Ep. 9: Spring Break!

Notes from the 13th-21st of March

Finally, the much-awaited week off from classes, and for most of the exchange students here - in fact, just about everyone on campus - a time to put some serious distance between us and West Lafayette. In most people's view, the further the better. Florida was naturally a first choice for many seeking a slightly more high-octane, alcohol-and-drug fueled week away, Fort Lauderdale in particular being the most favourable city for this.

As mentioned in previous issues, I was heading over to Las Vegas as the launching point for a 4-day road trip through some of the national parks, accompanied by two Italian friends of mine, Armando and Ludovico¹ (henceforth referred to as AL for the pair, or A and L respectively). I may well cover each location in greater detail in subsequent pieces (basically to sketch out my favourite walks, sights, etc. of each), but for now I want to document the blow-by-blow of the trip as it unfolded grandly before us.

There...

Since I was third-wheeling on the trip, all of the organising had been left in the hands of the others, so I just booked in the flights they were on and left the rest to them, for better or worse. It turns out that happily, the Italians were very frugal travelers and so the overall cost of the trip was not in the least bit nauseating, however the consequences of some of the cost-cutting might have been. Our flight to Vegas was a 2-leg journey starting at near 11:00 PM to Denver. I had never been to Indianapolis properly prior to this so I decided to head in earlier during the day and explore a little bit before making my way over to the aiport for departure. Getting there from Lafayette is a 90-minute, US$20 bus ride which is not the most convenient thing in the world but oh well. With the snow falling, overcast skies, Indianapolis did not make the most appealing of aesthetics, but I begun to sense a sort of gritty character there befitting of the state's blue-collar ethos. Particularly pleasing were the occasional memorials made out to the the NBA-great Reggie Miller who played his entire career for the Pacers back in the 90s and early 00s.

There was one store in particular I had wanted to visit, a camera shop in the Northern part of the city. With the upcoming trip, and with subsequent travel to Europe looming, I figured it was a worthy investment to get myself a wider-angle lens for shooting landscapes and found such a lens at this store. I ended up settling on a Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 lens. What also captivated my attention for a few hours was the second-hand camera shop that abutted directly behind it. From old film cameras to red-room accessories, it was as if travelling back in time to an era that, perhaps once thought to have been forgotten, has in recent years seen growing resurgence as the aesthetic of the antique and vintage becomes ever popular. With only a couple of hours at hand before the sun set and proximity to the airport became preferable, I meandered aimlessly for a bit to a few different stores, mostly looking for a cheap SIM plan that I could snap up. One issue I foresaw with the trip was that none of the three of us had a SIM card nor mobile data, so it was either Wi-Fi or nothing. Hence the appeal of a cheap plan from a vendor, but sadly none were to be found on such short notice. More on this situation later.

Whilst I can't say that Indianapolis left a good impression on me, I can't say it left a bad one either - it really felt like it made no contact with me whatsoever. Perhaps that is a harsh assessment, but I think even the people that live here don't see it as an especially thriving locale. Its airport, though, is pretty decent, in fact it totes itself as the No. 1 ranked airport in America. I passed the time idly until the Italians showed up, though made the critical mistake of not snapping up some food before the stores closed for the night². I also had the unprecendented honour (well, initially fright) of having my name called out on the tannoy as we were waiting for boarding. Turns out the red-eye flight from Indianapolis to Denver on a weekday wasn't the most popular route in the world, so owing to the plane's emptiness my seat in the back row was being reallocated to one of my choice. I had three seats to myself, and boy did they come in handy trying to get some shuteye.

The next flight wasn't until 6 AM so we had some time on our hands. For some reason, the checked-bag that the boys had brought with them had to be re-checked in for the second leg, so we exited into the departure area. Of course, check-in isn't open at 2 in the morning, so we waited several hours before we could even get back into the right terminal. I managed to get a few hours of sleep with earplugs and a sleeping mask on, somehow drowning out the noise of nearby construction and the harsh fluorescence of the airport.

Finally, it was time for boarding again, and next we knew it, Las Vegas was rushing past below outside the plane windows...it is perhaps the only time in the world you will hear the flight attendant wish you good luck.

Las Vegas Pt. 1

Las Vegas is a city built with the complete antithesis of Nick in mind. In my travels, wherever I have found myself, there has always been something redeemable to be found there. Yet in the two times I have been to Vegas, once many years ago when I was too young to grasp the full extent of its ways, I come up wanting in this regard. I hate this place, and that is not a word I often find myself using. But, I was very happy for it to play launchpad for our trip out West, and the jewels lingering ahead in the coming days tided me through this patch easily enough.

AL had never been to Vegas before and so were rather eager to explore the strip, and of course I was happy to oblige, hoping at this point that my keener, now older eye could discern something of merit in this place. Walking through Harry Reid Airport, however, does not leave one with much optimism. I had forgotten in all these years about the slot machines that line the terminals; given that most places attend to turning their airport into a cultural distilling of their city's identity, the presence of these multi-armed bandits should cause any sufficiently wary visitor to be cautious if not entirely nauseous of what is to come.

The Uber driver that took us out to the strip³ we were renting was a pleasant change. Finally, I met a "local" (if the Vegas synonymous as Sin City can even be said to have such a thing...) who had lived in the city for many a year and reminded me that for all of the corporate excess, the profligacy and corruption inherent to a city erected on the foundations of gambling, there are people who call this place home - work office jobs, ride the bus to school and ride the same highs and lows of life that I do.

Walking along the strip saw us take in many of the common tourist spots - the Bellagio fountains, the Paris hotel and the Caesar Palace, amongst others. The Bellagio, a rose amongst the thorns, offers some compellingly beautiful views. Whereas the other resorts evoke no feeling whatsoever - outside of contempt for their gaudy size, tasteless mockery and cheap-looking architecture - it manages to capture the eye repeatedly, and the water show at night is most definitely a viewing pleasure. But the price of the rooms there...yikes!

At some point around midday, weary from lack of sleep and with backs cramping under the weight of our bags, we found some lunch spots in Planet Hollywood and sat down with great relief. We had been promised a check-in around 2 PM, but it was getting closer to 4 PM by the time the host messaged to say we could head over. I wish I was joking when I said that the Uber driver who picked us up for that ride was one of the worst drivers I've seen. In plain sight of a nearby police car, she was attempting to turn right over three lanes of traffic and completely missed a blue car hurtling down the far lane that, if it weren't for some sharp braking by both parties, would have T-boned the right side of the car and sent the closest passengers, being myself and L, on a one-way trip to the ER. No lady, you are not getting a tip today.

The next few days were rather interesting. Since I hadn't partaken in any of the organising, it only became clear to me that we would be reaching the parks by Thursday of our week off, and that the interim would be spent in Vegas. Not a problem of course, but it certainly caught me off guard. Idling around with little to do for two full days is never a lively prospect, but in Vegas even more so. A was recovering from a mild cold and was therefore low on energy, and this, combined with my lack of appetite to dine out on Vegas casinos and gambling meant that L didn't get the glamorous experience he had perhaps anticipated. We walked the strip at night and saw some of the evening spectacles, but nothing of any great consequence beyond that - I couldn't even say that I gambled there, given that the casino proffering $1 buy-in Blackjack (Oyo's) happened to have closed earlier than we expected due to lack of foot traffic.

Day One: Zion National Park

The Set-up

Finally the launch date came, and wasn't it well needed. A few days of subsisting for AL on chocolate-chip cookies and milk, and me on subs from the local supermarket had left us rather restless⁴. A had organised a rental car through an app called Turo which gave us a pretty decent deal on a not-to-decrepit Kia hatch⁵. One thing not going through an authorised rental company meant was that it would become rather pricey if either L or I had an accident whilst driving, and so we let A drive the entire trip.

Another detail worth addressing, and which has bewildered people I've mentioned it to since, was that none of the three of us had a SIM card with us. Well, I did, but only in a break-in-case-of-emergency sense, my Australian one that could be activated at $10/day. We never needed it. Not once. We got around an entire road trip in the middle of nowhere essentially solely on Wi-Fi, which is an achievement worth mulling over - how much data does one really need, especially in a metropolitan area? Certainly orders of magnitude less than I, and many others, are currently consuming.

In any case, we made the several hour drive in good time and arrived at Zion at around midday. Having only ever seen one national park before in my life, that being the Grand Canyon but only ever from a helicopter view, the size of the place is what struck me first. Sprawling in every direction as far as the eye could see, beautiful mountain faces and deep valleys bathed in the warming Spring sun ran in lockstep off to the horizon. It really does look like the next location that Apple would shoot from for their new operating system. One could spend a functionally infinite amount of time at a place like this, exploring every nook and cranny with a curious and ever-keener eye, so the handful of hours we had there did not suffice to do more than make the slightest nick in the surface of what was possible to see at Zion. Here, unlike the other parks we would visit, it was possible not only to camp (that was fairly common across parks) but also to climb many of the sheer cliff faces that stuck up proudly throughout the winding trails. Though I had not by this stage partaken in any lead-climbing before, just the thought of summitting those climbs filled me with great excitement, and it is certainly a trip I will plan on making in the (hopefully) not-to-distant future.

Now the Joy of My World is in Zion... (Lauren Hill lyrics)

All this is the music of waters. - John Wesley Powell, 1895

Map in hand and with the afternoon already getting on, we made rough plans to tackle one shorter walk (Middle Emerald Pool Trail, 1.5 hours and 3.5km) to get our legs under us, then a longer one right to the top where one of the famed viewing points of the park is. The first took us through the base of the park with the cliff faces forming a natural corridor to guide us down. Walking past what could only be presumed to have been a rancher of some sort riding bareback past us with a convoy of horses, one felt at times lost in some sort of Wild West panorama. Regrettably, at this very early Spring day, the trees had not awoken from their slumber quite yet and so the bare limbs that reached over our heads didn't add any great beauty to the scene, if only serving to strike a slightly eerie note. Altogether very enjoyable, though, right up until I stepped in what I hadn't realised was much softer soil and fully submerged my foot in the sludge, giving it a nice colour change to an ochre red that it carries to this day. Passerbys did not seem especially pleased with my rather sharp cursing at this predicament.

Like many of the other parks in this region of America, Zion is carved from the water running off of the 11,000 foot high Colorado Plateau. The descent from the plateau is gradual, creating what is known as the Grand Staircase, with Bryce Canyon forming the upper end, Zion the middle, and the Grand Canyon the lower.

The second walk (West Rim Trail, 3 hours and 6.2km at 305m of elevation gain) was to require of us a significantly longer time and effort, with a path that zigged and zagged back on itself up the rock face before an even narrower and steeper path beckoned hikers right to the top of the Scout Lookout where a view out into the narrow, yet long-running Zion Canyon awaited. Very, very worthwhile doing, both from an exertion and payoff calculus. The views were rather incredible, and with the sun well and truly past its zenith, there were some long, graceful shadows that stretched out across the foothills and valleys below. This path we were on linked up to Angel's Landing, a short hike of a few hundred metres that has gained infamy at Zion due to the handful of people that have fallen to their deaths whilst taking it. For this reason, you are required to obtain a permit of approval from the park to walk it. Despite looking manageable by all appearances, we didn't take any chances here, especially with the day getting on and so much more to see. After breathing in the fresh summit air and its spectacles, we made rapid pace back down the way we had come. From here, it was a scramble to try and make good on the remaining hour or so we had left before the final bus left to head back to the park centre, and missing it would cost us a long, long walk in what was becoming an increasing cold twilight. It was quickly elected to take the free shuttle bus out to The Temple of Sinawawa where we hoped to catch the lingering echoes of sunset. I would definitely recommend it^ if you have the time for it. Otherwise, just stick to the West Rim Trail and you will be just fine.

The sun peaking below the horizon signaled at this point the need for departure, and with a quick stop at the Subway on the way through, our trio drove off into the cool Utah evening to our first night on the road...

Bryce and Zion

A nice play to stay between Bryce and Zion in Orderville, UT

Day Two: On The Road

Bryce Canyon

Despite the late night, we made a few short stops, once to pick up a sub sandwich for dinner and the other to stop and admire the clear night sky that played host to more stars than I can remember seeing in some time. AL began on arrival at our little lodging by diving into their supply of chocolate chip cookies and milk that would form the backbone of their diet for the coming days - a feast fit for kings! We called it pretty early though as we wanted to wake up rather early the next day to catch the sun rise at Bryce Canyon, and my word were we not disappointed...

Any lethargy from our short slumbers the next day were quickly left behind as the open door to the outside greeted us with temperatures well into the negatives. Door shut, double up on the thermals, and try again. Heading out at around 5 AM, the sun was yet to rise for another few hours, and it would turn out that we would need every bit of that, with an hour or so drive to reach the park and then a frantic scramble to hike up to the best viewing point. As we neared our destination, the soft white hills that bookended the highways we drove down gave us little encouragement about a warmer morning and foretold of tough trail walking given our footwear was more smart casual than outdoorsy. If you go to Bryce Canyon, the best sun rise viewpoint I can recommend is aptly named Sunrise Point, and I must confess it took us the better part of 60 minutes to make it up there, gingerly edging our way up each incline so as to avoid what would be a rather costly slip - especially for A and I with cameras slung over our shoulders.

But, our conservative departure that morning meant we arrived with time to spare, to soak up and enjoy what is one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen in my life.

The sun, even despite being accompanied by a slight cloud cover, threw itself in spectacular glory across the canyon, a concoction of vivid purples, oranges and pinks almost shimmering over the rocky, bulbous columns (called hoodoos), trees and snowcaps. With only the faintest gust of wind and less than a dozen people with us at that lookout, the silence was deafening. Looking out across the expanses, the interplay of light and shadow, blues and reds, an onlooker would not be surprised to find themselves having something approaching a spiritual experience, so tremendous is the swelling in the chest brought on by Bryce's beauty. Definitely a moment that I will remember for quite some time.

Tangent time! A quick chemistry lesson. When water freezes into ice, it expands slightly. This is a fact you already know well, given that ice floats in water due to its lower density (same weight, greater volume). The expansion is due primarily to the highly repulsive intermolecular (mostly hydrogen bonds) forces holding water molecules apart from one another as they are set into place. This in contrast to most objects which shrink on cooling (or alternatively, expand on heating - try pulling a finger off your ring on a cold day vs. a hot day and tell me otherwise). Interestingly, then, in contrast to other canyons, the one at Bryce was formed not by inexorable flow of water but by the protracted process of water seeping into rock cracks, freezing (thereby expanding), then subsequently rupturing the rock around it that it had seeped into. Repeated over millions of years, this produced the canyon we now know, and is a process that, if one is lucky, can be heard rumbling obtrusively through the still March air.

As the sun continued on its ascent and continued to lift the canyon out of the night's darkness, we continued to explore some of the adjacent look out points, all providing similarly captivating views of the park, and one must especially make mention here of the Bryce Amphitheatre and Thor's Hammer. We had only planned to stay there for the sunrise, and so with this behind us, thoughts turned to making a departure for the next stop. This was only hurried along by the fact that walking around Bryce at this time of year necessitated traction devices, walking poles and in general, all of the proper hiking equipment that we did not have, so our options for further exploration were severely limited despite a hankering to see more of this beautiful place. A return here will be a very high priority of mine the next time I find myself in the States!

Monument Valley

Next on the itinerary was Monument Valley, not a national park per se but an iconic location in the American Midwest and well worth a visit given we were in the area. Well, *in the area *is a generous description, as from Bryce we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us to get there. We made good pace on the route though and got into eyesight of the humongous rock formations that make up the location just as the weather moved onwards from the hottest part of the day.

From Wikipedia:

Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeastern Arizona along the Utah state line. The valley is a sacred area that lies within the territory of the Navajo Nation Reservation, the Native America people of the area. Monument Valley has been featured in many forms of media since the 1930s. Director John Ford used the location for a number of his Westerns; critic Keith Phipps wrote that "its five square miles have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West.

Touring the site involves taking the designated driving route around each of the monuments and takes a couple of hours total depending on how many stops you make along the way. There are a few walking routes too, however we didn't even bother considering these. Undoubtedly the size and beauty of some of the formations can be appreciated in greater detail from afoot, but by this stage of the trip, onsetting fatigue left us more than happy to see this one out from our Kia. Speaking of, it was definitely not designed for this sort of driving - bumpy, off-road paths full of potholes - and A took every precaution to not ding the car passing over any of them which meant at times we proceeded along at snail's pace, ridden closely behind by angsty trucks and utes wanting to pass us by.

Whilst being my least favourite stop of the road trip owing mostly to the comparative lack of variety in the scenescapes it offered, the vast expanses of nothingness punctuated by rock that had been part of Native American worship for a long, long time were impactful. This, combined with the place's more modern history enshrined in Western film, made it a worthy addition to the itinerary. It was also the only place we visited where one could leave feeling as if they had seen the majority of what the location held, rather than the mere 1-5% projected by the other parks.

The other worthwhile thing to do when in the Mexican Hat is to stop at yet another landmark rich in cinematic folklore, that being the Forrest Gump Hill where the titular character finally decides to stop running after crossing the country back and forth and amassing a loyal cult following in his wake.

And then it was off again, driving away into the sunset, three lone cowboys riding on their steel horse.

Wetherill Inn in Kayenta, AZ

A decent inn with good Wi-Fi and free breakfast included!

Day Three: The Grand Canyon

In my life, there have been times when I am reminded at once of insignificance and mortality, both mine and those of humanity generally. Looking out on the deep blue ocean stretching infinitely in every direction. Gazing up at a starry-night sky speckled by more galaxies and celestial bodies than I could count in a lifetime. Add to that list standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and peering across into its yawning abyss.

Seriously. It's hard to describe just how immense the size of this place is, and more to the point that it was "nothing more" than flowing water + time that accomplished it.

We also couldn't have asked for a better day weather-wise to see the canyon. As we began the Rim Trail from near Mather Point at the visitor centre right around to the Verkamps Visitor Center, there was not a cloud in the sky, the sun was out, yet the temperature remained fairly brisk. Taking this path around the rim is definitely a necessity, though I would suggest expediting it a little as the view is not especially varied for large stretches of the route. The spots to keep an eye out for are Grandeur Point and Mojave Point, the latter of which gives very good eyelines into The Abyss as it is called, and the nice thing with the Grand Canyon is that there is a frequent shuttle that traverses the canyon edge of which heavy use is recommended to be made.

The best thing that we did that day were the hikes below the rim and into the canyon itself. Now, in the middle of March there was still an appreciable residue of snow, ice and slush covering the upper parts of many of the routes including the two we took: Bright Angel Trail and the South Kaibab Trail. The information center had encouraged, if not strongly recommended the use of traction devices and walking poles, however we were of course in possession of no such things. A and I decided to give it a crack regardless, and with some frequent shuffling, holding of the wall, and near wipeouts, we managed to make good progress down the routes, perhaps a kilometre or two in both instances. The views here are completely different from on top of the rim, and really allow you to feel immersed within the deep valleys themselves. It is possible to hike from here all the way down to the Colorado River, however this takes essentially the whole day and requires careful planning and preparation. Each trail here is at least a dozen kilometres in length and have elevation changes of well over 1000m. I'd definitely like to go back and tackle some of them at some point, and I reckon late March would be a good time to do so because much later in the year and the temperature down below the rim would be far too hot.

As the sun began to gently tip below the horizon, A and I met up again with L to catch the shuttle out to the South Kaibab Trailhead and take in the sunset. I would really recommend this place in particular for this purpose, as it is the Eastern-most point of the park accessible to visitors and so looking left reveals the entire canyon bathed in the sunlight. The combination of deep shadows along with the warm orangey light created some really beautiful hues - A and I both shoved our phones into somewhat precarious cracks between rocks along the viewpoint and took timelapses of the whole process.

Once more, we pushed our luck to the extreme, catching the very last shuttle back from the trailhead to the main center for the day, and in fact wandering so far off the track to watch the sunset that we could barely hear the bus as it pulled into the stop. And for the last time, we pulled off out of the park, back onto the highways, for one final stretch - fittingly, on Route 66.

Deluxe Inn, AZ

Sleeping on the iconic Route 66

Day Four: Las Vegas Pt. 2

And then we found ourselves back in that dismal city, swapping some of the greatest views in the world for some of the worst. These last couple of nights in Las Vegas passed very quickly, owing likely to a collective giddiness from the sheer natural beauty we had been witness to and an anticipation to return back to campus and escape this quasi-purgatory. With energy levels waning at this stage, the three of us didn't really have the Hangover-style huge night out on the Vegas strip, but for me this was preferred. We did spend our last full day wandering the entire length of said strip from the Welcome To Las Vegas sign to the one wishing departing cars goodbye. On the way I stopped at New York, New York and took a ride on the rollercoaster there. I was reflecting in the line on the fact that this was the first sort of "theme park" I had been to in many, many years and it was nice to once again feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins as we took the dips and loops.

Given that we were back in Vegas on the Sunday and our flight wasn't until Tuesday morning, I had (reasonably) assumed that we would be staying two nights at The Strat hotel. However, this was sadly not what the boys had planned, though on the positive side it did come with some nice cost-savings. Having taken in our one night from the comforts of proper beds once more, we checked out and left our bags with the porter for the whole day to walk around the town as above. And because the flight was, unbeknownst to me, at a very early hour on Tuesday morning, it meant that the decision had be made to make the airport, once again, our sleeping quarters for the Monday night. Picking up our bags to head off for the airport after our walking tour, I could feel the porter's eyes burning holes in the back of my head as I parted leaving only a "Thank you" behind. Turns out they receive quite literally no salary and subsist solely off of tips. My bad man. I also had to try and squeeze a little more room into what was already an overflowing backpack after I had happily acquired some Creed perfume samples⁶ from a storefront we had visited that day. Given that a bottle of Creed perfume usually goes for about US$600 I felt like I had kind of gained the system, and I vaguely considered never buying cologne again if these were the spoils that were to be had by simply fronting as a prospective customer.

Arriving to the airport pretty late at night, the three of us settled in for what we all knew would likely be a fairly sleepless night. AL stayed up for a while doing work and editing photos whilst I tried to futilely find a somewhat comfortable lying position across two of the seats in the baggage area. I reckon I might have ticked over an hour or two tops of shuteye for the whole night - very unpleasant...

The Strat, LV

A nice enough hotel with birds-eye views of the city

...And Back Again

Before we knew it though, it was back on the plane, lifting off and then touching down. This time at O'Hare in Chicago. Throwing down a quick lunch before hopping onto the shuttle back to Purdue...

...arriving just before 6 PM and after saying farewell to AL and exchanging thanks for a great trip, going straight to salsa class, despite my eyelids feeling like they had lead weights attached to them.

And that was that. Back to campus and back into the throes of study and college life. Something felt different though, being once more at Purdue, and it wasn't just because of the alien presence of new black and green electric scooters that lined every campus street...

Footnotes