Sunday, April 12, 2009

National Parks Tour

Hello again family and friends,

It hasn't been long, but Ville and I have packed in a lot in just a few days. Last update, we left Lisa in Vegas (where I forgot to mention Ville saw his first movie star at the Cirque De Soliel show, Matthew McConisomething) and headedto the Hoover Dam and to Sedona where we camped for a night with all the magic crystals there (these shops are everywhere, including even a who shop dedicated to U.F.O.s). After Sedona, we drove up through Flagstaff and to the East Overlook and Plains View of the Grand Canyon which blew both of us away on how giant a crack in the ground can be (almost literally blew us away because we found a sweet overlook of our own with no tourists on a very windy day and almost flew the 7,000 feet down to the bottom (it's also 10 miles across)). The drive out of the Grand Canyon was through very windy and dusty wide open planes of Native Americans living on their reservtion in trailers. We made our stop at Lone Rock Beach on Lake Powell just as the sun went down and the full moon came up. Camped on the beach and realized the water was a bit colder than we thought, but Ville talked me into a late night swim anyway. The next day we drove to Zion National Park (which we both agree was our favorite N.P.of the trip so far) and walked a trail on cliff rocks (safety first) to an incredible lookout of the valley and drove through a tunnel cut out of the rock that was the longest I'd ever driven through and would have passed out trying to hold my breath through the whole thing ( not good considering I was the driver). After Zion we camped near a creek in the snowy mountains with cow patties. We are cooking on a cookstove and sleeping in the truck or tent if anyone wants to be really jealous. I love it.

The next day we drove through Bryce Canyon N.P. and that was a spectacular drive into and through the park. Lots of amazing red rock. Pics never do these places justice because you can't get a big enough lens to get it all in. But, it was beautiful to see and we drove on through some very small towns that look bigger on a map and through Capitol Reef N.P. that was huge boulders (see pics) and on at 75 m.p.h. through miles of straight road and camped off a road in the sandy hills with a bunch of huge trailers and motocross boys. The next morning (yesterday) we woke up early and drove through Arches N.P. (we both agreed by this last one it was not as impressive as Zion or Bryce, but it could be that we have seen so much in such a little amout of time we are getting use to the shocking scenery), but the arches were cool and we drove to Moab where we had a great brekfast and watched a million (not even exaggerating) (o.k. maybe a little, but not by much) jeeps and offroading rigs head to the sandy plains north for an annual Offroading Jeep Convention all around Moab. Very sorry we missed it, but our sweet rice rocket might not hang with those big boys (maybe I need bigger tires?) Drove south out of Utah and into Colorado where the stunning scenery changed to farms and snowcapped mountains and drove in a blizzerd to Mesa Verde N.P. where the sun came out and we got to see a bunch of cool cliff dwellings. We are thinking of moving here, but we're on a waiting list. On to Durango and spent the night last night in an Econo Lodge with a hot shower (we were bathing in lakes and rivers, but I was getting sick of being with myself, so it was time), a way to charge our batteries on cameras and phones (random food joints were looking at us funny bringing in all our chargers while we ate), and a real bed (no offense mat in the bed of my truck).

Today the plan is to head south into New Mexico and then head east through Texas. Not a set plan, but a rough one and will keep you posted. I am posting pictures, because I can't describe places, and if you want to get in touch with me or Ville, my cell 541.610.6978 and e-mails are (me) waveflower45@hotmail.com (Ville) jokinen.ville@gmail.com. Hope all are well and pester us often!

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