My Trip Out West

So, now that I'm back in the USA, what better way to welcome myself back to America than with a road trip across it?

Last week I headed out West with my mother and sister for the dual purpose of:
1) Escorting my sister out to Lake Tahoe, California, where she spends her summers and
2) Finally meeting my new niece and soon to be sister-in-law

Growing up, my family would fly out to Colorado or Utah once a year for ski vacations. But to the best of my recollection, the only time I've actually road tripped out West was for CHIC, back when I was 15 or 16. (CHIC stands for Covenant High Congress...(The Covenant Church's version of Young Calvinist's Convention, for all you CRC people)). But that was only as far as Colorado. Plus it doesn't really count because we took chartered busses and rode through the night, and so missed a lot of the scenery.

So, it was nice to finally get to see America and all her glory. To go from the cornfields of the midwest, to the praries, rocky moutains, desert areas, et cetera.

The down side was that it was a family trip. As I've noted on this blog before (and Bork concurs, by the way), no matter how old you get, it seems that when you are put back in close proximity to your siblings you automatically fall back into old bickering patterns. And it doesn't get much more close proximity than a road trip. There were times when I admit to feeling greatly annoyed with my siblings (and if they had web-logs, I'm sure they could say somethings about me). But we did have a couple of really great bonding nights to even it out. The night my sister and brother went out for pizza, and then later met Amy for at a Hookah bar, was really a great time, and we were all clicking together wonderfully.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...Best to start at the beginning.
After driving for two days, we arrived in Denver Colorado where I finally met Amy and my niece Haven. Call me biased, but Haven has got to be the cutest Baby ever. (For anyone who's interested photos of Haven, and lots of photos, are always available on Amy's Photosite page).

We saw their apartment, my brother told us about his job and his new life in Colorado, we went to a state park for some brief hiking, and to the museum to see "Body Wars" (or something like that).

Monday night my mom babysat Haven, to let us kids go out and bond together. Amy and Kyle took us to the above mentioned "Hookah Bar" where we sampled a few of the local Hookahs.

And then we baid a fond farewell, and it was off in the car instead. We made a two day detour to stop at Arches National Park in Utah, and hiked around a little there. If you haven't been there yet, Arches is one of those places that words really can't do justice to. So I won't try. I'll just say it's amazingly beautiful. (My mom took a lot of pictures, and maybe later I'll try and scan a few on-line. But for now just use your imagination, and my apologies to Dr. Doodle).

After that onto Lake Tahoe, on the California/ Nevada boarder. Lake Tahoe is another beautiful spot. My sister says it's the most beautiful place she's ever been to. I don't know if I'd go quite that far, but its a blue lake surrounded by snow capped mountains. Hard to beat that.

Leaving my sister in Tahoe, my mom and I flew back again to Denver for Amy's Birthday party, and Haven's 100 day celebration. (Apparently in accordance with a Korean tradition of celebrating the 100 day mark).

And then yesterday after brunch with my brother's family, my mom and I flew back to Chicago, and drove in last night.

So, all in all a good week, and I once again managed to put off the question of "What am I going to do next?" for yet another week. Back to reality now.

Useless Wikipedia Fact
Biblical scholarship in 2005 revealed an early Papyrus scroll which showed that 616, not 666, is most likely the number of the Beast.

Link of the Day
The Evangelighouls -- How the Christian Right Exploits War's Youngest Victims