because they were on the trail, I hoped they would be friendly. At one point, there was one standing ahead of us, and one creeping up behind us. We had to make a quick decision to avoid being surrounded by wild beasts, so we decided to walk forward and hope we weren't noticed. Well, apparently we were noticed, because the goat gave a very severe vocal warning. We backed up and waited until the goat turned his head away before running past.

This trail is a little different from most because there is a fire lookout tower at the top (with a pay phone and bathrooms!) Having a visual of our destination made it all the more daunting. (See the tiny dot at the top?)

The trail used to be a road, a long, long time ago, and ran right along the edge of the mountain. As some points it seemed to disappear into oblivion.

Finally we reached the top, where it was incredibly windy and desolate. Apparently, the ranger who lives in the fire tower stays there all summer with no days off. I thought it would be an isolating and spooky job, particularly at night when you are all alone, it's pitch black, and the wind is howling. Here are a few shots from the top:

Even though the trail is "crowded," I'd recommend this hike. It's not as difficult as some, because the trail is long enough that the elevation gain is not drastic. It's the highest peak in the area, so there are great views along the way and at the top.

Apparently, Yellowstone has over 1,000 miles of hiking trails. Over the past 2 months, I've completed 15 of them, for a total of 46.25 miles (5 of which were a mountain bike trail.) Granted, that's not even 10%, but I'm still happy with everything I've gotten to see.

Like I said, I'll definitely miss the area. But, as it continues to get colder (it's 45 degrees today, on September 1st), and I am reminded by locals that they had over 20 feet of snow last winter, I'll be glad to be riding my bike in January in New Mexico, in shorts.

Stay tuned for the next National Park Adventure: in a month I'm going to the Grand Canyon for 4 days!

Picture Wednesday, 1970s edition

Today's picture was actually taken by my Dad. A few years ago, when I worked in a slide library, I used the equipment to scan over 100 of his slides, taken mostly in the 1970s. I believe this picture was taken in Tralee, Ireland, during the Rose of Tralee festival. It's fun looking at the 70s cars, but what I like the most about this shot are the two people in the right corner. The man is wearing an awesome red plaid cap, and the woman is so striking with her curly black hair and red lips. Over 30 years have passed, and I can't help but wonder where these people are now.

-----
Notes from the woods:
-----
Because I'm in temporary housing, I've been using the public library's wireless internet for most of the summer, despite the run-ins with safari-gear-wearing, barefooted, and inappropriate-shorts-flashing characters. (There's even a man who wears skirts.) Unfortunately, their internet broke last Wednesday, and because there is only one IT guy in the entire state of Montana, who apparently spends most of the week fishing, I'm predicting it will be out for another week. The only way to connect to "free" wireless is standing in front of my TV, balancing my computer on top. It's so fun living in the woods!
-----
For weeks we have thought the cat insane. She would hunch down near the heating grates in the floor, and simply stare. I didn't understand her unnatural preoccupation until one day last week, I heard squeaking. After a careful inspection of all the windows, in which I found nothing, I realized that the squeaking was coming from the floor. Yes, squirrels hang out in the ductwork. "Eh," I thought, and shrugged it off. It could be worse.

Koolhaas progress

I'm having tons of fun cabling along on Koolhaas. I've never knit anything using a pattern chart before, but it's working out fine. There are TONS of great tips on Ravelry on techniques to make this pattern easier, and above all is knitting without a cable needle. Grumperina has a great tutorial, and the technique is well worth learning if you even plan to cable. I'm not sure how anyone knit before the internet...

Jackson, Wyoming

This past weekend we headed south to Jackson, Wyoming, which required a drive through Idaho. It was my first time to see Idaho, and let me tell you, that potato stereotype exists for a reason. Anyway, Jackson is an odd place. The town is obviously extremely wealthy, and filled with expensive shops, art galleries, and only white people. Everyone is dressed impeccably and there are plenty of BMW's and Audi's parked along the streets. I looked at some real estate listings, and it seems pretty difficult to buy a decent house for less than $1 million.

Oddly, Jackson still tries to have an "old west" atmosphere, which comes off as out of place and sometimes, just plain wrong. A perfect example of this is the "shootout," which happens in the town square every night. I was expecting some guys running around shooting blanks at each other, but instead got an actor dressed like an old west cowboy lip-syncing to "Bad to the Bone" and wiggling his hips about in a non-western-cowboy fashion. There were also these "dancing girls" who pulled a poor man out of the audience and forced him to dance with them. Weird.

There are plenty of shops in which to browse, and some very good restaurants. We ate at a Thai restaurant (called "Thai Me Up") that, despite its cheesy name, had excellent food. This was the first time in many, many months that I actually enjoyed a restaurant's food and felt that I couldn't have made it at home.

Because, predictably, even the Motel 6 costs $100 a night, we camped 10 miles away in Grand Tetons National Park. It was August, so I couldn't figure out why it was winter in Jackson - the temperature dropped to into the 40s that night. (Before going back to the campground, we tried to find a coffee shop to sit in to pass the time and get a warm drink. But there wasn't one! If anyone needs a sure-fire investment opportunity, open a Starbucks in Jackson. You will get rich.)

The Tetons are quite distinctive; pointy and jagged. I wasn't even tempted to hike in them because they are so much cooler to look at from afar.

The next day we took a ski lift up to the top of a mountain right next to the town. It was my first time on a ski lift, and I was a little anxious about the jumping on and off, but it turned out to be really fun. This ski resort also has an "alpine slide" - a slide that is almost a half-mile long! I was SO excited... but then I found out (1) that one ride costs $15, and (2) you sit on a little board with wheels and go down a concrete chute. If I could have sat on a burlap bag and shot down a wooden slide, I totally would have done it.

By accident, we happened to visit the weekend that Jackson's Scottish Festival was going on. I was super excited for this, because I had not been to a Scottish festival in years and I am a former Highland dancer. As you remember, the Irish dancing at the Sweet Pea Festival turned out to be majorly lame, so I was happy to see some talented girls. If I ever move back to a city, I'm going to continue Highland dancing... I'll be the weird old lady in all the classes, but at least from the back I still appear to be a 12-year-old.

There were also bagpipers, of course.

Also, there was an Art Fair going on the same weekend. I know - two festivals in one weekend?? Stimulatory overload! We walked around and saw a lot of neat art, but of course it was too expensive to buy (well, maybe not for the wealthy Jacksonians.) All in all, a pretty good weekend.

Finished Socks!

Yet another pair of finished socks! As all of you knitters know, there's no such thing as too many knitted socks. I really like these, because they are stripy and fall-colored.

This yarn comes with a small spool of matching thread to reinforce the heel; very useful, I do say. Next up: Koolhaas in some sage green Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran, which is squishy and soft and generally awesome.

Wednesday Post!

I haven't talked about knitting in a while - once I get home in a month I'm planning on placing a huge KnitPicks order, but until then, I'm working with what I have. I'm almost finished with the "Fall Socks" (so-called because they are fall colors. Duh.)

Orangina has been floating around my knitting bag for over a year. I started this project excitedly, before I realized that I hated knitting lace. I'm not sure what to do about it. I spent 2 hours trying to get through one row the other night (one stitch is missing somewhere), and then threw it on the ground in frustration. This picture is dark and ugly because that is how I feel about this particular piece of knitting.

I really like how the lace looks, though. So, option one is to keep on plugging, and have a finished top sometime around March, which may or may not fit. (I read that this stretches like crazy, so I made up a XXS size, which could end up being tiny.) Or, I could repurpose this yarn into something else, like a Honeymoon Cami. I guess that decision will have to wait, however, since I don't have anymore yarn with me beside what's already been knitted.
--
In Yellowstone news, last week we also went canoeing on Hebgen Lake. The lake is about 10 miles from my house (down a really, really bumpy dirt road), and is so picturesque its insane. My shoulders really got a workout trying to paddle back from the very choppy lake center (I felt like I was on whitewater), and I was in some serious pain the next day. However, the whole experience was quite relaxing. I need to build myself a lake in my backyard in New Mexico.

--
As I'm sitting in the library typing this, two women keep going into the bathroom together. (It's a "onesie" - just a toilet and a sink in one room.) They appear to be mother and daughter, the daughter being college-aged. The first time I thought, "They must be washing they hands or something." But, then later on they went in there together again. What is going on here?

Mammoth

This weekend I finally visited the Mammoth area, at the north entrance to the park. This is the only major area I had not yet seen, so now I have been to every major area in the park. Whoo hoo! It was bright and sunny when we left our house, but by the time we got to Mammoth, the clouds had rolled in and it started to rain. The river had turned muddy, but the scenery was still colorful.

Our main goal in traveling to this area was to visit the Boiling River, where runoff from a hot spring mixes with the colder water of the river. You can sit in the water and soak up the warmth. Sounds cool, huh? Well, the first thing you see is this sign, warning you that an amoeba might swim up your nose. (Despite the alarming nature of the sign, no one has ever gotten sick by bathing in the water.)

The area you can soak in is pretty small, and there are a lot of people there, even though the area isn't on maps and the parking lot is unmarked. The current is very strong, and I was afraid I would be washed downriver as I made my way towards the warm water.

Instead of the water mixing together, it is both scalding and freezing. You sit on the river bottom, and are hit by a stream of boiling water; then you scream and shift quickly, where you are hit by extremely cold water. So instead of being a relaxing soak, you are uncomfortable in 2 different ways. Also, there was a French family sitting next to us with no concept of personal space. We didn't last long. Of course, to get back to the shore you have to wade against an extremely strong current of freezing water. It had been raining, so our clothes and towel were soaked when we got back. Brrrr. Then, there was the .5 mile walk back to the car in wet pants. Not so fun.

The north entrance is marked by the most famous entranceway in all the national parks. (Notice that the sun had come out by this point... thanks.) It was difficult to take a picture of the arch because people kept parking their cars in front of it.

On our drive back to the house was probably the most enjoyable part of the day; not only because of the prospect of warmth, but also because a mist had settled in the valleys and created a very spooky, moody atmosphere. The whole scene was very pretty, and at times like those its easy to appreciate the awesomeness of the park.