fyi shruti is totally geeking out right now

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where are we?

Our asses are so big they cover FOUR states! (yes, we went to four corners and sat right in the middle of utah, arizona, colorado and new mexico.) yo mamma got nothin on us.

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arches arches and more arches!

We did all of the major hikes in Arches minus the Firey Furnace, which requires a permit. Yay us! Here's a selection of lovely views from our hikes. This is the last Ntl Park for our trip =(. But we'll swing by Monument Valley and 4 corners on our way to Albuquerque tomorrow!

delicate arch the symbol of utah

delicate arch at sunset, with the laSal mountains in the background. lots of folks here, all jockeying for the best photo spot

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Who, or should I say Hoo, looks more like Queen Victoria?

You be the judge. We hiked the Queen's, Navajo, and Peek-a-boo loops today in Bryce before driving out to Moab (near Arches Ntl Park). The Queen's loop is named for a hoodoo that allegedly looks like Queen Victoria. Well, we thought we saw her on the trail maybe (hoodoo in center of smaller pic), but upon googling, it appears we did not see her at all (larger pic). Despite this failure, the hike was great and not as strenuous as the ranger suggested. Hiking amongst the hoodoos is definitely a little bit surreal.

Hoodoo voodoo

We got a quick taste of the Bryce hoodoos today, tomorrow we hike among them!

On the way to the narrows...

We also hiked a very different terrain yesterday-a river. We didn't have time to get to the really narrow part of the hike (which is why the long hike through the Virgin River is called the Narrows) but we got a taste for what it might be like. And neither of us fell in the water or ruined our cameras. YES!

Angel's Landing hike

Jody (my favorite guy from the woodshop =D) recommended that we do this hike. Well, I guess a lot of people did, but I'd like to think that Jody did it because he secretly wants me to be his baby mama. But anyways, the hike has some major switchbacks (Walter's Wiggles they're called) followed by some bouldering-type hiking on a narrowish ridge to the top of the daunting piece of granite. Overall, the hike was a lot of fun (makes you feel like hardcore because you're getting a little down and dirty with the rocks), and the views are amazing of course.

finally got the intarweb again!

Shruti and I have now made it to Bryce Canyon! After an awesome visit in Zion (amazing hikes-I definitely want to go back and do some more hardcore ones, and all of you should visit this park ASAP), we drove the 1.5 hours up to Bryce and were treated to the army of hoodoos that stand at attention in the Bryce Amphitheater. Tomorrow? A hike through the hoodoos! and then off to Arches =). SO MUCH FUN!!!

I'll post some picks in the next couple of posts.

from mountaintops to canyons.

this is emily wading through "the narrows," a trail that actually goes up-river into a canyon. there were parts we were up over our waist! it goes on 16 miles and can be hiked as an overnight trip. a cool way to spend a hot (98degrees) afternoon!

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angels landing zion national park

while this view may seem similar from our other canyon views, the difference this time is we climbed 1500-feet over 2.5 miles to achieve this. and i mean CLIMBED. we had to clamber over boulders on a 4-foot, steep, ridge. not for those with a fear of heights or poor grip on their shoes!

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venus and her moon hung low in the eastern sky as Emily and I raced against the rising blue light from that direction. the sun is jus now making its ascent, and each second is different from before.

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just did a quick hike into the canyon. only took us an hour to get to 1.5 miles...but that means 2 hours out. met an conductor from kansas who hikes this every year, and a man from utah who was training for a 12-hour rim-to-rim hike in a month! saaid that there are folks who do a 24-hour rim-to-rim-to-rim RUN. we think that is insane.

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Can you say gorgeous?

I can, and I probably will a thousand times more on this trip. Good job earth. Today we walked a rim trail and saw many many amazing views of the grand canyon. Oh, and last night I got what we think might be a condor (though it may just be an ordinary vulture or buzzard) in one of my sunset shots.

todays hike

Emily and I are currently on an 8-mile rim hike headed east along the south rim to the hermits rest. Currently we are walking past a portion called the abyss, where the canyon just drops straight down with a sheer granite face. eep!

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Our theme song

We have seen some pretty amazing things and we're going to see more. Last night, as we gazed over the Grand Canyon, lit in the setting sun, there was almost a hush that couldn't be pierced by the other tourists chatting around us.

Of course, we broke that hush, and quoted our trip theme song: America, F#@!* Yeah! We've been really into it. (which is another road trip theme phrase "I'm into it.")

So next time you gaze upon the beauty that America has to offer, remember this:

Devil's Golf Course, DV

I think this was the coolest thing in Death Valley-a dried up salty lake that left millions of salty rock formations behind. People have put golf tees in various places and I found a nice hole for a little golf ball. We found some nice salt crystals and yes, they tasted like good ol' NaCl.

We are the shadows in the Valley of Death

Today we drove from Beatty, NV to the south rim of the Grand Canyon via Death Valley. We left at dawn (630 am) to avoid the intense 100+ F heat in Death Valley. Thank goodness because we were getting hot by 10 am!

sunset at the grand canyon

sunset at the grand canyon

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no words, just pictures

This is for Emily's friend Bryan, (aka B-dicks), who cannot read:

Last Night in Berkeley

Thanks to all who came to Jupiter last night to send me off! I know the email said 7-10 pm, but Seaman Dan showed up, and thus the night was extended a couple more hours. He's the hottie in the pic who didn't make a funny face, in case you guys wanted to know =). Now, after not enough sleep, Shruti and I will embark on our journey. First destination? Beatty, NV (near Death Valley) via Yosemite!!!

A little B'more

Crazily enough, merely a few days before embarking on a roadtrip halfway across the country, I made a trip out east to Baltimore for the wedding of my former roomie Becca and her sweetie Paul. It was totally worth it and a great way to say bye to my berkeley roomies. Paul's brothers, sister, and brother in-law put in an awesome performance at the reception involving a full body Ernie (from sesame street) costume. Had a great time-love you Becca and Paul, hope St. John is treating you well! ;)

Better late than never

So far I've had poor luck starting our wwrt. While Emily is whooping it up in B'more for a wedding, I've been struggling to find my way west. Poor weather in PHL delayed my flight to the point where I wouldn't make my connection. So while my bag (hopefully) winged its way to Sacramento, where I am spending the weekend with my pint-o-funJeanne, I headed back home to wait for a Saturday flight. But first I had to wait several hours before Ravi was free from meetings and able to pick me up.
There were many options for me, and some might have brought me to SMF sooner, and let me see more friends along the way, but I am glad, in the end I chose what I chose. I spent those hours at a wine bar at the airport, where I was randomly seated with 3 other stranded passengers. We bonded and shared life stories, even before we shared names. It is a friendship and a moment that will never be replicated, but it illustrates why I love to travel--those moments no picture or blog post could ever capture.

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600 lbs later...

Most of my stuff is packed now and shipped off to Chi-town! I had fun getting a palette yesterday (i.e. acting ditzy and getting the guys at home depot to help me) to put my boxes on and played with megashrinkwrap today as I prepped my shipment. I used www.freightcenter.com, and so far I am very pleased with the service, so if you're moving far and not planning on driving a moving van, check it out! Ok, enough advertising. I am going to try to get to sleep now so 1) I can wake up at 4 am to fly out to Maryland (!) for the weekend for a wedding (yes, before driving halfway across the country I will fly completely across the country and back in one weekend) and 2) I get into my REM cycle before the kiddies next door start playing beer pong or jumping on the trampoline again.

THANK YOU RAVI!!!

Dear Ravi,

Not that she needed your permission, but thank you so much for giving up your new wife for a few weeks so that I can spend some time with her and so she can prevent me from falling asleep at the wheel. I am so looking forward to it!!! I promise to not force her into any scandalous activities, though I will not promise that I will not be scandalous. I hope you are very very very productive in lab while Shruti is gone so that you don't have to be as productive when she gets back =).

Thank you too for the pint of Starbucks ice cream. YUM!!!!!!!!!!!

love, em

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

So where exactly can you find the Woo Woo Girls in their Woo Woo Car? All over the Southwest United States!


View Larger Map

We leave Berkeley on Sept. 15 and head to Death Valley. Here is our itinerary from there:
Sept. 16-18: Grand Canyon
Sept. 19-20: Zion National Park/Bryce Canyon
Sept. 21: Bryce Canyon
Sept. 22-24: Arches & Canyonlands National Parks
Sept. 25: Albuquerque, NM (With a stop at Four Corners National Monument)
Sept. 26: Lubbock, TX
Sept. 27: Springfield, MO (this is where rolls get thrown at us)
Sept. 28-Oct. 1: St. Louis, MO (with a stop at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum!)

Our temperatures will range from a low of 20 degrees (at night in Bryce Canyon) to a high of 109 degrees (during the day in Death Valley)! Packing LOTS of layers to deal with the varying temperatures.

But, as Emily put it, "If we're stranded in the desert overnight, we probably have more problems than the low temperature."

What does WooWoo mean?

Technically, Emily and I have known each other for nine years. We met freshman year of college at the University of Minnesota--she was roommates with a high school classmate of mine. (The 8th floor of Middlebrook Hall was good to me--I also met my husband on that same floor).

We discovered the joys of knowing someone as insane as yourself. How many 19-year-olds are passing "Do you like me, check yes or no" notes while getting stellar grades in classes like Organic Chemistry, Calculus Two and Statistics? (Yes, this journalist took Calc2. No, I didn't take OChem).

What, you say, does this have to do with woowoo? My now-husband had a then-roommate who had a poster on his side of the room, picked up at the ubiquitous fall "poster sale," that listed the names of different cocktails. That he was underage was of no concern to him.

However one of the drinks was, amusingly, named a Woo Woo. We had never had it, but it captured our imagination. And now, besides having ridiculous notes passed to them, our friends had to deal with Emily and I randomly exclaiming WOO WOO.

And now we embark together on a three-week road trip journey together, together visiting nine states, six national parks, numerous roadside monuments and one place where they throw rolls at you.

I expect there to be countless amounts of Woo-Wooing throughout the journey.

---
By the way, I'm not sure if I've ever had a Woo Woo, but perhaps we can fix that on this journey. Here is a recipe in case you want to make one yourself:
Mix 1.5 oz. peach shnapps, 1.5 oz of vodka and 3.5 oz of cranberry juice into a highball glass and serve over ice.

I heart packing like a fat kid loves...celery?

As all of you probably know, my name is Emily (aka dr emmy) and I just PhinisheD up my PhD in chemistry at UC Berkeley. The past five years in Berkeley have been amazing and I will miss everyone dearly. Except for the creepy delivery guy Rolando. Though he did bring me fruit flavored tootsie rolls, which are delicious.

Currently, I'm packing up my life, trying to fit everything into a reasonable number of boxes. I was worried about having enough boxes, but thanks to an emergency flour run to Safeway, my box collection has been completed with empty boxes that used to hold Quilted Northern. Woo WOO!

I have created this blog so that everyone can enjoy my roadtrip with me even though they will not be along the ride. I am fortunate enough to have my college friend Shruti joining me on this trip. She is just as crazy as me, so hilarity should ensue. Hopefully we will update this daily on this 2+ week trip, which starts Sept 15. We are seeing lots and lots of prettiness along the way (tons of national parks) and seeing some familiar faces, so the photos should be fun for sure.

Woo! Now I must go check my last Berkeley banana chocolate chip bread that is baking in the oven!

-dr emmy