Buffalo

My final thoughts on this trip is that it was a lot of fun, and I’m glad I had the chance to see so many famous tourist spots. I didn’t like the tour guide’s inexperience and some passengers’ lack of time management skills, though.

Also, there were way more women than men on the trip. Every time I had to go to the bathroom, I’m standing in this long ass line. Not fun at all. One time it was especially bad, and I don’t remember what day it was, but I got so frustrated that I went into the men’s room. It had no line after all. At first I heard people laughing at me and someone said “Why are you going into the men’s room?” in Chinese. But when I got out another woman went into the men’s room. Both of the bathrooms became women’s rooms. It was funny.

We got to the airport just after 3 P.M. but our flight isn’t departing until 8:10 that night. I just love spending 5 hours in the airport! Not to mention that the weather was not on our side today. There was a hurricane in Houston and thunderstorms in Denver, so the first few flights from Denver to Houston today have been cancelled. There is an earlier flight available at 5:20, but with 30 people already on the standby list, like we had a chance!

Well, turned out that it didn’t matter anyway because the 5:20 flight was delayed until 8:10, same time as ours. What we feared the most were further delays or a cancellation. But luckily, while our flight was delayed several times, I am writing on the plane right now, so that at least means we’ve left. J We should be landing around 12:11 A.M. central time.

Colorado Scenery

After Glenwood, we headed to the airport on a scenic route through Colorado, driving right next to the famous Colorado River the entire way. It lived up to the hype. Jagged mountains, green fields, picturesque rivers, it was all here. The scenery on the way looked like it was taken straight from a fantasy film or a very well written novel. About midway through, we had an unscheduled stop atop the Rocky Mountains, with an altitude of 10,000 feet. If I felt shitty at 6,000 feet, I couldn’t imagine how I would handle this. But it actually wasn’t too bad. For some reason, my head felt heavy and my feet felt light. I thought I was floating when I walked. I did get a headache and sore throat from it, but it was worth every bit.

Then, it was time to drop everyone off. We said our goodbyes and I left my contact information with the two Canadian women. They were really the only people I cared to talk to on this trip. I had a great idea for a short story from everything they’ve told me, too.

I hate it when people change plans involving me without informing me. I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE it. The only stop scheduled for the day was Glenwood Hot Springs. Nobody told us that we’d be swimming (apparently it wasn’t planned) so I didn’t bring a swimsuit. I’d have to pay at least $75 to get one there because it’s a tourist area. I would have loved to go in the hot springs, so it absolutely pisses me off that nobody tells me this ahead of time. No tip today for the damn tour guide!

With so many delays throughout the day, we didn’t get to the hotel until almost 11 P.M. There was a Denny’s right next to the hotel, which was good. But of course nearly all 50 people rushed in there and it took over an hour to eat. At least I grabbed some leftovers for breakfast in the morning!

Arches

I looked around some more but refused to buy anything else. I would have probably found something else I wanted if I kept on looking. All the products in there were just so unique and fascinating. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one who thought this way, because as George predicted, we were delayed 15 minutes because so many people were still shopping when it came time to leave.

The scheduled lunch was Chinese buffet again!! I just can’t believe this. I mean, I guess it’s hard to feed 50 people any other way, but two days in a row is just sick. We tried our darned hardest to find something else nearby, but there was nothing. At least this one is better than the one last night.

The whole afternoon was spent driving towards Arch National Park, the last destination for the day. I slept just about the whole way, drifting in and out because the bus bounced up and down on the crappy roads like some old amusement park kids ride. By the time we got there, the sun was already setting. We had to hurry because it would be impossible to take pictures in the dark. The Arch National Park had over 2,000 different natural stone formations, the shapes of which can be very… interesting. There are ones that looked like penguins, people, lions, windows, and even body parts! I don’t feel the need to explain further. Anyway, the most famous of all the arches are probably the two windows, which we spent a lot of time at. Too much, I should say. They are just holes in the rock. I personally thought the body part look-alikes are more interesting.

Old Faithful

The second stop was the Old Faithful geyser, apparently the most reliable geyser in the park, or was it in the world? I’m not sure. We had just missed its eruption when we arrived, so we had to wait until the next one, which could be in 30 minutes or hours. For us, it was two hours. I sat in the shade with my camera ready the whole time so I wouldn’t miss the start. Luckily, I was able to capture its entire eruption on camera.

On the way, we got to see a few wild animals, including huge herds of buffalo and an elk here or there. In fact, we were delayed for one hour because of all the buffalo crossing the street. It was a nice delay. I got to take a lot of pictures and even a video of a buffalo rolling in the dust. I was told it was a rare sight and how lucky I was. And, if I may say so myself, the quality of the buffalo video is pro! Like something I’d see on Animal Planet.

However, I’m very disappointed I didn’t see any bears or wolves. The wolf is my favorite animal because I can identify with them. They are loners, and so am I in most cases. It’s mainly because I devote so much energy and time onto one person that I don’t have enough to give to everyone else. Long consecutive periods of social events tire me out. I then have to be alone just to recuperate to socialize again. That’s the hallmark of introverted personality though. A lot of people think I’m extroverted, but they just don’t know how exhausted I am after these lengthy social gatherings, especially with family!

Bingham Canyon

She took us around the huge church yard, explained what each building is, and what made Mormons different from other Christians. It’s all very interesting, actually. When I thought of Mormons before, I could only think of polygamous marriages. But I found out that only a small subgroup practices that, and most Mormons are monogamous people who value harmony and unity within the family. I had a lot of fun on this tour and learned a lot. I can see why people are into religion so much. They promise that you can live with loved ones through eternity. That’s powerful stuff, but I just have trouble believing such far-fetched claims I guess.

Afterwards, we went to the Bingham Canyon, a mine for mostly copper, but has some gold and silver as well. There wasn’t much to see in the mine itself, but the gift shop was absolutely awesome. My mom and I purchased over $100 worth of stuff here, and we usually aren’t into tourist shop junk. The difference is that almost everything in the shop here is made from minerals collected in the mine. I found a bracelet with a gold chain, silver chain, and copper chain tied together. I was really drawn to it. Then, after buying it, I saw a necklace with a jagged stone pendent that matched my white shirt really well, so I bought that too. So suddenly I went from wearing zero to two pieces of jewelry in one day.

Mormon Church

We had several places to go in Salt Lake City today before we move out again. The first was the Salt Lake itself. It’s a beautiful sight, but it smelled like utter shit. The best way to describe the smell is probably tons of dead fish, just a hundred times worse. The pictures I took looked nice, though. I’m glad pictures don’t also carry the smell.

The next stop for us is Salt Lake City’s Mormon Church, one of the biggest in the country. In fact, I didn’t know this, but something like 80% of the people who live in Utah are Mormons! At first I wasn’t so excited. I was never big on religion. I describe myself as Agnostic, but I pretty much am an Atheist and believe in evolution. I still went on the tour with an open mind, however. The sister who showed us around was very nice and didn’t try to convert us at all, for which I’m grateful. Since our tour group was almost all Chinese, the sister guide we had was half Chinese and half White. I was surprised when she told us that because while she spoke both Chinese and English fluently, she didn’t look White at all.