So since I booked a bunch of appointments with the Doc, today was the day I give him the laundry list of things that I need and want to get checked out.
When I told him about my weird day, he first asked about coffee (which I responded no to), then asked about alcohol. And to that I went yup, the night before I had about 8 to 10 shots equivalent over one day. I swear his eyes sorta jumped out after I said that (I guess he hasn't heard of the one hour one drink rule :P). Then he goes on to tell me that I should limit to 2 drinks a day.
Apparently caffeine and alcohol can cause the heart to beat rapidly. And lo and behold, there's a general term for it, called tachycardia. Now that might explain that recent episode, but I don't recall now if the past ones happen after I drink (which I believe didn't). Even though it hasn't happened all that much, nevertheless, continue I monitor for this closely.
In hindsight, I think I missed the bit on checking out my allergies - but a 2 hour session is more than plenty for me for a day... .. .
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Camping Weekend in Glacier View
First camping trip of the year! Pretty excited. It was actually amazing that we were able to fit everything we brought in one corolla. Our car had 4 people, a big cooler, chairs, tent, and our bags. Somehow we were able to make it all fit. Though the car looked like when I was moving back into res back in Waterloo days, but still, it was pretty amazing.
with our goods loaded, we set out to Wenatchee, a place near Leavensworth. The exact place as we find out later is called Glacier View - and it is a pretty awesome campsite. We got in at around 8ish, to meet up with a few others who had arrived earlier to grab the campsite.
We quickly proceed to set up the tent to avoid setting up in the dark. Here is a picture of our beautiful tent the next morning, that took 4 people to figure out how to set up...
We quickly proceed to set up the tent to avoid setting up in the dark. Here is a picture of our beautiful tent the next morning, that took 4 people to figure out how to set up... but we did get it setup. The location was great - Lake front setting, surrounded by two trees that broke the wind pretty fun, and the ground was sandy (not hard). Definitely a very nice spot. Our tent was also pimped out with a thin mattress, so it was just an awesome tent! Goooo team!The first night, I find out that my flashlight is apparently a bit busted :(. So had to ghetto it the rest of the weekend - good thing it was still operational. The first night, ended up drinking a few beers, then drank some 15 Year Glenlivet (yes, scotch and camping... a little unorthodox, but it's actually felt really right! :) ), and chilled by the fire. What a nice first night!
Waking up the next day, it was really windy. So us city folks decided that avoid the windiness, and also the mosquitoes, to head into Leavenworth... I thought this was pretty funny in some ways. Here we were car camping, got in the night before, woke up the next day, then back to civilization we go for the day. It's like we basically did a trip to Leavenworth, but instead of staying at a hotel or hostel, we pitched a tent and stayed in the outskirts of town instead... hahaha. Oh, we also had lunch at Leavenworth (and ice cream too... haha).
At Leavenworth today, there was this street art show set up, so I went through looking through the pictures that were for sale. The pictures were really pretty, but what was perhaps more interesting was that these places that these pictures were taken, it's totally places I could go to (and heck, some of them I've already been). Given I also think I now have the gear I need to take these pictures, I am actually not too far off! Haha - wouldn't it be great to one day set up one of these booths, and have people ogle at the pictures I take... heh heh... wouldn't that be neat?
After spending the entire day at Leavenworth, we had back to the camp site, to find a few people throwing in the towel because it was too cold, and heading back into the city to trade the tent for a nice bed under a warm house.
Meanwhile, back at the campsite, it was hotdogs and food galore. Ate sooo much, and also took some time to play with the camera to do some star trail and fire pics. Still not where I'd like it to be, but it's a start...
Had a nice chat by the campfire, then called it a night and slept. Another great night by the lakeside tent hearing the whooshing of the waves, then packed up the next day and went back home.
Ahh... Camping... sooo nice!
On another note... It's not until the very last day that I found out where the stalls were (not once did I pee in it this whole trip) :P... lol.
First Victory in Indoor (after 5+ games)...
Debating ever since coming back in the afternoon from camping, I decided in the end to go to the double header game this week.
We lost the first (though we would have been alot closer with a real goalie), and won the second (when we solicited a goalie from another team). Even though the first game was a loss, it wasn't a blowout loss like the games we had before. There were some nice tic tac toe goals too that we had, which I was real happy to see.
In the second game, with the awesome solicited goalie and a couple good midfielders, and everyone's mind set on playing together, we easily beat the other team who looked very sluggish. Though the team we played against was probably alot worse than the team we played in the first game, it is a win... the first win on this team for me - woohoo!
The not so good part was I had 3 or 4 opportunities to score, but missed them all :(. In that 2nd game, I had two where I had essentially single-handedly tore down their defense, and was less 10 yards from the net... and I missed. My shots just weren't hard enough! Gotta work on that - still don't know the angles in this indoor soccer rink.
In other news, my ankle did hold up for the most part. Though I did put this awesome ointment on it, but not bad otherwise.
I give myself a 7.0 for the first game, and a 6.8 for the second using the Fifa '11 scale ...lol
We lost the first (though we would have been alot closer with a real goalie), and won the second (when we solicited a goalie from another team). Even though the first game was a loss, it wasn't a blowout loss like the games we had before. There were some nice tic tac toe goals too that we had, which I was real happy to see.
In the second game, with the awesome solicited goalie and a couple good midfielders, and everyone's mind set on playing together, we easily beat the other team who looked very sluggish. Though the team we played against was probably alot worse than the team we played in the first game, it is a win... the first win on this team for me - woohoo!
The not so good part was I had 3 or 4 opportunities to score, but missed them all :(. In that 2nd game, I had two where I had essentially single-handedly tore down their defense, and was less 10 yards from the net... and I missed. My shots just weren't hard enough! Gotta work on that - still don't know the angles in this indoor soccer rink.
In other news, my ankle did hold up for the most part. Though I did put this awesome ointment on it, but not bad otherwise.
I give myself a 7.0 for the first game, and a 6.8 for the second using the Fifa '11 scale ...lol
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Karoake - without a liquor license but with Liquor???
Today was lil genius's bday celebrations, so I made the trip into the city.
Supposedly things started at 8pm, but getting there around 10pm, I was still the first one at the karaoke joint.... wtf!?!?!
The Karaoke place was interesting. They had the ipad with an app for picking songs. It was a neat concept, but the app was uber slow and after you picked a song, it would go back to the main page (which made it annoying). The other thing was apparently they have chinese songs on it (that weren't that old). So this marks the first karaoke place that has a liquor license that I have seen in WA for the past 4 years. Kudos to this place!
Even though there was this momentous occasion, in which I even provided the establishment with dice and cups to bridge the gap, the sad part was no one was really drinking this night. So perhaps out of the 15+ people there, only 4 people drank. Tsk tsk tsk... C'est dommage.
The other funny thing - once again couldn't find my car... hahaha. Tried the whole use bing maps to mark down where I parked, but I think I shifted the pin when I was zooming in. Funny how even when I am sober, unless I take a picture of the intersection, I never remember where I park... lol. Eventually after walking back and forth along the same street and backtracking, I did find my car, and voila - home I headed!
Supposedly things started at 8pm, but getting there around 10pm, I was still the first one at the karaoke joint.... wtf!?!?!
The Karaoke place was interesting. They had the ipad with an app for picking songs. It was a neat concept, but the app was uber slow and after you picked a song, it would go back to the main page (which made it annoying). The other thing was apparently they have chinese songs on it (that weren't that old). So this marks the first karaoke place that has a liquor license that I have seen in WA for the past 4 years. Kudos to this place!
Even though there was this momentous occasion, in which I even provided the establishment with dice and cups to bridge the gap, the sad part was no one was really drinking this night. So perhaps out of the 15+ people there, only 4 people drank. Tsk tsk tsk... C'est dommage.
The other funny thing - once again couldn't find my car... hahaha. Tried the whole use bing maps to mark down where I parked, but I think I shifted the pin when I was zooming in. Funny how even when I am sober, unless I take a picture of the intersection, I never remember where I park... lol. Eventually after walking back and forth along the same street and backtracking, I did find my car, and voila - home I headed!
Monday, July 04, 2011
Back to Work!
Having been around only for 2 weeks in June, have to say it's been hard to focus on work... With all the travel planning, digging out of being behind, haven't really done
On another note, in the blink of an eye, it's been 4 years! Time just flies by too quickly nowadays... .. .
On another note, in the blink of an eye, it's been 4 years! Time just flies by too quickly nowadays... .. .
July 4th Weekend - Day IV - The Final Day of Random Things
After good pizza hut, woke up the next day at 8am to make our way to the meteor crater. One thing to note - last night's sleep was great, for the first time on this trip I didn't wake up in the middle of the night. The first night the AC was just roaring away, the second night, a train would come every 15 minutes (though luckily for me, I only heard it come through 3 times unlike the rest of my travel buddies... hahaha).
The meteor crater was sort of interesting. It was a really big hole come to think of it, but I think it would be cooler if there was some more gimmicks to it. Then after this, we went back to Sedona, to do a hike before we head to the airport. Finding this one last night, it looked like it was pretty cool, and it would be a pretty easy hike (longer than Cathedral Rock, but not as steep)
Driving our awesome non SUV rental car, we tried to go as close to the trailhead as possible, but eventually about a quarter mile into the dirt trail, we parked the car on the side and made the trek on foot (since all we saw for big drops on the raod).
So with my busted ankle and the trusty camphor/menthol cream that is a great local analgesic, the hike was on!
Picture en route to Devil's bridge. Made some really stupid poses at the top and spent easily half an hour there... once I get my hands on them, I shall link it to this post. To make my mark, I also signed the guestbook with my name, with the commment - hiking with a busted ankle.
The sky had a few clouds and the view was just amazing. I actually liked what I saw here alot more than at the top of Cathedral Rock. I think the different colors (ie. green, white, etc.) really makes it pretty - compared to Cathedral rock where everything was really just red (the rocks), and blue (the sky).
On the way back, we see this old couple trying to make the ascent, and since they looked like they were dying, the good Samaritan me gave them one of my bottled waters so they have a chance of making it to the top. With that, I complete my good deed of the day.
With the hike complete, we reached the tail end of our trip, grabbing yet more food at a fast food joint. So the tally for this trip is that we ended up having KFC twice, Pizza Hut once, and What-a-Burger once. I feel fat!
At the airport, aside from just chilling waiting for the flight, I tried to do the whole data phone checkin thing at the security checkpoint. Unfortunately, turns out not all airports nor airlines can do it. For Southwest, apparently they don't have the scanners to do online checkin in PHX. However, this airport made up for it with a body scanner that was alot faster (it actually only top less than 10 seconds to scan) - totally different than the S.town ones that I swear takes a minute.
On the plane as we took off, the flight attendant pointed us to look out our windows to see the city shooting fireworks all around Phoenix. It was a pretty cool sight as little flashes of fireworks of different heights just fire out from the ground. Not a common sight at all - pretty cool!
And with that, ends the July 4th weekend of 2011.
The meteor crater was sort of interesting. It was a really big hole come to think of it, but I think it would be cooler if there was some more gimmicks to it. Then after this, we went back to Sedona, to do a hike before we head to the airport. Finding this one last night, it looked like it was pretty cool, and it would be a pretty easy hike (longer than Cathedral Rock, but not as steep)
Driving our awesome non SUV rental car, we tried to go as close to the trailhead as possible, but eventually about a quarter mile into the dirt trail, we parked the car on the side and made the trek on foot (since all we saw for big drops on the raod).
So with my busted ankle and the trusty camphor/menthol cream that is a great local analgesic, the hike was on!
Picture en route to Devil's bridge. Made some really stupid poses at the top and spent easily half an hour there... once I get my hands on them, I shall link it to this post. To make my mark, I also signed the guestbook with my name, with the commment - hiking with a busted ankle.The sky had a few clouds and the view was just amazing. I actually liked what I saw here alot more than at the top of Cathedral Rock. I think the different colors (ie. green, white, etc.) really makes it pretty - compared to Cathedral rock where everything was really just red (the rocks), and blue (the sky).
On the way back, we see this old couple trying to make the ascent, and since they looked like they were dying, the good Samaritan me gave them one of my bottled waters so they have a chance of making it to the top. With that, I complete my good deed of the day.
With the hike complete, we reached the tail end of our trip, grabbing yet more food at a fast food joint. So the tally for this trip is that we ended up having KFC twice, Pizza Hut once, and What-a-Burger once. I feel fat!
At the airport, aside from just chilling waiting for the flight, I tried to do the whole data phone checkin thing at the security checkpoint. Unfortunately, turns out not all airports nor airlines can do it. For Southwest, apparently they don't have the scanners to do online checkin in PHX. However, this airport made up for it with a body scanner that was alot faster (it actually only top less than 10 seconds to scan) - totally different than the S.town ones that I swear takes a minute.
On the plane as we took off, the flight attendant pointed us to look out our windows to see the city shooting fireworks all around Phoenix. It was a pretty cool sight as little flashes of fireworks of different heights just fire out from the ground. Not a common sight at all - pretty cool!
And with that, ends the July 4th weekend of 2011.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
July 4th Weekend - Day III - Part II - Achieving Refuge Status
So coming to the conclusion that the helicopter ride back up wasn't happening, we set about just chilling on the boat for the next 2 hours taking a lazy ride further down river. In some ways, it was really just 2 hours too long this ride. After having spent the entire morning and an hour after lunch at the bottom and being wow-ed by being under the massive canyon, another 2 hours of the same scenery really isn't all that magnificent.
But it was a nice lazy ride, the warm breeze and the splashes of water was nice, but it would really have been nicer to be on the helicopter ride.
Anyhow, 2 hours later, we finally dock... to find that the greyhound was no where to be found. The weather has also warmed up now that we are back on land, so it was a scorching heat with the bright red sun beating down on us. Waited what must have seemed like 30 minutes, and the 2 buses finally come. Not too impressed with the tardiness, but hey, at least it's not a school bus again.
So an hour or so into the bus ride, the bus driver stops and tells us that 5 people on the bus needs to go to the West Rim and so he was going to take this detour. This detour would add an extra 2 hours+ for those on this bus. Wtf?!?!
Now this is where I am very confused.
1) The tour is suppose to end back at the lodge, so I have no clue why these 5 people would be taken to West Rim
2) Just what were these 5 people's reason to 'MUST' go to West Rim for? To catch a flight (which can't be right since there's no airport around)? Or just to see the Grand Canyon from there... as if 4 hours of staring at it is not enough?
3) There were at least 20 to 30 other people on this greyhound...
So apparently the driver might be the manager I was told, so it was pretty ridiculous that he had to nerve to tell (not ask) the other 20 to 30 people on the bus that we would need to waste 2 hours of our time because of this. Obviously all of us went wtf... why do these 5 people get preferred treatment. And more importantly, shouldn't they just boot off those 5 people and put them in a smaller car or something?
So this driver (or maybe manager) seemed pretty adamant about what the mass majority of people that day thought was a poor choice, giving the rest of the people the choice of either:
1) Asking that the people on the bus fight for ~15 seats on the other greyhound
2) For those who really needed to get back to the lodge at a reasonable time, sit on the corridor of the other greyhound if a seat cannot be found
Well, so the 20 to 30 of us all cram into the other greyhound, 14 of us got seats... and the rest? Well, only Option 2 was left (so yes, 15 to 20 of us actually all sat on the corridor of a greyhound, pure refugee style). There were alot of disgruntled or simply appalled people on the bus - not just the people sitting in the corridor, but even those who have seats were just amazed at this situation.
The only thing that probably saved a bloodbath was the lady driver. She was one of them very nice ladies - had she been like the male driver, I am pretty sure even in a 1st world country such as this, things would be turning out pretty ugly.
So making the best out of the situation, Travel Buddy and I decide to make 3 videos. One at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. This will be linked once I get the videos. But for the next 2.5 hours, we would be like refugees, sitting cramped in this Hoola Hoola arranged $350 a person day tour of the grand canyon... lol. You'd think $350 goes pretty far... even in the US of A!... Dammm inflation?
Anyhow, it wasn't too too bad I guess. I mean, it could be worse - like stranded in the middle of a sandstorm, or having to walk back to Hoola Hoola lodge. Right?
Amidst the refugee ride, we did get some good information on what to do for our final day. The original plan was that we would do a day hike to get halfway to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but having spent the last 6 hours at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, it wasn't really all that appealing to look at the same rock formations, but from a mid level vantage ground. So talking with others on the bus, we hear about this meteor site near where we were, so that would be one of the places we'd check out the next day.
Arriving back at a reasonable time, we drove 2 hours to Williams, and then went to Pizza Hut. Superbly slow service (slow to the point where they gave us free food), but the wings were really good there. Interestingly, this is the 2nd time in a row that Pizza Hut had to compensate me for their poor service. The last time it was a long wait time too. I wonder if this is a new thing Pizza Hut is doing... Hrm...
Reading back, pretty sarcastic post... hahaha...
But it was a nice lazy ride, the warm breeze and the splashes of water was nice, but it would really have been nicer to be on the helicopter ride.
Anyhow, 2 hours later, we finally dock... to find that the greyhound was no where to be found. The weather has also warmed up now that we are back on land, so it was a scorching heat with the bright red sun beating down on us. Waited what must have seemed like 30 minutes, and the 2 buses finally come. Not too impressed with the tardiness, but hey, at least it's not a school bus again.
So an hour or so into the bus ride, the bus driver stops and tells us that 5 people on the bus needs to go to the West Rim and so he was going to take this detour. This detour would add an extra 2 hours+ for those on this bus. Wtf?!?!
Now this is where I am very confused.
1) The tour is suppose to end back at the lodge, so I have no clue why these 5 people would be taken to West Rim
2) Just what were these 5 people's reason to 'MUST' go to West Rim for? To catch a flight (which can't be right since there's no airport around)? Or just to see the Grand Canyon from there... as if 4 hours of staring at it is not enough?
3) There were at least 20 to 30 other people on this greyhound...
So apparently the driver might be the manager I was told, so it was pretty ridiculous that he had to nerve to tell (not ask) the other 20 to 30 people on the bus that we would need to waste 2 hours of our time because of this. Obviously all of us went wtf... why do these 5 people get preferred treatment. And more importantly, shouldn't they just boot off those 5 people and put them in a smaller car or something?
So this driver (or maybe manager) seemed pretty adamant about what the mass majority of people that day thought was a poor choice, giving the rest of the people the choice of either:
1) Asking that the people on the bus fight for ~15 seats on the other greyhound
2) For those who really needed to get back to the lodge at a reasonable time, sit on the corridor of the other greyhound if a seat cannot be found
Well, so the 20 to 30 of us all cram into the other greyhound, 14 of us got seats... and the rest? Well, only Option 2 was left (so yes, 15 to 20 of us actually all sat on the corridor of a greyhound, pure refugee style). There were alot of disgruntled or simply appalled people on the bus - not just the people sitting in the corridor, but even those who have seats were just amazed at this situation.
The only thing that probably saved a bloodbath was the lady driver. She was one of them very nice ladies - had she been like the male driver, I am pretty sure even in a 1st world country such as this, things would be turning out pretty ugly.
So making the best out of the situation, Travel Buddy and I decide to make 3 videos. One at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. This will be linked once I get the videos. But for the next 2.5 hours, we would be like refugees, sitting cramped in this Hoola Hoola arranged $350 a person day tour of the grand canyon... lol. You'd think $350 goes pretty far... even in the US of A!... Dammm inflation?
Anyhow, it wasn't too too bad I guess. I mean, it could be worse - like stranded in the middle of a sandstorm, or having to walk back to Hoola Hoola lodge. Right?
Amidst the refugee ride, we did get some good information on what to do for our final day. The original plan was that we would do a day hike to get halfway to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but having spent the last 6 hours at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, it wasn't really all that appealing to look at the same rock formations, but from a mid level vantage ground. So talking with others on the bus, we hear about this meteor site near where we were, so that would be one of the places we'd check out the next day.
Arriving back at a reasonable time, we drove 2 hours to Williams, and then went to Pizza Hut. Superbly slow service (slow to the point where they gave us free food), but the wings were really good there. Interestingly, this is the 2nd time in a row that Pizza Hut had to compensate me for their poor service. The last time it was a long wait time too. I wonder if this is a new thing Pizza Hut is doing... Hrm...
Reading back, pretty sarcastic post... hahaha...
July 4th Weekend - Day III - Part I - Grand Canyon... the bottom of it
After talking about this for 3 years, today was finally going to be the day where I go to the Grand Canyon... ... the BOTTOM of it that is! :)
The plan today - wake up, grab the complimentary breakfast, then in baller style take a yellow school bus down to the bottom of the grand canyon, where we'd be meet with our tour guide who would take us on the Colorado River on a metal motor boat, going through the rapids. Lunch at the bottom of the canyon, then if the weather holds up, we would get helicoptered back up, or if it doesn't, spend 2 more hours in the river... where a greyhound would meet us to bring us back.
So lots of side stories for this one, enough to qualify the trip back into a soldier/refugee trip...
After boarding the yellow school bus, we begin our descent. Having woken up so early in the day, dozed off for most of the bus ride. Woke up towards the end, to see just how far down we were into the canyon (4000 ft I think was what they said). It was pretty cool as the drive went on, I would see trickles of water, and eventually building up into a river... which meant we were there!
The white water rafting experience was really nice. It was a different kind in that there was no paddling involved, nor inflatable rafts. It was instead a metal motor boat, and at that point I realized that it probably won't be too crazy because... well, the metal boat wasn't padded! It would really hurt if someone would go overboard, since they would be bound to hit some piece of metal on the way down.
So after putting our stuff in the dry bag, we headed off. The first few rapids definitely was... refreshing... haha. It was pretty hot, and so it was really nice to be drenched with water.
After a couple rapids, we stopped by and got out onto an island where there was a waterfall. It was pretty cool as we got to stand right underneath it and make stupid poses... lol.
Then onwards to more rapids. In the last rapid, the boat operator let loose and finally went through the eye of the rapid, so it was consecutive rounds of boat up, boat down. Previously he had been taking it easy because there's a 8 year kid on the boat, so he was being nice. But this last one was really fun. The only bad part was the lady next to me, on the 2nd up and down, flew into me. While this prevented her from sliding further, it also made me loose my grip on the metal railing... and my wrist went BAM, into the metal corner. That'd hurt :(. My wrist would have a little bruise because of it. Grrrrr...
We ended up through 8 rapids in total, and lots of pictures (including my $7 underwater camera) and videos were taken. These will be posted once I get my hands on them.
Overall, it was pretty awesome so far. We were at the bottom of the grand canyon, hitting rapids and getting wet. Went on land deep inside the Grand Canyon, played in waterfalls. The scenery was just spectacular, and definitely a totally different perspective than from up top. After lunch, we continued to go down river.
As a part of this down river ride to the helicopter pads, I finally got my chance and jumped into the river. Yes, I didn't jump in the Nile because it was diiiirty, but now I can say that I swam in the BOTTOM of Grand Canyon! :). A check mark well worth the hypothermia I could have gotten if I was left in the water for maybe a minute longer... haha. The only thing though was I wished that the down current was a little bit stronger, so that I can really float down the river just like that time in the Ottawa River.
The other cool thing was that we were actually boating away from a storm! We actually cut our lunch short so that we can be avoid of a looming storm. By looming, I meant that half the sky behind us was black, and the other half (the side we were in, was blue and white. It was a really cool sight. What was also scary/interesting is that we saw lighting touch down on a part of the canyon... in front of us!!! (yes, we were in a metal boat, with water all around us). The lighting actually caused the spot it hit to smoke up. Too bad we didn't capture it on camera. But yea, storm was looming.
Rushing away from the storm, we see helicopters flying off and thought: "sweet, we would get this complete experience". But turns out it wasn't meant to me :(. as we continued down the the various helipads, we started seeing that those helicopters weren't for us... and this is where the trip that Hoola Hoola had organized started to go slightly downhill. Originally if we got on them... it'd be an easy perfect score for them, and I would recommend this trip to anyone and everyone who goes to the Grand Canyon. But alas, the story shall unfold such that the Hoola Hoola organized trip deserves only a score of 75 because of its poor finish. More on the next entry... .. .
Note: Pictures to come... need to develop the film and get the pictures and videos from others
The plan today - wake up, grab the complimentary breakfast, then in baller style take a yellow school bus down to the bottom of the grand canyon, where we'd be meet with our tour guide who would take us on the Colorado River on a metal motor boat, going through the rapids. Lunch at the bottom of the canyon, then if the weather holds up, we would get helicoptered back up, or if it doesn't, spend 2 more hours in the river... where a greyhound would meet us to bring us back.
So lots of side stories for this one, enough to qualify the trip back into a soldier/refugee trip...
After boarding the yellow school bus, we begin our descent. Having woken up so early in the day, dozed off for most of the bus ride. Woke up towards the end, to see just how far down we were into the canyon (4000 ft I think was what they said). It was pretty cool as the drive went on, I would see trickles of water, and eventually building up into a river... which meant we were there!
The white water rafting experience was really nice. It was a different kind in that there was no paddling involved, nor inflatable rafts. It was instead a metal motor boat, and at that point I realized that it probably won't be too crazy because... well, the metal boat wasn't padded! It would really hurt if someone would go overboard, since they would be bound to hit some piece of metal on the way down.
So after putting our stuff in the dry bag, we headed off. The first few rapids definitely was... refreshing... haha. It was pretty hot, and so it was really nice to be drenched with water.
After a couple rapids, we stopped by and got out onto an island where there was a waterfall. It was pretty cool as we got to stand right underneath it and make stupid poses... lol.
Then onwards to more rapids. In the last rapid, the boat operator let loose and finally went through the eye of the rapid, so it was consecutive rounds of boat up, boat down. Previously he had been taking it easy because there's a 8 year kid on the boat, so he was being nice. But this last one was really fun. The only bad part was the lady next to me, on the 2nd up and down, flew into me. While this prevented her from sliding further, it also made me loose my grip on the metal railing... and my wrist went BAM, into the metal corner. That'd hurt :(. My wrist would have a little bruise because of it. Grrrrr...
We ended up through 8 rapids in total, and lots of pictures (including my $7 underwater camera) and videos were taken. These will be posted once I get my hands on them.
Overall, it was pretty awesome so far. We were at the bottom of the grand canyon, hitting rapids and getting wet. Went on land deep inside the Grand Canyon, played in waterfalls. The scenery was just spectacular, and definitely a totally different perspective than from up top. After lunch, we continued to go down river.
As a part of this down river ride to the helicopter pads, I finally got my chance and jumped into the river. Yes, I didn't jump in the Nile because it was diiiirty, but now I can say that I swam in the BOTTOM of Grand Canyon! :). A check mark well worth the hypothermia I could have gotten if I was left in the water for maybe a minute longer... haha. The only thing though was I wished that the down current was a little bit stronger, so that I can really float down the river just like that time in the Ottawa River.
The other cool thing was that we were actually boating away from a storm! We actually cut our lunch short so that we can be avoid of a looming storm. By looming, I meant that half the sky behind us was black, and the other half (the side we were in, was blue and white. It was a really cool sight. What was also scary/interesting is that we saw lighting touch down on a part of the canyon... in front of us!!! (yes, we were in a metal boat, with water all around us). The lighting actually caused the spot it hit to smoke up. Too bad we didn't capture it on camera. But yea, storm was looming.
Rushing away from the storm, we see helicopters flying off and thought: "sweet, we would get this complete experience". But turns out it wasn't meant to me :(. as we continued down the the various helipads, we started seeing that those helicopters weren't for us... and this is where the trip that Hoola Hoola had organized started to go slightly downhill. Originally if we got on them... it'd be an easy perfect score for them, and I would recommend this trip to anyone and everyone who goes to the Grand Canyon. But alas, the story shall unfold such that the Hoola Hoola organized trip deserves only a score of 75 because of its poor finish. More on the next entry... .. .
Note: Pictures to come... need to develop the film and get the pictures and videos from others
Saturday, July 02, 2011
July 4th Weekend - Day II - Day at Hot Hot Sedona
After waking up, we started driving to the tourist center. On the way, we detour to the famous church of Sedona (not quite sure what the history was there... but since it was a landmark, it was worth a look). What struck me wasn't the church, but on the way to it... So this house (or mansion) shown on the left wasn't really an attraction, but I think it was a pretty nice house. I mean, look at the 'backyard'... there's a waterfall there! And not shown in this picture was a pond and also a gazebo. This mansion is on its way to the famous church at Sedona - but if you compare the two... slap some history into this mansion, I wouldn't mind paying to see the inside of this this mansion!
And of course, here's a picture of the church itself :). So after checking out the church, went to the tourist center, and was told that because of how hot it is, it is not really recommended that we do hikes in the afternoon portion of the day. So being on 10am, we would set foot on one of the hikes... the Cathedral Rock. The Cathedral Rock itself wasn't a long hike, but the elevation does climb up pretty quickly. It was a nice first hike, but didn't really see all too much I thought. Saw a bunch of bedrock... but that was about it... haha. But the hike was pretty nice though, my ankle held up, so it was good too.
After the hike, we took the recommendation to take a dip in the river. With the scorching heat, one of the folks at the tourist information said that there is a river right around Cathedral Rock... so after descending, we went towards that. Pretty awesome I have to say... a nice dip in the water, almost wanted to call for delivery. Always wondered how it works actually if I ordered take out on a hike. Something like:
..Call some takeout, Pizza pizza, KFC, etc....
Me: "Hello, do you deliver?"
Store: "Why sure"
Me: "Is it still 30 minutes or it's free?"
Store: (in some really energetic voice) "Why of course, 30 minutes or it's free, that's our guarantee!"
Me: "Alright, I would like a 20 piece bucket delivered to top of (insert hike name here). AND I will give you 40 minutes :)... ready... set... go!"...
Anyhow, knowing that the store clerk would probably flip at us... we got out of the river and drove to KFC. It seems like every time I go on a trip with Travel Buddy, we always end up eating at KFC... lol. I guess it's now a tradition. Supposedly though this KFC was special, in that it would have a great view. So we drove around, found the KFC, but then ... nope - it was just a regular KFC... tricked I say :(... But the food was good.
Originally we were going to do a 2nd hike before heading to our next hotel, but with the scorching heat, just seeing a bunch of bedrock that looked all the same, 3 folks with old or recovering ailments (me with my ankle, another with a busted knee, another on antibiotics), we decided that we would leave early and head for the hotel (2 hours drive away)... because the alternative, a 6 mile hike, doesn't sound all too appealing.
So onwards we drove, and arrived at the hotel at a decent time. The hotel, Hulaipai Lodge (henceforth known as Hoola Hoola - because that's a much awesomer name than Hulaipai) was open (yay!), and so we took full advantage of the facilities (aka a salt water outdoor pool, and a hot tub). Easily lazied ourselves for a couple hours, then had dinner at Hoola Hoola lodge, because this is Indian reservation land, so basically they had a monopoly around the area (no restaurants for miles). The stew I had was pretty good, though it wasn't really warmed up as hot as I liked. The best part though of the meal was the blueberry smoothie... because after the morning hike, I think I was actually a bit heat exhausted (my head was hurting, I was feeling tired)... but the blueberry smoothie basically fixed all that. Sweeeet. So after dinner, I decided to go do some weights for a bit (first time in 2 years now...). Pretty good feeling I thought, definitely should look into doing it more.
Also we find out that the white water rafting tomolo won't require us to paddle, but it would be on this metal boat. Pretty excited about it, especially with my ~$7 underwater camera that I purchased especially for this. (Once I develop the film I shall post).
With this day, the trip has officially demoted itself back to being a non soldier trip. While the first night and hiking in hot hot heat was definitely soldier trip calibre, lounging in the pool, backing out of hikes, and 'motor white water rafting' definitely demotes this adventure... lol.
The slight down part though was that I realized that I left my pants at the hotel from the other night (La Quinta)... We shall see if they return it back to me. If they do, I shalll give them a good review. If they didn't, I shall give them a bitter one... hahaha.
July 4th Weekend - Day I - En route to PHX
After having been back to work for a couple weeks, it was time to go on a short mini trip :). This time it would be to a national park, then to the Grand Canyon - the bottom of it, then hike a trail in the Grand Canyon.
The plan - Move around places daily, long gruesome day hikes, driving for hours at a time... From the start, this was going to have the elements of a soldier trip.
But first things first... had to get there. So after picking up all the other partners in crime, I drive in traffic to try out a new park and ride, which turned out was 10 minutes further than before... (note to self: not going there anymore). We ended up arriving at the gates just before boarding - which as you all know, is a bit too close to comfort for me these days. It was a pretty full flight - but I was pretty lucky and got the emergency exit seats, so plenty of room!
Arriving at Phoenix, the awesome data phone comes in and hunts us down an Applebie's. I have to say, data phones are great... not quite sure why I didn't move to one for so long.
The portions were huge at Applebies (much bigger than S.town)... and I also noticed that there was a sign saying that the kids eat free on Wednesday. I can only wonder how many people take advantage of this. As decent Applebies is, if a kid came and ate every Wedensday... I would imagine they turn faaaaaat!
Anyhow, after dinner, our awesome driver drove us to our first destination... Sedona. We arrive at 12:15am to the place (Wildflower Inn)... only to find that the reception was closed, and the phone number that was left there goes to voicemail. So here we are, 12:15am in the morning, after a 3 hour plane ride and a 4 hour drive, in the parking lot. I sure wished I brought my sleeping bag with me on this trip... lol.
But being extremely resourceful, 2 of us went next door to the hotel, and found a room for us to crash for the night. The deal wasn't as good, but meh, it would be a roof under our heads.
So ends the first day. Tomorrow - onwards to see bedrock!
The plan - Move around places daily, long gruesome day hikes, driving for hours at a time... From the start, this was going to have the elements of a soldier trip.
But first things first... had to get there. So after picking up all the other partners in crime, I drive in traffic to try out a new park and ride, which turned out was 10 minutes further than before... (note to self: not going there anymore). We ended up arriving at the gates just before boarding - which as you all know, is a bit too close to comfort for me these days. It was a pretty full flight - but I was pretty lucky and got the emergency exit seats, so plenty of room!
Arriving at Phoenix, the awesome data phone comes in and hunts us down an Applebie's. I have to say, data phones are great... not quite sure why I didn't move to one for so long.
The portions were huge at Applebies (much bigger than S.town)... and I also noticed that there was a sign saying that the kids eat free on Wednesday. I can only wonder how many people take advantage of this. As decent Applebies is, if a kid came and ate every Wedensday... I would imagine they turn faaaaaat!
Anyhow, after dinner, our awesome driver drove us to our first destination... Sedona. We arrive at 12:15am to the place (Wildflower Inn)... only to find that the reception was closed, and the phone number that was left there goes to voicemail. So here we are, 12:15am in the morning, after a 3 hour plane ride and a 4 hour drive, in the parking lot. I sure wished I brought my sleeping bag with me on this trip... lol.
But being extremely resourceful, 2 of us went next door to the hotel, and found a room for us to crash for the night. The deal wasn't as good, but meh, it would be a roof under our heads.
So ends the first day. Tomorrow - onwards to see bedrock!
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