So I left my mothers house in Houston to start the adventure to my sisters place in .. MOAB UTAH! A tiny little town in the Southwest of the state that surrounds the Colorado River and Green River. It’s the adventure capital of the world! Many people come here to see Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park that sit right outside the town. I drove for two days to get to Grand Junction, Colorado where I stopped for a day to do a project for my Anthropology class. I was to do an observation a few times, so I decided to make my observations at a nudist event. I found some people who have been featured in a magazine for their nudist wedding, and have also been featured on TV many times for their “Naked Gardening Day.” So I met with Carla and Guy, the nudists who were very nice people. After the observations, we talked for hours about life and how important it is to be free and become who we wish to be, regardless of what society says. It was defiantly an experience I will never forget.

In my high school, for one of my senior projects, (2012) I had to create a vacation with 750 dollars and give a presentation with the things I did, what I ate, etc. I never heard of Moab until then, and as I was doing the project I was hearing of it constantly. In my project I came to Moab for a week and went skydiving, rafted, and camped. When graduation came around, my sister told me she was going to help her friend move out west for a bit. Coincidentally, she was helping him move to Moab, Utah. She ended up staying there because she loved it so much. Strange coincidence or what?? She had also never heard of it before my project.

So after Grand Junction, I started on the road again. 250 miles of desert… BRING IT ON! I put the top down in my VW, filled a bowl of water in the back for my dog, and off we went in search of the second most scenic route in North America, route 128. Before the real great scenery started, we drove through a ghost town of Cisco. It has the smallest post office in the U.S., and that’s about it besides the Green River and some train tracks. It was going to be the capital at one point. Obviously that didn’t happen.

When we started to get into the canyons, it was the most beautiful landscape I ever seen… and I’ve seen a lot. 150 miles of a very curvy road that followed the Colorado River. Deep red rock cliffs on both sides of me with the occasional rock formation. Once I got to Moab, I found my sisters house. I’ve been staying here for about a week now. Doing my school work, as well as hiking, going on 4×4 tours with my sisters boyfriend, (they own a company of 4×4 tours) and venturing off on the Colorado River. When my sister does her office hours, I do my school work. I’ve been really good about it, not procrastinating or anything, but any chance I get, we’re going off into the desert, or hanging out with the locals. Everyone who lives here are very adventurous people, mostly guides for white water rafting (that’s what my sister did before she was with Xtreme4x4Tours) hiking, repelling, slack line, zip line, skydiving, you name it, they do it. I have figured out that you can tell the locals from the tourists by their tan. All the locals have sunglasses tan, and the tourists are usually just burnt.

There is a such a great history of the Native Americans here, too. There are petroglyphs that are 1200 years old everywhere, but you have to know where to look, and stone piles up in the rocks where they used to store their food by the river, and deeper in the canyon, you can see their homes that are built into mini caves..Very deep in the desert there are little shacks that are very hidden. Cowboys used to hide in them! Real cowboys, and there are still things in them, salt shakers, spoons, etc. I have an assignment coming up that I would like to do on the Native Americans here, the Kokopelli! I also did my Meteorology exam and passed it with flying colors, I’m good with my CEP class. I haven’t really hit any challenges yet, besides resisting all the great Mexican food! Its really cool to be able to compare what I am learning in my Meteorology class, and put it to real life use here. Many different types of scientists and geologists come here to study the area. I don’t know exactly how long I’ll be staying here, but I think I’ll be here for a little bit.