Blitz Trip: Hiking thru Arches National park

November was full of amazing weather for Utah.  One sunny Friday afternoon my friends, the Hutchings, suggested that we run down to Arches on Saturday to do a little hiking in the sun.  Well, you never know when an earthquake or something just might crash an arch and the weather was forecast to be just beautiful so I said let's go for it!

Arches is about 4 hours away from SLC so doing this trip in one day isn't for those who like to saunter, or who are concerned with the fact that you are in the car for 8 hours and only have 5 hours of daylight to explore (it gets dark early!)  But, sometimes you need to do some spontaneous things like this for an adventure. 

The great news is that on a regular November weekend there really aren't a ton of people in Arches or the surrounding area so it was easy to drive and the trails, while populated, weren't overrun with people. 

We shot down to Arches and were able to down a sandwich at our first stop while looking at Double Arch. Double arch is a short walk from the roadway and actually one of the more impressive arch formations to see in Arches (in my opinion).  There are two massive arches connected and you can easily walk right through them! 

Next we went to Landscape Arch.  This arch is considered to be the longest arch in the world (according to the Natural Arch and Bridge Society).  I believe it after seeing the arches that the country Jordan was excited to show off (they were probably a quarter of the size of Delicate Arch, maybe).  This arch is also the most precarious to me.  Way back when you could actually walk underneath it but chunks of rock are falling fast so they have it blocked off.  I'm afraid this one isn't going to last much longer.  This is an easy, level, 1.5mile round trip hike.  Pictures were a bit tough in the afternoon as the sun is behind the arch.  Morning light is best to photograph this arch.

The big reason we went was to hike to Delicate Arch (okay, and to feel the sun on our faces).  This is the arch that now dons Utah State license plates.  I actually have Ski Utah - I don't even ski...but that's another story.  Delicate Arch is a 3 mile RT hike which isn't super tough but the hike consists of walking up exposed red rock on a constant grade up about 500 feet to the arch.  On this beautiful winter (well, at 65 degrees let's say fall) day it was great.  It still made me breathe hard, but I'm not sure if that's because of the hike difficulty or lack of cardio on my part. 

Delicate Arch lives up to it's fame, especially in the evening. Several people were there to view the sunset and the warm evening sun light certainly highlights the beautiful sandstone.  Some snowcapped mountains in the background made it even better!

We were able to see Balanced Rock and a colorful sunset as we were driving down to Moab to grab a bite to eat before driving back to Salt Lake.  That bite of eat was a pizza buffet at Zax's.  This was a busy joint which served a large variety of pretty tasty pizzas.  The only issue was that I had a 4 hour drive after that meal or I would have been very content!

All in all it was a great day of hiking and visiting with my friends while driving to enjoy some of the wonders of Utah.  You can see, these and other pictures of Arches under the Photo Gallery: By Type - New or Photo Gallery:  By Location - Utah.

Yellowstone - Where the Wild Things Are

This summer Yellowstone was on fire! Well, not fire like the 1989 fires (which I happened to witness) but on fire as in wild to see all the wildflowers and wildlife that was around.  The stars must have been aligned just right for some reason.  Below is a small smattering of what I saw this year.

Wildflowers
It tried to play botanist and take a picture of each different wildflower that I came across on this trip.  I didn't come close but there certainly were a ton of flowers out this year.  The spring was wet and the sun was out and hot so the flowers really popped this year.  We saw yellow, red, purple, blue, and white flowers (obviously not the scientific name so I guess the botanist idea is out).  My mother loves Indian Paintbrush so below is a small sampling of the various colors of just that one species of flowers that we saw. 

Indian Paintbrush

Wildlife
Ok...yes, all animals in Yellowstone are wild but this year the big game was out in force!  I've said before that I come to Yellowstone almost every year of my life, and for probably the first 20 years of my life I maybe saw 2 bears.  That's it.  Nada.  A rarity.  For the last 5 years however things have picked up.  Last year I thought it was cool to see multiple bear (as in 2).  Neat, I know.  Everyone heard about it!  This year was off the charts.  In one day alone I saw 7 grizzly bear!!  Yep...7.  Can you believe that?  There happened to be a bison killed only a few hundred yards off the road in Hayden Valley so all the grizzly bear were coming to feed on it.  It was amazing!  After watching them for a few hours someone hollered and we turned around and there were 4 wolves playing in the meadow.  Yep...4!  Can you believe that?  Here's a short sound bite of a wolf howling (crank the volume) - boy, is it a forlorn sound. 

So, within a 4 hour span I saw 7 grizzly bear, 4 wolves and some elk and bison as well.  It was great.  I'm spoiled for the rest of my life. 

One of the grizzly we saw (chomping on buffalo)

The next day I was a little disappointed to only see 1 grizzly bear and 2 wolves.  This reminds me of my Taiwan New Year's celebration and how that has "ruined" me of fireworks!  (see post:Chinese New Year – Taiwan Style:  Part 1 of more than one).  I'll gladly take any of these "ruining" experiences!

Wow...It was amazing to see so many grizzly out over several day and the wolves up closer than normal (typically they are viewed at about 1 mile away through a scope).  I saw interactions with grizzly and each other; grizzly eating a carcass (way cool!) and a wolf and a buffalo go at it.  It was thoroughly awesome to see!  I wonder what next year will bring? 

Check out additional pictures under the "New" section of the tab "Photo Galleries by Type."

One of the 4 Wolves

Beartooth Highway Highlights 2014

I had never been out of the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone and through the Beartooth Scenic highway so we did that this summer.  It was spectacular.  Charles Kuralt said it was one of the most scenic drives in the US and I have to agree with the man. 

It took us about 7-8 hours to drive up and back from West Yellowstone to the West Peak on the Beartooth Highway.  I'm a shutterbug so that included several stops along the way.  I'll hit a few major stops and tell you some things to check out if you go.

The first stop was just outside of Cooke City (which is no more than a post office and a few cafes) where there was a seemingly boring stop along the river.  People driving towards Red Lodge will typically just drive on by not seeing anything exciting but I just happened to look in the side mirror back as we passed (no, I wasn't driving) and see the most spectacular view of the Beartooth Peak in all its glory.  In fact, it looks a heck of a lot like the Matterhorn from this view (see below).  I was really glad we stopped as it was a clear morning and the best view of the peak by far. 

Beartooth Mountain

Another stop was at the West Summit area.  Wow, you really are on top of the world at almost 11000' (more so than the official sounding "top of the world" stop which is just a souvenir shop - that's a total ploy if you ask me!). The wildflowers were really out in their glory and the contrast between the colors of flowers, the green tundra, the jagged rock and the glaciers was a sight to behold.  It was rather nippy up on top of the mountain however with a stiff wind so wearing a jacket if you were going to be outside for more than 30 seconds was essential. 

Tundra Flowers

While gazing at the tundra I noticed a white flash dart over a ridge.  Was it so?  I don't know...we drove around the corner and sure enough...there was a mountain goat!  This is the first wild mountain goat I've ever seen so I was super excited about it.  We sat and watched it for several minutes before it decided to take off down a rock embankment out of sight.  It was much better viewing in the binoculars but what a rare and neat sight!  I love national geographic moments (yes, as a kid I loved Wild Kingdom and wanted to be like Marlin Perkins). 

Thank goodness I had a telephoto lens.  I wouldn't want to try to follow him - he climbed like a mountain goat!

One great and easy way to enjoy the flowers and vistas is to drive to the Clay Butte Lookout Tower.  Its a short and easy dirt road through some pretty wildflowers to the fire lookout.  It has some incredible views which is well worth the 20 minute diversion.  It is staffed by knowledgeable folks who can answer most questions you throw at them.  This is high praise from me...I tend to ask a ton of questions that aren't the easy type to answer.

Another stop with a small walk is Crazy Creek.  It is a campground on one side of the road and a trailhead to the Crazy Creek lookout on the other side of the road.  It is a twisty, turning creek that has a broad cascading area to view.  There are two stories about the naming of this creek.  One theory is that the creek twists like crazy.   Another is that an Indian woman lived here who was crazy.  That makes me laugh.  It is a short, but uphill walk to a viewpoint on top of the cascades/falls area. 

Crazy Creek

Obviously I only hit some highlights but this is definitely something to do if you enjoy easily accessing grandeur landscapes. 

Check out some of the additional pictures under the section "New" of the tab "Photo Galleries by Type."

2014 Flaming Gorge - water sports make you do funny things

Well, I must have done something right because I was invited back for another episode of Flaming Gorge boating/camping expedition with my friends (and new friends from last year who I guess are old friends now).

The weather was still pretty iffy with wind and rain and the antelope still loped and the jackrabbits hopped.   That being said I had a great time and am excited for this now annual event.  So, I thought this year I would highlight the faces we all make while doing water sports.  I'm sure it will make you smile!

Water sports require concentration for Bridge...

 and more concentration from Sadie.

There's always an oops factor

But then at times you (well at least Erin) can be very graceful!

Max tends to ride on the wild side

It requires some fun determination

and a bit of grit too :)

The match makes Dave tough!

Jodi was loving the kneeboard

Until she got outside the wake!

 I had the same issue - it was actually a nasty algae spot coming my way

Dave required the most determination - LOOK UP!

No Dave, really...look up!

 

while Doug was a cool cat.

And Jodi just kept on having fun (like all of us!)

Slots - and I'm not talkin' bout Vegas

Slot canyons are some of the coolest things around.  There aren't many in the world and a good portion of them are right here in my home state of Utah.  I went on a long weekend excursion hiking several slot canyons with my friend Kay and her family.

Peek-A-Boo & Spooky Gulch Slot Canyon

Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Gulch are located right next to each other just outside of Escalante, Utah.  Going east outside of the city you take the Hole-In-The-Rock dirt (washboard) road for about 26 miles to the trailhead off of Dry Fork Road.  The road is not the greatest and the car definitely has some additional squeaks and loose screws after taking the road so be aware. 

From the trailhead you head down following the cairns along a slick rock slope to a sandy bottomed ravine.  It isn't a very long hike down and you turn right and follow the Dry Fork Wash.  Immediately to your left is Peek-A-Boo.  Our first look at it said, "Oh, that ends too quickly and looks tough to get into so the entrance must be farther down the wash."  Nope...you go UP!  Thankfully Kay's husband is 6'-7" and strong (this will be even more useful later in the day!).  He climbed on up and then helped pull the rest of us up the two 10' ledges to the start of the canyon.  The kids are all strong gazelles (meaning long and lean!) so they made it just fine. 

Entrance into Peek-A-Boo

Peek-A-Boo is only 1/3 of a mile long but it is spectacular.  There is a fair amount of climbing required even once you are inside but it is definitely worth it.  Wear long pants for this one and clothes that you don't care about as you are sliding on your backside and crawling over red rock.  Every obstacle we would climb over was a new view of slots and arches.  With three cameras going (ok, I actually think we had 5 in the group!) we didn't move very fast and thankfully we started early enough that we had no competition or people pushing from the backside.  The lighting was pretty decent for us and we thoroughly enjoyed it.  It ended too quickly and the slot opened up.  Stay in the wash until it is obvious and easy to get out on your right side. 

Peek-A-Boo view of what you climb through and what you get to see as a reward!

Once out you turn right and head for Spooky Gulch.  Kay and her family had done Spooky a few years prior but hadn't figured out how to make the loop.  We were bound and determined to make the loop this time. 

Initially you walk again into a wash and after a few 3' drops you are in the canyon.  No big deal right?  Well, a short while later you hit the real obstacle. There is a huge boulder jam which has to be navigated to get down the final 10-15' into Spooky Gulch.  Hmmm...no wonder they say a rope might be good!  We had seen the previous group shimmy on their bellies through a small hole and twist and turn to get down to the bottom.  It didn't look fun.  We sat and ate lunch in the shade while we contemplated our options. 

Kay's husband to the rescue again!  He was able to shimmy through a rabbit hole (large rabbit mind you) and found a larger opening where we could do a "chimney" maneuver down to his shoulders and he could then lift us down the final 6'.  I'll admit it wasn't the most comfortable thing I had ever done but I was glad I had a lot of trust in Kay's husband. 

Ya...this was the feat and how we got into Spooky Gulch!

From there the fun started.  First off it was closer to mid-day so there were actually people that you had to navigate by.  My friends and I are all big people - not fat mind you; but no one thinks petite when they see us.  I'm the shortest adult at 5'-11".  The kids just started walking down the slot canyon and would have to twist and turn at various points.  Us big folks on the other hand had to contemplate our moves.  Spooky Gulch has long sections that are so narrow I had to take the pack off and turn my feet sideways to even to get through.  And, once you start in a direction sideways, since it is so narrow, you can't turn or rotate.  That can make it difficult on some of the turns!  I'm not claustrophobic or anything so it was just fun to do.  And again, your shirt is going to rub on both sides so beware.  Luckily the floor is just a packed sand bottom so the fact that you can't really look down isn't a problem.

We all had a good time squishing, contorting and turning.  Kay's husband had the worst trouble but even he survived without too much emotional scarring - I hope.

Kay's husband - surviving squishing through the slots of Spooky Gulch.

Willis Creek

The last night in Escalante we were looking at galleries when we saw beautiful pictures of another slot canyon.  After some inquiry we realized it was on our way down to Kanab (our next stop) so we decided to take a short detour to hike this pretty slot canyon in the morning.

Willis Creek is located off Skutumpah Road by about 5 miles.  The trailhead is across the road and it is just a short 5 minute walk to the creek.  This is a great family friendly hike where you have to be okay with getting the bottom of your shoes a little wet. 

The slot is about 3'-6' wide and has Willis Creek running through it (supposedly year round) and a few hundreds yard long. It was great for my friend's 70 year old parents to hike with us.  The kids loved playing and it was still spectacular to see. 

Willis Creek Slot Canyon entrance

It is also worth hiking up towards the road where there is a quaint little waterfall.  This was a great hike and little slot canyon.

 

Buckskin Gulch

Buckskin Gulch is the big daddy of them all.  It is one of the deepest and longest slot canyons in the world (if you believe everything the internet says).  We went not knowing much about the conditions as it says sometimes there are deep pools of water or even worse - mud!  Plus there are several boulder jams to deal with possibly.  We figured we would go as far as we could and turn around.  Adventures make good stories right?!

Upon looking at the whole situation we ended up not starting at the trailhead but instead went to Wire Pass and took this spur trail which connected with Buckskin Gulch.  This is totally the way to go! 

The first mile+ is along a wash with few trees for shade (it gets pretty hot in the afternoon!).  You then come to the Wire Pass slot canyon which is really, really, really neat.  Did I say really neat enough?  It is only a few feet wide and up to 100' high.  It was great!  There is one pretty significant drop down which you have to shimmy onto this slick log (thankfully that was there - those not balance challenged will not think twice about this obstacle.  I'm balance challenged) but otherwise it is an easy walk.  We really enjoyed this area. 

This is the log you shimmy down the drop - don't let those slits fool you as they did me absolutely no good <g>.

At the confluence of Wire Pass and Buckskin Gulch there are some ancient Indian petrylgyphs on the right hand side right up close at ground level allowing for easy viewing of any age.

Petroglyphs on the wall - not as ancient as Petra but still pretty cool.

We then decided to head back towards the main trailhead rather than going deeper into Buckskin Gulch.  Next time I think I would go further into Buckskin Gulch because to the trailhead (left) the slot does open up a bit and you can only walk maybe 1.5 miles until you are out of the slot canyon.  We turned around at this point, retracing our steps back through Wire Pass and to the car.  The hike is flat, cool (when you are inside the slot) and has some amazing views.  The final part of the hike back in the wash area is not the most pleasant; only in that its hot and dusty.  But we all survived after a healthy dose of ice cream back in town.

The crew in Buckskin Gulch

All in all it was a great weekend filled with lots of slot canyons around southern Utah.  I'd definitely recommend doing any of these hikes and hope to hike them again someday! Thanks Kay et al!

To check out all the pictures check them out under my photo galleries - section New.

Middle East - the video!

Having a 14 day trip means that there's lots of things going on.  We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words so I figured maybe a video would be fun to try.  Now, this isn't as good as http://sixabroad.com/ but I'm learning (thanks cuz!).  Check it out.  I hope you enjoy it!

PS - for those viewing my blog on a mobile device you can now view all my pictures using the "Mobile Photo Galleries" tab. 

Video for 2014 Middle East Trip

2014 Jordan & Israel from Trekking Trego on Vimeo.

Middle East Part 2 - Jordan

This post I'll tackle 10 items from the country Jordan (listed in the order I thought them - not a ranking).  I was pleasantly surprised by Jordan and felt safe even when going with a complete stranger "who was someone's cousin" for some day trip.

Jerash
Jerash (or Gerasa) is one of the highlights of Jordan in my opinion.  First off the history is just so amazing with it being inhabited as early as the Bronze age (that's really old-like 3200BC possibly) and one of the Decapolis cities.  It's the birthplace of Nocomachus, a famous mathematician for the geeks out there.  Really, its just that so much is still there, it is very well preserved and if it hadn't been for the earthquake of 749AD it would be "pristine."  One general note is that just about everywhere we went on our trip there was signage saying, "this was standing until the earthquake of 749AD."  That earthquake must have been a doozy!

I digress.  The fact is that this city, which is about an hour north of Amman, took all day to explore had amazing ruins. We were lucky enough to see Chariot Races going that day because there was some school group there (I even ran into my cousin's daughter while there which was fun).  While I thought it was going to be cheesy it was fun to see it acted out and they even provided a bit of historical facts to go with the display.  If you are lucky enough to be there when they have the races I would definitely suggest doing it.

Ha - I got 'em!  Whose laughing now?

Dead Sea
Living near the Great Salt Lake I have always wondered what it would be like to float in water.  Every time I tried to go out to the Great Salt Lake the brine shrimp were doing something so it smelled really, really gross and I just couldn't get myself into the water.  I was afraid this would be the same sort of scenario at the Dead Sea but I really wanted to experience the density of the water and what it felt like.  Thankfully, the water was pretty clean and didn't smell at all!  In order to be able to shower after your dip (which is really necessary even though the water is clean) you have to pay.  Most of the hotels cost upwards of 40JD and that just seemed ridiculous. At the end of the hotel row was Amman Beach which only charge 20JD for foreigners and it had everything you would need.

Floating in the Dead Sea was amazing.  I was a cork!  I stood straight up and down with my arms up and feet extended and I didn't sink below my chest.  It was the coolest thing!  We spent about an hour playing around trying to sink and also exfoliating with some Dead Sea mud (its suppose to be good for you - I'm not sure about that but it was fun to do).  Afterwards we had dinner at the Panoramic Restaurant which was totally amazing for sunset views and decent food too.

Hummus
Most Americans have eaten hummus.  Its basically ground up chickpeas, tahini and olive oil.  You would think...how hard can this be to make and how many varieties can there really be?  Let's just say that by the end of my trip I laughed at myself because I was a hummus snob.  Yep...it's true.  I could look at that chickpea dish and tell you whether it was "good" or not.  The best hummus in Jordan happens to be at Hasha's.  This is a little dive place in downtown Amman that the King of Jordan just happens to eat at as well.  It's cheap and some of the best food around.  Yum!

Yummy Hummus in Amman

Wadi Rum
Wadi means valley in Arabic and Wadi Rum means The Valley of the Moon.  This was our desert experience out in the Arabic desert.  It was really neat to ride a camel in the desert, to drive a jeep around the red sand and see massive rock formations.  But, I'm going to be blatantly honest...my friend and I had to laugh because we travelled half way around the world to see something that looks just like Lake Powell without the water.  Really!  I think our guide, Eid, was a little disappointed that we weren't awestruck by the two small arches he showed us.  My friend explained Arches National Park and he started to get the picture. 

So, the cool thing here was not the view but getting to know a Bedouin and asking a bunch of questions about their culture.  It was great to eat in a goat haired tent (although the hummus wasn't good - I was definitely differentiating by this point) and sleep under the stars far away from others.  I wasn't real keen on the Hookah that my guide had to smoke every stop we made or the fact that we "had" to take an hour nap after lunch.  This was definitely a 'forced slow down your pace' place. 

My silly camel ate everything in sight!

Camels and Hookahs
Ok...not camels as in animals, but cigarettes.  And, actually, not Camels, but Marlboro's.  Jordan (and Israel) is a nation which smokes like a chimney and interestingly people either smoke Marlboro's or hookahs.  This area alone keeps Marlboro in business.  Smoking is kind of disgusting to me and I'm allergic to it so this was definitely a negative 10 item.  You can't escape it anywhere; even in food shops. 

Eid, our guide, taking a hookah break

Petra

The magnificent Petra.  This was truly a spectacular spot.  You get the narrow slot canyon and red rock views.  You get incredible engineering feats of hewn ornate rock facades as well as developing water systems.  And, you get some rich history with neat ruins from the Nabataeans as well as the Romans.

We spent an afternoon and then a morning at the site.  By doing this we escaped the majority of the crowds and were able to get views and space away from the typical crowds.  The first day we hiked to the High Place of Sacrifice which gave us a view overlooking Wadi Musa (the town outside of Petra) and the royal tombs.  The view was amazing.  Like all the trails in Petra, there aren't many trail markers per say.  Instead, its a little Bedouin lady selling her wares in a tent.  Just beware of the sign at the bottom of some stairs saying, "best view in the world." We took a few of these that were definitely not the best view and definitely not worth the calories burned.

On day two we hiked to Ad Dier (the Monastery) which is another rock cut façade as well as a view of the region and Jabal Haroun (supposedly Aaron's tomb).   We ran into an archeology group digging and they happened to be from my alma mater, Brigham Young University.  It was really interesting talking with them as they were excavating the waterway systems.  I wanted to join them!  After learning more about the site we took a side trip up to the vista overlooking the Monastery as well as the regional view - this is well worth the extra few minutes.  And yes, there is someone selling something up there at the top!  Here's the funny thing however; they all have cell phones now. 

Each of these hikes were well worth it and weren't nearly as hard as the guide books indicated (I'll throw in a note that I live at 4500' and these hikes were closer to the 2000-3000' range) taking only an hour each way at most. 

Camel Riding
I just couldn't get over how crazy these animals are.  They make funny grunting noises and they are really tall!  Their legs hinge funny so they fold up real tight and they are bouncier than Tigger!  The minute they start walking even a hair faster than really slow you are going up and down as much as forward.  I'd put a video on it but you would get sick!  My hint for this one...lean way back when they stand up or you'll flop right on over their heads! (no, that didn't happen to me).

Amman City
Amman has ruins right in the city which justify at least a few hours of viewing.  They are the Citadel and the Roman Theatre.  My cousin had to laugh because last year when visiting him I was put on national Taiwanese TV (see this post: Chinese New Year Taiwan Style - Part 1).  This time I wasn't quite so famous; however, a young Muslim girl was amazed at how tall I was and had to take a picture of me.  Sadly, I was so enamored with being a celebrity that I forgot to get a picture of her. 

Diving in the Read Sea
Aqaba is way down south and way warm (like 100F warm).  While I was there it also happened to be WAY windy (like >25mph with higher gusts).  That caused some murkiness to the water (not to mention sand blasting when above ground) but overall the visibility was good.  I dove around a wreck for my first time and saw a ton of Lion Fish, Lizard Fish and other fish that have land based names but are really aquatic.  It was actually less expensive to dive there than at other places (I dove with http://www.aqabadivingcenter.com/ and would recommend them again).  I was surprised by how cold the water was and was thankful for a thick full wetsuit. 

Cute fish hiding in a Plume Worm

Ancient Things like Little Petra
Coming from the western US where anything over 100 years is old I had a hard time wrapping my brain around things that were thousands of years old.  Jerash, Petra, and all of these ruins are really old.  Little Petra is outside of Wadi Musa about a half hour.  It is some small ruins at a much smaller scale than Petra with no one there (except the Bedouin sellers of course).  What I thought was even neater was a short walk to a Neolithic village just outside of Little Petra showing that man built housing developments possibly around 9500BC - that's the last part of the Stone Ages!  Maybe Fred Flintstone was for real!?

Stay tuned for Part 3 of my trip - I will have a video showing some of my activities.  And, don't forget to check out the additional photographs HERE.

Middle East Part 1 - 10 Things about Israel

A friend and I went to visit our cousins (they happen to be married of all coincidences) who currently live in the middle east.  My cousin is providing many opportunities for me to go places that weren't on my bucket list; the most recent place being Jordan.  Being that close to the holy land I had to take advantage of going to Israel to check out a few sites as the political situation was decent in the area.  Below are 10 things about Israel...I'd like to say the top 10 things but not everything is a top item - rather, it might be an important item to know about or remember.  There's your truth in advertising.

Border Crossing - Allenby/King Hussein Bridge
Ok, this is the first item which is not a top 10 but important to know.  As someone who is very knowledgeable in project management I'd like to say that this is a prime example of what NOT to do.  This is one of the worst processes for border crossings I've seen (and I've been to 31 countries!).  They take your passport, which you don't see for a while, you then get it back from a large stack of collected passports.  You pay fees in this line and that line.  You wait in this line and that line.  You wait.  You take a bus.  You wait in this line and that line.  You get the picture?  It took us 5 hours to cross the border so plan accordingly!

Falafel Sandwiches
I figured since I just hammered something I better say something nice :).  This is definitely a top 10 item.  Israel has really tasty food and their falafel sandwiches are amazing!  They not only have hummus but also tahini dressing in them which just makes them tantalizing.  You can get them anywhere but I found the best (and interestingly cheapest place) was at the end of the Mahane Yehuda.  Thus, our next item on the list of 10 things about Israel is...

Not a clue what this says but I think it reads, "Best Falafel in Town"...or it should!

Mahane Yehuda
Just a short city transit ride and you are at Mahane Yehuda which is the local market for Jerusalem.  Here's where the real people shop (ok, real people shop everywhere but let's just say locals shop here) and it was great to wander the streets and buy fresh juice, pastry, breads, deserts and see the variety of vegetables.  I had no idea there were so many olives or eggplant varieties! 

 That's a lot of olives!

And that's even more eggplant varieties.

Hills - the city on the hill reference
Ok.  I knew that Jerusalem was on hill and knew that there were hills.  What I didn't know is that you are either walking up or walking down unless it's man made to be flat.  I couldn't believe how up and down it was.  Coming from the western US I hear of a valley and I think of a larger expanse (Salt Lake Valley is several miles wide) but here the hills are so close that there's a valley everywhere as well <g>.  Kidron Valley is only a few feet wide and back up you go to the Mt of Olives.  Remember that when you have to walk with your luggage from the Damascus Gate to the Jaffa Gate!

Capernaum
This was one of my favorite places.  I would highly recommend taking a tour of the Sea of Galilee area.  It is a long drive but well worth it as you get a better appreciation for the other parts of Israel.  The Sea of Galilee is so much bigger than I thought and Capernaum is a great place to see it with ruins along side. 

Bartering
This again is one of those items on the list of 10 things that is not necessarily a top 10.  Typically I really enjoy bartering but down in the Old City bartering is a whole level above most others.  They not only haggle hard but they won't stop and aren't the nicest people if you don't buy something from their shop after you walk in.  As tour guides get some exorbitant cut of the pie (I heard rumors of as much as 50% of the price) every tour is like Disneyland in that you go on a part of the tour and then they drop you off at a shop and the cycle just continues throughout the duration.  Know this going in for negotiating because if you go without your tour group the shops do tend to give you better prices.

Me bartering in the Old City...this item was bought happily.  And, why does everyone Muslim in Jerusalem know someone in Chicago?

Surprisingly this includes food sometimes!  Make sure that your restaurant in the Old City has a published menu with prices.  We went into one location and they only gave us a few options for food and then the price was double what we had agreed to and a big mess to straighten out. 

Bethlehem - Shepherd's Fields
As an American I like it when things are kept pristine.  Many of the religious sites about Jesus Christ have been turned into a relic for various Christian churches which means you see a church and not the actual site of the event.  One such pristine site is the Shepherd's fields.  I loved the Shepherd's fields because I could really imagine what it was like 2000 years ago and what those shepherds might have been looking at and doing.  It was great!  In fact, this was the highlight of my whole tour to Bethlehem. 

Old City - Pools of Bethesda
Again, this is another one of the pristine sites which brings you right back to Christ's time.  We read John 5 from the Old Testament and I could really visualize Carl Bloch's painting actually happening.   The ruins are interesting to walk around and the crusader's cathedral right next to it - St. Anne's Church is also one of my favorite churches with amazing acoustics.  Sadly there was an off-key off-kilter group singing when we arrived.  Afterwards, we tried ourselves (probably not better than the group we heard but we gave it a whirl!)

Old City - Austrian House
For one of the best free views of the rooftops go to the Austrian House in the Christian Quarters.  We grabbed some breads and went up to the top for an amazing view of the sunset and moonrise.  Interestingly there weren't many people up there and by the time the sun started setting everyone else had left so it was more secluded than you would think. 

One of the better free views in the Old City - Austrian House

Garden Tomb
As I have stated above, I like pristine.  Certainly one of the highlights of Israel for me, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was to see where Jesus lived; where he performed so many miracles; where he died; and where he was raised again.  One possible location for Christ's tomb is the Garden Tomb which is run by a non-denominational organization which keeps things not only pristine but reverent.  It was a great experience to be able to go and see and have it be not so crowded that you couldn't feel as well. 

The flowers are out - and so is the sun at the Garden Tomb!

 

There you have it.  Ten things about Israel that you might or might not have known.  I have additional pictures on my gallery tabs under the tab "new" with details from Israel and Jordan.  Check it out!  And, stay tuned for part 2 of the Middle East.

Digging at Dugway for Geodes

Last year my friends and I went and dug for Trilobites.  Well, their daughter was disappointed because she thought we were gathering geodes - oops!   So, it was time for another ROAD TRIP to satisfy the budding geologist! 

We headed out to the sticks.  Well, not exactly the sticks..more like ticks (we actually passed a place called Tickville and it looked to be abundant with ticks!).  From Lehi you follow the road west until it ends and then go another 50 miles on a good dirt road.  This road traverses the old Pony Express route which is something I had wanted to see but didn't want to go out just for that so it was a great opportunity to kill two birds with one stone or tick.

The Pony Express station we stopped at was Simpson Springs.  You hear so much about the Pony Express but what I didn't realize was that it was only functioning for 19 months!  For how much it is apart of the "Old West" I wouldn't have imagined.  The Pony Express ran from Missouri to California in just 10 days thanks to some fast riding cowboys and changing mustangs often.  Heck, the mail sometimes can't beat that now!  Thanks to the telegraph however it was short lived.  On the rest of the route there are stone markers quite often along the dirt road.

After several more miles and a few "I think we turn here" places we arrived at the Dugway area for digging Geodes.  There is a large concentration of geodes in this area because apparently it was a shoreline for the ancient oceans and the geodes washed up there.   You start digging with your shovels (bring all your own equipment) and find these bubble shaped lighter weighted rocks somewhere between 2-6' deep.  Luckily, in this location they already had done some of the heavy digging with an excavator so the shoveling wasn't nearly as tough.

Unlike the trilobites which took several hours to find good specimen it only took about an hour to have more than our fill of geodes to take home and open.  There are many larger geodes that are already broken open for various reasons but even softball sized pristine geodes aren't too tough to find.  It is a good thing that it didn't take long because it got really hot really fast with all the dusty stone reflecting the sun.  And, as the afternoon wore on a lot more people showed up.  The area isn't that large so too many people could be a bit cumbersome.

Once home it was rather fun to take a hammer and chisel to the geodes to see the surprises inside. I'm sure if I was a little more refined I could have taken them to a rock shop to cut in half carefully and polish them but it was a lot more fun to just whack 'em!