Tag: Utah

The Great Schuette Adventure

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photo credit: Colorado Ski Country USA

Crested Butte, Colorado. The best place to ski during the winters and get bitten by ants in the summer.

The duration of my vacation was about two weeks and it started with driving to TacoTime. The closest TacoTime was at a Vegas truck stop, the food made my stomach hurt. After eating the deep fried burritos, we started driving to St. George, Utah.

The view was spectacular and the climate was hot, like once I stepped outside the car I felt as though I was going to die from heatstroke. My sister and I swam in the pool, she tried to drown me. The next day we went on a hike on the outskirts of Zion National Park. The hike was called Spring Creek and it was in a slot, the different colors of the rocks were breathtaking.

After the long hike we explored St. George. We went to a couple of thrift shops, we did not find anything cool enough to buy, and visited Brigham Young’s winter home. We learned all about the Mormon church and were even approached to join, but we didn’t convert.

The next day we went on a small walk to Dixie rock and drove up Kolob Canyon. We made a couple of pit stops because pictures or it didn’t happen. Eventually we made it to our one mile hike to a lookout spot. While walking back to the car we heard a rattle, we almost got attacked by a rattlesnake.

After a couple of hours, more like nine hours, and a McDonald’s pitstop we made it to Grand Junction, Colorado. I tried Dairy Queen the first time, not worth the hype. We finally made it to Gunnison.

Our trip consisted of hiking, hiking, and more hiking. We hiked down the entirety of Crested Butte Mountain during a lightning and thunderstorm. The weather was bipolar, either too hot or too rainy and stormy. I toured my first college, Western Colorado University. The campus was gorgeous and the school had lots to offer, but Gunnison is the most boring town in existence.

My mom, sister, and I all went rafting. Every time we are in Colorado during the summer we go rafting, and get the craziest photos. Our family met us in Colorado and we went to an insanely late dinner, our reservation was at 9 O’clock pm. We went to a place called Slogars, they specialize in fried chicken.

Overall the trip to Colorado was amazing, but it was time to head back home. We drove to Bryce Canyon, Utah. It was two Best Westerns and that was basically the town. The food was not good, like LAUSD’s cafeteria food was more edible. In the morning we went to hike the Peekaboo Loop trail. It turns out that since there were mudslides before the trail was closed we illegally hiked a trail.

My mom found a nice restaurant in the town over, and the food was actually edible. We ordered pork chops, burrata, bread (OMG the bread was to die for), crab mac and cheese, french onion soup and a carrot salad. We could not leave without getting dessert, so we got three different options: chocolate bourbon mousse, cheesecake, and a rhubarb crumble.

The next day it was time for us to head home, we drove and drove and drove until we home. The trip was amazing but being home and sleeping in my own bed was exhilarating.

The Other Night

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I woke up under the stars the other night. There were so many and, though I couldn’t nearly see all of them, it reminded me of how pretty, plain beautiful our universe is.

I woke up on a slick rock in a canyon in Utah. I woke up a couple times that night, the rock was pretty slanted and not that comfortable, but I didn’t mind. Everything around me was too beautiful to mind being awake.

I woke up and my nose was cold. Aside from that, I was cozy in my sleeping bag, but the breezy fresh air made my face all cold. But, once again, I didn’t mind.

Photo Credit: farm3.staticflickr.com

I always forget how much I love camping. But then, when I go, I fall in love with it entirely. I love hiking for hours and watching the landscape change around you. I love having nothing to worry about other than making a good fire and finding water to filter. I love to not set foot into a building for days and I love waking up at night underneath the stars, being reminded of how pretty our universe is.

Of course camping can be stressful sometimes, like when the blisters on your feet are burning and you know you still have miles left to go or when you’re wearing all the layers you can possibly wear, but you’re still freezing in your sleeping bag. But, again, I don’t really mind those things all too much. The freeze-dried food, the soaked shoes, the farmer’s tan, it was all worth it once again. Because, the other night, I got to wake up underneath the stars in Utah and it was so beautiful.

Roadtrip

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My Grandfather who lives in Illinois gave me his truck, so my Dad and I went back to his farm to pick it up. It is a three seat truck, and with three people, there’s a tight squeeze. We decided to bring him back with us on the trip. This was the third time we have all done this together .

 

You would expect it to be really fun. But it was really uncomfortable. We went to two baseball games because my Dad loves baseball so much. Then when we hit Colorado we had some problems. The truck broke down. We were stuck in a small town all day. I was actually kind of glad because it was an uncomfortable car ride. Plus, the situation could have been much worse. We could have been in Kansas. It’s the only place the whole way back that isn’t pretty.

Once everything was fixed we went back out on the road. Sadly we ended up back in the shop the next day. I was disappointed then because we needed to get home and we where going to have to skip the one place I wanted to go to, Bryce Canyon.

As we got closer to Bryce the weather was getting really bad. I haven’t seen that much rain in years, and we had to stop. We got the hotel closest to Bryce and I was able to go. The weather cleared up enough to go on trails and explore the amazing canyons. The rocks are bright red, and it looks different every time you go. The weather couldn’t have been better and the scenery was amazing. The wait to get there was definitely worth it.

RIP Reason

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I knew Jon Huntsman was not going to win the Republican nomination. But I still could not help but be a little sad when he dropped out of the race.

My friends and family know me as the Republican basher, that guy who always says the obnoxious and inflammatory comments about the Good Ol’ Party.

But Jon Huntsman was different, he actually was intelligent and reasonable. Now the GOP has members who are very intelligent, take Dick Cheney for example. But Dick makes Stalin look like a teddy bear. I’m sure the GOP has had reasonable members who were unintelligent too, I just can’t think of any.

But Huntsman checked both boxes. In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Huntsman explained that his reason for being part of the Republican party was just because he though the people of Utah (his state) would be the most open to it.

I’m not trying to claim him as a Democrat because he is not. There is probably some obscure party in Australia that his ideals fit perfectly in to, but because of our system, he has an R next to his name.

But he did not let that get in the way of trying to make sense. He was not like Romney, trying to make himself look like a crazy teabagger who just wants to get rid of every single government program and become an isolationist nation that is at war with every single Islamic state.

No, he supported socialized programs and tax hikes. He thought we should stop fighting people for no apparent reason and we should protect the environment. He also thought we should work to cut some redundant government programs and reduce big government and that Boehner is at least some what competent.

It says a lot that a man who just stuck by his beliefs seemed to be such an oddity. Our system has come to the point that someone in the middle, who works to bridge the two parties, is looked at as being ineffective and plain wrong.

It is sad that Huntsman could not gain more ground in the primaries but I hope that he changed a few peoples mind in the process. I hope that he made some people see that there is room for the middle, that reason can conquer our stupid polarization. Jon Huntsman gave me hope, and that is more than can be said for most candidates.

So I’m now switching to endorsing this man for the Republican nomination, and yes, that is a boot on his head. Free Ponies for All!