2020.08.10 – 2020.08.20

National Park Hopper: Final Destinations Edition

a peek into the world of the north americas from our eyes

day one – crater lake

waters still and blue beyond your imagination. it is amazing what beautiful things can be created in the footsteps of brimstone and fire

day one – toketee river

as beautiful as lakes are, i took one look at this scene beside the river and fell in love. i think i’ll always be team river for all of the action and joy that rushing water brings.

day one – toketee falls

all the cool kids were going under the fence to climb down by the falls but we were content to spectate from above

day one – clearwater falls

this one waterfall sold me on the pacific northwest. i think we all agreed that this was one of the best places we visited and there was basically no walk involved! as H says, “i looked up the ratings online and picked the best ones.”

day one – dinners

instant ramen and rice every night. what’s your favorite?

day two – hotel breakfast

got super excited by the to-go hotel breakfasts and maybe grabbed more than i needed…

day two – painted hills

my favorite part of this was seeing the tiny little animal tracks scattered throughout the hills – no humans allowed!

day two – spokane, washington

i missed out on a traditional city that has rivers running through it. so alive and so vibrant when you’re connected to your source of life

day three – kootenai river

beautiful but dangerous, life-giving but life-taking as well

day three – glacier national park

will this look good on instagram?

day three – st. mary’s lake at glacier national park

almost lost my phone here taking jump photos

day three – victoria falls at glacier national park

i wasn’t really looking for photos, i just sat down because i was dead exhausted from the trek

day four – logan pass at glacier national park

this place makes me wish i were a marmot living in the alpine meadows of montana.

day four – glaciers national park

walking in scary places – if you can’t tell already from the number of photos of this place, it was probably our favorite

day five – grand prismatic springs at yellowstone national park

all the travel magazine photos feel like a lie because you’re not even allowed to bring drones here.

day five – old faithful

double fisting

day five – grand canyon of yellowstone

this place has its own name but obviously i can’t remember it since people just keep calling it the grand canyon of yellowstone. i thought it deserved its own identity even though it was certainly not as grand as aforementioned canyon (ergo the name)

day six – oxbend

this place is magical!

day six – grand teton

a second photo of this mountain range because i’m just so in love

day seven – shoshone falls

i’m still undecided on how i feel about dams. but i will say that watching people swimming in the reservoir next door was absolutely picturesque

day seven – bonneville salt flats

it was so hot that we just stepped out for 5 minutes to take photos, and back to the air conditioned car we go!

day eight – canyonlands

this is arches’ overlooked neighbor, but oh my goodness, the rich redness of the rocks and the layered expanses of plateaus carved over time by wind and water – so magical. they call this place island in the sky and i have to say, it’s another world we’ve entered here.

day eight – canyonlands

in all honesty, i’ve never licked a rock before, but we have to uphold geologist stereotypes (also, it really is a thing)

day eight – canyonlands

the layers!!!! so dramatic. so beautiful.

day eight – mesa arch

more famous for a sunrise visit, but i thought dusk was just as breathtaking. i spent five minutes trying to explain some rock stories to H and she just walked away nodding…

day nine – delicate arch

my mom came here on a chinese bus tour with our grandma a few years back and the tour guide wouldn’t let her go on this hike because some grandma had died sometime earlier that year (i’m so hoping i have all the details right in the story because it’s been passed through so many people and so much time), but then my stubborn grandma started going on her own and got helped by this random dude on the path and she almost made it and freaked out the tour guide. all of which to say, props to grandma because this hike was pretty grueling.

day nine – paintings

WAUW! how often do you get to see signs of human activity from centuries and centuries ago?

day nine – landscape arch

hot, hot, hot – it’s not even ten o’clock in the morning yet and we are so done.

day nine – balanced rock

i lost my party while walking so couldn’t ask them to help me take funny photos. here is my pathetic selfie attempt.

day nine – horseshoe bend

mama is so precious

day ten – bryce canyon

once you see this place, it feels like the view is pretty much the same throughout the area, but oh man, it is a lovely view! hoodoo hoodoo? hoodoo. i loved the myth of this place. Coyote turned the legendary people who once had the power to transform into different animals into stone because they had become evil. that’s why you see the hoodoos, big and small, in the forms of people sitting, walking, and standing.

day ten – red rock canyon

even a mile hike is torturous in this kind of heat. cue resting in the shade of every ponderosa pine whose bark smells like toasted marshmallows (yes, i kept on smelling every single one after i learned that)

day eleven – the alley in las vegas

i absolutely love las vegas. even if you don’t drink or gamble, they just did such a great job of bringing everything awesome into one place, on top of a lot of art and cultural attractions. i have been craving good brown sugar boba in america since i first tried it in taiwan/hk last year, and the alley delivered! an unexpected surprise was how delicious the white peach salted cheese foam combo was. this is a must try.

day eleven – the venetian in las vegas

las vegas is much quieter these days, so hoping for better days soon for this oasis in the desert.

day eleven – milk bar in las vegas

i have to say this was quite disappointing after how much i enjoyed it last time i was here. perhaps that’s not a bad thing because there’s just so much in vegas that it’s easier if you don’t have to pick between so many things…

day eleven – seven magic mountains

i was not expecting this when H said we were going to a place called seven magic mountains, but i LOVE it!! i’m so ready to find some rocks, paint them bright, delicious colors, and stack them at home myself.

Posted on September 17, 2020October 4, 2020 by gracerootsmvmt 0

2020.08.10 – 2020.08.20

National Park Hopper: Spaces In Between Edition

Going to faraway places by car is very different from flying. Depending on who you are, you may think of the negative aspects – it takes wayyyy longer, you feel cramped in a small enclosed space, you have to stay alert while driving, it’s boring, there’s no internet, etc… This was probably my first big road trip and after going, I can honestly say that it is a WONDERFUL way to travel. Being able to mentally connect the dots of the spaces between each destination is a special experience, and there are just so many beautiful things to see in this world, even if they don’t have a 5-star review or millions of visitors a year. I’ll be posting some destination photos later, but I really wanted to pay homage to those places along the way, that we may not even have stopped for. Here’s to you, the spaces in between!

I guess this first one’s cheating because Lake Shasta is most definitely a tourist hotspot and we’ve visited before, but that’s another part of the road trip experience. You WILL drive by a lot of famous places that you don’t have time to visit, but the view is still a pleasant companion along the way. Also, random story – the last time I came to Lake Shasta I saw a coworker from Huawei and only figured out by hearing her voice because she was dressed totally differently from when she’s in the office. The end.

Fire is such a big part of the ecosystem in California. It is a fearsome thing to behold, but also exciting to think of the life that follows in the footsteps of immense destruction, if only we humans haven’t ruined nature’s ability to recover in the meantime. (Although, do we even have the capability to ruin nature? I like to think that instead of affecting her, she simply puts down boundaries and says, no, you don’t appreciate me so you don’t get to witness the wonders I have to offer. We’re shooting ourselves in the foot here.)

Vast, vast patches of green plains with mountains in the far distance.

A majestic mountain accompanying us as we traverse beyond California into Oregon. Sometimes it almost feels like cheating to use Google Maps to identify land features, so you’ll have to let me know which mountain this is!

Trains are another transportation mode of the past (at least for the most part in the US), but there were so many trains throughout our trip, carrying goods of all sorts to their own new destinies. Trains trips are a corollary love to road trips (think Europe and Asia), and I would love to go on a train trip next.

Mountain gradients are always so amazing and so beautiful. I want this to be on a tote bag, or some physical item that I can see and use all the time!

We started driving by these huge lakes and rivers as we hit the Pacific Northwest (or in most places other than California and Southwest USA), and it was so amazing to see so much freshwater available for recreation and for sustaining life. I’ve officially been converted to team rivers for life! My favorite was probably Columbia River.

We caught Painted Hills in Oregon at an hour when the lighting was not great, so these pics from the car on the way to the destination actually turned out much more vibrant and lovely than the actual location itself!

Miles and miles and miles of golden wheat – connecting with the places that feed us. When driving by the tiny towns tucked between the fields, people on the side always waved. Isn’t that so precious?

Wind turbines are always so picturesque and other worldly

Right before we got to our hotel in Idaho, we drove over this huge lake that is probably the destination of every summer lake cabin story I ever heard, with jewel blue waters and the clearest skies you’ve ever seen. Talk about a summer vacation paradise.

These moody evergreen colors! Hitting the mountains again.

This was what the hour-long drive up Glacier National Park looked like along Going-to-the-sun Road (what a name!). But don’t be distracted because you’ll need both eyes on the windy, narrow road turning to and fro the perilous edge of the mountains.

Another amazing sight was the gas prices, so cheap compared to California! This may be a good thing for an economic perspective, but potentially not so good when seen from an environmental perspective. And both perspectives exist within me – what chaos.

Scattered throughout all of these small towns were random sculptures and statues that were at times hilarious, at times ridiculously creative, and always completely unique (my other favorites were this HUGE carved falcon with wings spread apart in full glory, and a fishing pole sculpture dangling a metal fish by the side of the river!).

Why yes, I do need a horse ranch in Montana if every day looks like this.

Isn’t it funny how things just stick out when they have to do with someone you love? Took this photo of the Utah Jazz arena (I care absolutely nothing about the NBA) because I knew it’d be exciting for A

When we were talking about favorite places, I ranked Grand Teton as one of my top, while my mom said it was the least impressive. I totally get where she was coming from because in terms of land features, it actually was not that majestic, but at the same time, the beautiful line of mountains across the horizon forming a border of a lush expanse of plains and rivers and forests just really speaks to my soul. And there was so much life in this place! To each their own.

Don’t you just love national park rangers? There’s something wonderfully special about them just because of the profession they chose. Part of this trip was finding that balance of living life normally in a time when nothing is normal, and trying to maximize physical safety for all individuals even while we nourish our own emotional/social needs. I loved what this guy said, “This is your national park, so please stay safe by maintaining social distancing and wearing your masks so that we can keep your park open for the rest of the season.” This guy has it down!

Snake River Basin. These mountains!!! I watched and waited to see a bald eagle and was rewarded!

Heading to drier places with long stretches of straight road and no cars for miles around. Don’t drive too fast though – you might meet the popo like we did.

US Mail! What lovely company on the road. Support the USPS please!

Grand Teton is to Yellowstone what Canyonlands is to Arches. Which may be one of the reasons why I loved it so much because I was always team underdog. Huge plateaus of a rich red rock rising high into the air for miles around. Drive up the steep road and suddenly you’re in a different world, literally an “Island in the Sky”.

Plus that setting sun hitting the rocks at the perfect angle.

Ugh, this place. Beautiful. And hot.

It was so hot. We were so done. So we just waited in the shade and I drew a horse in the sand while Mama went up ahead to get some more photos.

We could not for the life of us see the hole, but it was a fun idea to paint huge letters onto the sandstone surface of the rock! Also, this was the longest duration my mom drove on the trip and was also the period of time when we took the most stops. My mom is probably the most spontaneous person in our party.

All things considered, I probably wouldn’t want the government to use their money on this, but it was somewhat sad that the state boundary line was not more celebrated between most states (maybe this is the A Walk to Remember in me speaking haha). This was one of the cuter ones that actually had a turnout so we could take a picture of it.

Not sure it’s a good idea to build the road through the arch…

There’s a picture in Page, Arizona that everyone takes, and when my mom saw this plateau, mountainous area, she had to stop and be like…is this that place? Let me take a picture just in case.

When you go to the Costco Business Center in Las Vegas and they just sell goat and lamb carcasses. Culture shock.

Setting a good example of how to social distance in elevators.

The hugest In-n-Out sign you’ve ever seen

Windy, dusty chaparral with Joshua trees dispersed throughout and happy clouds are A+

Literally turned smoggy the moment we hit the border between Nevada and California.

Apparently there is still traffic between NorCal and SoCal.

Coming back to a red sun and chaos, but with the energy to hear and respond with compassion.

Posted on September 10, 2020September 10, 2020 by gracerootsmvmt 0

2020.08.10 – 2020.08.20

National Park Hopper – Animal I Spy Edition

H and I love animals. So much of our time was spent searching for different wild critters on our daily adventures – here are the fruits of our labor! In addition, please enjoy the set of poems we have created in homage to my ingenuity as a first grader.

I was on lookout duty and spotted a majority of these animals, but H is the one who went in to do the hard work of carrying the long lens, learning to focus a super heavy camera quickly, and getting down and dirty to capture these animals in their best angles. National Geographic wildlife photography, here we come!

One of our first new species sightings – a marmot! Excitement ensues – better pictures to follow in our subsequent sightings, but there’s nothing quite like the first.

Animal Watching Tip 1: Be very aware of your surroundings – sight, sound, smells, etc. Use what you know about an animal’s habitat and habits to make inferences about the places you’ll find them (eg, I squatted down beside some wild blackberry bushes and found rabbits! – literally like in Peter Rabbit). When you hear rustling, stop and wait. Animals are super alert creatures and often will not come out until their surroundings are still. I had to wait for a few minutes after hearing some movement before this tiny little chipmunk came out of the bushes to eat a nut in the clearing. So precious and so worth the wait!

Are you a bird person? I most definitely am, but as I get older, I realize that many people dislike birds, to my dismay. But look at this beauty! After hunting through a list of birds in the Glacier National Park, I have identified this to be a Cedar Waxwing (not to be confused with the Blackman’s Warbler, whose eggs are more speckled haha).

Chipmunk chipmunk just like that,

Hopped into a pudding vat.

Chipmunk chipmunk take a bow,

You’re a chocolate chipmunk now!

probably one of my favorite captures of this trip – a marmot desperately wanting to become a bird

Marmot, marmot, eating flowers,

Trying to gain more nibbling power.

Marmot, marmot, chew on and on,

Going to win a food marmot-thon

We saw so many chipmunks, but I don’t think you can tire of how cute they are. We feel the same way about squirrels at home. We saw a mama with its babies and the little ones were so inquisitive – one even hopped onto my shoe!

Bison bison, all grown up,

Time has flown, You’re no longer a pup!

Bison bison, I’m proud of all you’ve done,

Time to move on and say goodbye son.

Tip 2 – when you see people looking somewhere, stop and ask what they’re looking at! We did just that multiple times on our trip and were gifted with knowledge of where to see a huge elk, a female moose, and a beaver swimmingly happily during golden hour at Oxbend in the Grand Tetons.

Black bear, black bear, naught to do

How about a little something new?

Black bear, black bear give it a try

Why don’t you bake a good blackberry pie?

Pika poem in the works, but in the meantime, this was one of the more exciting captures of the trip, because you don’t really expect to see much in the midst of a huge pile of rocks, but when you stop and watch for awhile, you’ll catch the scurrying of the industrious pika, who always stops just long enough to tease, but never long enough for a clear picture.

SO MAJESTIC, MISTER MOOSE. Don’t you have a special affinity for the gentle giants of this earth. It’s amazing to me that there are such huge animals on this earth that only feed on vegetation and don’t harm others?

On this trip, I also learned the amazing fact that moose are very good swimmers who can hold their breath for a minute and dive up to 6 meters underwater to eat aquatic plants. WOW!

Pronghorn – I caught a glimpse of these guys from super far off at the Elk Rank and, obviously, mistook them for elk, but we spent a few minutes off the beaten track to get close enough for these clear snaps. Move out of the way, cheetahs, because pronghorn actually take the cake when it comes to speed. The fastest land mammals in North America, these guys reach speeds of 55 mph and can run at 30 mph for 20+ miles (compare that to cheetahs who reach 60 mph but can only keep up that speed for a few hundred yards)! Nature!

After seeing this magnificent creature in South Korea multiple times before, I discovered that it was the infamous magpie of folklore and fairy tales! Hard to believe these beautiful birds have accumulated such a bad reputation in certain cultures because they’re so lovely. Here are some fun facts I have learned about magpies from Speaking in Tongues by Ella Frances Sanders (a wonderful coincidence!):

“The magpie is widely considered either an ill omen or a good one depending on where you are in the world: in China, the bird is a lucky sign; in Mongolia, it is believed they have control over the weather; in Scottish folklore, they foretell death; and in German folklore, they are thieves.

Something else that elevates magpies into the ranks of the intriguing: they are one of only a few types of bird that hold funerals – when a magpie dies, others will squawk loudly until there is a whole conventicle of magpies gathered at the scene, at which point they will all fall silent for a few seconds.”