What Have I Seen So Far?

 

Well I haven’t posted that much because I am still trying to figure everything out. And well I have been spending time at the beach, who wouldn’t? I’m from MN and don’t get to the ocean, well, ever! OK, I’ve been here a few times before but I still want to be down there. This post will mostly be about the photography.

 

 

 

I have seen a few beaches, have ran a race, have had company (well it’s not really company when it’s their condo!). I have been accepted into an art show and am looking for more photography opportunities. This weekend I will be attending an air show and another run, next weekend the Carlsbad Beach Fest and maybe a Pow Wow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have decided to take at least one new picture a day to post as my main picture on Facebook. But the first night I arrived I drove down to Carlsbad, since I had been there before and took the gorgeous shot of a life guard tower, above. The picture of me laying on the beach and of the wave are also at Carlsbad beach.

 

 

 

 

 

When Larry and Mark came for Memorial weekend, after my race, we went down to Del Mar and the beautiful beach there. Del Mar is a more upscale area and apparently in those areas they allow dogs on the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Del Mar is also where I got my first glimpse at some surfers. I caught this cool image of a surfer waiting to go out, or deciding if to go out again. As you can see from this picture below, I spotted a Kevin Costner look alike, and he evidently spotted me too. :)

 

 

 

 

One of the days it rained and I was walking up to the exercise room at the condo and there were snails all over the sidewalks. I had never seen a snail out of it’s shell before, just the shell long after the snail had died. I bent down to have a closer look. Their shells are actually quite beautiful.  As I was walking I noticed quite a few had their heads stepped on. I figured since these ones were all in the same area someone would have done it on purpose. It made me sad to think that someone would do that. I shared my experience with my guy, it was memorable to say the least. Lee you are still wrong for that! LOL

 

 

After Del Mar we went down again to Oceanside beach and you do see some outfits out here a little different but I didn’t expect to see a man rockin’ his UGGs on a beautiful, sunny, southern Cali day down by the beach, but there he was… UGG man you keep rockin those boots!

 

 

 

Still Running… Strawberry 5000, Vista, California

 

 

 

On Sunday I ran in my fourth race of the year and the first one I will be running in California. The Strawberry 5000 is a family fun 5K that proceeds the Strawberry Festival in Vista. They also have a 1 mile run for kids and a quarter mile run for the little kids.

 

 

 

 

This is the first run I have been to where they actually do warm up exercises and stretching as a group before the run and I thought it was a great idea! When we had a minute to go everyone started to crowd the start line. Don’t these people know there time doesn’t start until after they cross it. I was all of a sudden closed in on and had no place to move. I thought, now how am I suppose to start running like this. The person that squeezed in front of me stepped on my foot when he started out! WOW…

 

 

My best time for a 5K previous to this one was 29:33 so I was hoping for a time under 29 minutes. I had my Garmin unit on my wrist so I could try to keep a pace that would accomplish that. As I kept looking down I was running at a pace better then that so I continued, gaining time for the end incase I needed to slow down. I, apparently, did not have to slow down. I finished with a time of 27:43, shattering my old record if you ask me!

 

 

 

I was tired, I was sweating and because they had no water stops along the way I was thirsty! I was so thirsty that I drank out of Larry and Marks bottle of water! LOL Mark even said, “I know she thirsty if she’s willing to drink out of our bottle, haha.” That does happen to be pretty thirsty! :)

 

 

I have another race on Sunday, not expecting to beat this time though. This one is up in Long Beach, 7am, about an hour away. It’s going to be an early Sunday morning!

 

Arches National Park

As I started this journey and talked to people about it, it surprised me how few of them have never heard of Arches National Park. Arches is in southeastern Utah and contains the world’s largest concentration of stone arches in the world. Arches is a red, arid desert, punctuated with oddly eroded sandstone forms such as fins, pinnacles, spires, balanced rocks, and arches. And it is absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have every been to.

 

 

I arrived at my camp site, at Archview Resort, and pitched my tent. Realizing it was only 6:30 pm I decided to just take a drive thru the park, not doing any hiking until the following day. The park was about 5 miles south of where I was.

 

 

 

 

As I drove along 191 I was captivated by the beauty of the red rock, but it was nothing compared to what I was about to experience…

 

 

 

 

 

 

I entered the park and there is a steep “S” shaped road right at the beginning. When you get almost to the top you get a view of the highway winding thru the red rock canyon. This is the point where I almost drove off the cliff hypnotized by the beauty! This picture, in no way, does justice to the scene. This is one you will have to see for yourself. And I highly suggest some day that you do!

 

 

 

On my first drive through the park, around every curve my heart would stop on first site of the gorgeous creations of God. It was so incredibly beautiful and breathtaking! The picture to the right is at the Park Avenue view point and the rock you see in the middle is one of the Courthouse Towers. Below is another picture of Courthouse Tower. This was definitely the most impressive to me and my favorite in the park.

 

 

 

 

Driving through this National Park is like no other. From the gate to the end of the drive is about 17 miles, and worth any time you spend to get there. I have wanted to visit this park for a few years and am so glad I put it on my route this summer.

 

 

 

 

The picture to the right is of double arch, this would be my favorite of all the arches I saw at the park. It is very impressive in size! The larger rock you see near the bottom of the picture could probably fit 10 sitting on it, so the arch itself is massive. A further back view of Double Arch is below.

 

 

 

 

This arch is down a side road along with the Window Arches, and should not be missed! My second favorite arch is the Pine Tree Arch, which is the one shown in the next picture. You walk along a side path for a quarter mile mostly through sand and the side comes into view. It’s amazing to think that the wind is what carved these arches out!

 

 

   

There is so much to do and see at Arches National Park. It would be very hard to cover it in one day, and you could spend many days here. Also there are lot of things to do in the area besides Arches. There is Dead Horse State Park, Canyonlands National Park, and many other area attractions. You can camp or stay in a nice hotel in Moab. There are Jeep or dirt bike adventures. Rock climbing, hiking, biking. There are byways and backways, historic sites and other state parks. You could spend weeks in southeastern Utah seeing all the sites. Also I drove across Utah and the many different landscapes were amazing. Utah is now my top pick for most beautiful state I have seen, and I have seen 45 of them.

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10 Days, 7 States, 2169 Miles

Today I arrived at my final destination of Oceanside, California. I will be here until the beginning of August. It was quite a journey getting here. My next post will be a bit about that, this one is just about the states and what they had to offer.


After spending 5 days with my Grandma, Aunt and Uncle in Sleepy Eye, MN I headed to Council Bluffs Iowa to visit my cousin. On the way down I was really wanting an energy drink and saw a town called Little Souix. I saw the awning of the gas station from the freeway (pictured below) and thought I'll pull off and grab a Monster. HA That was a mistake. What I couldn't see from the freeway is that the Stucker's is now closed as you can see from the over grown shrubs and trees in front of the building. I proceeded into town a little further and, seriously, locked my doors when I realized this was not a place I really wanted to be. LOL I knew I needed to turn around and get out of there. I got on the enterance ramp to the freeway and looked over to see the sign pictured here, read "PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD" and thought "not today", hit the gas and got the hell out of there. They could definitely film one of those young adults go for a joy ride, end up in creepy town, get killed movie in Little Souix!!

Nebraska, what can I say? It's the "Home of Arbor Day" and it's flat. Moving on... :)

Colorado, a place I have thought about moving to. The drive into Denver from Nebraska is not that exciting. I decided to spend the night just north of Denver in Wheat Ridge, before conquering the mountains. I woke up Wedneday morning, went for a run to see what the big deal of the higher elevation was all about and headed out over the Rockies. All I can say is beautiful.

This was taken in Silverthorne, CO. If you have never driven through the Colorado Rockies, what are you waiting for? My Xterra didn't necessarily like the mountain inclines but she did real well.

Next up... Utah! Quite possible the most beautiful place on Earth! It started out looking a lot like how Colorado looked when I started out, ordinary. And as you can tell from my hair, very windy! Then I turned down 191 to head towards Arches National Park. Ordinary is far from what I found here. My next post will be all about Arches National Park and the rest of what I found in Utah.

I had to clip the northwest corner of Arizona on this drive, about 28 miles. I have been to Arizona many times but never this far north. The majority of the drive is through canyon, beautiful canyon. The last part, right before Nevada, looks like wasteland! Can you tell I love my truck? LOL But since she hasn't quite gotten the hang of taking pictures of me, this is my option. But she looks good by them signs! :)

Nevada is the only state on the way out that I have never been to. Although, Utah and Colorado did really count before since I didn't see much. Southern Nevada, too, looks a lot like wasteland. I have no idea who would want to live in a place like this! I will take a Minnesota winter any time over the summers they must have here. Everything is dry and dusty, ick. Couldn't get out fast enough. On my journey back to MN I will be seeing more of Nevada, but a lot further north. I hope it's a lot different. I know you are wondering if the X finally got the hang of the camera but, no. A couple girls from Montana stopped to take a picture and I asked if they wanted to take my picture and I'd take there's.

Finally, on day 11 I arrive in California. Still hundreds of miles to Oceanside but at least I am in the state! I woke up at Arches National Park Friday morning with 755 miles to my destination. I didn't know how far I'd get but I wanted to make it to California. I contemplated going all the way but was going to see how it went, because I knew that would mean 13 hours behind the wheel (with gas, potty & food breaks). About 60 miles from Barstow, CA and decided I would not make it all the way. I checked my trusty GPS for hotels once I got closer to Barstow and found one with a room available. (so cool that it has the phone #s) That's where I spent the night after driving 10 1/2 hours and 610 miles. It was hot, dusty and again, I have no idea why someone would want to live in this part of the state!





Day 12, today, I had 145 miles left to drive. I am now all settled into my summer home and looking forward to finding adventure to tell you all about! I have some races to run, triathalons to photograph, work to find and pictures to sell. But I am so glad I can kick it down from fast forward to play for the next few months. Stay tuned...

A Week In

I left the Twin Cities a week ago but haven’t really posted yet because the adventure really hasn’t started. I began this journey with some visits to family. First in Sleepy Eye, MN now in Council Bluffs, IA. Tomorrow I leave IA and will be headed to Utah, although I don’t think I will get to Utah until Wednesday. Tomorrow driving across Nebraska and Colorado. Have never really seen either.

 

 

On Saturday me and my cousin went to Westfair and the Figure 8 Races put on by R&R Total Destruction Promotions. It was a great time!

 

 

 

 

After an hour delay due to difficulties they didn’t quite describe they finally got started. It was a little chilly with a good wind, at first, be once the wind died down it was a nice evening.

 

 

They had compact, stock and open class. We got hit with huge chunks of mug flying up into the stands. But we didn’t mind, it make for a more interactive experience! :)

 

 

    

Some of the cars were old and beat up and some were old and looking pretty good, well at least at the beginning of the race. There were a few collisions around the curves but I was a bit disappointed with the lack of them in the middle of the figure 8. LOL I certainly didn’t want anyone to get hurt but I did expect to see a couple.

 

 

There was a car that flipped on it’s side, one that was pushed completely over and then the one that rolled over 3x.

 

 

 

 

There were plenty of times when a car came around the curve on two or three wheels. One car had two wheels come off about 2-3 feet in the air. I thought for sure he was going over, he managed to puller her back down though. Come of those drivers had crazy skills, and you could definitely tell them ones that did!

 

Of course, it’s Iowa, it’s a Crazy 8, it’s bound to be a little redneck. And there’s nothing wrong with redneck, makes for some interesting fashion statements. They included overalls, mullets, balding heads with long ponytails! LOL Over there in the Tapout shirt you can see he has his smokes rolled up in his sleeve, haven’t seen that since the 80’s. Then there was the Hawaiian shirt guy with it all buttoned down sexy. He followed us out into the parking and yelled, “you ladies headed out alone”? My cousin yelled back, “no, no, we have plenty of company!” LOL

 

 

I have forgotten how much I enjoy things like this. I will be doing more. I didn’t have any fun last summer but this summer it’s going to be different! I’m leaving the past in the past and getting on with my future! Come along with me and enjoy the ride…