By now we were about a week into the trip and my ankles were finally feeling better. The sense of independence and freedom that being in the middle of the desert, thousands of miles away from the world I was used to was exactly as I expected it would be. I loved how I could run into the desert, climb a rock and scream at the top of my lungs and not worry about seeing another person. I would often just sit by myself in the dirt, looking at everything around me and reflect on what it was like being hundreds [View Full Entry]

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It was a relatively short drive from Chinle to Monument Valley. As we entered the area, the numerous buttes and mesas began to exert their influence on us. While we have seen these enormous and powerful shapes all through our lives in various John Ford films, it is another matter to have them there in front of you. The various shapes loom and brood, changing from minute to minute with the passage of the sun across the sky, but always huge and solid. Monument Valley is also in the Navajo Reservation, and is operated by the Navajo Nation as a Tribal [View Full Entry]

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So here i am back in Flagstaff after another fun filled week at the Wupatki. Much better overall experience there this week but at the same time i'm glad i am going somewhere different next time around. Most of the crew members were the same and we had the same supervisor so not many new faces or names to get used to and i felt as though the time at camp was a lot better than last week. Day one had the usual early start: wake up at 6, have breakfast and head off to Cedar house to load up the [View Full Entry]

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We headed South from Bryce Canyon, passing through Kanab for the third time. One of the great things about this trip is that we have almost never gone back over the same road, but this time it was necessary. We drove on into Arizona, heading east. We passed the Glen Canyon dam (surprisingly narrow, impressively deep) and into the Navajo reservation. The Navajo Nation encompasses a large part of the Northeastern corner of Arizona. I think all of us were impressed with the sense of community on the reservation, and with the way the Navajos have decided to live. They have [View Full Entry]

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We are now in delightful Tucson having a few days break whilst Namibia (our trusty BMW) has some TLC, including a big service and new tires after bringing us 10,000 kilometers. From Glacier National Park, Montana, via going to the sun road, then Yellowstone, Grand Teton and the magnificent bear tooth highway in Wyoming, we continued south through Logan Pass, into Salt Lake City. We then did the big South West circle of national parks and canyons-Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef, Canyonlands, Archers, Monument Valley & Grand Canyon. Stunning, magnificent scenery, a feast for our eyes, and each of [View Full Entry]

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After my first taste of America's National Parks (Yosemite) I was very excited to be going to another one. The trip did not start well however. It was a 12 hour bus journey from LA to Flagstaff (a town about one and a half hours out of the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon) so i booked an overnight bus so i could save on a nights accomodation. I am starting to grow tired of long journeys on buses now, so this one seemed to drag, and it was a full bus so i was squashed in next to someone. I [View Full Entry]

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Sooo, i'm back from Wupatki and it was rather awesome. We left at about 7 am which meant waking up at half 5 only 2 days after a 10 and a half hour flight with the effects of jet lag still present. The first task of the day was driving over to Cedar house to load up the van with the weeks food supplies and tools needed for the project. After this, the journey to the national park took about an hour and everyone was still sleepy and quiet. Day one involved putting up tents in windy conditions, which turned out [View Full Entry]

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Vegas baby! When Monty’s dad, Michael Goldman, told us he wanted to treat us to a trip to Vegas for working so hard this summer, we responded with a “Hell yes, thank you thank you!” & quickly started planning like anybody would. After packing for a kite trip, a Vegas trip & a backpack through SE Asia trip all at once (grueling as you can imagine), we happily departed on September 29th and stayed at Mandalay Bay for 3 nights. There was basking at the beach pool, hitting the strip at night, yards of margaritas, eating great food, rolling dice, seeing [View Full Entry]

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UPDATED: January 3, 2009 I saw a t-shirt that said, "I Love the Grand Canyon" with a hip design that I kind of liked. I decided that I would wait until after we hiked out of the Grand Canyon before I made any purchasing decisions. I wound up buying a shot glass instead If they had a shirt that said, "I might love the Grand Canyon a few years from now when the incredible pain from hiking to the bottom and back out is a distant memory"....I would have bought that one. We were off to a good start heading down [View Full Entry]

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Monument Valley!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_Valley [View Full Entry]

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