Southern Utah - Burr Trail

Continuing the previous Southern Utah trip:  from Torrey my friend and I drove down via Scenic Highway 12 to Boulder, Utah.  Not, Colorado, Utah.  It has an amazing population of 250 people out in the sticks!  It has 2 gas stations, 3 motels and 3 restaurants all rates probably 1 star to even out the counting numbers.  I didn’t see anything else of note.  And, the motel we stayed at – Circle Cliffs – was rather spider infested so I wouldn’t recommend staying there again.  By infested I mean that I killed 12 spiders and gave up as there many, many more.  Eck!

The Gas Station and Local at Boulder, UT.  You gotta love it! 

Anyhow, at Boulder we turned east onto the Burr Trail.  The Burr trail is quite spectacular and as long as it hasn’t rained you can easily get to the switchbacks in a two wheel drive car.  The first 10 miles or so you drive through Long Canyon which is grandeur at its best.  The sheer rock cliffs following a dry river were just beautiful.  You continue to go through different rock formations and rock types all the while being able to see the Henry Mountains in the distance.  WOW!  Sadly, the weather was not the greatest with threatening rain and serious cold wind so we didn’t do any hiking. 

 The View at the top of the Switchbacks with the Henry Mtns in the background.

After about 30 miles you hit the switchbacks which look pretty intimidating as it goes STRAIGHT DOWN on a dirt road.  But, as long as it’s dry it really isn’t a big issue and there are places to pass other cars coming the other direction.  From the switchbacks we drove south to Hall’s Creek Crossing.  This is definitely worth it as it gives you a great perspective of the Waterpocket Fold.  They say you can see 80 miles worth of the 100 miles of rock formations, including a double arch and of course, Hall’s creek.  I enjoyed the bird’s eye view of it. 

Hall's Creek Crossing - view of the Waterpocket Fold.

We turned around and drove back up the switchbacks (due to threatening rain) and had lunch at the switchback view.  It is indeed pretty.  From there we drove back into Long Canyon with again beautiful views of the various rock formations and took some little walks along the campground area and riverbeds to stretch our legs.  Even though it is along the same route the views are totally different and equally spectacular. 

As the weather continued to get colder and colder we headed back to the little spec of Boulder and ate at Boulder Mesa Restaurant.  This is the cheap greasy spoon place in Boulder owned by a really nice older couple.  In just the space of dinner I knew more about the Ms. and her family than I do about some of my neighbors!  I do love that about small towns. 

Capitol Reef – Cassidy Arch and Capitol Gorge Drive

In April my friend Micah and I adventured through Capitol Reef, drove the Burr Trail and hiked Lower Calf Creek Falls.  You could actually call this our 2^nd annual Southern Utah trip as we went last year having so much fun that we came back to explore other areas around Capitol Reef.

Our trip started off with a hike to Cassidy Arch via the Grand Wash trailhead.  This is shortly after the fee box area (currently 5$ per vehicle) driving the scenic drive in Capitol Reef.  You can actually see the arch to the left when driving into the parking lot.  The sun was shining and the weather was really nice for hiking at 65 degrees F (ok, I’ll admit I can always do warmer).

The hike starts by following the Grand Wash hike along the wash (what else!).  The signage indicates its 0.3miles to the turn off.  We knew to look for a sign on the left hand side.  Now, Micah and I talk…we talk a lot while hiking.  And, needless to say, this can sometimes be a problem when the turnoff is not so obvious.  When the GPS said 0.5miles and we hadn’t turned off we did an about turn and walked back. It turns out that the sign is only 0.2miles away from the parking lot and the sign is up on the mountain side about 10 feet off the trail and only about 2 feet high made of natural stone.  Luckily the wash was flat and easy but it’s never fun to walk a mile further than you have too! 

Once on the real trail you climb like a goat up for a ¼ mile for about 670ft.  There are plenty of switchbacks so it isn’t a thigh burner but I was breathing hard (and probably harder than I should have been).  One then walks along the top plateau with beautiful views of the rocks and valley before turning off to the west to follow cairns the rest of the way to the arch. 

The arch is deceptive.  Upon walking out to the edge it is magnificent with a good downward slope (don’t let anything roll down into the canyon!) which gives you nice viewing.  The arch itself appears to be only a few feet wide.  Being cautiously adventurous I walked around and out onto the arch because one should never miss a creative photo opportunity.  It was actually several feet wide (and at least appeared sturdy <g>).  This perspective of the arch was really amazing because you got the full expansive view into the crevice below – which was many feet down.  Interestingly, when looking back to where the trail ends it looks scarier over there because the cliff is so sheer and the sandstone is on a slope down.  It is definitely worth it to walk around the entire arch to get the different views as each is unique.  I’m sure there is a great Sunday school lesson about perspectives in there somewhere!

The total hiking time with at least a 20 minute stop was 3.5 hours and 3 miles (apparently 4 if you miss the turn off).  I had arthroscopic knee surgery 4 months ago and while my knee was sore it handled it well.  Translation:  This is an enjoyable hike capable for most anyone.

After the hike we drove to the bottom of the scenic drive and followed the gravel road (very nice gravel road I might add) through the Capitol Gorge drive.  This was absolutely spectacular.  It is just a few miles long but it’s basically a slot canyon for cars!  You drive through sheer cliff walls a hundred feet high.  It is one of the prettiest drives I’ve ever taken (albeit short).  It used to be an actual road many moons ago. 

At the end of the road you continue to follow the level road by walking for maybe 20 minutes seeing petroglyphs and also a wall where pioneers carved their names into the walls.  I have no way of knowing which ones were authentic from the 1800’s and 1900’s but it did seem interesting.  It was also ironic to me that there were several signs posted about not carving your name into the stone and yet that is what we were going to see.  I guess old graffiti is ok, new graffiti is not? 
Once done we then drove back north.  There are numerous pullouts and some of them have amazing views of the entire Capitol Reef red rock walls.  Micah and I found one of the prettier stops (in our opinion), pulled out some dinner and watched the sun set over the red rock.  It was spectacular and capped off a beautiful day.

It was then off to Capitol Reef Inn in Torrey for the night.  This is a nice, cheap and clean motel I would recommend.

Click here to check out ALL the new pictures added to my site from this trip.

Taiwan - Part 2: Top 10 of Taipei

I figured it would be good to sort of do a Top of Taipei list.  There might be more than 10, but then I was there for 10 days so it all evens out right?  These aren't in order, but they are all fun things I would recommend.  I do not list the Chinese New Year's festivals because that was last post but any festival you can go to would be a good thing. 

Night Markets

The night markets are a fun atmosphere of people buzzing around selling everything from exotic underwear to cell phone hello kitty covers to fruit.  The fresh mangos and strawberries with sweet and condensed milk is really tasty.  If you have been to China however, they are not quite as shocking or unique.  The stinky tofu smell still permeates but there aren't as many unique body parts for sale.  That being said its still always a bit adventurous to eat at least one thing from a vendor!  And I still question why Asians, both male and female, like pink Hello Kitty.

Din Tai Fung

Pretty amazing that I'm actually talking about food that I like - it is a drastic departure from the duck feet, pigeon head and frog fallopian tubes I've had to down in the past in Asia.  On this trip I was blessed to eat "regular - American food" most of the time as I stayed with my cousin (thanks Erin).  Din Tai Fung is named one of the best restaurants in the world!  Yes, the world!  I really like dumplings or xiaolongbao and that's Din Tai Fung's specialty.  There is always a wait but it is just yummy.  All the Asian's were looking at us as we ate 4 or 5 dumplings each where most Asians eat 1 or 2 a piece.  At the same time I'm at least twice as big as any Asian so it all works out right?   While waiting you can also watch them making the dumplings.  I couldn't believe how fast they were.  I've made these sort of things before (thanks Akemi) and I am no where near as proficient!  This is definitely a must do.

Watching them make the dumplings - they were WAY fast!

Foot Massage

When my cousin, Jason, talked about foot massages I had envisioned some night market small backdoor sort of thing as he described such a torturous event.  Oh no, this involved going to a local spa in Taipei where you got to put on little robes and sit and watch TV while sipping on your beverage of choice while #26 (they won't give you their name) first gives you a shoulder massage for a few minutes and then a foot/calf massage.  I thought it was great...but not as great as the next cool thing to do:

Hair Shampoo

Ya, you heard me right.  Go to a saloon and get your hair shampooed.  Why we don't do this in the US I'll never know.  You first start with a 10 minute shoulder and head massage.  Then you go to get your hair washed.  In the basin is a soft pad for you to rest your head (hello, US - my neck is always craned when washing there and the edge of the sink is cold!)  The washing then goes for maybe 10-15 minutes.  My hair has never been so clean!  Then, another 10 minutes for conditioner.  These ladies fingers and hands are seriously strong - I would never want to get into a thumb war with any of them.  Finally, you get your hair blown dry and styled.  This was a nice way to relax!

The soft pad your head rests on.

Calla Lily Field

I was fortunate enough to be in Taiwan when the calla lily fields were in bloom, along with many of the plum and cherry trees which dotted the mountain sides.  The intense green on the hillsides with dotted cherry and plum blossoms was spectacular.  Add in a huge field of white calla lily and it created a great photo opportunity.  It was also neat to see the workers harvesting and working in the fields.  You can get a huge bunch for only 100 NT (or about 3$ US) at nearby stands. 

 

She's short - and they are tall!

Amazing Race Confucius Temple

There are many temples throughout Taipei and each have their unique designs and alters.  This one has special meaning for me only because I'm an Amazing Race fanatic and get a lot of my trip ideas from Amazing Race.  This temple was in the Amazing Race (remember when they had to memorize the prayer and repeat it verbatim into the telephone?).  It was fun to be there and replay that episode in my head.  Across the street is another temple worth seeing as well. 

Replaying the Amazing Race

Confucius Temple

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf is a fun area to explore as part of a day trip to Danshui.  Next to the wharf you can head to the beach.  they actually have a decent beach with easy access.  There were a ton of dead blowfish on the day we went which was interesting.

The wharf itself is accessed after a walk across Lover's Bridge.  I'm not sure why they call it that but they sure play it up.  The bridge has a nice sweeping arch with a pair of tweezers over it!  There are a few restaurants along the backside.

Bridge - see the tweezers?

Danshui has a fun old street which again contains a market with hello kitty cell phone covers and a lot of people (we were there on a holiday).  Its fun.

The many people!

Wulai Falls

There are lots of falls you can hike too.  These falls are just outside of town and you can drive to them (careful with parking) or easily walk along the rail line to them.  In town there is a museum about the aboriginal people who live in that area  - the Atayal tribe people - which was very interesting (who doesn't find cannibalism at least a bit interesting) and free to boot!  Their background was very reminiscent of the New Zealand Maori.

Local Hot Springs

The hot springs was a real treat.  These weren't just go pay 200NT for a warm pool.  Oh, no, these were the hidden local hot springs where you had to go through a few fences (with warning signs) and fjord a raging river (um, apparently there 'used to be' a bridge??) before finding the hidden oasis by the waterfall.  There are pools of varying heat which really equates to pools for the "real" locals which are hot and the cool pools for the crackers or white folk.  Locals will bring fixings for tea and lunch and I thought I saw one guy camping out even.  You can also put the mud from the bottom of the pools on your skin and give yourself a facial (my skin felt great for several days thereafter) and you can also do polar plunges in the nearby river. 



Lunchtime for the locals - no, we aren't related

No, I'm not related to this person either but what a stylish hat!

Jiufen

This a beautiful little city with an old market street on a hill overlooking the ocean.  There are lot of fun tourist things to buy and try.  I ate a tortilla with peanut brittle and ice cream (for lack of other descriptive words) which was actually pretty good.   It was a warm day so maybe the coolness of it was better than the taste. 

One of the neater things however was that my favorite temple was here.  Sadly, I don't even know the name of it but just outside of town on the hill (you can't miss it) is a great big temple.  The initial floor and entry way are pretty barren and quite ordinary but as you go up each flight of stairs things become more ornate and interesting.  One can look straight out at the rooftop and see the intricately colored statues within a few feet.  The stone carvings in the walls and columns were amazing and definitely worth some studying in detail. 

My favorite temple near Jiufen

Chinese Culture University Lookout

This was just a few minutes from where my cousin lived so it was fun to quickly pop over to this location to checkout the view of the valley.  You'll notice that Taipei 101 is not on my list. It isn't because it wasn't cool but rather the fact that it was hazy the whole time I was there so I never went to the top.  Erin and I stopped one last time to try to see the whole valley.  What we didn't expect was that the storm which was coming was much worse on the top of the hill.  We literally had to hold onto each other as we were blown down the mountain to the viewpoint.  Trying to walk back up was even harder - I actually lifted off the ground for a bit I think!  It didn't help that we were laughing hard.  I'm just glad that I didn't see one of the sausage vendors with their sausages hanging from the racks in the open air - they would have been flying everywhere!

Remember to check out the latest Taiwan Pictures

Chinese New Year – Taiwan Style: Part 1 of more than one

I’ll admit. I’m not a huge fan of Asian countries. While I love to travel and have been many places Asian countries aren’t top on my list. The food, the smells and being beckoned “hey tall lady” all the time are some of the reasons Asia isn't high on my list. So, it’s rather ironic that I’m going to talk about a really cool Asian country – Taiwan, that my cousin, talked me into visiting (well, ok, actually it was to go visit him and his family and not so much the country). This is the first Asian country I’ve gone to because I wanted too, not because of work (maybe that’s part of it). My first post on Taiwan will be about the Chinese New Year – Taiwanese Style. Chinese New Year lasts several weeks and festivities are more at the beginning and end of the lunar cycle – which changes when the New Year occurs slightly every year (so check twice before going if you want to hit any of these festivals). Another major issue is that any really cool festival is most likely only going to have information in Chinese – and while Bing and Google have translators – they just don’t cut it. You have to be patient in trying to go to a ton of sites and youtube to mince some meaningful information together – and then just go and hope you got it right. Yes, you must be adventurous. The two festivals I hit were the Yanshui Beehive Firecracker Festival and then “just” a local firework festival.

Yanshui Beehive Firecracker Festival
In a quick thought this is analogous to the running of the bulls in Spain. In 1885 this festival began as a blessing to remove the cholera outbreak (see http://sinotour.com/news/2013-yanshui-beehive-firecrackers-festival.html – ps, this is a good site for a lot of Taiwan tourism information). It certainly scared the bejeebers out of me but I’m not so sure how it helps cholera. The basic idea is that someone lights off a ton of bottle rockets and you want, yes WANT, to get hit by them, as it brings good luck. The locals carry gods to various locations. First, fake money is burned for the ancestors. Then a firecracker round is set off near or under the god. Finally, the bottle rockets are set off. This lasts for about 5-10 minutes (but seems a lot longer when things are whizzing by you). The place is cleaned up and you move on. This goes on all night.

Yanshui is about a 3.5 hour drive south of Taipei on the freeway. It’s a relatively easy drive and near Tainan so you just follow the signs to Tainan and then to Yanshui. Be prepared for lots of tolls however. Once in town there are many vendors, booths and games set up throughout the city much like a fair in the US except you get stinky tofu and squid on a stick instead of corn on the cob and elephant ears for food. They also have cultural dancing and other activities until dark. We went on the night BEFORE the official closing of the New Year and I would estimate 100’s of thousands. Apparently the next night there were millions.

Aisles of typical "fair" food next to the games.

 

My cousin, his son, and I got geared up. You must be geared up. The bottle rockets are literally thrown at you or pointed at you so to avoid getting burned or an eye poked out you wear helmets, gloves, long sleeves and pants and towels around your neck. Some people were aspirators because the smoke gets pretty thick. I would suggest hearing protection as well because it is extremely loud as well. It’s a pretty crazy get-up but definitely needed. The first time a bottle rocket bounces off your helmet you are glad you have it. And yes, I did get a few burn holes in my clothes which I now wear with a badge of honor.

The funny part about this activity is that when we showed up at the temple (where the first fireworks are set off) I was immediately accosted by Taiwan National News. I was interviewed in depth. My cousin was astounded – I hadn’t been in the country for more than 24 hours and I was already famous. Later, I realized that I was the only cracker (white) woman there –and certainly the tallest so I was an easy target. Maybe that “hey tall lady” thing worked to my advantage. The festival was an amazing and unique experience. The Taiwanese people may be formal but they certainly know how to let loose.  And this is definitely an experience you won't get anywhere in the US, or the world for that matter.

 

Bottle rockets which will eventually be shot off and thrown at you!
 

Check Out the Linked Video of the Firecrackers Going Off!

Neighborhood Chinese New Year Festival
For the actual last day of the Chinese New Year my cousin’s family and I attended a local neighborhood fireworks festival. My quick synopsis of this is that I will never be the same. I live where one of the largest Fourth of July festivals are held in the US and let me tell…they are LAME compared to anything in Taiwan. Just as with the firecracker festival they move a god around the town. There is a bit more pageantry with a band, a snake puppet (for the year of the snake) and girls pole dancing before the fireworks are let off. Yes, I did just type girls pole dancing. When we found someone who spoke English and asked why I was listening to Flo Rida and watching this prior to the god coming along they said, “Well, the gods are men.” Nothing more needed to be said.

Yep, the pole dancers - I have proof.

This small neighborhood was amazing. First off, the fireworks at each house lasted approximately 20-40 minutes and you didn’t just let off some lame smoke bomb. Oh no…it was like a US finale for warm-ups. The Taiwanese would set up a bunch of fireworks and light them off as fast as they could, kick out the old ones and set up new fireworks and set them off - all with a blow torch and flip flops. It was a continual light up of fireworks. And of course, they would set up under the transformers/lights because that was easier to see. They would just have to stop once in a while when the electrical lines were on fire, put them out, and then start again. Let me tell you, it is a whole new experience to feel the boom of a huge firework goes off out of a cannon when you are 10 yards away and then feel the powder pellets hit you in the face.  Again, this would never happen in the US as OSHA might get in the way of a few fun things!

One of the many 100’ high fireworks.

The other cool part was that the neighborhood people was so accepting. Here we were, a bunch of crackers (as my cousin calls us white people) invading on this little local activity and they let us play in the band, set off some fireworks, and I even had the chance to let off a lantern and make a wish. It was a remarkable evening which everyone enjoyed.

The "cracker" jumping into celebrate the “year of the snake!"

If you go to Taiwan over the Chinese New Year be sure to look up any of these events and check them out. They are definitely worth it and give you a great perspective on a not so obvious side of the Taiwanese people.

Check out my new photos of Taiwan

Las Cruces, NM

I took a trip to Las Cruces, NM. While I'll admit this place is sort of out in the sticks it does have some really beautiful, and redeeming, places to explore. Two of those places are Dripping Springs and White Sands National Monument. There is abundant wildlife and amazing scenery. At White Sands I felt like if I had a camel I could get to an exotic oasis. There are some nice quick hikes one can take as well.