It was a beautiful Friday afternoon. The May weather was perfect, with a slight refreshing breeze. Excitement was in the air as we all prepared for the 23 hour drive to Colorado. This was going to be the trip of a life time for our family. This much awaited trip had everyone on the edge of their seats.…
Here I am today singing songs about the south-land;because I miss 'ole' 'bamy once again. Years ago I left my home state of Alabama,where the skies are so blue and I moved to the not so great state of Montana. Many people questioned me on why I moved to Montana, and my response back is because in that moment I felt like I needed a change, but in the end I think I made the wrong choice to move away from Alabama. But soon I will be back to sweet home Alabama,oh,Lord, I'm coming home to you. Back in early March of 1974,I was working at a local convenience store.…
When we got to the city we had to drive around the Tidal basin before we got to the house. But that's where we saw the most beautiful trees in the world! We came in the springtime so all the trees were in mid-bloom. When we got to my grandparents house we unpacked and got settled in while my mom and grandma made dinner and let me tell you,it was the best meal I ever ate. When we woke up the next morning we had breakfast and voted on which monument we wanted to see first and we decided on the FDR memorial.…
I was driving down Montana 28. Legally Blonde was blaring through my speakers as I looked at the beautiful scenery. I was only 2 hours from Glacier National Park, which sounded like nothing after my grueling 10 hours leading up to that point. Suddenly my car slowed to a stop. I couldn’t go above 3 mph.…
We left Courthouse Rock one day later and we traveled fourteen miles to Chimney Rock. We didn't stop there. We just drove right by. This formation was named Chimney Rock because it looks like a chimney stack for a factory or a chimney from a burned down house. When we left to go to Fort Laramie a bolder fell on one of the wheels of our wagon.…
The Great Smoky Mountains I had never smelt the mountains before. When I was planning my trip everyone who had been there before said, “Oh, that smell! You’ll never forget it!”. I always knew it would be an unforgettable trip I just never thought I would crave the mountains afterwards. I can still feel the cool, crisp air that I inhaled when I walked to the porch to watch the sunrise.…
Oklahoma trip This last week was Labor Day weekend my family took a trip to Oklahoma. We were going to Shattuck Oklahoma which is 4 and a half hour a way to see my aunt and uncle and cousins. On the way there it was so boring and long that I just texted some friends and slept. Then my mom told us to wake up because we were almost there.…
As we continued our drive, the day felt like any other of our typical adventures. We went to go camping at Skinny Dip Falls about 30 miles into the Parkway. Macklemore was playing from the stereo, and my head was pressed against the window, taking in everything the scenery had to offer. I was infatuated with how the layers of mountains seem to fade away perfectly the further they were. There was a fog that clung low to the valleys giving off a “smoky” appearance, which is the reasoning behind its nickname “The Great Smoky Mountains”.…
Your peripheral vision is gone—there’s complete focus, then a silence so muted that all you know is the feeling of your heart beating. Then, as you stand there motionless, you feel the adrenaline. I mean really feel it—a syrup coursing through your veins, yet not a syrup as it moves faster than blood. You know when it hits your heart because it starts beating faster, faster, faster, and then the feeling is gone. Then everything is gone—emotions, breath, sensation……
It has been almost two weeks since we have seen Courthouse rock. A day spatter we passed Courthouse, we saw Chimney rock. This was a very unusual rocket hat we saw, but it was bad. We thought it looked funny. It looked like a huge trunk of a tree but without the limbs.…
Ever since my first backpacking trip 6 years ago, I’ve had an affinity for the Appalachian Trail. I’m constantly looking for excuses to mash our lives into the giant, 50 liter bags, and hit the trail for a few days. This past year, in early fall, I convinced my parents to don their sturdy boots and disappear into the wilds of bear state park with me for three days. We were dropped off at the top of Bear Mountain and, while my parents argued over directions, I wandered around the windswept ridge.…
In January of last year I went on a trip to Colorado on a "college visit" with a friend and my father to University of Colorado Boulder. We left Wednesday night, skipping school both Thursday and Friday. We did go to the college and took a tour of the campus on Thursday which I greatly enjoyed, it is beautiful out there and at elevation there is very little humidity. The true intention of the trip, as important as the college visit was, was to go to Breckenridge Resort and spend the weekend snowboarding. A couple of my dad's friends were also going and we were going to share their timeshare.…
In a valley surrounded by mountains lies a small town known as Idaho Falls, where I lived in the same house for the majority of my life. The area is dominantly LDS contributing to the extremely conservative views accepted by the majority of the population. Growing up in a sheltered community I really had no first-hand experience of the realities of the rest of the world major crimes were rarely heard of, I don’t recall ever having witnessed any sort of racism or segregation. By the time I was sixteen I was well traveled, my family went on yearly trips to different countries, thus I considered myself cultured in the ways of the world. I was naïve in believing that the rest of the country would have the same fundamental beliefs that I had grown…
Clomp! Clomp! Clomp! Our boots pound the rocky Colorado trail in the middle of a cold, starry night above the massive tree line with a spectacular view of the lights of Leadville, as we hiked our first 14,000 foot mountain of the summer. Clomp!…
A Slippery Situation Every year, during the New Year holiday, my family goes on a ski vacation. The location varies, but this year we decided to travel to Vail, Colorado. There we met up with some friends of my parents. I have skied since I was very young. Every since I was little, my parents put my sister and me into ski school.…