Jim Travels The World

Day 3 When I first see the grand canyon, I don't have that life-changing experience that some people describe. Maybe because this is as close to nature as your average fat American gets. I do get that feeling (that I often have in national parks) of being small and insignificant compared to the power of nature. The canyon is enormous. First up I take a hike on the bright angel trail, but only a few miles in and then back out, because I don't have that much water and the view stays the same pretty much the whole time. I need a backcountry permit to go down to the river, and I don't have one of those. I've tried to get one for two years now but it's very competitive. After that, frustration sets in when I realize how crowded the park is and how complicated it is to get around. I first try to drive around, but there's no parking anywhere and the roads make no sense. They're mostly one way and some are for shuttle only. I waste a few hours trying to get my beari...

Day 1 Long drive from Broomfield to Holbrook AZ. I'm getting too old for this shit.  Asked for restaurant recommendation from the hotel desk, she recommended the "eye- talian" place. When i went there, the person next to me ordered antipasto, and when the waitress brought it, she pronounced it "ant-eye-past-uh". Day 2 I used to meticulously plan my national parking trips, including exactly which hikes i'd go on in each park. Over the last couple years I've switched to instead going to ask at the visitor center what they recommend. Today that backfired on me, a little bit. Up and at petrified forest national park at 8 am, and did a tour through the park.  Turns out there's not much to do there. No hiking, really, just a few paved nature walks through spaces with petrified wood. The most interesting was learning how the stuff got there.  Huge downed trees got infused with volcanic silt after a flood 200m years ago. I did get to have the park mostly to...

So, I went to Vancouver for a training. One thing I was unprepared for was how ruthless the Customs officials were. Questions like "You are a trainer but you're here for a training? That doesn't make sense." C'mon, we're neighbors. I've been through customs in Singapore, Thailand, and those places were pushovers compared to Canadians. Had some nice weather the first day, which was the only day I was able to get out and about and take some pictures. I have no idea where this is, but the bridge and the mountains look cool. There was a ski resort off to the left, dunno which one. You can see I did my research before going. I didn't buy any Holy Crap. I don't know if I'm emotionally prepared to eat the world's most amazing breakfast cereal. Nor did I hit the treadmill at Steve Nash World Fitness . I'm just glad it's there. I wish more good things for Steve Nash. Two-time NBA MVP and no rings? Poor guy.