Dubai for the 2nd Time

Dubai was a destination for one of my weekend trips a few months ago, but I was able to take an extended weekend trip with Eiman just a week ago.

I felt that this video gave a pretty good look into the Dubai lifestyle.



And here is a video of one of the most memorable experiences while I was there in Dubai.  Much like the Bellagio fountain show shocked and amazed me when I saw it shortly after returning home from Korea, the Burj Khalifa fountain show gave me chills that were entirely reminiscent.  Large fountain shows set to music just seem to give me chills.




Lastly, take a look at my personal photo album that I shot while I was there.  It was a really wonderful 5 days and 4 nights!

What's The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Like? Take a look...

While I've been in KSA for almost 9 months now, I haven't written too much about it when it comes to factual information.  That's partially because I don't want to say something that would stupidly and mistakenly get myself, or even worse someone else, into trouble.  So I've basically just stuck with captioning my own photos.  I've tried to only take pictures when Westerners are present.  However, there is a completely different culture here that is very interesting to learn about.  If you want to learn more, here is a great little piece done by someone who knows the country well.  Why can he tell you facts while I can't?  Well, breaking the news here has already gotten him hurt and worse - someone else...

Photo Extravaganza!!!

Long time no see.  It appears as though my time here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has been much busier than I had originally expected.  Well, to be "entirely" true, I was hoping my life here would be fun, exciting, educational, and enriching but I was entirely prepared for it to be boring, constricting and empty (which is the common expat response I got to what it's like living in KSA).  After just 4 months I can say that my experience here has been almost as good as my wildest dreams.  No, I haven't befriended a prince that will lavish me in extravagant riches for a few hours of my English teaching, not yet, but in every other way possible my time in Jeddah has surpassed my expectations.  Life has been great.  I regret that I haven't been able to blog that much, but I want to try and make up for it with a cornucopia of picture slideshows!  With Facebook, Skype, emailing, and texting, Blogger has taken a backseat, but I hope to keep posting on here.  As long as I can find some free time in between all this fun stuff!  Enjoy for months worth of photos from my time in KSA:














Ok, please take a closer if you choose.  I have been writing captions for everyone :-) 

Christmas, New Years, and Dubai pictures will be up as soon as I can write those captions, and I have a Yanbu snorkeling/scuba diving weekend video that I'm working on.  I hope you all enjoy!

Durraht Al Aroose Again

A number of weeks ago I traveled outside of Jeddah to a beautiful resort community for a fun evening with friends in a mansion-like villa (pics here). After an experience like that it didn't take long for me to return to the scene of the crime. This was just another great weekend with friends:

I'm on a Boat!!!

It's strange. When I read all about Jeddah I never read of any experiences like this, but after a month I'm praying things like this will continue.

Paul's Magic Jeddah Gyro-Copter Experience

It all started at a Barbeque. That's right, just 10 days or so into my time here in Jeddah I was invited to a barbeque. You can't get much more spoiled than that. I brought BBQ Pringles, some Coke and a chocolate dessert called "flutes" that I thought were Saudi but I'm not so sure anymore. I may have came with a little bag of goodies but I left with a belly full of delicious meat and a crazy plan to go gyro-coptering the next day. I got the call and Jay, I guy I met only the night before, said he was about to go up in the air on a crazy flight and that I should come down asap and do it myself. Obviously this was crazy. A little more crazy than going to a barbeque that I was invited to by strangers, but that turned out smashingly, so I figured why should I stop thinking the best in people? And I went for it. After getting slightly lost with the taxi driver, which has been a reoccurring experience for me over my first couple weeks, I found the makeshift airfield, back-shed hanger, and all the crazy toys they had that go up in the air. I was pretty sure I'd go up in the gyro-copter, the jet-pack option seemed even a bit crazy for an insane mind, but I was trying to logically measure safety in a place where I had no clue if they even had safety codes. My heard was beating when I signed the form saying I wouldn't hold the company liable in incidents of extreme bodily harm or death. Signing a line that says that should never be easy. I took a deep breath, put pen to paper, then I froze for about 30 minutes where I got to watch two other people go up and down in it and it seemed safe enough, so I signed... Moments later I was in the hot-seat hearing the propellers turning, hearing the gears grind, sounding like they couldn't have been spinning in an oil rich country like KSA but more like in Costa Rica, a county with zero oil production. So I was in something that looked like what George Jetson might sell at a garage sale, and it sounded like a creaky old bicycle - I started questioning my decision. Well, here is what happened next.

Two Weeks of KSA Photos

There is a video on the way, as soon as I can get it to upload.

Two Weeks In The Sandbox and I Still Want More

I can't believe it's already been two weeks and in some ways I can't believe I've only been here for 14 days.  It's flown by but I feel like I've done so much.

I have a clean apartment that is slowly getting better by the day, I have met some amazing people, I've joined local groups for sports and leisure, I've scored a goal playing futbol, I've learned a dance that is named after a spicy dip, I've taken a 15 minute flight around Jeddah and over the Red Sea, I've edited a short video of my flight, I've nearly finished a book (Bruiser by Neal Shusterman), I've taught some wonderful new students that are eager to learn, I've dined with some awesome coworkers, I've been invited to go snorkeling, boating, and diving which I hope to take advantage of very soon!

So yeah, Jeddah is a little more "what I hoped it would be" and a little less "what we all thought it would be."  This seems to be the case in my experience.  Guatemala had all sorts of travel warnings when I went there in 2006 but it was one of the most beautiful, peaceful and inexpensive places I've ever visited.  I was told that Russian people were hard and unfriendly, but when I visited Moscow in 2010 I had never felt more welcome in a foreign country because everyone I met was so friendly.  I've also had friends tell me the same things about Cuba and Myanmar - two places Americans are not supposed to travel to, but by first hand accounts I've heard they're quite beautiful and tranquil travel destinations.  Well, now I'm in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia which is also on the Travel Warnings list (along with every other country in the region) and almost no one that I talked had a positive mental image of life here, but just two weeks in and I feel like I made the right choice about taking this crazy chance.

First impressions:  It's a city and just like other cities you can expect a lot of people, a lot of traffic, crazy driving habits, plenty of restaurants, and a fare amount of site-seeing or people watching available.

Yes, I feel safe.  No, I haven't seen the dessert yet.

My office is in an ultra-modern building that is still having the finishing touches done on its construction.  New businesses are moving in everyday and the outside of the building is said to be the largest LED television screen in the world.  Right now Pepsi is the only company advertising on it but you can be sure of two things: 1 - plenty of people are seeing it; and 2 - it's costing a lot of Riyals.  Saudi Arabia surely has a lot of oil money and the construction of this gorgeous tower is just one example of what the country is putting that big bank account towards.  I love the office and I can't wait to start teaching in the classrooms here.  The grand opening is this Saturday night!

Also, there are some unique aspects to life here in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).  First off, there is no alcohol.  Yup, none.  The punishments can be pretty severe too - the go medieval even though it's 2012.  So no alcohol means no bars, no pubs, and no clubs.  I would not have moved here if I was 22 like I did when I went to Korea, but at 29 I haven't really felt much of a change at all.  It has only been two weeks though.  There is also no public dancing or signs of affection between men and women.  Women are only supposed to even be out in public with men who are relatives or their husband.  They have to cover their bodies at all times in public, many just show their eyes, but here in Jeddah faces are shown pretty commonly, and on a rare occasion I've seen women walking around with their hair down too! :-o  I know, how risque!  Women are not allowed the right to drive here and as unfair as it is, it really puts a wrench in the age old joke about women being bad drivers because the drivers here are all pretty bad, but they're all men.

Since I'm not a woman I have some more freedoms, but I'm supposed to have clothes that cover my knees on at all times in public too.  I thought that would be really hard here in the terrible heat, but I've been dealing pretty well so far.  And the few times I've walked to the corner store with my scandalous and sexy kneecaps showing, nothing has happened.  There is a little more leniency with men.        

Ok, I'm a bit all over the place with this first posting because I've done so much in two weeks and talked to so many different people independently, I didn't know where to start or what to cover.  And maybe I've just been out of the blogging game for a while and it will take some time to get back on the horse, I mean camel.  I think that's what they say here.  Maybe I'm making that up.

Either way, it's time for me to go back to playing in my sandbox.  I've got some serious sand castling to do but I'll be back soon.  Leave some comments or questions if you'd like! 

Journey to Jeddah

Ok, the moment we've all been waiting for. The actual journey begins... My flight to Jeddah went so smoothly and quickly that I felt like I could have just taken a day drive to the airport in Tulsa. I actually ended up flying almost around the globe. This realization did set in at a later point. On the flights I sat next to some pretty awesome people. An Iranian-American off to visit his father in Iran, who was really nice and told me that Iran is far better than Americans think it is. Then while transferring in Frankfurt, Germany I met an American who has been living in Jeddah for over 20 years. He gave me a quick low down on everywhere to shop, eat, stay clear of, etc. It was just what I needed. Then on the flight from Frankfurt to Jeddah I met a really nice fellow traveler and two British nurses making the move to Jeddah just like me. All were great people, and part of me just wanted to keep flying around the world and meeting people. Eh, I guess landing in Jeddah and meeting people there isn't such a bad alternative ;-) The pictures leave off with my first breakfast, but there will be much more to share shortly.

Last Rounds

Before leaving the fam for an extended period of time, 6 months at least, I decided to spend my last few weeks with them. I enjoyed as much of the sinful stuff as I could before heading to the strict land of KSA. I'm talking about pork of course. I hope you weren't thinking anything other than that.

Hot Karl Chills in Knoxvilles

Not everyone gets a best friend to come see them before they leave the country for at least 6 months. Well, I guess that sounds pretty "best-friend-ish" actually, but I still think he's pretty much as good as they get. Heck, he did come to see me in Korea. Anyone this he's going to come to the Middle East? haha. Enjoy some pictures of the straight up Tennessee sights we took in - gun range, demolition derby, etc...

Another Chapter Ends... No Mo' MO

I came to Missouri to play college football and get my master's degree and I did a whole lot more than that...

The only sad part is that I don't know when I'll get 'mo MO. 

Back In Blog!

If a simple tornado took Dorthy to Oz, I think what has hit me in the past week or so must only be explained as one of those mammoth, intergalactic storms that NASA tells us about where the entire Earth could fit through the eye of one of those raging behemoths. I saw the storm coming. I saw it months in advance. Heck, I was the weatherman that spread the news about the incoming freak occurrence of a white bald head moving steadily into the Middle East with a chance of sand...lots of sand. I just didn't realize how quickly everything could change.

 Just a blink of an eye ago I was a college football player. Blink. A high school English teacher in Jasper, MO. Blink. A Master's degree holder. Blink. A high school football coach. Blink. Storm chasing in Middle America. Blink. Swing dancing in Knoxville, TN. Blink. Boat with my parents. Blink... Sitting at work in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia atop the tallest building in the city of over 4 million people, blogging.

Wow, blogging... What a novel concept. There was a time in my life, mainly in Korea, when I looked forward to writing for this blog daily. I took pictures of all my activities, posted them, shared stories about what I was going through, and truly enjoyed all the feedback I got. And I had all intentions of keeping up with my blogging when I returned to America, but things just got in the way: school, football, work, time, etc, etc... We all know the deal.

Well, now I'm back abroad, this time in Saudi Arabia, and I'm determined to dust off this old blogspot and bring it up to date!

I'm hoping to continue posting pictures, but I'd like to actually start editing some short videos too, and maybe even do a few interviews. We'll see. There is much to share though and I sincerely wish you all to follow along. While I love traveling I sincerely miss those of you were or are close to my heart. There is no physical place on earth where I can be surrounded by all of the amazing people I've been fortunate enough to become friends with throughout my lifetime, but I guess, in a way, this blog is kind of like the digital digital alternative to that. It's pretty great to think of it that way actually. Alright, I don't want to ramble on for too long, but there is much more to come in the near future: Flying from America to Germany to Jeddah, seeing my new apartment, being introduced to my new work space that just happens to also be in the building with the largest tv screen in the world taking up one side of the building, sneaking to the top of the building for the nicest views of the city anyone has ever seen (and because it's not open yet almost no one has seen them besides me and my coworker), walking the streets of the Middle East and the confusion that goes with it. Ok, I promise I'll have more enticing titles when I post them for real.

I'm Back!

As you may (or more likely may not) have noticed, I've been away from blogging for a little while. The thing is, when you move back in with your parents the last thing you want to do is tell people about it. Well, actually the last thing you want to do is bring a girl home, but closely behind that is blogging to everyone you care about that you've shacked up with Mom and Dad.

So if you were wondering, I've been in Tennessee for the past 9 months (WoW it sounds like a long time). Why Tennessee you ask? Because my parents feel like they're in college all over again down there and they don't have to pay the property taxes that are in Jersey. So I've been living the retired lifestyle for a while and it's definitely something I could get used to. Of course I wanted to spend some time with my parents who I hadn't seen for the whole year while I was away in Korea, and my 95 year old grandmother that was staying with them too.

Those aren't good enough reasons to move back home, you say? Well, yes those weren't the only reasons, but it was really nice to spend some time with my parents when I wasn't dealing with my teen aged angst (yet I've realized you will always feel like a child when you go home, no matter how old or successful you are). The real reason is that I decided that I wanted to go back to school and the idea of looking for an apartment, a job, and a school all at once seemed overwhelming. That makes sense right?

Oh yeah, and I wanted to train to play college football :-p

Punting Session -

So here's the low down on what has happened to me in the past nine months, the abridged version: I trained everyday to get better at punting. I put on about 20 pounds. I started teaching English to Russians online. I made lots of friends with retirees and Russians. I became an Irish citizen. I won a national punting competition in Florida. I turned 26. I got a division 1AA full ride offer to the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff to play football. I turned down a division 1AA full ride offer to UAPB because of eligibility rules. I made cool friends in Tennessee "around" my age. I moved to Missouri. I'm on course to get my Masters degree in English, my K-12 teaching certificate, and play Division II college football at Missouri Southern State University starting this summer. I moved into a really terrible house that was about to fall apart. I moved out quickly and found a GREAT home that's nearly brand new with a cool roommate and a cool dog :-)

...And that's just about where I'm at now. I'm really happy, and trying to be hopeful about starting school and playing football again, but both prospects also make me really nervous (but excited too). I wanted to keep blogging because I still rarely see any of the people that are always on my mind and I wanted to let you all know what I'm up to and that I still think of you.



I hope I can keep doing this every once in a while and if you haven't heard from me in a while, I'm sorry, but I was just a little embarrassed...no offense Mom & Dad.

The End?

After the chance meeting with Tobi and the week long adventure that followed I really felt like I had done all that I had set out to do. This trip started months earlier in Korea but went through Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and the west coast of the United States. My main focus was to get to the Grand Canyon, and I did that and then some. The feeling of complete freedom is something I will always remember about this trip. It was the feeling I was looking for when I decided to move to Korea, but when you have a job you can never feel completely free. A vacation from work is nothing compared to a vacation from life as you know it, but still life goes on and for the first time in months I felt I was ready to return home.

After dropping off the new pimped out rental car I had to return to the Las Vegas hostel that I had stayed at for almost a full week before I finally met Tobi. I left all of my belongings in a black garbage back in a storage room there. Yes, it was very high class and continuing with my luxurious ways I bought a Greyhound ticket out of Vegas all the way to Knoxville Tennessee. This wasn't the initial plan of how I was going to get to Tennessee but I just felt like it was time to make an exact date of completion, so buying the ticket did that...almost.

The bus ride from Vegas to Tennessee is almost 2 days on a bus, so I decided to stop at a friends place in Denver, Colorado. It kind of brought the whole trip full circle since the friend I was visiting was one that I made in Seoul. Rachel's best friend Mindy was willing to show me around Denver for a few days. It's a really nice city, but I was just happy to see her. I also got to see some old high school friends as well, and that's always fun. Caitlin and Dan also showed me some of the city's finer points, or better places to get a drink at least. But this was the final stop, the rest of the trip was a long, long, long bus ride. I thank G-d to this day for giving me the superpower of being able to fall asleep at anytime, anywhere. There were times in my life where I felt this superpower wasn't a great honor but then you take a bus across the country and you realize that everything happens for a reason.

So I made it home, but home wasn't my home anymore. Since my parents retired to Tennessee the home I knew growing up is long gone. I got to my new home and had to adjust to my new room, new people, a new area, and a new life. But hey, adjusting to new areas is nothing new to me, and at least they speak English here...kinda.

The Death Valley Experience

So there we were, sitting on the side of the road in 110 degree heat with a dashboard that was blinking like we just won the jackpot on a slot machine. The car wasn't running, our phones weren't working, and the sun was going down in the desert. Tobi and I sat silently in the car for minutes that seemed like really long minutes. Just moments earlier we were racing the sunset in Death Valley, pushing a rental car to its extremes, and loving life. Now we were stranded, uncertain about how we were going to get the car back to Vegas on time, where we were going to sleep tonight, who was going to help us, why had this happened to us, we thought we were untouchable. We tried to turn the car over once every fifteen minutes, but there was nothing. We were stuck, and we didn't know what to do.

When it looked like we would have to wait for the next mornings tourists, and camp overnight on the concrete, one last car came from Badwater returning towards the middle of town. We decided they were our only chance of salvation and we flagged them down. It was a nice retired couple and they were extremely friendly. They cleared out their back seat and Tobi and I filled our backpacks with food and hopped in. They were kind enough to drive us down to the center of town. Now when I say "town" I mean a hotel, a tourist information building and a gas station. The gas station would have been the most likely place for us to go since we needed a mechanic but it was closed. Second would be the tourist information building because we were tourists and we needed a lot of information on what to do at this moment. But it was closed too. So instead we found ourselves talking to the midnight shift bell boy at the Death Valley hotel.

First things first, we needed to call the rental car company and figure things out. Easy enough, right? Nope, we left the rental car phone number back in the car. Nice move on our part. The nice retired couple drove Tobi back to get it, and then they left us to deal for ourselves after we showered them with thanks (Thanks again if you're out there, thank you so much!). So now that we had the rental car phone number calling should be easy right? Wrong... We had to use a payphone. A payphone. Did you know these things were even still around? Luckily Tobi and I had a decent amount of change but if the phone ate a few quarters we might be totally out of luck. But I made the call and it actually worked, thank you AT&T. As soon as I got through to the rental car company I was sure that our worries were over.

Boy was I wrong about thinking our worries were over. The night shift at the rental car company was even more clueless than the bell boy. Here is an almost word for word account of our conversation:
Me - Hey, our car broke down in Death Valley. What should we do?
The rental car guy -You shouldn't be driving in Death Valley. It's hot our there. Probably like 105 degrees.
Me - Thanks it is actually 110, but we're out here and our car has died. We bought insurance and we want to know how we can figure things out.
The rental car guy - Insurance don't cover that. Were you running the AC?
Me - Did I mention how hot is was today?
The rental car guy - Aww damn, you can't run AC in a car in that heat. That's crazy.
Me - Interesting, they didn't mention not using the AC when we rented the car in 100 degree heat in Vegas. Thanks for you information, now how are we getting out of here?
The Rental car guy - You gotta get back to Vegas.
Me - Did I mention the car was broken down?
The Rental car guy - Just get that thing back here.
Me - Tow it?
The Rental car guy - I don't care.
Me - Will you pay for towing?
The Rental car guy - We don't pay for that.
Me - Will you come get us?
The Rental car guy - Out there in Death Valley? We don't do that.
Me - What do you do?
The Rental car guy - Hold on. (He then proceeded to put the phone down and tell our story to a friend while I can hear him. They were laughing and making jokes and I honestly was laughing my ass off while describing it to Tobi.) Hey man, it's late we can't do anything for ya. Good luck getting it back here.
Me - Thanks for all of your help, you've been a life saver. Enjoy the rest of your night.

As I told Tobi about this phone call we realized that we might have been better off spending a little bit more money for a rental car company that we had actually heard of before. That being said, we could not stop laughing. Even the bell boy got a kick out of over hearing my phone conversation with the rental car company. The sun might have been down but our spirits were still up. We tried to swing a deal with the hotel for a free overnight stay, but they weren't having it. We were now without a place to sleep.

We had our tent, but the ground in Death Valley is about as comfortable as sleeping on a barbed wire fence. But we remembered that the Tourist Information building had a nice green lawn, if we could only get there, we might be able to actually sleep tonight. We asked a French man who was driving a convertible if he would give us a ride. Talk about a strange situation (An American man who is traveling with a Swiss man asked a French man for a ride in his convertible in Death Valley). After explaining our situation to him he said he would want someone to do the same for him, so he took us a mile down the road and dropped us off at the Tourist Information building.

Once we were there we felt like we had struck a gold mine because they didn't lock the bathrooms at night. So we were able to have running water, light, and we were able to brush our teeth. That stuff alone already makes it better than some of the other places we camped. We set our tent up near the side of the building and climbed inside. Then it REALLY hit us. We were not lucky. We were planning on camping in the "coolest" part of Death Valley, and not on the lawn of the Tourist Information building for a reason...it's unbearably hot.

We laid there in our tent together recounting the days events. I still remember this conversation as one of the funniest conversations I've ever had. In retrospect we were both a little delirious. We thought everything bad that happened would just be a great story someday. Until we tried to get some sleep and we had to silently think to ourselves about all that could still go wrong. This is when Tobi sat up and asked me, "Do you think, if you were to die in your sleep, would you wake up first? Or just die?" I laughed out loud until my stomach hurt when he said this in his German accent. I told him I don't know, but I hope we don't die. But in this dry heat, death was definitely a possibility.

Then when you didn't think things could get any worse and we were dieing of heat when the unthinkable happened. The sprinkler system came on. It as if we were in the middle of a bad sitcom and no one told us. We ran out of the tent in our boxers and got a freezing cold shower at around 2 in the morning in 110 degree heat. This sign that someone was watching out for us from above was all we needed to get some rest. We didn't even move when the sprinklers came on for their second session at 4.

We woke up and had the car towed out of Death valley to a town about an hour away. A town that we later learned is famous for its prostitution (just a side note), but when we got there we talked with the owner of a car dealership that told us we should be fine. We called the rental car company again and this time the morning crew was much more helpful. They sent us a beautiful car to bring us back to Vegas, payed us for the towing and in the end they only charged us for 3 days because of all the hassle they caused. Tobi and I walked out of "Giddy UP Car Rental" with the biggest smiles on our faces. We really were invincible...and I think it really did make a great story.

Near Death (Valley) Experience

It's been a while but recently I've been trying to find a job here in Tennessee and I've gotten away from my blog, but one of the reasons I wanted to spend time her in the dirty south was to have more time writing, so I'm focused on getting back on it. This chapter of my trip picks up after visiting Joshua Tree National Park, and after seeing much of the west coast of the United States. The Climax was the Grand Canyon, but little did I know then, that after the finale there would be a crazy twist ending...

We left Joshua tree really pumped. It was exciting because we didn't have to return the rental car yet. While we had planned on getting a rental car for only 5 days, the friendly, fast talking, teenager behind the counter at the airport rental car dealer told us that 5 days is the same price as a week so we'd get two additional days if we wanted them for no additional charge. So instead of rushing back to Vegas in a hurry we had 2 more days to leisurely head to the pleasantly named "Death Valley" and take in all the sights there as if it was an unexpected cherry on top of the Grand Canyon cake that already had Joshua Tree icing on it. Looking back it should have seemed obvious that getting "extra time" to see a place called "Death Valley" is not so much of a cherry on top, but more like a death sentence. But in the moment we took our worry free traveling smiles to the road and put the petal down in the direction of the hottest place in the United States.

Driving to Death Valley was an experience in itself. Growing up in New Jersey it's not uncommon to share the road (and I use the term "share" lightly) with about 10,000 other cars all going in the same direction. Yet here, on these open roads in the west it was the norm to be the only car in sight. Heck, we were the only man made object in sight for hours on end. It was just road, dirt, cactus's and us. Without too much to look at our attention become fixed upon the car dashboard. Why you might ask? Well in the high heat even the littlest things can become entertaining. Our entertainment was watching the temperature gauge go up degree by degree, each time getting a little cheer out of us. Again, our ignorance in hind sight seems obvious, but in a new rental car with the AC going full blast we weren't feeling the ill effects of the rising temperature, well, not yet.

Our map showed a little town called "Shoshone" a ways outside of the Death Valley entrance but we thought we'd stop anyway because we were hungry. The Famous Crowbar Cafe and Saloon, seemed to be the only restaurant in town. It was next to a museum that looked like an old barn, and across the street from the post office that doubled as the towns reminder that they might actually be connected to other people, even if only by mail. We stopped at the Crowbar. It was Thursday so I went in an asked for 5 beers for 25 cents, but sadly this Crowbar did not have the same "Thirsty Thursdays" drink specials that my Crowbar back at Penn State had. Oh the good old days of drinks for a nickel, I guess it was a bit of wishful thinking, but it was worth a try.

After lunch at the Crowbar we figured we'd hit plenty of tourist places before and after the Death Valley entrance but we could not have been more wrong. While I know I pictured a large overhanging sign across the road, maybe even with large doors like Jurassic Park, the entrance to National Park was much less theatrical. It was a small booth on the side of the road. One that even a one hour Kodak booth might spit on. No people, not Ranger to tell us good information and give us a map, just a slot to take our money, give us a receipt, and we had to begrudgingly take our own map from a stack of maps.

But we were there! Death Valley was real, we were in it, and it was HOT! We stopped all over the place. Trying to take in everything we could. It was interesting seeing the names they gave to the different parts of this deserted area of land. Death Valley is just strange area after strange area, but they are all strange because they are completely deserted and under some of the most extreme temperatures on the planet. One area looks like a desert, one like a dried up ocean, one like a waste land, another like a desert, some like hills of different color sands, but they all had one thing in common...HEAT!

We took plenty of pictures during the day we were there. Please check them out. But one picture we never got to take was one of the sand dunes during the sunset. You see, we were at the lowest point in North America, a spot called "Badwater", one of the furthest spots in Death Valley that you have to drive to. And when did we go there? Of course right before the sunset when the number one thing we wanted to see were the sand dunes during the sunset. As we realized the sun was going down faster than we had expected we jumped in the rental and pealed out of there. Tobi was being a bit aggressive as the car started to reach the fastest speeds that we had seen all week. We both sat silent as the speedometer raised, and the sun fell. The bright yellow ball in the sky was coming closer to the horizon every second and we were racing it to the sand dunes.

It may have been that "invincible" feeling that we had as travelers to think we could beat the sunset, but it was invigorating. As the car hit ninety-five not a word was spoken but we both thought we were going to make it. We were certain that we would be sitting relaxed in the desert as the sun set beautifully on the horizon, there was no doubt. Then, doubt didn't just creep into our thoughts, it smacked us in the face. The cars dashboard began to light up as if we had won a jackpot on a slot machine in Vegas. Only the car didn't spit out money, instead it started coughing and seizing, and we had to pull it over. The five or six cars that we recently flew by all slowly drove by us pulled over on the side of the road with a new appreciation for the childrens book "The Tortoise and the Hair". We were stranded. Not stranded like you think about being stranded today. Today if you pull over on the side of the road hundreds if not thousands of people will see you, you have a cell phone to call help, and if you really needed to you could walk to a gas station. No this was not our definition of stranded, we were in a whole different situation.

We are now on the side of one of the longest roads in Death Valley that only leads to a lookout spot called "Badwater". A lookout stop that is worthless during the night, so during a sunset we are pretty certain that no more cars will be coming this way until the next day. We are miles away from anything, it is 119 degrees out, and our cell phones ceased having service back in Shoshone. The sunset was no longer a race but a ticking clock for our survival.

Icing on the Grand Canyon Cake

After seeing the waterfalls 12 miles deep in the Grand Canyon everything else was just icing on the cake. When we left the south rim we headed in the general direction of Joshua Tree National Park. Yup, just the general direction, no plans, the sun was going down, no reservations, just an idea. We knew we had a tent, and by find a way to camp the Grand Canyon when we were firmly told it was impossible we actually felt like we couldn't really do anything wrong. We were more right than we realized. As night fell we watched a beautiful sunset on the highway in Arizona. After following the Atlas for hours it showed us there were camping sites on Lake Havasu that wasn't too far out of our path. We thought that since our stop at Havasupi Falls went so well it'd be stupid to pass up a chance to go to the Lake Havasu (completely unrelated places).

We went and camped but because we came so late and left so early the night was FREE!!! That's always good price for travelers. We did wake up and take a dip in the water, were able to get showered up, and took in some of the beautiful scenery. It's too bad we didn't hang around long enough to meet some of the locals, I've since heard that Lake Havasu can be a pretty crazy place to party. Eh, well maybe next time.

We were only a short drive from Joshua Tree from there and we were able to get to get there and spend the whole day hiking. This place is strait out of the Flintstones. The rock formations make you feel like your back in the day of the dinosaurs. We went everywhere we could, and that purchase of 80 bottles of water (for $3.50 a 20 pack, thank you Walmart) way back in Vegas was still paying dividends.

I was amazed that I felt the beauty of this area was comparable to that of the south rim of the Grand Canyon, but there was no comparison in the amount of tourists. Joshua Tree seemed empty, while the south rim was like a crowded super market. I liked the openness of Joshua Tree. We ended up camping there beside some huge boulders strategically to be in the shad when the sun rose the next morning. Thanks to Cousin Billy I was able to teach Tobi how to find the North Star and even though I never thought it would come in handy, then next morning waking up in the shade felt so good temperature wise, but even better as an accomplishment for the both of us.

Joshua Tree is a hot place, but it's amazing to see all the different types of plants that can survive in that environment. It was also a place for mining many years ago and you can take a short break from the heat inside some mine shafts if your lucky.
One of the coolest experiences at Joshua Tree was when we met a couple riding there motorcycle through the area. They were very friendly (as most travelers tend to be) but they were just completely taken by the situation of Tobi and I. They were many years older than us and had been to some amazing places but they couldn't believe that a guy from Switzerland met a guy from Jersey, in Vegas, and that we were having such an amazing time traveling around together. It kind of made us feel even better about an already good situation. Like I said, everything was just icing on the cake from here on out.

The Grand Canyon That I Saw

We hiked the 10 miles down to the Indian Reservation and slowly entered the visitors office. I was sweating profusely after the desert hike, but now I began to sweat out of nervousness. We were supposed to have a reservation but we didn't and we didn't know what would happen to us. As we entered I heard the man behind the counter having a similar phone conversation to the one I had with them the day before, "Sorry, we're booked solid, try again next year...early." Tobi and I looked at each other and took a deep breath. I was thinking about telling them that Tobi had a terminal disease and his last wish was to see these waterfalls before he died. I was also considering going through with the "We don't speak English" plan. There were a few options for us, but one I would not except was getting turned around now.

So what happened? Nothing. The woman behind the counter just assumed we had a reservation, took our names, our money, and gave us the camping permit. It was great. The only bad part was that there were 2 more miles of hiking left. The rest of the story will be told through the pictures we took. The pictures don't do this place justice, but my writing wouldn't either. I loved this place. Take a gander:

The Best Choice I've Ever Made

The next morning when Tobi and I woke up in our 19 dollar Walmart tent beside the Colorado river while surrounded by the cliffs of the Grand Canyon it's safe to say we felt slightly untouchable. This rush of over confidence led us to wake up early and head to secret waterfalls in the Grand Canyon even though the day before we were told we were not welcome. We were told there was no room, we were not allowed to hike or camp there, and we needed reservations. We also had to drive an hour out of our way to even get to the places parking lot, which if we got turned away would waste more than 2 hours of prime daylight time at the South Rim. These aren't things you really think about when you're untouchable. Sure there are risks but do you think Superman worries about finding the oven mitt before taking brownies out of the oven? Of course not. Sometimes you know what you want when you want it, so Tobi and I began our 18 mile drive out of the Grand Canyon at 7am to hopefully make it to the parking lot of our next destination by 10am, an hour out of the way, just in the hope that they might let us hike their trail.

I will never understand how perspective can switch so much inside my own head. My head stays the same, relatively. I mean besides bed head, which I've now taken care of thanks to shaving my head, and a huge spider bite scar, my outward appearance stays pretty much the same from moment to moment. But inside my head I can go from feeling like a million bucks to 10 cents in no time at all. When I met Tobi I went from feeling that the end of my trip would be a failure to thinking the end of my trip was going to be the best week of my life in the time span of an hour. Yet on the road, when I was told we were not welcome to the Canyon waterfalls because we didn't have reservations I was depressed again. It's terrible to have great hopes, dreams, and desires that someone can put an end to over the phone, "Sorry, we're booked solid." Those simple words made everything we were hoping to see impossible. But one nights sleep and the impossible seemed possible again.

It was mostly a silent 3 hour drive to where we were headed. Tobi and I didn't say much outwardly and inside we were in knots. We knew what we were doing was crazy, but we just kept thinking that if we believed it would work out, it would work out. We reached the parking lot and it became obviously clear that the person on the phone wasn't kidding when they said they were full. Cars were parked everywhere. I mean, there was a "parking lot" but the lines drawn on the ground did only about half the job for all the cars there. For a moment while driving in we got behind a line of cars thinking it was traffic before realizing they were parked there because the lot was full. Lucky for us we did find a spot right between the donkeys and the porta-potties.

So we were there! That was a big enough step, but what to do now? Besides a small shed, about 50 donkeys, some great views, and more cars than we've seen since leaving Vegas we couldn't tell what all the fuss was about. Where were the people that drove these cars in here? We had to ask. The fear of getting kicked out made us hesitate from asking workers dumb questions about things anyone with a reservation should already know. So instead we asked a few people we saw in the parking lot about some information.

Where do we go from here? Is it worth it? Do you think they'd kick us out? We threw a barrage of questions at these clearly tired travelers (we'd come to find out why later). Apparently the parking lot is only the starting point. You need to hike 10 miles along the Canyon floor to get to the Indian reservation, and then check in. Once you're there it's two more miles of hiking to get to the camp site and the falls. Is it worth it? We repeated. I will never forget the look on the mans face when he said "If you came this far only to turn around at this parking lot you'll never forgive yourself. The scenery down there is some of the most contrasting beauties the world has to offer put right along side of each other. Desert cliffs, with crystal blue water rushing over it. Is it worth it? Yeah, it's worth it."

That sealed the deal. We would push on. As soon as we had that in our heads (a perspective change from fearful, to determined) we even asked some of the workers some questions, and to our surprise they were welcoming. "Just head down the trail, you'll see it in 10 miles." We didn't need anyone else to point us in the right direction but it was someone comforting to know that at least someone working at this place told us we could hike it. Even though we knew a lowly donkey renter had no business speaking for the tribe, you take any little victory you can when you're in our position.

So we began our hike. Not knowing what laid ahead, not knowing if we'd get turned back, but we did know there was a chance we'd see something amazing, and that was why we pushed on. Just as we were about to embark on the trail we asked a group of hikers to take our picture. We were on cloud nine, and it was just about the right time to get brought down to earth again. "Yeah, we'll take your picture," they said "you're smiling now, but you won't be later. This is the hike goes through hell." Funny, no one we talked to mentioned the grueling nature of the hike. Not my cousin, my friend Mimi, the man in the parking lot, or the donkey salesman. But come to think of it, the man in the parking lot did look extremely worn out, and granted the guy selling donkeys wasn't looking up to snuff but I thought that was the nature of his business. Now I was on the head of the trail smiling for a picture in front of about 15 teenagers that all looked like they'd just finished their house chores at the Hearst Castle. Their faces somehow backed up the claim that this hike went through hell, but if it takes walking through hell to get to heaven, I'd be up for that because, let's not forget, I'm untouchable again.