Friday, July 30
My New Hobby, Geocaching
Today I officially signed up on geocaching.com. My caching name is cougarcach24.
Wednesday, July 21
Breaking Down on the way to Mt. St. Helens
I met Jon mid July. We went on a day trip up to Mount St. Helens a couple weeks later. Around 9:00 a.m. we met at the park and ride off of the Mullen Street exit in Centralia. He decided to drive so I gathered my stuff and got in the car. We were on our way down I-5. We stopped at the Toutle Lake rest stop to find a cache and to use the bathroom. I waited in the car.
We got off at the Castle Rock exit and headed towards the mountain. Just after the town of Toutle Lake, we stopped at the giant Sasquatch just off the side of the road. I went into the gift shop and the lady saw my Cougar sweatshirt. "You're a Cougar too? So is my husband. Go Cougs!" We chatted a little bit while Jon found a few more caches. I really didn't know much about caching and I thought he would teach me more than he did...or include me in some of the ones he was doing.
We were on our way up Hwy 504. As it got steeper and steeper and just before the bend, his vehicle started smoking. Uh oh, not a good sign, we pulled over. We got out and inspected it. I suggested that it might have been the transmission. A while later, we decided that we should go back down the hill towards the nearest visitor's center, we passed a few miles back.
We coasted down the hill to Hoffstadt Bluff rest area/visitor's center. There, we ate the lunch we brought with us, Jon called his dad and we spent the next six hours talking and walking around the visitor's center.
It was going to be a while until his dad could come with the trailer to get his vehicle so he called his friend to come and get us. We crammed ourselves into his friend's tiny pick up truck and they drove me back to my car at the rest stop off Mullen. He constatnly told me sorry that our trip didn't work out the way he planned it. I told him, it happens and nothing we could do about it except figure it out the best we could.
He and his dad went back for his car later on that day.
It was an interesting day and I am glad I had the opportunity to meet Jon, if I didn't I probably wouldn't be geocaching.
Next Adventure: My New Hobby, Geocaching
We got off at the Castle Rock exit and headed towards the mountain. Just after the town of Toutle Lake, we stopped at the giant Sasquatch just off the side of the road. I went into the gift shop and the lady saw my Cougar sweatshirt. "You're a Cougar too? So is my husband. Go Cougs!" We chatted a little bit while Jon found a few more caches. I really didn't know much about caching and I thought he would teach me more than he did...or include me in some of the ones he was doing.
We were on our way up Hwy 504. As it got steeper and steeper and just before the bend, his vehicle started smoking. Uh oh, not a good sign, we pulled over. We got out and inspected it. I suggested that it might have been the transmission. A while later, we decided that we should go back down the hill towards the nearest visitor's center, we passed a few miles back.
We coasted down the hill to Hoffstadt Bluff rest area/visitor's center. There, we ate the lunch we brought with us, Jon called his dad and we spent the next six hours talking and walking around the visitor's center.
It was going to be a while until his dad could come with the trailer to get his vehicle so he called his friend to come and get us. We crammed ourselves into his friend's tiny pick up truck and they drove me back to my car at the rest stop off Mullen. He constatnly told me sorry that our trip didn't work out the way he planned it. I told him, it happens and nothing we could do about it except figure it out the best we could.
He and his dad went back for his car later on that day.
It was an interesting day and I am glad I had the opportunity to meet Jon, if I didn't I probably wouldn't be geocaching.
Next Adventure: My New Hobby, Geocaching
Monday, July 12
Denver, Colorado to Rainier, Washington (July 11-12, 2010)
July 11
We got up and packed up our stuff. Mom made some french toast and bacon. We packed up the car, said our goodbyes and we went to find some gas before getting on to I-70. We drove west watching Denver pass us.
I have no idea when we will be here again. We started to climb the Rockies an hour or so later. The drive was beautiful, some great country out here.
I actually considered for a brief moment moving to Colorado. Then I came back to reality, thinking I would have to start all over again…with a job, a place to live and having to move, ew. We watched all of the mountain towns as we drove by; lots of ski resorts and hotels. I asked if we could stop by Vail, just to say I’ve been there, I’ve heard a lot about it in movies. We were to north of Aspen, I would have liked to see that town as well.
We got to Vail and went to the visitor’s center and picked up some brochures and post cards. Took some pictures and we were on our way towards the Continental Divide through the Eisenhower Tunnel, one of the longest tunnels in the US. We got over the Great Divide and saw many rafts floating down the river. At one point the Colorado River was to the left of us and the freeway became stacked, westbound on top and eastbound below. It was pretty cool. The scenery was awesome. We went though lots of little towns and stopped in Gypsum, to use the bathroom. We drove through towns called Parachute, Eagle, Silt and Rifle. As we drove west, we saw the landscape change from mountains to hills to grasslands to flat and dry all in the matter of hours. We got to Grand Junction around 3 to get gas and Doug had to poop really bad. It was hot when we got out of the car so we hurried. We were on our way again about a half hour later, we saw the welcome to Utah sign. Every minute that passed the landscape got flatter and drier. We saw the junction for highway 128 to Moab and Arches National Park. Mom wanted to go so we took the 40 mile detour. “When will we ever be back here? Let’s go see it, we have time.” She said. We did what she wished. We endured the journey.
We stopped a couple times to take pictures. Even there we saw the “mitten” rock formations, chimney looking ones and other canyon-like rocks. We stopped to see the Colorado River and to take some of the sandstone, just a piece.
While driving through the river valley canyon, we saw a lot of people at the various ranches, people boating, camping, jet skiing, swimming and horseback riding. Too bad we didn’t have time. We reached Moab and it was bigger than I thought it was. We stopped at the local grocery store and picked up some sandwiches, grapes, chips and drinks along with some post cards and stickers. From there we stopped at the visitor’s center and picked up some brochures and talked to the rangers. We got back in the car and headed north on highway 191 to Arches National Park. We got to the front and took a picture with the park sign before heading into the park.
We had to pay a park fee and they gave us a map of the place. We looked at the map to see what we could see with the little time we had. We headed towards the delicate arch, the well known and highly illustrated (it’s featured on the Utah license plate.) We got to the parking lot and found out it would have taken us a few miles round trip to actually be at the delicate arch. We went to the viewpoint instead and took some pictures with it.
We hung around for a while before returning to our car and headed towards the other parts of the park. On the way to the other section of the park, we wondered about Utah’s nickname because we’ve seen their state highway signs.
I told them it was the Beehive State. Why in the world would they just put a beehive on their signs just because? Doug disagreed and told me that wasn’t true. He said it was the Mormon State. Mom just sat there and didn’t say anything. We wanted a verdict so we called dad. We had dad get onto the internet. He found its nickname, The Beehive State. Ha! I was right. That shut up Doug for a while. My useless knowledge came in handy. We hit up the parade of elephants, turrets arch and other rock formations.
We visited for about 45 minutes before calling it a day. We needed to get on the road and head towards home. We got back onto 191 and drove north towards Green River. There, we stopped and got gas, drinks, some snacks and a couple of those 5 hour energy shots. I’ve never had them before so I thought I’d try them. We were on the road once again and it started getting dark. We met up with highway 6 near Price and headed north from there. It was dark so we really didn’t get to see any of the landscape. The road snaked its way through the mountains and met up with I-15 at Spanish Fork and the south side of Provo. I drove until we got north of Salt Lake City, where we stopped at a gas station and went potty. That’s when Doug took over the driving. I’ve been driving since the Grapevine in California. I have no idea how many miles I’ve driven since then. I sat in the passenger seat and watched Friends and mom was in the back seat trying to sleep. I watched Friends for a while when the tiredness swept over me. I drank one of those 5 hour energy shots and the flavor I picked was gross. A few minutes later, I was wired. Doug was busy guzzling those Monsters by the can. It was unreal to see how many hours pass while you’re driving in the dark.
July 12
We hit the junction of 1-15 and I-84 entered Idaho sometime between midnight and one Mountain Time. We stopped at a small town called Burley, at a closed gas station to get gas. I had to use the bathroom really bad so I peed behind the store. This was sometime near 2:30 a.m. Doug stopped again in Caldwell for gas. Once we reached the border of Idaho and Oregon, we stopped in Ontario and mom started driving. That’s when I fell asleep for a few hours. I remember waking up in Hermiston because mom stopped to get food from McDonald’s. We saw the sign stating we were now in the Pacific Time zone. I remember having to poop really bad again so we stopped in Boardman, so glad they had a bathroom. We were there for a few minutes. I decided to wash my face and brush my teeth as well. While they waited for me, mom decided to get gas and that would be the last gas stop of the trip. From there, we headed west on I-84 to Portland. We got onto I-205 and we were now in Washington, that was sometime near 8:30 that morning. The miles flew by because we were familiar with this stretch of road. It was nearing lunch time so we stopped at Harold’s Burger Bar in Chehalis. Mmmm. We headed home and rolled into the drive way around noon.
We drove 4437.6 miles in 207 hours and covered 9 states in 10 days.
We got up and packed up our stuff. Mom made some french toast and bacon. We packed up the car, said our goodbyes and we went to find some gas before getting on to I-70. We drove west watching Denver pass us.
I have no idea when we will be here again. We started to climb the Rockies an hour or so later. The drive was beautiful, some great country out here.
I actually considered for a brief moment moving to Colorado. Then I came back to reality, thinking I would have to start all over again…with a job, a place to live and having to move, ew. We watched all of the mountain towns as we drove by; lots of ski resorts and hotels. I asked if we could stop by Vail, just to say I’ve been there, I’ve heard a lot about it in movies. We were to north of Aspen, I would have liked to see that town as well.
We got to Vail and went to the visitor’s center and picked up some brochures and post cards. Took some pictures and we were on our way towards the Continental Divide through the Eisenhower Tunnel, one of the longest tunnels in the US. We got over the Great Divide and saw many rafts floating down the river. At one point the Colorado River was to the left of us and the freeway became stacked, westbound on top and eastbound below. It was pretty cool. The scenery was awesome. We went though lots of little towns and stopped in Gypsum, to use the bathroom. We drove through towns called Parachute, Eagle, Silt and Rifle. As we drove west, we saw the landscape change from mountains to hills to grasslands to flat and dry all in the matter of hours. We got to Grand Junction around 3 to get gas and Doug had to poop really bad. It was hot when we got out of the car so we hurried. We were on our way again about a half hour later, we saw the welcome to Utah sign. Every minute that passed the landscape got flatter and drier. We saw the junction for highway 128 to Moab and Arches National Park. Mom wanted to go so we took the 40 mile detour. “When will we ever be back here? Let’s go see it, we have time.” She said. We did what she wished. We endured the journey.
We stopped a couple times to take pictures. Even there we saw the “mitten” rock formations, chimney looking ones and other canyon-like rocks. We stopped to see the Colorado River and to take some of the sandstone, just a piece.
While driving through the river valley canyon, we saw a lot of people at the various ranches, people boating, camping, jet skiing, swimming and horseback riding. Too bad we didn’t have time. We reached Moab and it was bigger than I thought it was. We stopped at the local grocery store and picked up some sandwiches, grapes, chips and drinks along with some post cards and stickers. From there we stopped at the visitor’s center and picked up some brochures and talked to the rangers. We got back in the car and headed north on highway 191 to Arches National Park. We got to the front and took a picture with the park sign before heading into the park.
We had to pay a park fee and they gave us a map of the place. We looked at the map to see what we could see with the little time we had. We headed towards the delicate arch, the well known and highly illustrated (it’s featured on the Utah license plate.) We got to the parking lot and found out it would have taken us a few miles round trip to actually be at the delicate arch. We went to the viewpoint instead and took some pictures with it.
We hung around for a while before returning to our car and headed towards the other parts of the park. On the way to the other section of the park, we wondered about Utah’s nickname because we’ve seen their state highway signs.
I told them it was the Beehive State. Why in the world would they just put a beehive on their signs just because? Doug disagreed and told me that wasn’t true. He said it was the Mormon State. Mom just sat there and didn’t say anything. We wanted a verdict so we called dad. We had dad get onto the internet. He found its nickname, The Beehive State. Ha! I was right. That shut up Doug for a while. My useless knowledge came in handy. We hit up the parade of elephants, turrets arch and other rock formations.
We visited for about 45 minutes before calling it a day. We needed to get on the road and head towards home. We got back onto 191 and drove north towards Green River. There, we stopped and got gas, drinks, some snacks and a couple of those 5 hour energy shots. I’ve never had them before so I thought I’d try them. We were on the road once again and it started getting dark. We met up with highway 6 near Price and headed north from there. It was dark so we really didn’t get to see any of the landscape. The road snaked its way through the mountains and met up with I-15 at Spanish Fork and the south side of Provo. I drove until we got north of Salt Lake City, where we stopped at a gas station and went potty. That’s when Doug took over the driving. I’ve been driving since the Grapevine in California. I have no idea how many miles I’ve driven since then. I sat in the passenger seat and watched Friends and mom was in the back seat trying to sleep. I watched Friends for a while when the tiredness swept over me. I drank one of those 5 hour energy shots and the flavor I picked was gross. A few minutes later, I was wired. Doug was busy guzzling those Monsters by the can. It was unreal to see how many hours pass while you’re driving in the dark.
July 12
We hit the junction of 1-15 and I-84 entered Idaho sometime between midnight and one Mountain Time. We stopped at a small town called Burley, at a closed gas station to get gas. I had to use the bathroom really bad so I peed behind the store. This was sometime near 2:30 a.m. Doug stopped again in Caldwell for gas. Once we reached the border of Idaho and Oregon, we stopped in Ontario and mom started driving. That’s when I fell asleep for a few hours. I remember waking up in Hermiston because mom stopped to get food from McDonald’s. We saw the sign stating we were now in the Pacific Time zone. I remember having to poop really bad again so we stopped in Boardman, so glad they had a bathroom. We were there for a few minutes. I decided to wash my face and brush my teeth as well. While they waited for me, mom decided to get gas and that would be the last gas stop of the trip. From there, we headed west on I-84 to Portland. We got onto I-205 and we were now in Washington, that was sometime near 8:30 that morning. The miles flew by because we were familiar with this stretch of road. It was nearing lunch time so we stopped at Harold’s Burger Bar in Chehalis. Mmmm. We headed home and rolled into the drive way around noon.
We drove 4437.6 miles in 207 hours and covered 9 states in 10 days.
Saturday, July 10
Denver, Colorado (July, 10, 2010)
July 10
We got up, mom took a shower and then we made some scrambled eggs, toast and bacon for breakfast. We spent some time doing laundry. We went to the theater around 1ish. I watched Toy Story 3 while mom and Erika watched New Moon, the Twilight movie. I have never seen a movie at the theater by myself before, so it was a weird experience. My movie started sooner so I had to wait about 15 minutes in the lobby for their movie to finish. I spent some time writing about our trip so far. I got four pages into it when they came out of the theater. It was about 3:30 when we decided to go to Walmart to pick up a few things. We found some chicken to make chicken burgers for dinner. We went back to her apartment and relaxed a bit.
We watched Invictus while we did more laundry. We made the chicken burgers a bit later. Doug came back around 6ish and was full from the free tacos we forgot about. Oh well. We ended up watching the other movie, Nine, while I used the computer for a while. After the movie, we watched Friends for a while until we got tired. We all went to bed early because tomorrow was going to be another really long day.
We got up, mom took a shower and then we made some scrambled eggs, toast and bacon for breakfast. We spent some time doing laundry. We went to the theater around 1ish. I watched Toy Story 3 while mom and Erika watched New Moon, the Twilight movie. I have never seen a movie at the theater by myself before, so it was a weird experience. My movie started sooner so I had to wait about 15 minutes in the lobby for their movie to finish. I spent some time writing about our trip so far. I got four pages into it when they came out of the theater. It was about 3:30 when we decided to go to Walmart to pick up a few things. We found some chicken to make chicken burgers for dinner. We went back to her apartment and relaxed a bit.
We watched Invictus while we did more laundry. We made the chicken burgers a bit later. Doug came back around 6ish and was full from the free tacos we forgot about. Oh well. We ended up watching the other movie, Nine, while I used the computer for a while. After the movie, we watched Friends for a while until we got tired. We all went to bed early because tomorrow was going to be another really long day.
Friday, July 9
Colorado Springs to Denver, Colorado (July 9, 2010)
July 9
We had about an hour left to go. We finally saw the lights of Denver out in the distance. We stopped at a gas station near Castle Rock to use the bathroom and to get some gas so we didn’t have to when we got closer to Erika’s. We got off I-25 and got onto the I-225 towards Aurora. We followed her directions and finally got to her apartment complex where she had us type in a code on the keypad to open the gate. We had trouble so she had to come help us. She said most of the time it doesn’t work, so she ends up using the cards the residents of the complex were issued. We parked the cars and got out the stuff we were going to use that night. She showed us where she lived, gave us the mini tour of her apartment and she told us that she got some free Rockies tickets from a friend who couldn’t use them. The game was for Friday night if we decided to go. We were all so tired from that long haul, I think we put away close to 570 miles in one day. We unpacked our sleeping arrangements and while we did that, Erika was sleeping on her blow up bed she shared with Mom. She has no way to haul a real bed, so a $45 blow up mattress had to do for now. I got my bed ready and laid in it while Erika’s new cat, Poppy, stared me down. The kind of staring that makes you feel uncomfortable, almost like she was plotting a way to murder me.
Mom and Erika fell fast asleep. Erika had to work in the morning and mom just isn’t a night owl. Doug decided he’d play the computer all night long. I yelled at him to go to bed. He did eventually. No one wants to hear keyboard and mouse clicking while they were trying to sleep, plus it’s rude to the ones who were sleeping. I wasn’t sure how long I had slept before I woke up with the feeling of something staring at me. I yelled out for someone to turn the light on. I know what I was doing, but at the same time, it felt like I was asleep too. Doug was watching Friends on the DVD player so, he got up and turned the light on. “Something is staring at me.” I explained in a daze. Erika and mom also woke up wondering what was going on. “I don’t know where I am.” I said in a light panic. It takes me a couple of seconds to figure out where I am when I am somewhere new. A few minutes later, the lights were out and were all asleep again. Erika’s alarm went off in the morning and she got ready for work. Mom got up shortly after, took a shower and ate some cereal. I got up around 10:00 a.m. and got ready. We unloaded Erika’s boxes we’ve had in the car since we left. We unloaded all the boxes we brought in and put them away in the cupboards and threw the boxes away to remove all the clutter. The fry daddy leaked oil all over the kitchen floor, so we spent some time cleaning that up. We changed our clothes and got ready to meet Erika for lunch. I told mom to guess where we might go for lunch. I said probably Taco Bell. Erika gave us the address of her work and we found it pretty easily. We met her in the front of the building.
We picked her up and guess where we went? Taco Bell. She said she came here every once and a while. There is a Famous Footwear near the Taco Bell where someone had turned their van into the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine. Erika had sent me the picture of it to my phone months ago. When we went into the Taco Bell and had our tacos. We couldn’t stay long because she had to get back to work soon. We finished and drove her back to work. We parked our car near hers in the parking lot and followed her into the building. She showed us the first floor, which consisted of a cafeteria and some offices. We went up the elevator to her office and we met some of her co-workers. They seemed very nice and they liked Erika. So I guess that job suited her.
We stayed there for about and hour until we decided to go do some errands. We stopped at the Walmart first because she desperately needed some groceries. She HAD nothing, not even milk. We picked up a few things and some other things to ear while we were visiting Erika. After Walmart, we went to the Goodwill down the road. I tried looking for a Rockies shirt to wear to the game that night but found nothing. I was surprised. We found a couple other t-shirts instead. On the way back to her apartment, I found a Dick’s Sporting goods and attempted to find a cheap Rockies shirt. We looked through a few shirt racks and I found a good plain gray one with Colorado Rockies on it. I bought one for Erika for $4, it said something like Rocktober on it, probably when they made the playoffs in 2009. We paid for the shirts and hustled home to put stuff away. We saw that Doug finally got up. We told him to get ready because Erika would be home soon. Erika got home a while later and we all rushed to finish getting ready to go. Erika changed her clothes, we got into the car and headed towards the light rail station down the road. We got to the parking garage, parked the car and headed towards the ticket kiosk. I gave Erika some money for our tickets, she put the money in and got our tickets and change back in dollar coins. We had a bunch of dollar coins.
We headed up the stairs to wait for our train to take us to Denver. We were going to cross three zones to Coors Field. We probably waited close to 15 minutes until our train showed up. The Denver light rain wasn’t any different than the ones I’ve been on in the past, the Portland MAX, the train to Washington D.C. and the BART of San Francisco. A couple other Rockies fans were also on their way to the game. We got to Union Station about 20 minutes later, this is where all the trains eventually end up and turn around.
We walked through the building and walked down a few blocks to Coors Field.
We went to the gate and had our tickets scanned. The lady who scanned my ticket saw Jingles and asked about him. I told her that I was doing a traveling possum thing like the traveling gnome. She smiled and thought it was a pretty cool idea. She told me to enjoy the game and that my possum to enjoy the game too. I told her that we would. We walked into the concourse and found out seats. Our box seats were similar to the Terrace Club ones at Safeco. I couldn’t believe how tiny the field was. The dimensions were definitely shorter than at Safeco. They had water in centerfield where ducks often came to hang out, other than that; it was like any other field.
I believe it was cowboy night, so some of the fans were dressed up and the players’ pictures on the big screen when they came up to bat were dressed in cowboy garb. I found a program lying on the ground near us so I helped myself. A while into the game, Erika and I got up to get a snack and a drink from the concession stand. We got our food and paid the cashiers with our dollar coins. I asked the girl if they got those coins often and she said yes because so many of the fans take the light rail to get to the game. We went back to our seats and enjoyed our food and drinks. The game was pretty boring until the 7th inning.
Erika told us that the professional Colorado sports teams have a deal with Taco Bell. If the Rockies scored more than 7 runs, the entire state of Colorado won 4 free tacos (with a purchase of a drink) whether or not you were at the game. You would have to go into a Taco Bell the next day between 4-6 p.m. The Rapids, Broncos and Nuggets were all included in the deal. Ian Stewart from the Rockies hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 7th inning. Prior to the grand slam, they were down 8-5. The ball was hit to right center field near the water. The crowd roared with excitement and we were happy because we had just won 4 free tacos! The Rockies scored one more before the routine 3 up and 3 down, game over. Rockies win 10-8 as they rallied past the San Diego Padres. We got up and headed out of the stadium like everyone else.
We got disoriented as we left Coors Field and had to turn around to find Union Station to get back on the train and to our car. We got on the train-along with everyone else in Denver and had to stand in the aisle. It took forever to get back to our car. We reached our car about midnight and Doug informed us then and there that he was going to hang out with Jon. He could have told us earlier, before we got back. Jon picked him up and drove off. Erika, mom and I went to our car. Since we were in town already, we decided to get some milk, bread and bacon for breakfast tomorrow. We hit up the King Sooper (equivalent to a Safeway) and bought our food. On the way out Erika decided to rent movies from Red Box. We rented two movies, Invictus and Nine. We got to her apartment, put the stuff away and got ready for bed. I watched a few episodes of Friends before falling asleep.
We had about an hour left to go. We finally saw the lights of Denver out in the distance. We stopped at a gas station near Castle Rock to use the bathroom and to get some gas so we didn’t have to when we got closer to Erika’s. We got off I-25 and got onto the I-225 towards Aurora. We followed her directions and finally got to her apartment complex where she had us type in a code on the keypad to open the gate. We had trouble so she had to come help us. She said most of the time it doesn’t work, so she ends up using the cards the residents of the complex were issued. We parked the cars and got out the stuff we were going to use that night. She showed us where she lived, gave us the mini tour of her apartment and she told us that she got some free Rockies tickets from a friend who couldn’t use them. The game was for Friday night if we decided to go. We were all so tired from that long haul, I think we put away close to 570 miles in one day. We unpacked our sleeping arrangements and while we did that, Erika was sleeping on her blow up bed she shared with Mom. She has no way to haul a real bed, so a $45 blow up mattress had to do for now. I got my bed ready and laid in it while Erika’s new cat, Poppy, stared me down. The kind of staring that makes you feel uncomfortable, almost like she was plotting a way to murder me.
Mom and Erika fell fast asleep. Erika had to work in the morning and mom just isn’t a night owl. Doug decided he’d play the computer all night long. I yelled at him to go to bed. He did eventually. No one wants to hear keyboard and mouse clicking while they were trying to sleep, plus it’s rude to the ones who were sleeping. I wasn’t sure how long I had slept before I woke up with the feeling of something staring at me. I yelled out for someone to turn the light on. I know what I was doing, but at the same time, it felt like I was asleep too. Doug was watching Friends on the DVD player so, he got up and turned the light on. “Something is staring at me.” I explained in a daze. Erika and mom also woke up wondering what was going on. “I don’t know where I am.” I said in a light panic. It takes me a couple of seconds to figure out where I am when I am somewhere new. A few minutes later, the lights were out and were all asleep again. Erika’s alarm went off in the morning and she got ready for work. Mom got up shortly after, took a shower and ate some cereal. I got up around 10:00 a.m. and got ready. We unloaded Erika’s boxes we’ve had in the car since we left. We unloaded all the boxes we brought in and put them away in the cupboards and threw the boxes away to remove all the clutter. The fry daddy leaked oil all over the kitchen floor, so we spent some time cleaning that up. We changed our clothes and got ready to meet Erika for lunch. I told mom to guess where we might go for lunch. I said probably Taco Bell. Erika gave us the address of her work and we found it pretty easily. We met her in the front of the building.
We picked her up and guess where we went? Taco Bell. She said she came here every once and a while. There is a Famous Footwear near the Taco Bell where someone had turned their van into the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine. Erika had sent me the picture of it to my phone months ago. When we went into the Taco Bell and had our tacos. We couldn’t stay long because she had to get back to work soon. We finished and drove her back to work. We parked our car near hers in the parking lot and followed her into the building. She showed us the first floor, which consisted of a cafeteria and some offices. We went up the elevator to her office and we met some of her co-workers. They seemed very nice and they liked Erika. So I guess that job suited her.
We stayed there for about and hour until we decided to go do some errands. We stopped at the Walmart first because she desperately needed some groceries. She HAD nothing, not even milk. We picked up a few things and some other things to ear while we were visiting Erika. After Walmart, we went to the Goodwill down the road. I tried looking for a Rockies shirt to wear to the game that night but found nothing. I was surprised. We found a couple other t-shirts instead. On the way back to her apartment, I found a Dick’s Sporting goods and attempted to find a cheap Rockies shirt. We looked through a few shirt racks and I found a good plain gray one with Colorado Rockies on it. I bought one for Erika for $4, it said something like Rocktober on it, probably when they made the playoffs in 2009. We paid for the shirts and hustled home to put stuff away. We saw that Doug finally got up. We told him to get ready because Erika would be home soon. Erika got home a while later and we all rushed to finish getting ready to go. Erika changed her clothes, we got into the car and headed towards the light rail station down the road. We got to the parking garage, parked the car and headed towards the ticket kiosk. I gave Erika some money for our tickets, she put the money in and got our tickets and change back in dollar coins. We had a bunch of dollar coins.
We headed up the stairs to wait for our train to take us to Denver. We were going to cross three zones to Coors Field. We probably waited close to 15 minutes until our train showed up. The Denver light rain wasn’t any different than the ones I’ve been on in the past, the Portland MAX, the train to Washington D.C. and the BART of San Francisco. A couple other Rockies fans were also on their way to the game. We got to Union Station about 20 minutes later, this is where all the trains eventually end up and turn around.
We walked through the building and walked down a few blocks to Coors Field.
We went to the gate and had our tickets scanned. The lady who scanned my ticket saw Jingles and asked about him. I told her that I was doing a traveling possum thing like the traveling gnome. She smiled and thought it was a pretty cool idea. She told me to enjoy the game and that my possum to enjoy the game too. I told her that we would. We walked into the concourse and found out seats. Our box seats were similar to the Terrace Club ones at Safeco. I couldn’t believe how tiny the field was. The dimensions were definitely shorter than at Safeco. They had water in centerfield where ducks often came to hang out, other than that; it was like any other field.
I believe it was cowboy night, so some of the fans were dressed up and the players’ pictures on the big screen when they came up to bat were dressed in cowboy garb. I found a program lying on the ground near us so I helped myself. A while into the game, Erika and I got up to get a snack and a drink from the concession stand. We got our food and paid the cashiers with our dollar coins. I asked the girl if they got those coins often and she said yes because so many of the fans take the light rail to get to the game. We went back to our seats and enjoyed our food and drinks. The game was pretty boring until the 7th inning.
Erika told us that the professional Colorado sports teams have a deal with Taco Bell. If the Rockies scored more than 7 runs, the entire state of Colorado won 4 free tacos (with a purchase of a drink) whether or not you were at the game. You would have to go into a Taco Bell the next day between 4-6 p.m. The Rapids, Broncos and Nuggets were all included in the deal. Ian Stewart from the Rockies hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 7th inning. Prior to the grand slam, they were down 8-5. The ball was hit to right center field near the water. The crowd roared with excitement and we were happy because we had just won 4 free tacos! The Rockies scored one more before the routine 3 up and 3 down, game over. Rockies win 10-8 as they rallied past the San Diego Padres. We got up and headed out of the stadium like everyone else.
We got disoriented as we left Coors Field and had to turn around to find Union Station to get back on the train and to our car. We got on the train-along with everyone else in Denver and had to stand in the aisle. It took forever to get back to our car. We reached our car about midnight and Doug informed us then and there that he was going to hang out with Jon. He could have told us earlier, before we got back. Jon picked him up and drove off. Erika, mom and I went to our car. Since we were in town already, we decided to get some milk, bread and bacon for breakfast tomorrow. We hit up the King Sooper (equivalent to a Safeway) and bought our food. On the way out Erika decided to rent movies from Red Box. We rented two movies, Invictus and Nine. We got to her apartment, put the stuff away and got ready for bed. I watched a few episodes of Friends before falling asleep.
Thursday, July 8
Tuba City, Arizona to Colorado Springs, Colorado (July 8, 2010)
July 8
We got up Mom and Doug took a shower, we packed up our stuff, ate our complimentary breakfast, a choice of biscuits and gravy, breakfast sandwiches or eggs, hash browns, sausage and toast. We got in the car and headed east on Hwy 160, towards Monument Valley. The terrain got so sparse and barren. We starting nearing the valley because you could see what they called “mittens” spread out all over the horizon.
We got to the town of Kayenta, the scenic byway to Monument Valley. We took the route up to Monument Valley on Hwy 163. We stopped on the side of the road to take some pictures of the “mittens.”
We continued up towards Utah and finally reached the turn off and the Welcome to Utah sign. We got out and took pictures with the signs and then decided to head east towards the visitor’s center.
We drove the two miles only to find out it would cost $15 bucks to get in. We said eff it and turned around. We stopped at the sign for Monument Valley and took some more pictures before getting back in the car and heading back towards Kayenta.
We still had a long way to go. We stopped and used the bathroom at a Chevron Station before heading towards Four Corners. We were amazed on how remote some of the shacks the Navajo people lived in. They were very spread out from one another. We hit road construction about 40 miles from the Corners. We neared the sign that said Four Corners. We turned left and saw a huge fence surrounding the monument and several puzzled people. I was literally crushed. I drove all that way for nothing. I so wanted to be in four states at the same time. I even talked about what I was going to do when we got there. We got out of the car and took a few pictures. I was so upset it was closed because of construction. The year I come down there and they decide to do construction. Ahhh! I just couldn’t get over it. I kept thinking, when will I ever be down here again? Seriously!
About 100 yards down the road was the Welcome to Colorful Colorado sign. We finally made it. Doug had to pee so he ventured off down the trail while we talked to a family from Houston, Texas. Doug came back in a hurry stating that he had seen a rattlesnake.
We got back in the car and continued on to Cortez, Colorado. Mom had a patient come into the dentist office one day and told her about Mesa Verde in Southwest Colorado. She had to go see it. We turned off of 160 and entered the park. We paid our park fee and took a picture of the sign before heading up the mountain, all 20 miles of it.
Construction must have been the lucky word of the day, because we got stuck in it while going into the park. We had to wait for the pilot car because they were re-doing the road. Seems like an hour later we finally got to the cave dwellings. We could only see the Spruce Tree House because all of the other ones required tickets/Ranger tours and they were all sold out. Probably for the better, we had limited time there anyway. We parked the car, went to the bathroom and started down the trail to the cliffs. Parts of the trail were pretty steep, I kinda felt bad for the older people coming back up from the cliffs, huffing and puffing. It was really warm that day, yet the clouds said otherwise. We spent a good half hour at the cliffs taking pictures and listening to the random park rangers.
We walked back up and walked through the visitor’s center and looked at some of the artifacts and displays of the cave dwellers.
We thought we should hit the road because it was going to be a long night. We left the visitor’s center and headed the 20 miles back down to the park entrance. It took a while because of the construction. We finally got back down to the highway and headed towards Durango, Colorado, the next large town. On the way there, we hit our first rain storm of the entire trip. There was even thunder and lightening. We got to Durango and looked for something to eat and an accessible gas station. Mom wanted KFC and when we got to the drive-thru, it poured down rain. I hurried with the order so I could roll the window up. We didn’t quite hear her total, we got up to the window to pay, she had messed up the order, we wanted a 12 piece, not a 3 piece, so she fixed it and we had to wait in the parking lot for our food. She came out about 10 minutes later with our food in the pouring rain. We grabbed it and left to go find gas. We found a Shell station; mom pumped the gas while I used the bathroom. I came out and cleaned the windshield and finished up the gas. We got comfortable in the car and got back onto Hwy 160 towards the Continental Divide. While driving, we ate our KFC, which hit the spot, mom talked to Dad until we lost service and Doug continued to watch Friends on the DVD player. Erika called, wondering where we were. We told her that it was going to be a while until we got to Denver, we were still a good 270 miles away. We hit Pagosa Springs just as it was getting dark and it began to rain quite heavily again.
As we headed up the mountain pass, it got darker and darker. I have never been on that steep of a mountain pass before. I had to put the car into different gears so it wasn’t working as hard as it was. We got up on the top of the Continental Divide (where the rivers flow eastward) and to our left was the sign. I wanted to stop but it was too dark and rainy. You could actually feel the altitude change in the car as you got higher and higher.
On the way down, it got so steep, you had to have the gears set on low. There were even blinking signs telling you how fast you were going; and in the background, your mom yelling at you to slow down every two seconds. We could not wait to get to Walsenburg and I-25, we were so tired of being in the car. We still had a while to go and it was nearing 9:00 p.m. mountain time. Most of our trip up I-25 was 75-80 mph, so we made up lots of time we lost on the slow highway. We finally got to Walsenburg and merged onto I-25. We got to Colorado Springs, the first major city since Las Vegas around 11:00 that night. We saw signs for the Olympic Complex and the Garden of the Gods. Too bad it was dark and nearing midnight.
We got up Mom and Doug took a shower, we packed up our stuff, ate our complimentary breakfast, a choice of biscuits and gravy, breakfast sandwiches or eggs, hash browns, sausage and toast. We got in the car and headed east on Hwy 160, towards Monument Valley. The terrain got so sparse and barren. We starting nearing the valley because you could see what they called “mittens” spread out all over the horizon.
We got to the town of Kayenta, the scenic byway to Monument Valley. We took the route up to Monument Valley on Hwy 163. We stopped on the side of the road to take some pictures of the “mittens.”
We continued up towards Utah and finally reached the turn off and the Welcome to Utah sign. We got out and took pictures with the signs and then decided to head east towards the visitor’s center.
We drove the two miles only to find out it would cost $15 bucks to get in. We said eff it and turned around. We stopped at the sign for Monument Valley and took some more pictures before getting back in the car and heading back towards Kayenta.
We still had a long way to go. We stopped and used the bathroom at a Chevron Station before heading towards Four Corners. We were amazed on how remote some of the shacks the Navajo people lived in. They were very spread out from one another. We hit road construction about 40 miles from the Corners. We neared the sign that said Four Corners. We turned left and saw a huge fence surrounding the monument and several puzzled people. I was literally crushed. I drove all that way for nothing. I so wanted to be in four states at the same time. I even talked about what I was going to do when we got there. We got out of the car and took a few pictures. I was so upset it was closed because of construction. The year I come down there and they decide to do construction. Ahhh! I just couldn’t get over it. I kept thinking, when will I ever be down here again? Seriously!
About 100 yards down the road was the Welcome to Colorful Colorado sign. We finally made it. Doug had to pee so he ventured off down the trail while we talked to a family from Houston, Texas. Doug came back in a hurry stating that he had seen a rattlesnake.
We got back in the car and continued on to Cortez, Colorado. Mom had a patient come into the dentist office one day and told her about Mesa Verde in Southwest Colorado. She had to go see it. We turned off of 160 and entered the park. We paid our park fee and took a picture of the sign before heading up the mountain, all 20 miles of it.
Construction must have been the lucky word of the day, because we got stuck in it while going into the park. We had to wait for the pilot car because they were re-doing the road. Seems like an hour later we finally got to the cave dwellings. We could only see the Spruce Tree House because all of the other ones required tickets/Ranger tours and they were all sold out. Probably for the better, we had limited time there anyway. We parked the car, went to the bathroom and started down the trail to the cliffs. Parts of the trail were pretty steep, I kinda felt bad for the older people coming back up from the cliffs, huffing and puffing. It was really warm that day, yet the clouds said otherwise. We spent a good half hour at the cliffs taking pictures and listening to the random park rangers.
We walked back up and walked through the visitor’s center and looked at some of the artifacts and displays of the cave dwellers.
We thought we should hit the road because it was going to be a long night. We left the visitor’s center and headed the 20 miles back down to the park entrance. It took a while because of the construction. We finally got back down to the highway and headed towards Durango, Colorado, the next large town. On the way there, we hit our first rain storm of the entire trip. There was even thunder and lightening. We got to Durango and looked for something to eat and an accessible gas station. Mom wanted KFC and when we got to the drive-thru, it poured down rain. I hurried with the order so I could roll the window up. We didn’t quite hear her total, we got up to the window to pay, she had messed up the order, we wanted a 12 piece, not a 3 piece, so she fixed it and we had to wait in the parking lot for our food. She came out about 10 minutes later with our food in the pouring rain. We grabbed it and left to go find gas. We found a Shell station; mom pumped the gas while I used the bathroom. I came out and cleaned the windshield and finished up the gas. We got comfortable in the car and got back onto Hwy 160 towards the Continental Divide. While driving, we ate our KFC, which hit the spot, mom talked to Dad until we lost service and Doug continued to watch Friends on the DVD player. Erika called, wondering where we were. We told her that it was going to be a while until we got to Denver, we were still a good 270 miles away. We hit Pagosa Springs just as it was getting dark and it began to rain quite heavily again.
As we headed up the mountain pass, it got darker and darker. I have never been on that steep of a mountain pass before. I had to put the car into different gears so it wasn’t working as hard as it was. We got up on the top of the Continental Divide (where the rivers flow eastward) and to our left was the sign. I wanted to stop but it was too dark and rainy. You could actually feel the altitude change in the car as you got higher and higher.
On the way down, it got so steep, you had to have the gears set on low. There were even blinking signs telling you how fast you were going; and in the background, your mom yelling at you to slow down every two seconds. We could not wait to get to Walsenburg and I-25, we were so tired of being in the car. We still had a while to go and it was nearing 9:00 p.m. mountain time. Most of our trip up I-25 was 75-80 mph, so we made up lots of time we lost on the slow highway. We finally got to Walsenburg and merged onto I-25. We got to Colorado Springs, the first major city since Las Vegas around 11:00 that night. We saw signs for the Olympic Complex and the Garden of the Gods. Too bad it was dark and nearing midnight.
Wednesday, July 7
Las Vegas to Tuba City, Arizona (July 7, 2010)
July 7
I woke up around 9:30 a.m. the next day and mom woke up earlier and took a shower. We started packing up all of our stuff while Doug took a shower. We made sure we didn’t leave anything behind. We walked into the area where they were serving food and found a place to drop off our luggage. I ordered a cinnamon roll, mom and Doug got a breakfast sandwich. I went and got a few other things from the gift shop. We finished eating and onto the car we go. We went through the doors and were blasted with the 103° heat. Mom had to catch up to us because she wanted a purse. We got to the parking garage and rearranged all of our stuff so it would fit better than when we arrived in Las Vegas. We threw away the garbage that we’ve accumulated over the course of the trip. I found my CD’s so we didn’t have to listen to the same songs over and over again. We left around 11:00 a.m. and went to find some gas and to get ice for our cooler. Gas was so cheap in Vegas. We drained the cooler and put the new ice in it and arranged our drinks so they could fit better. We packed up the car and we were on our way towards Henderson on I-15 and Lake Mead. As we got further and further away from Vegas, you could see it getting smaller through our back windshield. As we went through Henderson, you could see Lake Mead in the distance. We got onto US 93 and drove towards the Nevada/Arizona state line.
Just as we got to the Lake Mead Recreation area, we got stuck in a 3 mile back up nearing the Hoover Dam. 45 minutes later and we finally made it down to the dam. We saw tons of tourists, mostly Asians. We noticed that they were trying to build a by-pass for people who didn’t want to drive over the dam. We made it over to the other side and stopped for some pictures and to get some snacks and drinks from the cooler.
I took a picture with the Arizona sign and we took a few of the dam.
From there we were off to Kingman. When we got to Kingman, we stopped at the grocery store and used the bathroom. We also picked up some chips and cheese dip because it sounded good. We got back on the road and watched the desert turn into trees and cliffs. We got to Williams, where Route 66 snaked through, and got gas before driving north towards the Grand Canyon.
We started up Highway 64 and a bit later, we noticed the Flinstone campgrounds to our left. I actually remember those from when we came down to see Grandma Karen, many years ago. We made it to the town of Tusayan. We stopped at the visitor’s center because mom had to potty. Doug and I went in to browse. We signed the guest book and picked up some free brochures and fliers. I got in line and picked up our park pass for $25 bucks. We got back in the car and headed towards the gate and the South Rim of the canyon. We found the parking lot, parked and got a drink before we walked to the rim.
We made it to the first view point and stood there in awe. It was such as beautiful view. Breath taking. We got there as the sun was starting to go down in the late afternoon. That allowed us to see the shadows in certain areas of the rock formations and crevices. You could see the Colorado River just barely to the left of the main river valley. We started walking west towards the information center taking pictures as we went.
We definitely were the minorities. There were lots of people from many different countries, not a lot of English speaking people. Along the journey east, I’ve taken random pictures with my stuffed possum Jingles. I was really hoping someone would ask about him and someone finally did. An Italian couple had never seen a possum before and at first they thought it was real. I reassured them it was a stuffed animal and that he was along for the journey. Kind of like the Travelocity Gnome.
They nodded with a smile and continued on. We walked at least two miles down the trail before we decided to walk back to the car. We went back into town to look for a hotel and something to eat. Hotels were hard to find and the ones we did find were too expensive for what we wanted to pay. We decided we were hungry and like the entire trip has been so far, no one wanted to make a decision. So I said, we’re stopping here, at the We Cook Pizza and Pasta restaurant. We ordered, got our drinks and sat down. Mom got a salad so it took her a few minutes to join us at the table. A few minutes later, it seemed like the whole town showed up. “Aren’t you glad we got here when we did?” Our number was called and Doug went and got the pizza. “Oh my god! That’s a medium?” It was huge! I didn’t think we’d finish it, however we did. From there we went back to the entrance and took a picture of the Grand Canyon sign before leaving the park and heading east towards Cameron.
For some reason, it got dark really fast for what time it said on our clock. I knew Arizona didn’t observe daylight savings time but I didn’t know parts of the state did. We followed a retard from Nevada all the way down to where 64 met up with the 89, and they were going 20 under the speed limit the entire time. I was getting sick of him and we finally had a chance to pass him. We got to Cameron and we weren’t impressed with the selection of places to stay. We continued on to the next town. We finally got to Tuba City, which seemed like forever getting there. We got into town and a pair of horses ran through the middle of the highway near the stop light. I said, “Welcome to Tuba City, where horses roam wild through the streets.” Mom laughed. We found the hotel and went to see if there were any available rooms. We dropped mom off at the front and went to find a parking spot. She was able to get a room, which came with a comp breakfast, and we got back in the car and drove around back to our room. She told us the only available room was a queen bed smoking room. I was not happy. I really didn’t want my stuff to smell like smoke. I was proven wrong, however I left my pillow in the car anyways. The room was not that bad. It kinda smelled weird when you first walked in but then it subsided when we turned on the AC. We unpacked and relaxed a bit. I made a bed for Doug on the floor with my sleeping pad and sleeping bag since mom and I were sharing the bed. I took a quick shower and got on the internet. I posted our pictures on Facebook of our trip up to that point. Mom fell asleep and Doug was watching TV. While uploading pictures, I did some research about where we were. The Arizona Navajo Nation, a piece of Arizona that does observe daylight savings time. That’s why it got dark so fast. We lost an hour without realizing it. We went to bed because the next day would be very very long.
I woke up around 9:30 a.m. the next day and mom woke up earlier and took a shower. We started packing up all of our stuff while Doug took a shower. We made sure we didn’t leave anything behind. We walked into the area where they were serving food and found a place to drop off our luggage. I ordered a cinnamon roll, mom and Doug got a breakfast sandwich. I went and got a few other things from the gift shop. We finished eating and onto the car we go. We went through the doors and were blasted with the 103° heat. Mom had to catch up to us because she wanted a purse. We got to the parking garage and rearranged all of our stuff so it would fit better than when we arrived in Las Vegas. We threw away the garbage that we’ve accumulated over the course of the trip. I found my CD’s so we didn’t have to listen to the same songs over and over again. We left around 11:00 a.m. and went to find some gas and to get ice for our cooler. Gas was so cheap in Vegas. We drained the cooler and put the new ice in it and arranged our drinks so they could fit better. We packed up the car and we were on our way towards Henderson on I-15 and Lake Mead. As we got further and further away from Vegas, you could see it getting smaller through our back windshield. As we went through Henderson, you could see Lake Mead in the distance. We got onto US 93 and drove towards the Nevada/Arizona state line.
Just as we got to the Lake Mead Recreation area, we got stuck in a 3 mile back up nearing the Hoover Dam. 45 minutes later and we finally made it down to the dam. We saw tons of tourists, mostly Asians. We noticed that they were trying to build a by-pass for people who didn’t want to drive over the dam. We made it over to the other side and stopped for some pictures and to get some snacks and drinks from the cooler.
I took a picture with the Arizona sign and we took a few of the dam.
From there we were off to Kingman. When we got to Kingman, we stopped at the grocery store and used the bathroom. We also picked up some chips and cheese dip because it sounded good. We got back on the road and watched the desert turn into trees and cliffs. We got to Williams, where Route 66 snaked through, and got gas before driving north towards the Grand Canyon.
We started up Highway 64 and a bit later, we noticed the Flinstone campgrounds to our left. I actually remember those from when we came down to see Grandma Karen, many years ago. We made it to the town of Tusayan. We stopped at the visitor’s center because mom had to potty. Doug and I went in to browse. We signed the guest book and picked up some free brochures and fliers. I got in line and picked up our park pass for $25 bucks. We got back in the car and headed towards the gate and the South Rim of the canyon. We found the parking lot, parked and got a drink before we walked to the rim.
We made it to the first view point and stood there in awe. It was such as beautiful view. Breath taking. We got there as the sun was starting to go down in the late afternoon. That allowed us to see the shadows in certain areas of the rock formations and crevices. You could see the Colorado River just barely to the left of the main river valley. We started walking west towards the information center taking pictures as we went.
We definitely were the minorities. There were lots of people from many different countries, not a lot of English speaking people. Along the journey east, I’ve taken random pictures with my stuffed possum Jingles. I was really hoping someone would ask about him and someone finally did. An Italian couple had never seen a possum before and at first they thought it was real. I reassured them it was a stuffed animal and that he was along for the journey. Kind of like the Travelocity Gnome.
They nodded with a smile and continued on. We walked at least two miles down the trail before we decided to walk back to the car. We went back into town to look for a hotel and something to eat. Hotels were hard to find and the ones we did find were too expensive for what we wanted to pay. We decided we were hungry and like the entire trip has been so far, no one wanted to make a decision. So I said, we’re stopping here, at the We Cook Pizza and Pasta restaurant. We ordered, got our drinks and sat down. Mom got a salad so it took her a few minutes to join us at the table. A few minutes later, it seemed like the whole town showed up. “Aren’t you glad we got here when we did?” Our number was called and Doug went and got the pizza. “Oh my god! That’s a medium?” It was huge! I didn’t think we’d finish it, however we did. From there we went back to the entrance and took a picture of the Grand Canyon sign before leaving the park and heading east towards Cameron.
For some reason, it got dark really fast for what time it said on our clock. I knew Arizona didn’t observe daylight savings time but I didn’t know parts of the state did. We followed a retard from Nevada all the way down to where 64 met up with the 89, and they were going 20 under the speed limit the entire time. I was getting sick of him and we finally had a chance to pass him. We got to Cameron and we weren’t impressed with the selection of places to stay. We continued on to the next town. We finally got to Tuba City, which seemed like forever getting there. We got into town and a pair of horses ran through the middle of the highway near the stop light. I said, “Welcome to Tuba City, where horses roam wild through the streets.” Mom laughed. We found the hotel and went to see if there were any available rooms. We dropped mom off at the front and went to find a parking spot. She was able to get a room, which came with a comp breakfast, and we got back in the car and drove around back to our room. She told us the only available room was a queen bed smoking room. I was not happy. I really didn’t want my stuff to smell like smoke. I was proven wrong, however I left my pillow in the car anyways. The room was not that bad. It kinda smelled weird when you first walked in but then it subsided when we turned on the AC. We unpacked and relaxed a bit. I made a bed for Doug on the floor with my sleeping pad and sleeping bag since mom and I were sharing the bed. I took a quick shower and got on the internet. I posted our pictures on Facebook of our trip up to that point. Mom fell asleep and Doug was watching TV. While uploading pictures, I did some research about where we were. The Arizona Navajo Nation, a piece of Arizona that does observe daylight savings time. That’s why it got dark so fast. We lost an hour without realizing it. We went to bed because the next day would be very very long.
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