Lund Rover

September 17, 2018 The following morning was similar to the day before but with a smaller traffic jam at the park entrance, and an even better parking spot by the Visitor's Center before hopping on the park shuttle to make our way to stop 9, the Temple of Sinawava (aka the Narrows). The Narrows is a "hike" (if you can call it that) through a narrow canyon partly filled with water. The water level varies from about 1-2 feet around this time of year and is fairly chilly, especially in the shade of the canyon. Once you get moving the cool water starts to feel pretty good though. The canyon views weren't too shabby either. All 3 of us were a bit lacking in the footwear department though. Most people we saw hiking had rented nice boots and a walking stick. We were all in sandals; poor Shanny was basically in flip flops! Needless to say it lead to a lot of stubbed toes and close calls haha. For the majority of the hike the place was pretty packed... Whi...

September 15, 2018 Two of my sisters and I decided to get together one weekend and check out Zion National Park. On Friday September 15th Jessica drove to Orem, UT from her home in Twin Falls, ID, picked me up and we continued on south to Cedar City, UT where our sister, Shannon, was living at the time. We arrived at her apartment later in the evening, and crashed there for the night. September 16, 2018 We were up a ready go by around 8:30 or so and took off once more for Zion National Park, about an hour away. We hit a small traffic jam at the entrance to the park, but it was only about a 30 minute slow down, not so bad. We did luck out in snagging one of the last few parking spots close to the Visitor's Center and the first shuttle stop. After a quick pitstop at the restrooms and the Visitor's Center (where we learned Angels landing was closed do to mudslides... booo) we hopped on the next available shuttle and made our way to the Observation Point drop off, stop 7 I...

Let me prequal this little story with a short explanation. I wrote this whole post basically word-for-word off of a recording I made of the events. I tried to keep everything as close to the original recording as possible, so please don’t judge the crappy grammar haha. OK guys here’s the deal. The plan was to hike Timp with a friend the weekend before I went to New York, but I had a bunch of stuff that I need to finish up before flying out, so I canceled. Then we rescheduled for this weekend, but she canceled. So I was like, “ screw it, I’m just gunna go alone.” I mean I’ve hiked 70 miles of the Appalachian trail; people do this trail I’ll the time. I’ll be fine. So that’s what I did. I left Saturday at like one, started hiking around 1:30. Dude. I don’t know what happened, but I seriously died on the way up. Like, totally bonked.  No energy. I was stopping so frequently! Oh gosh it was embarrassing. Anyways, the plan was to make it up to the meadow that’s above the tree li...

Tuesday May 29, 2018 We stayed at the Carter's Beach Holiday Park as long as we could (checkout was at 10 am) before heading out on the 4.5 hour drive across the country to Christchurch. The drive took up the majority of the day; the only time we stopped was to fuel up and for lunch, which was eaten in our van, pulled over on the side of the road haha. We had booked a nice studio flat in the Southwark Apartments with a great communal kitchen/dining/living space (which we always seemed to have to ourselves). By the time we had arrived, checked-in, sorted out parking, and gotten all our stuff settled it was nearing dinner time. We decided to eat out on our final night and so began looking for places to go within walking distance. Strangely enough there were only a few options open, so we decided to try some Indian food at a place called Corianders. It was a quick 5 minute walk to the restaurant that felt quite odd because of how dead the city was. For being one of the largest ...

Sunday May 27, 2018 We woke up, ate, packed up, and continued our drive west through the mountain passes and out the other side on the west coast of the country. The Pancake Rocks and Blow Holes in Paparoa National Park were our destination for the day. The scenic Coast Road (think Pacific Coast Highway) that led us north along the coast to Paparoa was quite pretty and a fun drive. Even John and I, who were getting pretty tired of driving, couldn't deny the roads beauty. We arrived at Paparoa around lunch time and after eating our sack lunches embarked on the pleasant 15-20 minute walk that lead to the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. As soon as we came up on the rock formations the name "Pancake Rocks" made much more sense. There were a few blowholes that had been created from the weathering of the rocks in the area as well. The pathway was very nicely maintained and had placards spaced periodically giving information on the area. What was most interesti...