Woosh!
The Bell Jar
"...I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."
-Sylvia Plath
The Grand High Roadtrip, and how I became a Nature Nerd.
I have returned to Chicago, the windy city, after spending the last two weeks exploring the west and driving across the US. I saw so much - oceans, deserts, mountains, canyons, prairies, lakes - something different everyday, and cool animals and birds everywhere along the way. The original purpose of the roadtrip was to help my friend Anastasia drive her car from LA to Chicago while we camped at various National Parks along the way...I had no idea that the scenery between our stops would be breathtaking too. America is beautiful!
I explored the oddity that is Los Angeles with Anastasia and Adam
on Friday night, hours before we were scheduled to embark on the trip. West Hollywood was full of strange people in various costumes, pressuring you to take pictures with them (for money), by their CDs (for money), dance with them (for money), or whatever else (for money). I feel like the entire city is there to be famous; everyone has some sort of talent they want you to observe and subsidize. Needless to say, my hopes of becoming a star in hours were quickly dashed, but I didn't dwell on it for too long - it was good seeing Adam again, and there were bigger, better things to be concerned about....like getting this cargo: 
across the country.
Our first stop, my favorite, was the southern rim of Grand Canyon National Park. I first saw the Grand Canyon in 6th grade, and it make hardly any impression on me...
which is strange, because when I saw it this time, it blew my mind. It's massive. The canyon was carved out by the Colorado River and is a little more than a mile deep. The walls of the canyon are, in some places, over 2 billion years old, and you can see the striations representing different time periods everywhere you look. The canyon is 277 miles long and stretches across as well - at times, the other side is 10 miles away. It's a pretty grand canyon. 
Anastasia and I arrived there on our first night (Saturday) and camped there until Monday morning. On Sunday morning, after a strenuous night of trembling in our tent (we were sure there were animals outside howling and shuffling around, plotting to devour us...why didn't anyone tell us about tent noises??) we packed our lunches and hiked about 3 miles into the canyon. The moment you realize you're tired, you have to stop and turn around because the hardest part is the second half - turning around and hiking up the steep canyon in the sweltering heat. BTW, if anyone ever tells you you can't hike in a miniskirt, don't believe them! If anything, the added breeze goes a long way when you're huffing and puffing up the mountain...
After about an hour, we stepped slightly off the path and sat on a cliff, eating lunch and enjoying the view:
before turning around and hiking back up. It was really difficult - but there were definitely people breezing by me and senior citizens not too far behind. I plan to return some day and hike down the entire canyon, though probably not until I'm in superwoman shape...
That evening, we made a brief trek out to Flagstaff, Arizona to see if it would live up to its hype - and no, it didn't disappoint... Flagstaff is a "quirky college town" (thank you, Lonely Planet) 
an hour south of the Grand Canyon mainly comprised of the Northern Arizona University community. The campus is really cool - surrounded by massive, lush, green and blue mountains, and home to occasional sunny drizzles...which lead the way for numerous rainbows. The athletic center at the University is one of few high-altitude state of the art athletic centers in the country, so a lot of Olympic athletes come to 
Flagstaff to chill and train before competing. Also, the inside of one of the standard classroom buildings is comprised of rock-climbing walls - so you can climb the wall if you want to get up to the second floor to class....and people actually do. I was really surprised by the quirkiness of this town, and more suprised by how friendly the people were. After enjoying the company of the locals and eating a quick dinner, Anastasia and I headed back to our camp in the Grand Canyon and called it a (great) night.
The next morning, we hiked along the rim trail of the Grand Canyon, aka the senior citizens trail. The National Park service does a pretty good job of making sure there
are trails that are accessible to all types of people, which means there's always a paved, easy trail somewhere in the park that will pass along great views. Unfortunately, these trails are usually packed with people taking pictures (I guess I was one of them), feeding squirrels, milling around, etc. There were also an insane number of Asian tourists at each one - I thought I was dressed impractically, and then I saw these hoards of Asian women wearing designer skinny jeans and stilettos...they'd huddle together and flash the peace sign for a photo, and then scurry away from the edge of the cliff and coalesce around the picture on the camera...it was textbook Asian tourist everywhere. We spent about 2 hours walking around the canyon and then packed up and got back on the road, destination: Utah.
a blend of mountains, canyons, waterfalls, and rivers. We got into Zion National Park on Monday night and set up our tent in an area surrounded by red mountains outside of the park - unbeknownst to us, the park is a huge spot for older people looking for a lush getaway, and every camp was full. The next morning we hiked along an emerald pool trail, passing bright green pools, red canyons, and trickling waterfalls everywhere. Exploring Zion is a very different 
experience from the Grand Canyon - because the demand for the park is so high and the area it encompasses is so small, the majority of the park is only accessible through the Zion shuttle, a guided bus tour that carts people around the park and drops them off at various locations. The trails aren't packed, but there are always people around - all in all, it's much less "raw" than the Grand Canyon but still incredibly picturesque. This is the overhang in between the middle and lower emerald pools, where water flows down. You can walk behind the waterfall! 
I wouldn't recommend Zion for anyone looking for a "real adventure", but it's beautiful and a great place to check out if you're in the area....although I don't know too many of you who are regularly in Southern Utah. Anyway, our original plan was to pick up Lokchi in Cedar City that night, so we quickly left Zion and headed up to Cedar City, stopping on a whim at Cedar Breaks National Monument along the way. Cedar Breaks is such a pleasant surprise - it's a canyon just outside of Cedar City (a small town), much smaller than the Grand Canyon but naturally painted with vibrant reds, oranges, greens, and yellows.
The rainbow of colors is the result of erosion and various mineral sedimentation, extending for 3 miles across, about 2000 miles down. The place was really cool, albeit freezing. The entrance to the park was located at a pretty high level of elevation - high and steep enough such that when it snows (which it was about to), it's impossible to clear the roads and access the park. Anastasia and I, having just left the warmth of Zion's canyons, were dressed in tank tops and skirts and were freeeeeezing - much to the amusement of the other well dressed people in the park. It didn't really matter, though, because we were under the impression that we had to get back to Cedar City immediately to pick up Lokchi...but her airline (US Airways) cancelled her flight twice in a row, and she eventually ended up taking a bus to a small town about an hour away...the next afternoon. It was a pretty significant delay, so we skipped Salt Lake City and booked it through Utah and Idaho, driving past lots of pretty scenery along the way:
until our final destination the next afternoon: Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. 
We sped through the Grand Tetons - they were on our way into Yellowstone and provided nice mountain candy, although there wasn't any time to actually explore the treasures of the park. Yellowstone was not what I had expected it would be...at all. The park is by far the most well known of all National Parks, and therefore packed with tourists everywhere. Unlike the other parks, where you do a lot of independent hiking through trails to reach cool areas, Yellowstone was built such that every cool place is a stop along a large drive - we didn't engage in any serious hiking, and the meandering that 
we did do through the park was limited to paved walkways. In this way, the park was slightly disappointing...I felt like I was going to a museum, as opposed to trekking through a National Park, sweating and essentially "earning" the incredible sites that I took in. I think this has a lot to do with the history of Yellowstone - it was the country's first National Park and was poorly planned. Nathaniel Langford, who campaigned for it to become a protected area, won the battle of preservation but was also appointed the caregiver of the park - sans salary.
Given the size of the park and the lack of funding, Lanford was unable to properly take care of it. After many parts of Yellowstone had been poached and pillaged, Langford stepped down, the government decided the position necessitated some sort of funding, and the position was given to Philetus Norris, who used meager funds to build crude roads and facilities. As he was working with limited amounts of money, he built roads where it seemed logical - very close to the sites, running on a circuit.
Regardless of these drawbacks, Yellowstone is still a cool little treasure chest. The park is home to a huge geothermal area, which translates into acidic hot springs, steaming geysers, and mud pots (holes full of colorful, bubbling, sulfuric mud). The park reeks of sulfur (think, rotting eggs) and the water is always bubbling. When the water reaches wildlife, it dies a slow, painful, acidically burned death....and it's actually beautiful - everything turns a bright white color and burns down to its skeleton. Forests go from looking like this (just after a fire, new trees have begun to emerge...they were such an incredible, vibrant green):
To this - the acid water has just begun to touch the trees, the leaves have fallen:
To this, most of the grass has disappeared:
To this: no leaves, no grass, white remnants of trees everywhere and pools of acid surrounding them. Yellowstone makes you want to burn your shoes when you leave.
And yet, for as much sulfuric water and death as there is everywhere - seriously everywhere, especially since the gigantic fire that burned down over half of the park - Yellowstone is still home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the country and cool animals you only saw while playing Oregon Trail.
I still cannot get over the fact that there's a place in this country 
where bison, grizzlies, and elk roam freely in the open - really freely, like they rub their bodies against the body of your car. The park states explicitly that you should never approach any of the animals - bison get agitated and can charge at you at 30 mph - but the fact is that these animals are everywhere, and sometimes even approach your vehicle. Anastasia, Lokchi, and I were fascinated/petrified of the bison as they stood near us; 
I couldn't believe the people who were getting out of their cars and sitting in the grass, observing the giant animals. After watching the bison and elk for a good amount of time (I could have watched them for an hour) we escaped ungored, and drove along Wyoming into South Dakota, home of Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, and Badlands National Park.By now, it was Friday - our second to last day, so we had to speed through the first two monuments. First there was Mount Rushmore...the perfect representation of all that is America. The mountain upon which the monument is carved was sacred property of the Lakota Indians and was seized from them in 1877 
- after it was granted to them for eternity through the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868. Original plans were to carve "heroes of the West" such as Lewis and Clark, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, etc into surrounding smaller mountains (also property of the Lakota Indians)...and then, in 1927, the US government blew up the mountain (known to the tribe as Six Grandfathers) and decided instead to carve out the gigantic faces of four American presidents to represent the first 150 years of American history - also the presidents who were most influential during the time of Native American land acquisition. The chief of the project was also Gutzon Borglum, an active member of the KKK. Not to suggest that these actions could be justifiable in any way, but on top of all the wrong that came out of creating this monument, the end is pretty disappointing. 
Not only did the builders never clear away the rock that fell from carving out the mountain (it covers the forest...the trees are up to their tips in debris, you can see it in the picture), but it's pretty cheesy and the national park pass doesn't cover parking. Crazy Horse was a monument erected nearby by a Native American leader in response to Mount Rushmore - it's supposed to be bigger and better, but it's not done yet, and the reality is that nothing can really change what was done to the original mountain. Plus, the Crazy Horse monument isn't part of the national park system, and therefore relies on its own funding and has been a work in progress forever. In short, don't go visit Mount Rushmore...it's might seem cool to see, but it's wrong to support something that was so illegitimately made - especially since there's no acknowledgement of any of the real history.
Out of the prairie emerged this strange land full of large colorful spires and buttes, with little prairie dogs running around everywhere. We didn't have much time there, so we took the first strenuous hike we could find ("...watch for sudden drop offs, not recommended for anyone with a fear of heights. Trail becomes treacherous in the rain..."). We got far up into the mountains before we realized that we had followed the wrong path and were headed for disaster - it was scorchingly hot and the path we had climbed up was really steep and comprised of gravel and loose stones overlooking a huge dropoff. After temporary panic, we were forced to turn around and head back down structures...we looked everywhere for the real path and couldn't determine where it was; everything was so equally rocky and treacherous looking. Having been spoiled by Zion and Yellowstone, we were definitely unprepared for the Badlands...seeing them is definitely worth a drive through, though I don't know if I'd ever hike into them again. Maybe with another nalgene full of water, while wearing shorts...
And then, as quickly as it began, it was over. We spent the next day driving through the farmlands of Minnesota, into Wisconsin, and down Illinois into Chicago. The drive was fairly uneventful, which paved the way for large amounts of time to study, reflect, and nap. I'm so glad I took this trip, and can only encourage people to go see and really experience the National Park system for themselves. Each park offers a different, always incredible experience (trust me, there were a lot of European tourists, and we all know they wouldn't come here unless they had good reason), and there are trails and programs made for all kinds of people on a daily basis. In preparation of the park system's 100th anniversary in 2016, the Bush Administration recently announced a $230 million increase in funding for the NPS in 2008 - yes, I too fell out of my chair when I read about this. I'm not sure what this means for the parks, but I hope it's the beginning of a trend...of all the things America is known for, the NPS falls pretty low on the list. I'm continually surprised by the number of Americans who have no concept of what the National Parks are like. As for myself, having visited 8 members of the National Park system in two weeks, you'd think I was natured out, but I've just begun to scratch my itch. National Parks are like exotic countries...once you start seeing a few, you'll want to see them all. I'm already planning my next trip...
Adam and Somy, reporting live from Anastasia's room.
(Adam's commentary in italics)
I'm in Los Angeles visiting Adam etc. before embarking with Anastasia on my Grand RoadTrip Across America.
They don't light up the Hollywood sign.
Apparently. We went straight to Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood so I could become a star and see the Hollywood sign, but apparently it isn't lit up at night. I could have sworn I've seen pictures of it in the darkness, but maybe that's just in (surprise) the movies. Adam just snickered.
More of a snort.
Rodeo Drive was bland. Anastasia characterized it best - lots of little women clutching their Tiffany's bags with ogre husbands at their sides. LA is so glittery and shiny and so unreal - the CVS looked like a hotel. Everyone here has something they want to show you.
So Somy, what do you think about your upcoming roadtrip?
I realized today that it may rain while we're camping. I also realized that things get dirty and it was impractical to bring dresses and my yellow Dooney and Bourke leather handbag. I'll be the most fashionable gal the bears have ever seen.
They'll be the most fashionable bears after they kill you and take all your stuff. Of course, they should teach bears not to get between Somy and her purses.
Nobody has faith in me! There's no rule saying you can't go camping and avoid looking like a scrub.
You'd be really bad on the Oregon Trail, Som.
*cue Full House music*
I grew up seeing this scene from San Francisco - the opening scene from the credits for Full House - and recognized it today the moment I saw it. The one thing that I truly appreciate about this city is its attention to detail and architecture. Every one of those row houses is different and charming in its own way. This is perhaps the most recognizable of them all, but there were so many cute homes in San Francisco that were distinctly beautiful in their own way.
Yesterday was probably the most touristy day I've had in a long time. David and I embarked at 10am and spent the entire day in San Francisco, hitting up tourist spots and exploring the neighborhoods. My favorites of the day were:
$.50 to tell you your fortune. David and I couldn't figure it out at first, so we started talking to the machine and probably looked like total fools for about 5 minutes until she suddenly spit out a card with my fortune: 
2) Riding the trolley around! We hung off the edges of the car in the cold, drizzly rain and entertained everyone around. I was sure we'd (I'd) fall off, but it wasn't that difficult to hold on - the trolleys run fairly slowly and the conducters of conscious of the people who are holding on precariously.
Today: Point Reyes National Seashore, Muir Woods National Park, and Redwood trees! I'm so excited - the West is incredible.Californication!
He said, "you should have a different pair of shoes for every place you visit." 
And so it begins. I arrived in Berkeley yesterday with Lulu in tow, donned my new shoes ("satisfy your sense of adventure without ignoring your sense of style"), and more or less passed out the moment I sat down. I was pretty tired - the whole night before was devoted to packing up the apartment, and I didn't get to sleep on the plane due to my yowling companion. It's all good though - this vacation is all about relaxation and adventure. I'm chilling with Sapna and David in Berkeley/San Francisco for a few days, stopping over in Los Angeles for a night, and ending with a roadtrip to Chicago through Zion Ntl. Park, Grand Canyon Ntl. Park, Yellowstone Ntl. Park, and Badlands Ntl. Park - it's the second beginning of my world travels. In 2006, I lived in Paris for 3 months and spent my weekends exploring other countries, and I've been yearning for a similar experience since I returned to the States. I was recently granted authorization to work in Britain for 6 months, so I'm taking time to explore the US and stack up some moolah before I head over to Europe in December.
First stop: Sapna's place in Berkeley, where there's a fridge full of organic food and beer (seriously, the pic on the right is just a sampling of what she offered me last night), streets lined with thriftstores and quirky shops, and lots of tree huggers. 
I spent today wandering around the Berkeley campus (it has its own eucalyptus grove!), and exploring the shops on Telegraph St., which offers lots of good food and vintage clothing stores. Though it's cold, I like it here. The people are very relaxed and friendly, and the scene on every block offers something intriguing. I probably wouldn't live in Berkeley - it's too cold and a little more hippie-ish than I prefer - but there's a definite charm about the Bay Area and that I really appreciate. Tonight, we're picnicing in the mountains and hitting up a pub, and tomorrow I'm going to San Francisco. I can't believe I've been away from the hustle of Chicago for so long already. It's almost Wednesday - I feel like one of those celebrities who goes to rehab for a month and ends up having a blast, eating fresh organic food and exercising in the mountains the whole time.
Gypsy Kitty
Lulu is leaving me! I had cats while growing up and always liked them, but Lulu is a really awesome cat, and I'm so sad to give her away...
Lulu is a neurotic, mischievious, intelligent, sweet, plotting bitch. I love her. She was born in Alaska and brought to 
Chicago by the new RA's of my dorm during my freshman year of college. After luring her to my room with cat treats one day, she used to come meow at my door regularly. My RAs didn't want her anymore and bequeathed her to me. After a stint at Sapna's apartment in Washington, DC for a year, she moved back to my apartment in Chicago, where she spent time watching herself on my computer, 
galloping back and forth down the hallway, falling out the window, and biting the toes of visitors. On Monday, I'll be flying her to Berkeley, where she'll live with Sapna while I'm in London. This cat has travelled more than most American citizens and has a personality for every city she's lived in. The only thing worse than giving her away is having to stuff her into a tiny carrier and cart her over to CA in it first. Don't worry Lulu, this isn't goodbye forever!
iLoves it.
Yesterday, Apple cut the price of the iPhone to $499, two months after originally releasing it at $699. Today, after hundreds of complaints from iPhone owners, purchasers of the original device were given a $100 credit towards Apple products. I was really annoyed when I first heard this - there are lots of us who didn't buy the iPhone the moment it came out because we were aware that it would eventually drop in price, enabling us to buy a cheaper, new model. Whoever bought the product originally didn't buy it impulsively - a $700 phone is pretty serious business. If you bought it, you wanted it - at that price. I can understand griping about the issue, but shooting off hundreds of emails so severe, the company issues a 50% of the sale cut? I really don't understand how anyone can feel like they were tricked out of those $200...
And yet, Apple has again come out on top - and this is why I love this company. There's a reason why you didn't have to pry those $100 out of their corporate hands. Those of you who paid $699 for that phone are those seeeeeerious Apple fans...the ones who watched every promotional release for the phone, decided not to go on that vacation to Paris, and planned out the trip to the Apple store 4 days before the actual purchase. And then you marvelled about how your iPhone matched your iMac, as you strutted around listening to your iTunes on your iPod (or maybe not, since the iPhone replaced it...).
You're also the same ones who just smiled to yourselves and thought (differently), "i always knew i loved Apple for a reason", before hopping onto www.apple.com and scoping out the possibilities. How many of those people (who, keep in mind, spent $700 on the phone two months ago) are likely to save the voucher for when they "really need it"? How many more of them have just realized that the new iPod ($299) matches the iPhone perfectly? iCarumba! Will the iUniverse ever stop growing?
Oh Apple, I love your flirtiness...how you always give us a little peak of what's to come, and how it always looks good. I love that your products always deliver. But most of all, I love that when your prime clientele turns pouty, you, the ever perfect lover, can always give them enough to be content and wanting more...while always ending up on top.
Amayzing.
Somy:
i have faith in you
and don't forget
you're never completely screwed
you can always get work at a restaurant
if you get down to being scant
Adam:
uh, yeah
i guess i could do that
scant
Somy:
scanty town
better than shanty town
but nowhere near as good as panty town
Adam:
i loooooove panty town
Somy:
i heard they gave you a town key
Adam:
im thinking of running for mayor im so popular
me:
lol
Chicago, the tropical rainforest
It's been storming pretty heavily here for a few days now. I saw The Day After Tomorrow last night and started to wonder if there is real potential for a major climate shift to ever spontaneously occur in the world - on days like today, when the 5th violent thunderstorm in a week erupts out of nowhere, I start to believe it. The world is definitely undergoing a significant climate change, but I fear that it's too gradual for people to notice before it'll be too late...
But anyway, I started to think - with all of the rain that has been coming down lately (literally sheets and sheets of it daily), if the weather continued like this, could Chicago ever become a tropical rainforest? Imagine - slowly, the roads begin to wash away and the cities start thinning out - people are either abandoning ship or, unable to obtain necessary resources, dying. Obviously downtown is pretty inorganic and incapable of sustaining tropical life, but think about the nearby suburbs - lush grasses and trees begin growing, animals begin to thrive on the constant fresh water and lush greens...soon hippos and gazelles are strolling around the water hole in Lincoln Park and Planet Earth is filming in Schaumberg. Not really....but seriously, think: if the climate continues on this path of change, what will the world evolve into?
I see myself becoming more and more like my parents every day
And it's really strange. Although, I guess they did a pretty good job raising me so I can't truly complain about it.
Cityscapes
I biked down Chicago's Lake Shore Drive bikepath yesterday to take in the gloriousness that is Chicago's skyline against Lake Michigan. I got a sweet new digital camera last week that takes incredible panoramic photographs...and behold:
Wow. It was totally worth the 2 hour killer-heat (high 90s) ride. I really love this city, and as I'm planning to move in the Fall, I want to enjoy my last summer here as much as possible. Chicago is full of little treasures, you just have to be willing to drag your ass out of Hyde Park to explore all the corners.
