Monday, June 11, 2012

On the road again

The Grand Tetons

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

On Saturday, May 12, Matt and I headed out for Park City to pick up is truck on the way to Yellowstone. Of course the only night we went out in LA was the Friday before. But you only live once and we made it in one piece, c'est la vie. 

We left Sunday for Wyoming/Montana around 1pm, making it to Jackson by evening. We camped that night in Antelope Flats, just outside of the Grand Teton National Park. I experienced my first bison jam, which was exciting and slightly terrifying (they're SO weird). Monday we drove through all of Yellowstone to make it to Mammoth, at the northern entrance of the park. I got my first glimpse of Yellowstone Lake, where I'll be spending my summer at Grant Village. All of it seemed a little surreal, had I really agreed to spend the next 5 months in the wilderness? Yellowstone seemed beautiful and strange, I really couldn't wait to explore.

And now that I'm semi-up to date I'll elaborate more on my time here so far in the next week. Until then!

La La Land

Artsy backstage shot from Mane Stage at Stagecoach 2012.

In between Park City and Yellowstone I spent about 3 weeks at home in LA. It was good to be back for a bit, I got to eat all of my favorite foods, have my mom dote on me, and play tourist with Matt. For the first week I was home the weather was not so typically sunny Los Angeles. But our luck turned around and I got some decent vitamin D while home. With Matt in town I had an excuse to leave the house and explore the city some. I am proud to say I have actually walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame now. We did so much I'm afraid he has no excuse to visit the city again as he's seen it all; hopefully I'm enough of a reason. 

Camp shots

View from our campsite at dusk

One of Caitlin's perfect fires

Calling all angels

The summit of Angels' Landing

View of Zion Canyon from the summit

If you know me, you know hiking is not my thing, especially climbing peaks. However, I was in Zion National Park, I was not not going to climb Angels' Landing. The 5 mile round-trip hike was the most strenuous thing I've done in recent memory. The last mile or so takes you across a sheer cliff with chain guides, with 1000 ft plus drop offs on either side. The view from the top was well worth the effort.