Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Czech Countryside and sad goodbye to Prague
7/19
Martin took the day off work and wanted to show me some other things of the czech republic other than the city. It finally cooled down (20C) So he drove me about 100km's outside of the city to some geologic park with some pretty cool rock formations in the forest. We took a 5 ot 6 mile hike around there, checking out the rocks, walking through the forest (much wetter forest than colorado, maybe like the mccall area of idaho with mosses and ferns, or even a bit like bellingham, wa), and feasting on all the wild blueberries. After the hike he took me to a small tourist type village where we walked around a bit and then had some beer and traditional czech goulash and soup. Well actually martin just had a non alcoholic beer b/c in czech they legal limit for driving and drinking is 0.0. That's really not a problem though b/c everyone seems to walk and use the trams and metro everywhere. Martin only has a car b/c his sister works for ford and he got a sweet deal and wanted to take weekend trips to places like budapest and munich and such. We then visited a castle and did some more hiking in the forest around the castle.
When we got back to prague, we went and saw a movie (Martin had some free movie tickets and was also feeling a bit tired). Movie was in english, but with czech subtitles. Most young people in the CR can speak english though. After that we met up with his sister to go hit some pubs and hang out.
7/20 Today I am relaxing a bit at martin's flat while he goes to work. Catching up on some things with the email and writing the blog. I'm eventually going to take the metro down to the city center and then meet up with marting and his friends as they are taking me out to get real italian pizza (not that american "junk") on the hill at prague that has the view of the city and then throwing me a goodbye party.
tomorrow i leave around noon for a flight to stockholm where I will be for a night and 2 days before taking the bus up to sundsvall where Kimmy and Clare are picking me up at the station. I also hope to see frida and caroline there as well. I think kim and clare have a computer so i will likely be updating from sundsvall again.
Martin took the day off work and wanted to show me some other things of the czech republic other than the city. It finally cooled down (20C) So he drove me about 100km's outside of the city to some geologic park with some pretty cool rock formations in the forest. We took a 5 ot 6 mile hike around there, checking out the rocks, walking through the forest (much wetter forest than colorado, maybe like the mccall area of idaho with mosses and ferns, or even a bit like bellingham, wa), and feasting on all the wild blueberries. After the hike he took me to a small tourist type village where we walked around a bit and then had some beer and traditional czech goulash and soup. Well actually martin just had a non alcoholic beer b/c in czech they legal limit for driving and drinking is 0.0. That's really not a problem though b/c everyone seems to walk and use the trams and metro everywhere. Martin only has a car b/c his sister works for ford and he got a sweet deal and wanted to take weekend trips to places like budapest and munich and such. We then visited a castle and did some more hiking in the forest around the castle.
When we got back to prague, we went and saw a movie (Martin had some free movie tickets and was also feeling a bit tired). Movie was in english, but with czech subtitles. Most young people in the CR can speak english though. After that we met up with his sister to go hit some pubs and hang out.
7/20 Today I am relaxing a bit at martin's flat while he goes to work. Catching up on some things with the email and writing the blog. I'm eventually going to take the metro down to the city center and then meet up with marting and his friends as they are taking me out to get real italian pizza (not that american "junk") on the hill at prague that has the view of the city and then throwing me a goodbye party.
tomorrow i leave around noon for a flight to stockholm where I will be for a night and 2 days before taking the bus up to sundsvall where Kimmy and Clare are picking me up at the station. I also hope to see frida and caroline there as well. I think kim and clare have a computer so i will likely be updating from sundsvall again.
Roadtrip to Budapest
7/16 Martin and I picked up Shimon, one of Martin's friends from his hometown, to go on our roadtrip to Budapest, Hungary. Shimon was a foreign exchange student just outside of Sand Point Idaho. So he had lots of jokes about how Idaho was. You know like how everyone had a gun in their pick up truck, etc. Our first stop was Brno (Czech) to eat at IKEA. This is that big swedish furniture giant. Well, they also have cheap foods (cheese and potato meal for 1 dollar and 2 hotdogs and a drink for 1 dollar). So i was properly introduced to IKEA. The next stop was a castle in Valtice, Czech Rep. and then for some very good gelato. We then crossed into Slovakia and stopped at Shimon's cousin's tea shop outside of Bratislavia where she gave us some cold tea. We then stopped in Golanta where Shimon's grandma gave us a huge and very tasty traditional hungarian meal. She spoke no czech even though she lived in slovakia b/c she is hungarian and after the war since the austrian-hungarian empire was one of the bad guys, they took away a lot of their land, but the culture didn't change. Shimon speaks hungarian and czech and english, so he could translate for us. She was in incredibly sweet woman and kept wanting to give us food. She gave us some wine from her son's winery as well.
We arrived in Budapest around 10pm, where we dropped of our stuff at a flat that martin's friend Zoltan had arranged for us in the center of the city. Martin met zoltan when he did a car trip called the B2B which goes from budapest through europe then crosses into morocco and eventually ends in bamako, mali. Zoltan had us over for cheese, bread, and wine at his flat before we headed out. He took us on a pub tour drinking lots of beers (he was almost always treating although we succeeded here and there to buy a few rounds). He also bought us his favorite hungarian shots and spirits. It was really hot that day and the next (40 degrees = 104F) and didn't cool off much at night, so most of the bars were open aired. We went to this cool outdoor bar in the square and then to some concert they were having in some underground area below the park. We ended the night in the courtyard of a giant cathedral where people were drinking, hanging out, and some people were throwing the frisbee. I joined in and they were so impressed with my forehand throw (they only did backhand) that they were also so interested to learn, so I spent a while trying to show drunk hungarians (and i'm drunk too) how to throw a frisbee forehand. I know martin and zoltan and simon got quite a kick out of for sure. Martin and Shimon wanted me to help them pick up girls and thought that being an American could help them. So I went out with my map to ask directions and get talking to girls so that then they could come in and we would have broken the ice. We had a lot of fun with that, but then in pure genius, i pulled out my freshly bought toothbrush (I had forgotten my toothbrush in prague so just bought a new one for the weekend) and said we were filming an oral-b commerical for americans of people around europe. They loved this. We'd have them sing a traditional song and then say they love oral-b or america or whatnot. We have some hilarious video from this and had quite a fun time. We eventually stumbled back to the flat for the night.
funniest sight of the day: male construction workers on the road wearing only their bright orange vest and the european bakini bottoms...total euro style. Perhaps b/c it was so hot or b/c that is how it's done in europe bud even walking around the city lots of guys were just walking around in their underwear and girls in their underwear or bakinis. pretty crazy.
7/17 Zoltan toured us around Budapest. We first went to the top of a hill to look down on budapest (it's actually two cities Buda and Pest divided by a river) and have some traditional hungarian type apple streudal. We then visited the parliement building and took a tour inside. After that we walked along the city. Budapest is very nice. Old as well. And it has sort of a bit of a decaying feeling, except in the modern areas. The buildings aren't as nice as in prague. Almost has a bit of that feel of how you think of communist cities. Of course it is alive and well with capitalism now and some areas are quite modern. We walked along the danube river and then walked across the famous lion bridge and up to Buda castle with great views of the river, the parliament building, and the city. Zoltan then took us to a fancy (though not too expensive) outdoor restaurant in some hidden nook in the city, where we had some traditional hungarian foods. And started the party. We visited several clubs. One was what they call a ruin pub...a pub in the ruins of some building, either form the war or just falling a apart. They restore it a bit, but it's sort of has this outdoor feel and just a cool setting in the ruined building. Then we went to a couple rooftop clubs and bars where of course zoltan was having us try his favorite beers and sprits. We eventually went back to the church square for more frisbee and ended the night in a popular modern club that played 70's and 80's american music! whoop whoop, I like it so much better than the euro trance and house music. We eventually made our way back home around 5am afer stopping at a few places to get beers for the road.
funny thing of the day: we were walking by this computer lab with two rows of all empty computers, except one old guy and he was sitting at the computer visible from the window and he was watching porn and some porn webcams. We all died laughing after seeing that. We figured if he had to do that he should choose a different computer!
7/18 Zoltan took us to a small village along the river to eat some Langosak (incredibly tasty fried dough thing with garlic, sour cream and cheese) and crepes. When we arrive back in budapest, Shimon and martin decided we needed to go to a fancy turkish spa to removed all the toxins from the weekend and to relax. The spa was pretty cool. Like 6 different pools ranging from 28 degrees to 40 degrees. So you soak in those and then you go to a pool that is 10 degree, jump in real quick and then go to the sauna which is 74 degrees (165F) and sit there sweating and uncomfortable for 10 minutes before going back, dumping a bucket of cold water on you and then jumping into the cold 10 degree pool. Then you soak some more and repeat this 3 times or so.
We left around 5 to head back to prague. It doesn't take to long b/c even though the highways in slovakia and czech are not unlimited speeds like the german autobahn and have a speed limit of 13okm/hr, martin would still drive 200km/hr (125mph) b/c they don't have police on the road really. We also of course stopped at IKEA for the cheap food. When we got back to martin's flat, he commented that this would be the first night that we would be going to sleep without being drunk. That tells you a little about how eastern europe parties...
Budapest was of course great, and again, Zoltan was an amazing tour guide and oh so generous. I hope some day these guys come to the West so that I can treat them to a good time and show them all our water beers like coors and keystone and bud and pbr haha. No, it would be microbrews for them. Though they probably wouldn't believe that bars in boise do last call at 1:30 am, that liquor stores in idaho close at 5pm, that you can only buy 3.2 beer in colorado at grocery stores and that estes park is dead by 7pm in the winter and 10pm in the summers.
We arrived in Budapest around 10pm, where we dropped of our stuff at a flat that martin's friend Zoltan had arranged for us in the center of the city. Martin met zoltan when he did a car trip called the B2B which goes from budapest through europe then crosses into morocco and eventually ends in bamako, mali. Zoltan had us over for cheese, bread, and wine at his flat before we headed out. He took us on a pub tour drinking lots of beers (he was almost always treating although we succeeded here and there to buy a few rounds). He also bought us his favorite hungarian shots and spirits. It was really hot that day and the next (40 degrees = 104F) and didn't cool off much at night, so most of the bars were open aired. We went to this cool outdoor bar in the square and then to some concert they were having in some underground area below the park. We ended the night in the courtyard of a giant cathedral where people were drinking, hanging out, and some people were throwing the frisbee. I joined in and they were so impressed with my forehand throw (they only did backhand) that they were also so interested to learn, so I spent a while trying to show drunk hungarians (and i'm drunk too) how to throw a frisbee forehand. I know martin and zoltan and simon got quite a kick out of for sure. Martin and Shimon wanted me to help them pick up girls and thought that being an American could help them. So I went out with my map to ask directions and get talking to girls so that then they could come in and we would have broken the ice. We had a lot of fun with that, but then in pure genius, i pulled out my freshly bought toothbrush (I had forgotten my toothbrush in prague so just bought a new one for the weekend) and said we were filming an oral-b commerical for americans of people around europe. They loved this. We'd have them sing a traditional song and then say they love oral-b or america or whatnot. We have some hilarious video from this and had quite a fun time. We eventually stumbled back to the flat for the night.
funniest sight of the day: male construction workers on the road wearing only their bright orange vest and the european bakini bottoms...total euro style. Perhaps b/c it was so hot or b/c that is how it's done in europe bud even walking around the city lots of guys were just walking around in their underwear and girls in their underwear or bakinis. pretty crazy.
7/17 Zoltan toured us around Budapest. We first went to the top of a hill to look down on budapest (it's actually two cities Buda and Pest divided by a river) and have some traditional hungarian type apple streudal. We then visited the parliement building and took a tour inside. After that we walked along the city. Budapest is very nice. Old as well. And it has sort of a bit of a decaying feeling, except in the modern areas. The buildings aren't as nice as in prague. Almost has a bit of that feel of how you think of communist cities. Of course it is alive and well with capitalism now and some areas are quite modern. We walked along the danube river and then walked across the famous lion bridge and up to Buda castle with great views of the river, the parliament building, and the city. Zoltan then took us to a fancy (though not too expensive) outdoor restaurant in some hidden nook in the city, where we had some traditional hungarian foods. And started the party. We visited several clubs. One was what they call a ruin pub...a pub in the ruins of some building, either form the war or just falling a apart. They restore it a bit, but it's sort of has this outdoor feel and just a cool setting in the ruined building. Then we went to a couple rooftop clubs and bars where of course zoltan was having us try his favorite beers and sprits. We eventually went back to the church square for more frisbee and ended the night in a popular modern club that played 70's and 80's american music! whoop whoop, I like it so much better than the euro trance and house music. We eventually made our way back home around 5am afer stopping at a few places to get beers for the road.
funny thing of the day: we were walking by this computer lab with two rows of all empty computers, except one old guy and he was sitting at the computer visible from the window and he was watching porn and some porn webcams. We all died laughing after seeing that. We figured if he had to do that he should choose a different computer!
7/18 Zoltan took us to a small village along the river to eat some Langosak (incredibly tasty fried dough thing with garlic, sour cream and cheese) and crepes. When we arrive back in budapest, Shimon and martin decided we needed to go to a fancy turkish spa to removed all the toxins from the weekend and to relax. The spa was pretty cool. Like 6 different pools ranging from 28 degrees to 40 degrees. So you soak in those and then you go to a pool that is 10 degree, jump in real quick and then go to the sauna which is 74 degrees (165F) and sit there sweating and uncomfortable for 10 minutes before going back, dumping a bucket of cold water on you and then jumping into the cold 10 degree pool. Then you soak some more and repeat this 3 times or so.
We left around 5 to head back to prague. It doesn't take to long b/c even though the highways in slovakia and czech are not unlimited speeds like the german autobahn and have a speed limit of 13okm/hr, martin would still drive 200km/hr (125mph) b/c they don't have police on the road really. We also of course stopped at IKEA for the cheap food. When we got back to martin's flat, he commented that this would be the first night that we would be going to sleep without being drunk. That tells you a little about how eastern europe parties...
Budapest was of course great, and again, Zoltan was an amazing tour guide and oh so generous. I hope some day these guys come to the West so that I can treat them to a good time and show them all our water beers like coors and keystone and bud and pbr haha. No, it would be microbrews for them. Though they probably wouldn't believe that bars in boise do last call at 1:30 am, that liquor stores in idaho close at 5pm, that you can only buy 3.2 beer in colorado at grocery stores and that estes park is dead by 7pm in the winter and 10pm in the summers.
Prague is a Party
7/12-13 Left early from Estes Park to Denver. Flew to toronto where I had an 11 hour layover. Found a quiet place in the airport to lie down and I slept and read. Thankfully I had some leftover pasta from the Dunraven going away dinner and some very very tasty deserts thanks to Lisa Foster! Then had a flight to Frankfurt where I just had a 3 or 4 hour layover before flying on to prague. Martin, who I met in indonesia climbing volcanoes, picked me up at the airport and drove me through prague to get a quick peek. It was about 5pm Prague time. We arrived at his flat on the outskirts of prague where he proceeded to hand me his favorite czech beer pilsner urquell. This would be the first of many times of Martin handing me beers...that night..and this week. He had planned a bbq for my arrival party with his sister annetta, his roommate jitka, and about 10 other friends (2 other martins, mark, joseph, peter, roman, tsuzank...most gave me their international english names). He grilled ups some brats and pork and we had quite a feast. And of course there was plenty of beer and wine to go around. Martin had said that his friends would be shy until they had some beer and then they would start with their english. This was true. They were all very nice and would talk to me in english when talking directly to me, but then talk in czech when talking in general, but by the end of the night it was english being spoken exclusively. It was interesting b/c several of his friends had been living in the US for work or school at some point. One gal had gone to high school in Idaho for a year, in a place where her nearest neighbors were 15 minutes away. She thought this was so crazy. Another guy was an exchange student in chicago and luck of the draw had it that his host family was the kellogs (of the kellog cereal company), so they had a 15 million dollar mansion in steamboat springs that he was often flown to on their private jet for ski weekends! Not bad! He was also a big libertarian and loved glenn beck. I think the first euro like that I had ever met. But had quite a fun time with all of them and learned a lot about czech rep. They were all so curious about what I thought about it already and were all really hoping that I already liked it and that the people were friendly. So far, so good. They were all excited to hear about my travels. Several of them had travelled through se asia as well and also to India and Nepal so it was exciting to hear about the future places I would be. One of the things they thought was most unique about America was how hard we worked. They all work only 7 hours per day, 5 days a week, and they get a minimum starting vacation of 40 days, plus 10 sick days. And in czech, a sick day doesn't necessarily mean you have the flu, it means you partied too hard the night before and need a day of relaxing. that's pretty sweet. Martin works for DHL, his sister for Ford, and Jitka for ING bank. We partied until about 2 or 3am and then the whole crowd all headed for the metro to go home.
7/14 Woke up early as Martin was going off to work. I took the metro into central prague and explored around it. Had some tasty, tasty bread at a couple places. European bread is always so tasty! Prague is a GORGEOUS city along the vltava river with very old buildings and all red roofs. I explored the big national monument, went to a couple giant cathedrals. Went into the old town with its narrow winding streets and large open plazas with cool buildings. In the old town square there is a cool clock that has a little show everytime the hour chimes. Climbed to the top of the clock tower there for a view of prague. Had a very tasty brat on the streets. I then walked across the charles bridge, a very famous old stone bridge with statues on it, to the other side of the vltava. From here I walked up to the Prague Castle and explored its grounds and some of its gardens and enjoyed the sweet view back down to old prague and the river and all of prague's cool bridges. Entered into the castle square and climbed the giant steeple of the giant cathedral inside the castle grounds for an even better view of prague. From there you could look out everywhere, and you could even see the huge American embassy from there. Quite a fancy embassy with an orchard, a lookout tower and then the building with the big american flag flying. I thought that was kind of interesting. From there I took some back streets up to the top of this hill with a park and trees and all that. They have a mini type eiffel tower there (can't remember the name) Hung out at the park for a bit doing some reading and watching the sun set over prague from the top of the hill. After this I walked some more through the park and eventually down to the national theatre where I was meeting martin and his sister. I really enjoyed exploring around prague b/c it really is an incredibly scenic city with an old feel, yet fresh and clean. Martin took me to some restaurant/pub where we met another whole crowd of friends (of which I can only remember the name of Frantisek b/c they all gave me their czech names and I would have quite a bit of alcohol). Martin ordered some traditional czech dumplings with cheese inside for me and we quickly drank 4 or 5 beers b/c we were so hot. It was about 35 degrees there that day (95 or so) and they don't have air con b/c it is very unusual, so we were all sweating a lot. After dinner we just hung out at the restaurant...and the beers kept coming. I'd be 3/4 through my beer, and then all of a sudden another huge beer would show up. And these are big beers...and quite tasty i might add. Then they were all buying me their favorite czech shots, and all quite strong for sure. The czechs were quite the partiers. We finally had had enough of the restaurant and went to stroll along the river. And all of a sudden we all found ourselves with a bottle of wine in hand. I have no idea how that happened. We did some more wandering around the streets with our wine, but the rest of it is kind of a blur. But somehow we made it back to Martin's flat for some sleep so we could do it all again the next day. The czechs are so generous and hospitable (and later I would find the hungarians to be the same) and always buying drinks. When I would finally get a chance to buy a round, I was very surprised to find that drinks here are quite cheap. A very pleasant surprise compared to western europe. About 1.5 to 2 bucks for a big beer and a pub and 1 to 1.5 in a grocery store. Food also isn't too bad. traditional czech food for 5 bucks or street food like brats for 1-2 bucks.
7/15 Up early again with Martin as he worked again of course. Explored some more of prague. Visited this weird and tall famous building of prague and explored around a park. Did some more reading in the park. That evening I met martin on the other side of the river (and Tsuzanka and Jitka) for dinner at one of their favorite local places. Had a traditional meal (duck, pork, and beef with a side of dumplings). Of course there was plenty of czech beer to wash it all down with. After we were feeling quite good we explored the city and the prague castle a bit at night before taking the metro home late that night.
I really had a fun time in Prague. Such a great city and Martin was such a great host and his friends so nice as well. They really took care of me
7/14 Woke up early as Martin was going off to work. I took the metro into central prague and explored around it. Had some tasty, tasty bread at a couple places. European bread is always so tasty! Prague is a GORGEOUS city along the vltava river with very old buildings and all red roofs. I explored the big national monument, went to a couple giant cathedrals. Went into the old town with its narrow winding streets and large open plazas with cool buildings. In the old town square there is a cool clock that has a little show everytime the hour chimes. Climbed to the top of the clock tower there for a view of prague. Had a very tasty brat on the streets. I then walked across the charles bridge, a very famous old stone bridge with statues on it, to the other side of the vltava. From here I walked up to the Prague Castle and explored its grounds and some of its gardens and enjoyed the sweet view back down to old prague and the river and all of prague's cool bridges. Entered into the castle square and climbed the giant steeple of the giant cathedral inside the castle grounds for an even better view of prague. From there you could look out everywhere, and you could even see the huge American embassy from there. Quite a fancy embassy with an orchard, a lookout tower and then the building with the big american flag flying. I thought that was kind of interesting. From there I took some back streets up to the top of this hill with a park and trees and all that. They have a mini type eiffel tower there (can't remember the name) Hung out at the park for a bit doing some reading and watching the sun set over prague from the top of the hill. After this I walked some more through the park and eventually down to the national theatre where I was meeting martin and his sister. I really enjoyed exploring around prague b/c it really is an incredibly scenic city with an old feel, yet fresh and clean. Martin took me to some restaurant/pub where we met another whole crowd of friends (of which I can only remember the name of Frantisek b/c they all gave me their czech names and I would have quite a bit of alcohol). Martin ordered some traditional czech dumplings with cheese inside for me and we quickly drank 4 or 5 beers b/c we were so hot. It was about 35 degrees there that day (95 or so) and they don't have air con b/c it is very unusual, so we were all sweating a lot. After dinner we just hung out at the restaurant...and the beers kept coming. I'd be 3/4 through my beer, and then all of a sudden another huge beer would show up. And these are big beers...and quite tasty i might add. Then they were all buying me their favorite czech shots, and all quite strong for sure. The czechs were quite the partiers. We finally had had enough of the restaurant and went to stroll along the river. And all of a sudden we all found ourselves with a bottle of wine in hand. I have no idea how that happened. We did some more wandering around the streets with our wine, but the rest of it is kind of a blur. But somehow we made it back to Martin's flat for some sleep so we could do it all again the next day. The czechs are so generous and hospitable (and later I would find the hungarians to be the same) and always buying drinks. When I would finally get a chance to buy a round, I was very surprised to find that drinks here are quite cheap. A very pleasant surprise compared to western europe. About 1.5 to 2 bucks for a big beer and a pub and 1 to 1.5 in a grocery store. Food also isn't too bad. traditional czech food for 5 bucks or street food like brats for 1-2 bucks.
7/15 Up early again with Martin as he worked again of course. Explored some more of prague. Visited this weird and tall famous building of prague and explored around a park. Did some more reading in the park. That evening I met martin on the other side of the river (and Tsuzanka and Jitka) for dinner at one of their favorite local places. Had a traditional meal (duck, pork, and beef with a side of dumplings). Of course there was plenty of czech beer to wash it all down with. After we were feeling quite good we explored the city and the prague castle a bit at night before taking the metro home late that night.
I really had a fun time in Prague. Such a great city and Martin was such a great host and his friends so nice as well. They really took care of me
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
SW Desert Trip and Telluride Blue grass festival
Did a month long Desert trip with my brother leaving May 15th through June 15th. Met up with him and Ryan and Greg in Zion NP. Did some slot canyons there. Did some biking on gooseberry mesa near hurricane and some other trails out of hurricane. Hurt my shoulder quite bad on one ride on slickrock, so I took the next day off from slot canyons and explored zion on foot and hiked up angel's landing. Ran into the Dutch couple that I had trekked with in Borneo! Crazy, what are the odds?
After about a week in Zion we headed towards the glen canyon area and did some slot canyons there. On the way stopped at red canyon (near bryce canyon np) and did some biking. Celebrated my birthday swimming (and bathing) at lake powell. Then drove onto Moab where we did a better job of partying for my birthday. Met up with Drew, Yogg, Christina, and Amanda in Moab and drove to Mexican Hat where we put into the san juan for a 5 day awesome raft and float trip. Some cool side hikes up canyons, to the rim, and swimming holes. Even did some kayaking.
After the float trip, said goodbye to everyone except Yogg and bro. We drove towards escalante where we did a mtn bike ride up on boulder pass and did a bad mtn bike ride in Escalante. In escalante we went into escalante/grand staircase national monument and did a two day overnight, very wet slot canyon called neon that ended in a cool repel into the cathedral and pool. Totally awesome slot canyon. Took a scenic route to get to cedar city where we did a cool mtn bike ride. From there drove on to Zion again where we did some more biking around Hurricane. Blew out the tire in my car in a bad way and they said it couldn't be fixed, so we figured we had to drive to vegas to get the warranty on my tire. Another shop was able to fix it however. We said goodbye to dave, swam in an amazingly beautiful reservoir and watched robin hood in st. george as it was so hot. That evening we did a mtn bike ride in st. george. Since we were excited about vegas we decided to head there anyways. Got into vegas a bit before midnight and partied until 7 am. We toured around vegas the next day and went and got costumes for the next night. Triggers drove out from LA and we partied the night away with him and 4 gals from Iowa. The next day we hit the pool and then went up mtn biking at Red Rock Canyon park. Stayed the night up there in blue diamond and then did a long bike ride that day. Made it back in time for a buffet dinner and hypnotist. Drove through the night to moab, then I said a sad goodbye to bro and I drove on to estes. Picked up some cool hippy hitch hikers in jct and took them to frisco. Stayed with cousin Kendra and Dan in Evergreen where we saw a monstrous black bear.
The next day met up with heather in EP. The following day we took a scenic route to telluride going over trail ridge, following the colorado river through kremmling biking the bike path in the glenwood canyon, taking a hike at the maroon bells in aspen and then hot springing in Redstone area before going over maclure pass to get to montrose to stay with Carleen. The next 4 days were filled with awesome telluride blue grass festival activities. Music, dancing, drinking, etc. A highlight had to be front and center row, 2 feet from josh ritter during his night grass concert in the fly me to the moon saloon. Edward Sharpe and the magnetic zeroes, yonder mtn stringband, amelda may, leftover salmon and others were all great fun
After about a week in Zion we headed towards the glen canyon area and did some slot canyons there. On the way stopped at red canyon (near bryce canyon np) and did some biking. Celebrated my birthday swimming (and bathing) at lake powell. Then drove onto Moab where we did a better job of partying for my birthday. Met up with Drew, Yogg, Christina, and Amanda in Moab and drove to Mexican Hat where we put into the san juan for a 5 day awesome raft and float trip. Some cool side hikes up canyons, to the rim, and swimming holes. Even did some kayaking.
After the float trip, said goodbye to everyone except Yogg and bro. We drove towards escalante where we did a mtn bike ride up on boulder pass and did a bad mtn bike ride in Escalante. In escalante we went into escalante/grand staircase national monument and did a two day overnight, very wet slot canyon called neon that ended in a cool repel into the cathedral and pool. Totally awesome slot canyon. Took a scenic route to get to cedar city where we did a cool mtn bike ride. From there drove on to Zion again where we did some more biking around Hurricane. Blew out the tire in my car in a bad way and they said it couldn't be fixed, so we figured we had to drive to vegas to get the warranty on my tire. Another shop was able to fix it however. We said goodbye to dave, swam in an amazingly beautiful reservoir and watched robin hood in st. george as it was so hot. That evening we did a mtn bike ride in st. george. Since we were excited about vegas we decided to head there anyways. Got into vegas a bit before midnight and partied until 7 am. We toured around vegas the next day and went and got costumes for the next night. Triggers drove out from LA and we partied the night away with him and 4 gals from Iowa. The next day we hit the pool and then went up mtn biking at Red Rock Canyon park. Stayed the night up there in blue diamond and then did a long bike ride that day. Made it back in time for a buffet dinner and hypnotist. Drove through the night to moab, then I said a sad goodbye to bro and I drove on to estes. Picked up some cool hippy hitch hikers in jct and took them to frisco. Stayed with cousin Kendra and Dan in Evergreen where we saw a monstrous black bear.
The next day met up with heather in EP. The following day we took a scenic route to telluride going over trail ridge, following the colorado river through kremmling biking the bike path in the glenwood canyon, taking a hike at the maroon bells in aspen and then hot springing in Redstone area before going over maclure pass to get to montrose to stay with Carleen. The next 4 days were filled with awesome telluride blue grass festival activities. Music, dancing, drinking, etc. A highlight had to be front and center row, 2 feet from josh ritter during his night grass concert in the fly me to the moon saloon. Edward Sharpe and the magnetic zeroes, yonder mtn stringband, amelda may, leftover salmon and others were all great fun
The rest of Israel and Jordan
So I ended up never having a chance to use the internet the rest of the trip, but I just wanted to quickly right down the places we went and what we saw, mainly for me so that I don't forget it.
3/10. We flew to Eilat in Israel and then crossed the border into Jordan to the city of Aqaba. Again, both getting on the flight in TLV and leaving Israel I had lots of difficulties with security and letting me through. They are very, very cautious in Israel and with my long hair that looks nothing like my passport picture and my beat up heavily used passport I was a red flag.
We took a tour and hiked around Petra. It was simply amazing. One of the highlights of the whole trip. Cool slot canyons ending up at the Treasury building, carved out of stone and just awe inspiring. But we also hiked around to lots of the other buildings carved out of stone. Coming back across the border we came in right after the border was supposed to be closed (8pm) but we were able to get through and they luckily held the plane for us in Eilat so that we were able to make it back to TLV to meet up with the rest of our group.
3/11 Make our way to Haiffa. Stop at Ceasaria (old greco-roman city), Megiddo (several temples including one of solomon's temples, archaeological digs, reportedly the site of the future armaggedon); Nazareteh Church where assumption of Mary supposedly occurred. Went out for some drinks with Trish, Liz, Sara, Dianne, and Dad at the 3 bears pub. Fun night
3/12 Bahai gardens from bahai relgion. Zippori ruins with nice mosaics. Akko, a fortified crusader capitol. Visit Rosh Hanikra on border with Lebanon where there are some cool sea grottoes. Overnight at Kibbutz on sea of galilea
3/13 Tel hazor--anciet city being excavated. Visit Caesarea philippi which is at the head of the jordan river. Grottoes there and pagan temples, and Paul apparently walked by there. Also where Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. Drove around the Golan Heights (used to be syria and lebanon) and visited an old syrian bunker. Visited the top of a volcano and israeli fortification. Visited Tabgha, the traditional site of the multiplication of loaves of bread and fish.
3/14 Visit a 2000 year old fishing boat removed from the mud of the sea of galilee. Visited Capernaum, the town of Jesus and where Peter's house had been. Visited the mount of the beatitudes where the believe the sermon on the mount was given. Had some fresh fish on the shores of the galilee. Visit spot where it is possible Jesus told men to throw their nets to the right side of the boat. Boat ride across the sea of galilee. Went up some hill (don't remember the significance) where there was a church on top.
3/15 Baptized dad at Yardenit along the Jordan river in a very touching ceremony complete with great singing by Scott and company. Visited Bet Shean, a roman type sin city. Went to the Jordan Desert and visited Qumran, where the dead sea scrolls were found in caves. Visited a factory that makes dead sea skin products and bought some stuff for mom. Drove by Ein Gedi, but didn't get to hike there sadly b/c the sandstorm (shiraz (sp?)) was to intense. Hotel on beach of dead see, in sandstorm. The lowest point on earth and saltiest lake. Floated in the indoor spa. Karaoke/dance/dj night w/ local israelis. Tons of fun!! Think wedding crashers/big fat greek wedding type dancing. Liz and I stayed out late and then Arya, our tour guide, took us out for beers
3/16 Floating in dead sea. Such an AWESOME feeling. Like defying gravity on the moon or something. Tour of Masada, the stronghold of Jewish zealots who were the last to fall to the roman legions and was also where herod the great's palace was. Palace is up on this huge, high mesa. On hike down we some some Ibex (mountain goat type thing). Overnight in Arad City.
3/17 Visited ruins of Arad where Canaanite citw as 3000BC and solomon 1000bc. Visit Bedouin culture center and have tea in a Bedouin tent. Through west bank into Jerusalem where we got a view of temple mount and the old city. Visited a museum to see model of the ancient city. Freezing!
3/18 Whole day touring jerusalem. Sick to my stomach a bit. First drove around entire walled city. Visited western and southern wall. Walked through jewish quarter. Did an Aliyah at S. wall by micvah "blvd" Visited the burned house and 4-story 7000 sq ft. house buried underground that was build during Jesus' time. Visited temple mount.
3/19 Visited Holocaust museum and cool children's memorial (mirrors and candles) Visit St. Peter's chruch which is where Jesus was held prisoner at Caiaphas' palace. Climbed steps Jesus would have climbed. Had a communion service in some tomb area. Visited a street market and walked through a Hassidic Jewish neighborhood
3/20 Trip to west bank and Bethlehem. Visit shepherd's field and church of the nativity. Back in Jerusalem, walk the top of the wall. Attend mass at Holy Sepulchre church. Crazy route to get to the church. It was just myself, my dad, and the Finks that went. The experience getting there was fun. Nice service as well. Attended a traditional Jewish dance performance, and of course I went on stage to dance. Party night on the town with Liz and Diane. Saw the end of UNI beating Kansas in the big dance!!
3/21 Visit Church of the holy sepulchre which is on the place Jesus was likely crucified at gogotha and where his tomb was likely to be. Shopping in Muslim quarter. Visit temple institute which is where Jews are preparing stuff for if they can build a new temple on the temple mount. Visit old city of David. Went in under ground tunnels and then walked through Hezekiah's tunnel in the dark and water, which was lots of fun.
3/22 Prayed at the wailing wall. Some more touring of Jerusalem. Night tour under the wall, which was quite awesome. History of the city all came together. Went out partying with the crowd (Craig, Liz, Dianne, Dad, Scott, Lou, Trish, Sara, and Arya). Eventually all the remained was me, liz, dad, and arya, then just me and liz and Arya and then just me and Liz. We stayed up all night and arrived back at the hotel around 9am.
3/23 Relaxing day in Jerusalem. Nice lunch. Drive to Tel Aviv and then fly back to Denver. Several people on the trip got a nasty stomach bug that passed quickly through our group. Luckily I didn't get it! My theory was that since all the people out partying that night didn't get it but everyone else did, that the copious amounts of alcohol in our stomachs killed it. Although we were out till the next morning and should have been run down and been the ones to get sick, all the OH killed the bug. Arrived in Denver and Estes Park to almost 2 feet of snow!
3/10. We flew to Eilat in Israel and then crossed the border into Jordan to the city of Aqaba. Again, both getting on the flight in TLV and leaving Israel I had lots of difficulties with security and letting me through. They are very, very cautious in Israel and with my long hair that looks nothing like my passport picture and my beat up heavily used passport I was a red flag.
We took a tour and hiked around Petra. It was simply amazing. One of the highlights of the whole trip. Cool slot canyons ending up at the Treasury building, carved out of stone and just awe inspiring. But we also hiked around to lots of the other buildings carved out of stone. Coming back across the border we came in right after the border was supposed to be closed (8pm) but we were able to get through and they luckily held the plane for us in Eilat so that we were able to make it back to TLV to meet up with the rest of our group.
3/11 Make our way to Haiffa. Stop at Ceasaria (old greco-roman city), Megiddo (several temples including one of solomon's temples, archaeological digs, reportedly the site of the future armaggedon); Nazareteh Church where assumption of Mary supposedly occurred. Went out for some drinks with Trish, Liz, Sara, Dianne, and Dad at the 3 bears pub. Fun night
3/12 Bahai gardens from bahai relgion. Zippori ruins with nice mosaics. Akko, a fortified crusader capitol. Visit Rosh Hanikra on border with Lebanon where there are some cool sea grottoes. Overnight at Kibbutz on sea of galilea
3/13 Tel hazor--anciet city being excavated. Visit Caesarea philippi which is at the head of the jordan river. Grottoes there and pagan temples, and Paul apparently walked by there. Also where Peter acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. Drove around the Golan Heights (used to be syria and lebanon) and visited an old syrian bunker. Visited the top of a volcano and israeli fortification. Visited Tabgha, the traditional site of the multiplication of loaves of bread and fish.
3/14 Visit a 2000 year old fishing boat removed from the mud of the sea of galilee. Visited Capernaum, the town of Jesus and where Peter's house had been. Visited the mount of the beatitudes where the believe the sermon on the mount was given. Had some fresh fish on the shores of the galilee. Visit spot where it is possible Jesus told men to throw their nets to the right side of the boat. Boat ride across the sea of galilee. Went up some hill (don't remember the significance) where there was a church on top.
3/15 Baptized dad at Yardenit along the Jordan river in a very touching ceremony complete with great singing by Scott and company. Visited Bet Shean, a roman type sin city. Went to the Jordan Desert and visited Qumran, where the dead sea scrolls were found in caves. Visited a factory that makes dead sea skin products and bought some stuff for mom. Drove by Ein Gedi, but didn't get to hike there sadly b/c the sandstorm (shiraz (sp?)) was to intense. Hotel on beach of dead see, in sandstorm. The lowest point on earth and saltiest lake. Floated in the indoor spa. Karaoke/dance/dj night w/ local israelis. Tons of fun!! Think wedding crashers/big fat greek wedding type dancing. Liz and I stayed out late and then Arya, our tour guide, took us out for beers
3/16 Floating in dead sea. Such an AWESOME feeling. Like defying gravity on the moon or something. Tour of Masada, the stronghold of Jewish zealots who were the last to fall to the roman legions and was also where herod the great's palace was. Palace is up on this huge, high mesa. On hike down we some some Ibex (mountain goat type thing). Overnight in Arad City.
3/17 Visited ruins of Arad where Canaanite citw as 3000BC and solomon 1000bc. Visit Bedouin culture center and have tea in a Bedouin tent. Through west bank into Jerusalem where we got a view of temple mount and the old city. Visited a museum to see model of the ancient city. Freezing!
3/18 Whole day touring jerusalem. Sick to my stomach a bit. First drove around entire walled city. Visited western and southern wall. Walked through jewish quarter. Did an Aliyah at S. wall by micvah "blvd" Visited the burned house and 4-story 7000 sq ft. house buried underground that was build during Jesus' time. Visited temple mount.
3/19 Visited Holocaust museum and cool children's memorial (mirrors and candles) Visit St. Peter's chruch which is where Jesus was held prisoner at Caiaphas' palace. Climbed steps Jesus would have climbed. Had a communion service in some tomb area. Visited a street market and walked through a Hassidic Jewish neighborhood
3/20 Trip to west bank and Bethlehem. Visit shepherd's field and church of the nativity. Back in Jerusalem, walk the top of the wall. Attend mass at Holy Sepulchre church. Crazy route to get to the church. It was just myself, my dad, and the Finks that went. The experience getting there was fun. Nice service as well. Attended a traditional Jewish dance performance, and of course I went on stage to dance. Party night on the town with Liz and Diane. Saw the end of UNI beating Kansas in the big dance!!
3/21 Visit Church of the holy sepulchre which is on the place Jesus was likely crucified at gogotha and where his tomb was likely to be. Shopping in Muslim quarter. Visit temple institute which is where Jews are preparing stuff for if they can build a new temple on the temple mount. Visit old city of David. Went in under ground tunnels and then walked through Hezekiah's tunnel in the dark and water, which was lots of fun.
3/22 Prayed at the wailing wall. Some more touring of Jerusalem. Night tour under the wall, which was quite awesome. History of the city all came together. Went out partying with the crowd (Craig, Liz, Dianne, Dad, Scott, Lou, Trish, Sara, and Arya). Eventually all the remained was me, liz, dad, and arya, then just me and liz and Arya and then just me and Liz. We stayed up all night and arrived back at the hotel around 9am.
3/23 Relaxing day in Jerusalem. Nice lunch. Drive to Tel Aviv and then fly back to Denver. Several people on the trip got a nasty stomach bug that passed quickly through our group. Luckily I didn't get it! My theory was that since all the people out partying that night didn't get it but everyone else did, that the copious amounts of alcohol in our stomachs killed it. Although we were out till the next morning and should have been run down and been the ones to get sick, all the OH killed the bug. Arrived in Denver and Estes Park to almost 2 feet of snow!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Petra!
I need a haircut!
Got up bright and early to catch a fligt from TLV to Eilat in the very south of israel. Again israel security was intense and again, they had much trouble believing the person on my passport was me! and everyone had to wait a while for me. Then on top of all that, they pull everyone aside, look deep in your eyes and ask you a barage of questions. It feels like ho I would assume it would feel like getting questioned by the CIA or one of those NCIS type shows on television. Really crazy.
Boarded our uneventful flight on a tiny plane down to eilat where we were transferred to the border with Jordan. This border was really not like any other border I had been at before I thnk. Thoug I don't really remember African borders too much. There's a long strip of no man's land between the two countries, in the middle of a desert wasteland that you walk through with barbed wire fences on all sides, millitary men with ak-47's and hummers about.
Got up bright and early to catch a fligt from TLV to Eilat in the very south of israel. Again israel security was intense and again, they had much trouble believing the person on my passport was me! and everyone had to wait a while for me. Then on top of all that, they pull everyone aside, look deep in your eyes and ask you a barage of questions. It feels like ho I would assume it would feel like getting questioned by the CIA or one of those NCIS type shows on television. Really crazy.
Boarded our uneventful flight on a tiny plane down to eilat where we were transferred to the border with Jordan. This border was really not like any other border I had been at before I thnk. Thoug I don't really remember African borders too much. There's a long strip of no man's land between the two countries, in the middle of a desert wasteland that you walk through with barbed wire fences on all sides, millitary men with ak-47's and hummers about.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Holy Land
3-9-10
Shalom,
Arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel today. I'm on a trip with my dad and his church to the middle east. My dad has always wanted to go and had wanted to take my mom, but she decided that if she was going to take time off from work, she'd rather sip pina coladas on a beach than take a sort of high intensity course. Well, she didn't end up on the beach, but is instead sipping martinis with her mom, sisters, and brothers in Tucson. B/c of that I was invited by my dad to come on this trip. This trip is going to be a complete 180 from my SE asia trip. It's in a group and very organized and quite fancy. It was a huge difference today arriving in Tel Aviv all tired from the the long flights and just following a group to a private bus and then to a fancy hotel (and by fancy I'm not talking running water and warm showers that I talked about in Asia, but fancy as in state of the art fitness centre, business centre with fancy snacks and drinks for the taking, hi speed computers, flat screen tvs, and the beatles are currently blaring on the sound system) and then having a fancy meal. Instead of having to figure out how to get public transport to the backpacker area and then trying to find a cheap room and then walking the streets for a meal. Much, much different.
So we started the day yesterday, early in the morning leaving Estes for DIA and then onto Philly. I had hoped to meet up with Sara Bates in Philly b/c we had a decent layover, but it just didn't work out. Arrived in TLV about 3:30pm today. The Israelis have tight security for obvious reasons, and I had a bit of trouble getting into the country. Right of the plane they just do a check of passports and the guy that checked mine didn't quite believe me that my passport was mine, so he had to quiz me on everything, but let me through. At immigration where they stamp your passport, the women did not believe at all that the person on my passport was me. She kept looking at me and looking back at it and said she saw no resemblance. Of course I was much younger and now have very long hair instead of a carol cut, but still. So she asked for a second ID. Gave her my drivers license which has a picture taken of me after Lucas and I had stayed up 2 straight nights in a row cramming for our commercial driver's license, so I look terrible, and again, no resemblance she said. She asked for more, so I pulled out my ACI ID. Again, she didn't believe it. It had been about 15 minutes by now (my dad in front of me took about 20 seconds), but I was finally able to convince her with credit cards, Scuba PADI ID, my brochure for travel with the gate1 group, with reciting everything from my passport for her, and giving her a detailed itinerary of my trip to let me in.
TLV was pretty nasty today in terms of weather. It looked like a really terrible smog in LA or inversion in Boise. We're told it's not pollution but dust and sand in the air from a big sand storm in Saudi Arabia. TLV looks just like any modern east coast city to me, or at least what we saw of it which was the highways and the area around our fancy hotel.
We had a really tasty middle eastern type family style meal. Tomer, who I met in the Philippines, came over for dinner and to visit. He's such a nice guy and dad really enjoyed talking with him b/c he knows the old testament well and is big into musicals.
Tomorrow we are heading to Petra, Jordan. This is kinda an interesting story and my father and I may have been cited as rebels on the trip a bit for it. The trip, way back when, had mentioned having a day extension to go to Petra. That didn't pan out b/c Arlene, the group leader, had thought the day would be to rough and long. Now what is considered rough and long for the retired folk of Estes Park would be considered an easy day in my books according to my travel in SE asia. Well, dad really wanted to go, so I did some research on it, and found out it would be still possible to do a 1 day trip to Petra from TLV. So we approached, pretty much last minute, Arlene about it. She wasn't too thrilled about it, but agreed we could do it and just miss the normal tour of TLV with the rest of the group. Before we left, 2 other people had decided to join us. After meeting at DIA, another 2 had joined the group. So now we have 6 going tomorrow on our rebel rousing trip. It should be great though b/c Petra is one of the wonders of the architectual world and a definite highlight of the region. We leave tomorrow by airplane about 6:00am from TLV flying to Eilat. We then cross the border and head up to Petra. We return back to TLV around 10. Both my dad and I are really looking forward to it.
Shalom,
Arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel today. I'm on a trip with my dad and his church to the middle east. My dad has always wanted to go and had wanted to take my mom, but she decided that if she was going to take time off from work, she'd rather sip pina coladas on a beach than take a sort of high intensity course. Well, she didn't end up on the beach, but is instead sipping martinis with her mom, sisters, and brothers in Tucson. B/c of that I was invited by my dad to come on this trip. This trip is going to be a complete 180 from my SE asia trip. It's in a group and very organized and quite fancy. It was a huge difference today arriving in Tel Aviv all tired from the the long flights and just following a group to a private bus and then to a fancy hotel (and by fancy I'm not talking running water and warm showers that I talked about in Asia, but fancy as in state of the art fitness centre, business centre with fancy snacks and drinks for the taking, hi speed computers, flat screen tvs, and the beatles are currently blaring on the sound system) and then having a fancy meal. Instead of having to figure out how to get public transport to the backpacker area and then trying to find a cheap room and then walking the streets for a meal. Much, much different.
So we started the day yesterday, early in the morning leaving Estes for DIA and then onto Philly. I had hoped to meet up with Sara Bates in Philly b/c we had a decent layover, but it just didn't work out. Arrived in TLV about 3:30pm today. The Israelis have tight security for obvious reasons, and I had a bit of trouble getting into the country. Right of the plane they just do a check of passports and the guy that checked mine didn't quite believe me that my passport was mine, so he had to quiz me on everything, but let me through. At immigration where they stamp your passport, the women did not believe at all that the person on my passport was me. She kept looking at me and looking back at it and said she saw no resemblance. Of course I was much younger and now have very long hair instead of a carol cut, but still. So she asked for a second ID. Gave her my drivers license which has a picture taken of me after Lucas and I had stayed up 2 straight nights in a row cramming for our commercial driver's license, so I look terrible, and again, no resemblance she said. She asked for more, so I pulled out my ACI ID. Again, she didn't believe it. It had been about 15 minutes by now (my dad in front of me took about 20 seconds), but I was finally able to convince her with credit cards, Scuba PADI ID, my brochure for travel with the gate1 group, with reciting everything from my passport for her, and giving her a detailed itinerary of my trip to let me in.
TLV was pretty nasty today in terms of weather. It looked like a really terrible smog in LA or inversion in Boise. We're told it's not pollution but dust and sand in the air from a big sand storm in Saudi Arabia. TLV looks just like any modern east coast city to me, or at least what we saw of it which was the highways and the area around our fancy hotel.
We had a really tasty middle eastern type family style meal. Tomer, who I met in the Philippines, came over for dinner and to visit. He's such a nice guy and dad really enjoyed talking with him b/c he knows the old testament well and is big into musicals.
Tomorrow we are heading to Petra, Jordan. This is kinda an interesting story and my father and I may have been cited as rebels on the trip a bit for it. The trip, way back when, had mentioned having a day extension to go to Petra. That didn't pan out b/c Arlene, the group leader, had thought the day would be to rough and long. Now what is considered rough and long for the retired folk of Estes Park would be considered an easy day in my books according to my travel in SE asia. Well, dad really wanted to go, so I did some research on it, and found out it would be still possible to do a 1 day trip to Petra from TLV. So we approached, pretty much last minute, Arlene about it. She wasn't too thrilled about it, but agreed we could do it and just miss the normal tour of TLV with the rest of the group. Before we left, 2 other people had decided to join us. After meeting at DIA, another 2 had joined the group. So now we have 6 going tomorrow on our rebel rousing trip. It should be great though b/c Petra is one of the wonders of the architectual world and a definite highlight of the region. We leave tomorrow by airplane about 6:00am from TLV flying to Eilat. We then cross the border and head up to Petra. We return back to TLV around 10. Both my dad and I are really looking forward to it.
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