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Apr. 22nd, 2004 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elvendolli'm sleepy, and don't know how much wind i have in me, but i'm going to try : )
the trip to arizona was amazing. in an 'everything happens for the best' sort of way, i can even see how spending 8+ hours at the airport before flying home was a decent thing, in that it allowed me time in which i successfully forced myself to read homework and made the flights home a calm and unhurried experience. but that's the end of the story, isn't it?
the arrival in arizona was a bit hairy; i ended up getting royally fucked when it came to the rental car stuff - so badly, in fact, that i couldn't use my credit card for the trip. to my luck/saving grace, k. was able to cover the rental car we ended up getting and we were on the road by noonthirty.
the drive to tucson was fairly quick and unadventuresome - we stopped to eat at a tiny rest area in the middle of nowhere (or, like most anywhere in arizona) and i got to bask in the heat i was surrounded by.
in tucson, we checked in, grabbed showers and went to go exploring. per![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
theartemesiaway's suggestion, we drove around until we found 4 st. and walked around there. eventually, we decided to eat (outside!) at a very yummy restaurant, and then wandered over to a coffee shop to catch the last couple of songs by a guy with an acoustic guitar and one other guy singing with him - i think it was a very good introduction to paul simon : )
we then felt a distinct lack of nightlife, and decided to go looking for some. and right before we were about to give up, we found it, and then found parking near it (this took a surprising amount of effort) and then followed a shiny ass to what ended up being a goth & 80's night.
after some time and dancing there, we wandered out to see what else tucson nightlife had to offer, but were disappointed and decided sleep would be a good thing.
i'd forgotten that sleeping next to someone i don't know well doesn't tend to work well for me - i think i caught just about every half hour passing on the clock. luckily, night like that aren't frustrating - just a different type of rest.
in the morning, we checked out, ate at millie's pancake haus, grabbed groceries, beer, a cooler & ice, and headed off towards the saguaro national forest.
driving through it was great - its 8 miles of loopy road around a cactus forest, and was just the right length - just as i was getting to be all set with that specific type of view, it ended. in the meantime, though, i was really enjoying both the views and the stops we took to get out of the car and walk around for a bit.
from there, we went to colossal cave - again, while being amazed by the views around us. the cave itself was a very different experience for us - it was my first time inside a cave, and while i definately wanted to explore, i have no conecpt of what the/my limits are. he is a spelunker and it took him a bit of willpower to stay with the group.
we ended up making sandwiches in the parking lot of colossal cave and then setting off to the proposed campsite.
we didn't end up getting there until after dark and took a bit longer to find a place that sells wood after pitching the tent, etc, and were thwarted in our attempt to experience the hot spring hot tub in the evening, but had a good time drinking beer while watching fire. mmmm... fire....
the next morning we must've gotten up fairly early because after breakfast, showers, hot tubbing, walking around and packing, we started the car before noon. we pointed the car towards apache junction, pausing at a tonto national forest campsite for lunch and a bit of chilling/exploring, and once we got there and felt fairly unimpressed, k. voted for driving the apache trail - which turned out to be the best idea of the entire trip.
the trail was breathtaking. from the beginning, with the views and the glimpses of water, to the middle, when we pulled off at a beach are and spent some time swimming and chilling, to the end, the unpaved, superwindy mountain slopes and the views from there and experience of the drive. i so wish i had gotten more pictures. we pulled off of rt. 88 next to roosevelt dam/lake and pointed the car north. we were bad campers and stopped at a taco hell for dinner, and then eventually made it to sedona - only to be told we were too late to ragister for a campsite. on a good note, we were also pointed to a campground that would take us ( with a "if the ranger is out, proceed into the park and the ranger will contact you" sign ), drove around there a whole bunch because the first tier campsites looked more cramped then they were and the other ones did not have fire rings, and finally settled on a spot, pitched the tent, made a fire and had beer - because fire and beer make a lot of things better, right?
the ranger woke us up the next morning, and we got up shortly after that to a rather cloudy day. we had breakfast, decided to explore for a bit and while we were doing that, the sky cleared up and took away the arizona is ready for us to leave vibe i was getting. we also found swings, which was really good because going on swings has been a constant through most of my vacations.
we then used the showers and packed our stuff - for real, into airplane-suitable bags and stuff.
despite our feeling like it was later, it was only 11:30 when the car was started. k. voted for checking out montezuma's castle, and that was a really good plan, because, like everything else we'd been finding, the area was wonderful and gorgeous and stuff - it was really hard to leave and head into phoenix.
we didn't have much time in phoenix itself - drove around downtown for a bit and then headed to the rental agency, from where we were driven to the airport and my 8+ hour wait began.
k. made an amazing travelling companion. he's the perfect mix of really fun, responsible, caring, easy going, smart and cool - all inside a really tall cute boy. in a few ways, i'm still giddy and am reallly happy that this happened and hopeful that interactions like this will happen again.
and like any good trip, it made me re(re?)think the levels at which i'm (not) pushing my life (as much as i want to be) and about how closed off to the universe being a control freak makes me. i really need to work on both of those.
being there with such an amazing person was definately the center point of the high of the weekend, but there was so much more that was making me giddy and almost teary, too - how wonderfulsol3 is, how great my roommates are, how cool it was of owen to both take care of my car and do some legwork to undo my under-thinking, cirque plans and finally finding out that i have a new coworker in hawver. now, if i can only keep these happy thoughts closer to me when work is being stressy.
on a neat note, after taking some plane-pictures of boston and then umb, i realized the plane had flown far enough south before circling to land that i could see where the office building should be and managed to get two aerial shots of it - i'll prolly post those soon. and prague pix, too - but i should make a separate post for those.
oh, and in case anyone was wondering - i did fail my midterm - i got 60 out of 100.
in a move that didn't surprise me anymore, the professor didn't mention anything about the 15 page paper we have to write, or the quiz we were supposed to have - even though, according to the syllabus, next week is our last class.
the trip to arizona was amazing. in an 'everything happens for the best' sort of way, i can even see how spending 8+ hours at the airport before flying home was a decent thing, in that it allowed me time in which i successfully forced myself to read homework and made the flights home a calm and unhurried experience. but that's the end of the story, isn't it?
the arrival in arizona was a bit hairy; i ended up getting royally fucked when it came to the rental car stuff - so badly, in fact, that i couldn't use my credit card for the trip. to my luck/saving grace, k. was able to cover the rental car we ended up getting and we were on the road by noonthirty.
the drive to tucson was fairly quick and unadventuresome - we stopped to eat at a tiny rest area in the middle of nowhere (or, like most anywhere in arizona) and i got to bask in the heat i was surrounded by.
in tucson, we checked in, grabbed showers and went to go exploring. per
theartemesiaway's suggestion, we drove around until we found 4 st. and walked around there. eventually, we decided to eat (outside!) at a very yummy restaurant, and then wandered over to a coffee shop to catch the last couple of songs by a guy with an acoustic guitar and one other guy singing with him - i think it was a very good introduction to paul simon : )we then felt a distinct lack of nightlife, and decided to go looking for some. and right before we were about to give up, we found it, and then found parking near it (this took a surprising amount of effort) and then followed a shiny ass to what ended up being a goth & 80's night.
after some time and dancing there, we wandered out to see what else tucson nightlife had to offer, but were disappointed and decided sleep would be a good thing.
i'd forgotten that sleeping next to someone i don't know well doesn't tend to work well for me - i think i caught just about every half hour passing on the clock. luckily, night like that aren't frustrating - just a different type of rest.
in the morning, we checked out, ate at millie's pancake haus, grabbed groceries, beer, a cooler & ice, and headed off towards the saguaro national forest.
driving through it was great - its 8 miles of loopy road around a cactus forest, and was just the right length - just as i was getting to be all set with that specific type of view, it ended. in the meantime, though, i was really enjoying both the views and the stops we took to get out of the car and walk around for a bit.
from there, we went to colossal cave - again, while being amazed by the views around us. the cave itself was a very different experience for us - it was my first time inside a cave, and while i definately wanted to explore, i have no conecpt of what the/my limits are. he is a spelunker and it took him a bit of willpower to stay with the group.
we ended up making sandwiches in the parking lot of colossal cave and then setting off to the proposed campsite.
we didn't end up getting there until after dark and took a bit longer to find a place that sells wood after pitching the tent, etc, and were thwarted in our attempt to experience the hot spring hot tub in the evening, but had a good time drinking beer while watching fire. mmmm... fire....
the next morning we must've gotten up fairly early because after breakfast, showers, hot tubbing, walking around and packing, we started the car before noon. we pointed the car towards apache junction, pausing at a tonto national forest campsite for lunch and a bit of chilling/exploring, and once we got there and felt fairly unimpressed, k. voted for driving the apache trail - which turned out to be the best idea of the entire trip.
the trail was breathtaking. from the beginning, with the views and the glimpses of water, to the middle, when we pulled off at a beach are and spent some time swimming and chilling, to the end, the unpaved, superwindy mountain slopes and the views from there and experience of the drive. i so wish i had gotten more pictures. we pulled off of rt. 88 next to roosevelt dam/lake and pointed the car north. we were bad campers and stopped at a taco hell for dinner, and then eventually made it to sedona - only to be told we were too late to ragister for a campsite. on a good note, we were also pointed to a campground that would take us ( with a "if the ranger is out, proceed into the park and the ranger will contact you" sign ), drove around there a whole bunch because the first tier campsites looked more cramped then they were and the other ones did not have fire rings, and finally settled on a spot, pitched the tent, made a fire and had beer - because fire and beer make a lot of things better, right?
the ranger woke us up the next morning, and we got up shortly after that to a rather cloudy day. we had breakfast, decided to explore for a bit and while we were doing that, the sky cleared up and took away the arizona is ready for us to leave vibe i was getting. we also found swings, which was really good because going on swings has been a constant through most of my vacations.
we then used the showers and packed our stuff - for real, into airplane-suitable bags and stuff.
despite our feeling like it was later, it was only 11:30 when the car was started. k. voted for checking out montezuma's castle, and that was a really good plan, because, like everything else we'd been finding, the area was wonderful and gorgeous and stuff - it was really hard to leave and head into phoenix.
we didn't have much time in phoenix itself - drove around downtown for a bit and then headed to the rental agency, from where we were driven to the airport and my 8+ hour wait began.
k. made an amazing travelling companion. he's the perfect mix of really fun, responsible, caring, easy going, smart and cool - all inside a really tall cute boy. in a few ways, i'm still giddy and am reallly happy that this happened and hopeful that interactions like this will happen again.
and like any good trip, it made me re(re?)think the levels at which i'm (not) pushing my life (as much as i want to be) and about how closed off to the universe being a control freak makes me. i really need to work on both of those.
being there with such an amazing person was definately the center point of the high of the weekend, but there was so much more that was making me giddy and almost teary, too - how wonderful
sol3 is, how great my roommates are, how cool it was of owen to both take care of my car and do some legwork to undo my under-thinking, cirque plans and finally finding out that i have a new coworker in hawver. now, if i can only keep these happy thoughts closer to me when work is being stressy.on a neat note, after taking some plane-pictures of boston and then umb, i realized the plane had flown far enough south before circling to land that i could see where the office building should be and managed to get two aerial shots of it - i'll prolly post those soon. and prague pix, too - but i should make a separate post for those.
oh, and in case anyone was wondering - i did fail my midterm - i got 60 out of 100.
in a move that didn't surprise me anymore, the professor didn't mention anything about the 15 page paper we have to write, or the quiz we were supposed to have - even though, according to the syllabus, next week is our last class.
