My 2005 Spring Break

Spring Break last year was awesome. I was looking through the pics I had taken and thought I would post some and take you all along on the trip with me. Lord only knows how badly I wish I could go back!

The Flight
I had a connecting flight Phoenix to Salt Lake. My flight from Atlanta to Phoenix was nice. The sky was beautiful. I took pics out the window. All was right in the world and I was too excited to be going on this trip. Then my plane landed in Phoenix.

I stepped off the plane and looked at the prompter screen to see which gate I needed to get to since it was not posted on my ticket. There was no gate listed but my matching flight number and the destination (Salt Lake) was up followed by the wonderful words “On Time”. Cool. I went to the restroom. No gate posted. I browsed the stores. No gate posted. When it was about 15 minutes until I figured my plane would begin boarding and still no gate was posted I asked one of the wonderful America West agents about it. My flight had been canceled and I was directed to go to customer service. The agent pointed to a line so long that it rivaled Christmas Eve rush at the mall. I lost it and totally went off on him. Okay, I know that doesn’t sound like the mature way to handle it. It wasn’t his fault. It should be no big deal. I’d just take the next flight out of here, right? Well, you might think. But let me just say the only reason I was flying with AWA was because of the credit I had with them resulting from a disasterous flight that previous December.

And that brings me back to why I was so pissed that this spring break flight seemed to be headed down that road again. Standing in the long customer service line, I called Best Friend to let her know what was going on. I was cursing a long line of profanity and telling her how I was going to own that @#$%^ airline. The guy in front of me chuckled. Oh no he did not just do that! Now sometimes when I get really angry, my southern accent comes out more thickly. That was one of those times and I thought maybe he was making fun of me. I cursed him out. Then when I shut up and he spoke back to me to explain what he was laughing at, he spoke with a familiar southern accent. He was also from Georgia and had missed the same flight. I apologized for cursing him out and he apologized for laughing, explaining to me that he heard this fierce angry voice and turned around to see that it was a little blonde girl spouting out those obscenities. He said he wanted me on his side because he had to be in SLC for business this day and he knew that I would be one of the people who got on the plane because I was such a firecracker. We concocted a story to tell the agent that we were getting married that evening in SLC and so we had to be there. We walked up to the counter together. I slammed my license and ticket down on the counter explaining what happened and that I must be on the next flight to SLC. She didn’t even look at me, just typed away furiously on her keyboard and then said, “Here’s your tickets. You’ll be on the next flight and you have seats together.” Shocked at the simplicity of the procedure, I looked at my ticket. Seat B? Dammit! I had specifically asked for a window seat so I could take pictures of the Grand Canyon from above! I opened my mouth in protest and thought better of it. “Thank you,” I muttered.

We had an hour to kill before we could board the plane so we went to a bar in the airport. I had cursed this poor guy out a short time ago and now he’s buying me drinks. (Sometimes it is cool to be a woman! :) I had a rum and coke to calm my nerves. Then another and another. I was a little tipsy on the way to the plane. It was a little bit fun walking along the moving sidewalks in that state. We boarded the plane and I informed my new friend that I was going to curse out whoever was in the window seat because that was supposed to be my seat! He gave me a worried look. I reassured him I was only joking but he didn’t look so sure. The truth was I couldn’t wait to see who did get my seat.

I found my row and put my bag in the overhead bin and went to sit down. I saw who was in my window seat. It was a totally hot guy. I don’t mean wow, he’s cute. He was hot as in hotter than Orlando Bloom hot. I became nervous like a school girl and couldn’t speak at first. His hotness intimidated me. Then he noticed my camera in my lap and asked me about it. I told him that I had it out to take pictures of the Grand Canyon and explained how he was actually sitting in my seat. Then he showed me that he also had a camera and was planning on doing the same thing. Turns out he was an outdoorsy guy from Wisconsin. We compared notes about the time that we each had visited the Grand Canyon. He told me that I could lean across him to take pictures if I wanted. Yeah, I was going to like this flight. I didn’t get any pictures but I did lean across Hot Guy to “try” to compose a shot. Hot Guy and I talked the entire time, laughing and playing the cheesy trivia on the TV screens. Before all was said and done, Hot Guy and I shared a kiss (I blame the rum for this behavior. haha) and exchanged numbers. He called me once. I called him once. We haven’t spoken since. But his number is still in my cell phone as a reminder of that fun flight.


Columbia River Gorge
Best Friend, our dear friend we call Goofball, and I started on our way to Oregon shortly after my arrival. We stayed in Boise, Idaho that night. I thought it was cool that I was in four state capitals in one day…Atlanta, Ga., Phoenix, Az., Salt Lake City, Ut., and finally Boise, Id. We made it to the Columbia River Gorge the next morning. It was absolutely stunning. The mosses, the ferns, the enormous waterfalls, the thick mist. I was in love. Best Friend and I hiked while Goofball hung close to the car and smoked. She said she could see enough from the car. She was right. Beauty was all around us, but I wanted to see more. I was disappointed that I couln't even see Mt. Hood because it was so shrouded in fog and clouds. But I did see Mt. St. Helens as we were crossing the bridge across the Columbia from Portland, Or. to Vancouver, Wa. I had my zoom lens attached to my camera ready to snap a shot the first chance I got. I looked down at my camera for a moment to check my settings and when I looked back again, St. Helens was covered in a black ashy cloud! It had vented out some ash! I heard people complaining about their cars being covered in the ash the next day at the gas station. No picture, but still something cool to witness.


The most beautiful greenery one can imagine! Just look at the mosses and ferns! Even the trail markers (above) were adorned in this rainforest drapery.








Best Friend and Goofball trying to keep dry!

The famous and beautiful Multnomah Falls. It's much larger than this pic suggests!

One of the many beautiful falls along the Historic Columbia River Highway.

A view of the mighty Columbia from the Washington side of the river.

Jeeping in Moab

Shortly after returning to Utah, Best Friend and I headed south to Moab. We rented a Jeep Rubicon and had a blast! I climbed things in that jeep that I never dreamed possible, drove nose first down impossibly steep rock dropoffs and hung precariously close to cliffs. ME! Just look at me on top of that Jeep like I own it! haha. I had never driven an ORV until that day but it didn't take long to learn to when to put it into 4-low. Best Friend and I had so much fun that day. We drove along the Klondike Bluffs Trail over some very rough and steep terrain. I saw dinosaur tracks along the way! I was so amazed that I stopped to put my hand inside of them. I felt like I was back in Hollywood in front of the Mann's Chinese Theater placing my hands inside of the celebrity's prints to see how I measured up. Let me tell you, I found it much cooler to place my hand inside of the print of a long extinct Allosaurus than Marilyn Monroe's handprint! We did a more challenging trail next called Fins 'n Things. It was so awesome! Talk about steep climbs and descents! Our cooler tumbled from the very back into the front seat a couple of times. Of course, Best Friend and I were the only girls we saw driving and I am proud to announce that I got an applause from a group of men after making a steep descent that they were hesitating on attempting. Not me. I felt unstoppable. After finishing that trail, we moved onto a calmer trail that lead to little-visited arch. That road was so sandy and bumpy! We loved fishtailing the jeep, though. It was fun! Our last trail was a little more risky. Not because of the difficult terrain (though there was some) but because we had to be extremely careful to not get lost. It required great map reading skills and sense of direction as we had to follow a dry river bed to another wash until we finally arrived beside this gorgeous canyon. To get to the canyon, we had to walk through this tunnel in the rock called the Dallenbaugh Tunnel. We found crystal quartz in there and I took a few small pieces as a souvenir.

Jeeping was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I definitely want to do it again. But it does leave me wondering...does this make me a redneck?????? :(

Can't wait to see how Spring Break 2006 will turn out!

Just a few shots of our trails. These pics are small hills compared to some we climbed! :) If you click on the last pic, you can get some perspective of the terrain. This was taken through the windshield (note the mud spatter to the left). The darker part of the slickrock is the trail. Look to the right to see the tiny dude on the dirt bike. Now that gives some perspective!

Thanks for coming along on my trip!