back home

Robert Assagioli said “there is no certainty; there is only adventure.” After three weeks of driving around the Western bits of the United States, I can easily assure you that there is absolutely no certainty. Adventure was certainly apart of the trip. From four hour long detours to exploding tanker trucks to water shortages and freezing weather, we did not quite get what we were expecting. I certainly stepped out of my comfort zone a time or two. The trip was an amazing and exciting voyage into my beautiful country with its canyons and mountains and trees and sea lions.

On “This American Life” Ira Glass said “any road trip is going to feel longer than you think it will. And you'll be tired and you won't get a meal exactly when you're hungry. You never find a bed exactly when you want to go to sleep. And you're probably not going to find out what it is you got on the road to find out in the first place. And you know all that. You know all that going into it. And you still -- we all still -- buy into the cliche about road trips. That what a road trip stands for is hope. Hope. That somewhere -- anywhere -- is better than here. That somewhere on the road I will turn into the person I want to be. I'll turn into the person I believe I could be. That I am. And we hit the road. You and me and our whole great nation. With high hopes and no expectations for the future.”

I think he’s right. With every new trip and every new conversation I have with a stranger, I continue to grow and develop as a person. I have hope that I will continue to transform into someone who can do good things for the world and the people in it. Mostly, I hope that every path that each of us takes promotes harmony and acceptance and love between all peoples. I have met people whose opinions make my skin crawl, but I understand that sometimes it’s more important to be working together than to prove yourself. I think if we try hard enough, we could do incredible things.

The Land of Enchantment

If our drive to Las Vegas was difficult, the drive from it was simply frustrating. About an hour into our drive, the traffic was at a standstill for as far as we could see. We discovered over two hours later once we started moving that a tanker truck blew up. We were trying to make it to Santa Fe that night, but we decided to stop in Albuquerque for the night.

The following morning we drove around downtown Albuquerque before going to Santa Fe. With Santa Fe, we were reminded of our problems in the Northwest of parking. We eventually scrounged up enough coins. We walked around the downtown and wandered around the markets and the old church before we decided to get some lunch at a lovely Italian café.

We headed to our CouchSurfing hosts for the night, Ayumi and Taylor, who were wonderful. We discussed social justice and environmentalism and travelling. For dinner, they made a delicious Japanese meal; there was a third CouchSurfer there who was Japanese and loved the home cooking! After dinner, we watched Children Underground—a documentary on Romanian street children. Since Bryan is going to Romania for two months to teach in an orphanage. We left the next morning to go back home.

¡Viva Las Vegas!

I have talked many times of the beauty of the scenery along our drives, and the drive to Vegas was no different. It was different, however, in one very specific way. At some point in every road tripper’s life, s/he is done with careening around the edge of a mountain. I was at that point. It didn’t help that a road was closed in Yosemite, which added three and a half hours to our journey. The hardest part to stomach was the fact that the road opened two days after we left. Yeesh!

They say that “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” but I’m fighting against it to tell you about my short sejour in the city of sin. You can see Las Vegas coming dozens of miles away. Such bright lights! We drove down the Las Vegas strip and saw the huge sparkling hotels and shops and billboards. We saw the beautiful and huge Bellagio fountains by finally settling in our hotel at Planet Hollywood.

After showering and getting ready we headed out on the town. We had a quick bite to eat. Once we finally arrived on the strip, the fountains had stopped for the evening, unfortunately. We still had an amusing time watching the numerous stumbling drunk and scantily clad men and women. We headed back to the casino in our hotel and I slowly lost my cash on the quarter slots, but had quite a lovely time. The next day, we had delicious In-N-Out on our way out of town.

Mountains and Waterfalls

The drive to Yosemite was (as so many of the others) was absolutely breathtaking. As we started getting closer, the mountains surrounding us became grander. We drove around for awhile to see some of the mountains, and we stopped to see some of the amazing sights. We went up to Glacier Point and hiked down the four-mile trail. Every time we turned a corner, there was an incredible and different view of the park. As I looked upon the splendor of the mountains and waterfalls, I thought back on all the beautiful places I’ve been and the unforgettable sights I have seen. Because, as Lucy Larcom said “I do not own an inch of land / But all I see is mine.” All the amazing places and people I’ve come across have become a part of me.

On our way back down the side of the mountain, there was a large group of people clustered together. By the time we parked, unfortunately, the black bear and her two cubs had gone further into the forest. We hiked up Pohona trail to camp, and it started getting dark much more quickly than Bryan and I had anticipated, so we used flashlights to see for much of our hike. Eventually we reached inspiration point, and in the morning after camping we discovered how inspiring the view was! I woke up with a sunrise over the mountains and it was an incredible sight. As John Muir said: how glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!"

The Majestic Redwoods

We took the lovely route of the 101 to the Redwood forest. We stopped along the way and had delicious oysters; we had beautiful scenery along the way, and that night I had a shower before bed because we were staying in a hotel. Showers are a marvelous birthday gift.

We decided to take the Hiachi Trail to Stout Grove at Jedediah State Park. It was absolutely incredible. Even the small redwoods were still the biggest trees we had ever seen. People always talk about the enormity of a Redwood Forest, but few will talk about its beauty; it was so beautiful and peaceful. Ronald Reagan said once “If you’ve seen one redwood tree, you’ve seen them all.” I could not disagree more. Each was its own unique and beautiful creature.

Eventually after tromping through the trail, we arrived at a rocky beach area. It had such a great view of the river and the trees. We discovered we had to ford a stream to get to Stout Grove. We removed our shoes and socks and trudged through the knee deep freezing cold water. Once we crossed our feet were so dirty, we didn’t put our shoes back on. We walked around Stout Grove barefoot and amazed. These were the most fascinating and grandest Redwoods in our day’s walk. Once we traversed back across the icy stream, we relaxed by the rocky beach and skipped rocks in the river and watched the delightful surroundings. We got a bit lost on the way back, but it was so beautiful that neither of us minded. I feel like I can learn so much from these mountains and trees and as John Muir said “in every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

The Pacific Rainforest

We took a long and beautiful drive through much of the Olympic National Park, which eventually brought us to the Hoh Rainforest. We started our walk along the Hoh River Trail in the early afternoon. A couple miles into our hike, Bryan and I realized that we didn’t have a very good map to our camp. We, unfortunately, also discovered that the path split off several times and it was growing steadily darker while we had no real idea of whether the paths and directions we continued to choose were correct. We continued on. Ray Bradbury said that “half the fun of the travel is the aesthetic of lostness.” Our wanderings have been as lovely as our destinations. We saw groups of elk that were incredible; they are such majestic creatures.

Luckily, we eventually found the campground. Campground is such a loose term for where we set up our tent. It did, however, have pit toilets and bear wire so that our food wasn’t taken by bears. I slept poorly the night before my birthday, but perhaps that was so I could have more hours of my birthday awake! We somehow managed the hike back to the car, exhausted as we were. On our way back we saw more elk. It was terribly exciting. Few people have the honor of seeing herds of elk before 7AM on their birthday, so I felt very special. A happy birthday to me!

Oh, Canada!

We got through the border crossing easily (and people think Canada and the United States are similar—HA!) We stopped at the Visitor’s Center to get maps and there was a town up North called Houston. Unfortunately, it was too far away to visit. It took us both awhile to get used to looking at the itty bitty kilometers per hour numbers on the speedometer, but we did eventually. Our first stop in the Maple Leaf Country in Beautiful British Colombia was Granville Island. It was delightful, and we got free parking! We wandered around the Market and watched the ships for awhile. After Granville Island, we went to Gastown, which felt like a sleepy old train town you only see in faded photographs; it was nearly empty, which added to its character. We stumbled upon the southeast side of Vancouver, which is notorious for heroin usage where suddenly a shouted drug deal materialized around us. It was filled with vulgar language, yells, and people who seemed disturbed and generally unpleasant.

Bryan and I eventually found our way to Chinatown, which was really interesting. The little shops and restaurants and hair salons were filled with big posters that I could not remotely understand. We ate at Floata’s seafood. It was well recommended, but once we arrived, we decided it was very odd. It had a mildewy sort of smell; it was the size of a hotel event space, yet there were only two tables—not including ours—being used. Also, the surveillance footage of the entrance to the restaurant was displayed on a huge projector at the front of the restaurant. We had four different types of Dim Sum—shrimp, pork, beef, and dumplings. We were also served hot tea. It was a delicious, but strange place to have a meal. After lunch, we went to a beautiful Chinese garden called Sun Yat-Sen. It was so elegant and simple. The ponds were by far my favorite; they showed the reflections of the gentle trees in the garden and the harsh outlines of skyscrapers a few blocks away. It reminded me of Al-Azhar Park in Egypt. The juxtaposition of nature and metropolitan areas is always fascinating to me.

After a wonderful time there, Bryan and I went to the Vancouver Library, which was huge and very impressive. We decided we preferred nature areas to the big city, so we headed to Stanley Park. It was lovely and peaceful. We sat by the lake near the bridge to read and we watched two birds (a crow and a seagull) and observed their odd habits. For dinner, we went to Whole Foods and had some of their fresh selections. Vancouver is quite expensive, and we were trying to save in anyway that we could. We went very inexpensive with a hotel that night, and realized once we got there that we were somehow back in the Southeast side of Vancouver; this time at nearly midnight. Not a wise choice, but by the next morning, the street looked utterly harmless.

For lunch, we had Japadog. It’s a Japanese hot dog stand near Canada Place, which is delicious! We went to Queen Elizabeth Park to enjoy our meal. There were trees and gardens and ponds and flowers; it was overflowing with delightful things! It also brought to mind one of the facets of Canada, which had begun to truly interest me—the gender neutrality of blue-collar workers.Many of the lawn workers I saw were women, and most of the roofers/ painters I saw were female. The contrast between this and what I’ve seen as the norm in the United States was fascinating. Next, Bryan and I went back to Granville Island to watch the dragon boat show! We couldn’t find the boat show, but we had a lovely walk along the seawall.

My favorite part about my time in Vancouver centers around a group of men I never met and will probably never meet—the Canucks. Vancouver was in the finals for the Stanley Cup and you could feel it in the air. The houses and cars bore flags yelling “GO CANUCKS GO!” and it seemed as though half the people in Vancouver were wearing jerseys. We met up with our host, Hayden, and watched the game at his house. It was so much fun and so exciting, even though they had not yet scored when we went to get sushi for dinner during the break. It felt like it happened suddenly, but it was also a long time coming when they scored! For the rest of the game I would yell Luoooooo for the goalie Luongo when the puck would come near him. I was so happy when the Canucks won (or how I said at the time “we won”). GO CANUCKS GO!

We started our trip out of Canada with Tim Horton’s donuts, which were quite yummy. Our welcome back to America came in the form of an excessively long line at the border followed by a second agricultural checkpoint. Even though the food in our car was from the United States, in the words of the Customs Agent “food loses its citizenship when it crosses the border.” Oh bother.

The rainy and lovely Evergreen State

Before we arrived into Washington, we drove through Oregon. The fir trees and green mountains were breathtaking. Driving to a destination feels so much more real than flying. When you’re driving, you slowly feel yourself arrive there. I was particularly excited about Washington because I had the opportunity to see three old friends. The people who greeted us in Seattle were Allie, one of my sister’s high school friends, and her boyfriend Jonathan. They were wonderfully nice and we talked for a bit before heading to bed.

Our first task in the morning was returning the water bottle from the Grand Canyon. We were terribly excited to see the shocked look on her face, and quite disappointed when we had to leave it at her door because no one was at home. It did amuse me some to imagine her reaction upon arriving at home and seeing a water bottle she was sure she left at the Grand Canyon on her door. After that task, we met up with Andrea (my friend from Thailand) and her boyfriend Mike, which was a lot of fun. First, they took us to a Caribbean place in Fremont for lunch called Paseo’s, for what genuinely could have been the best sandwich I will ever eat. After lunch, we went back to their apartment and chatted for a while before Andrea, Bryan and I headed to Pike’s Place Market.

It took us forever to find parking, an occurrence that was quickly becoming a theme of our trip, but eventually we found a spot. The Market was eclectic and it was fun to watch the seafood stands throwing fish and the cloth booths weaving away. We also went to Beecher’s Cheese near the Market, and the cheese was delicious! By the Market, was also the first ever Starbucks. Next, we headed to Molly Moon’s for ice cream, which had the most bizarre flavors of ice cream from honey lavender (which tasted faintly of soap) to balsamic strawberry (which tasted like a tossed salad). I settled for a boring old chocolate strawberry flavor. After Molly Moon’s, we parted with promises to ourselves and each other that we will be better about keeping in touch.

The next morning, we started off at the Space Needle, which was surprisingly short, but alas, we were glad we went by. We went to Trader Joe’s to get food for a picnic then rented paddleboats to go on Green Lake at a park. It was a beautiful view and we had so much fun! Then, we drove to Bellingham.

There we were meeting Charlie, one of my good friends from studying abroad in Brussels. It was so exciting to see him because we hadn’t seen each other in over a year and a half! We went to a local restaurant called Boundary Bay where I had a delicious salmon sandwich. Later that night, we went to a pub called Up and Up, which was famous for four-dollar pitchers of Pabst Blue Ribbon. One can easily imagine the crowd that brings. Charlie, Charlie’s roommate Will, Bryan and I played foosball and had a lot of fun! We left Washington the next morning sadly, but excited for our journey into Canada.

I left my heart in San Francisco

First up in San Francisco, we headed to Fisherman’s Wharf and Lombard Street. Unfortunately, there was a Giants game, so parking was impossible. Eventually, we found a spot on the steep streets, and headed to see the jagged avenue. Lombard Street was impressively difficult to traverse by car, and it was fun to watch the cars take sharp turns every few feet to do so. We, then, walked along the coast and saw Hyde Pier and Alcatraz in the distance. We also got on a cable car! I also noticed how beautiful the flowers were here. There were so many colorful flowers!

On Pier 39, I decided that I love sea lions! They were so funny and adorable. The creatures simply craved the attention of everyone around and were showing off and squawking to try to earn it. For lunch, we ate at Boudin’s Bakery, which was famous for its sourdough bread. We had a crab cake sandwich and clam chowder in a bread bowl. Both were delicious! We went to Ghirardelli Square for dessert where we had scrumptious butterscotch ice cream. We went to get a better view of the Golden Gate Bridge and drove around the city for a while before heading back.

The Grandest of Canyons

We walked quickly from the car to the South Rim to see it for the first time. We saw it through the trees and were trembling with anticipation. Suddenly the trees parted, and we saw the Canyon. It is massive and overwhelming and encompassing. We were amazed. I, like Harry Fosdick “would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.” Over the next few days, I would continually be more amazed and mystified by the hugeness and beauty of the Grand Canyon.

We had to leave it, unfortunately to find somewhere to stay the night. We found 10X, a forest a few miles away with places for tents. Pretty soon after we arrived at 10X, we left to go back to the Grand Canyon to watch the sunset at Mather Point. It was breathtaking. We headed back to 10X, and because the sun had set, we were forced to set up the tent (for the first time in the wilderness) and make dinner on the propane stove (for the first time) in the dark. It was no small accomplishment that we were successful on both counts. That night we were freezing, so we hardly slept at all!

Bryan and I woke up early in the morning—is it really waking up if you don’t sleep?—to rush to Hopi Point to watch the sunrise. It was worth the lack of sleep. It was indescribably beautiful. We, next, waited outside the backcountry permit office in the hopes that we would earn a permit for that night. Once it opened, a park ranger named Mike called us forward. He said “permits! I have permits!” We excitedly said “Perfect! What camps are open for tonight?” He took a sip from a huge jar of coffee and looked at us dejectedly and announced that they were permits for tomorrow. He told our crestfallen faces not to worry yet because there might be a few. He announced “Well! There is one at Indian Garden.” Our eyes opened wide excitedly. There was on the Bright Angel Trail; the one we wanted to hike. We bought the pass, packed our bags, and set out on the trail.

We started excitedly and hurriedly. We took breaks every once in while, but mostly made it down the canyon without trouble. I saw this one part of the canyon that was jutting out and climbed onto it and took an awesome—if also slightly dangerous—picture. Most of the way down, despite the amazing views, was pretty uneventful. Bryan and I made it to the Indian Garden campground and we both announced that we weren’t tired or sore at all.

We found out, unfortunately, that South Kaibab Trail did not have water on the way up. Oh no! We didn’t have enough water bottles to keep us the entire way—there were water spigots on Bright Angel Trail. So, I went on a mission and walked tent-to-tent in our campground asking if anyone had disposable bottles they were not using. It was an exciting venture; I collected 1.5 L worth of bottles, but that (added to our 2L) was still not enough. I asked the park ranger about the Lost and Found. There was one 1L bottle that was from Seattle. We resolved to return it once we arrived there. We had several ideas from carrying our bowls filled with water to using our dinner soup can. Eventually, we decided to fill up our gallon sized plastic bag with water the next day.

Bryan and I, then, decided to walk down to the Colorado River. It was about a 3.5 mile walk, but we were both so excited we skipped down the mountain—a fact which we would later regret. We saw two iguanas either fighting or ferociously mating in the middle of the trail, but it was unclear which of the two. The view from the bottom of the Colorado was beautiful and the river was unruly and intense. The way back up (our first uphill experience) was difficult, but not incredibly so. We were so tired from lack of sleep and nearly 12 miles of hiking in the hot sun that we ate and went to sleep by 8:30.

We woke up with incredible and overwhelming soreness, so it was with great effort that we packed up and started our hike on West Tonto. Within an hour, we were both pretty sure we were not going to make it. Somehow though, we made it across the four-mile trail, which connected with South Kaibab through some of the most stunning views of the Grand Canyon.

When we got to the base of the South Kaibab, we were faced with the reality of 4.5 more miles—this time uphill. We were unbelievably exhausted. We were so sore that we walked kind of oddly the whole way. Also, I had an upset stomach, which made the hike much less pleasant. This trail, like all the others, continued to amaze and bewilder me. At one point, I drank a Gatorade and was filled with a surge of energy for about a mile. Evidently, I had been low on electrolytes.

One couple that passed us on their way down, then a five minutes later, on their way up. At this point, we had half a mile left—we were nearly there. The girl said to us, “Now, we feel your pain!” She obviously thought our pain was not because of our past mileage or the extremely heavy camping gear on our backs, but simply because we were going uphill. We were both a bit disgruntled, but her boyfriend gave us an embarrassed look at her comment, which appeased us. Once we reached the top, the feelings of accomplishment of hiking 20 miles nearly surpassed the feelings of exhaustion, but not quite. It was an amazing and tiring journey, which I will surely never forget.

my time in Roswell: an Unfortunately Fleeting Occurence

I discovered on our way to Roswell how unused I am to the Southwestern landscape. It was a smooth and easy drive through hills and wind turbines, and sleepy West Texas towns. Tumbleweed even rolled across the road in front of the car. I also saw dust devils for the first time. We spotted a few medium-sized ones, and then I said “Oh my gosh Bryan! That one is huge!” He looked over and after a few seconds started laughing. I was confused at first, but soon enough, a tractor appeared—the source of the dust being stirred. We laughed at my ignorance, and had a smooth drive through to Roswell.

We arrived in Roswell later than planned, so the Alien Museum was closed, but we wandered around the downtown for awhile chuckling at all the alien decorations and novelty items. Every shop in town seemed to have alien-themed decorations. The local Spanish restaurant even had a painted alien Matador tempting a bull. There were alien spacecrafts “crashed” into buildings, and the lampposts had two eyes so that they looked like aliens.

After wandering around downtown Roswell for a while, we headed to meet our couchsurfing hosts of the night who were making enchiladas. We found the house pretty easily, and quickly started great conversations about culture and travelling and hiking over delicious vegan enchiladas. We woke up pretty early and left for the Grand Canyon. On the way out, per our host’s advice, we went to the alien-themed McDonalds, which was out of this world.