After Grand Canyon: Meteor Crater and the Petrified Forest

So after I left the South Side of the Grand Canyon I got to the Highway 40 via Flagstaff.  I headed for the Petrified Forest but first I came, I noticed that Meteor Crater was along the way.  Seeing as how never been there, I decided to take a quick trip to Meteor Crater.

It was barren, nary a tree to be seen.  It was a bright and clear day and none too hot being late March.  As I approached the Crater it appeared to be a newly constructed building atop a large hill.  The hill itself was the rim of the crater.  Inside, there was the Apollo test capsule, a large gift shop and a museum that was quite informative.  They did guided tours out along the rim and they had quite a few observation points along the rim of the crater.

Now I wasnt sure of exactly what I was expecting.  In all the pictures I have seen in the past, it seemed to be much more larger than I was expecting it was to be.  Shibuya Crossing in Japan was the same way.  Here I was expecting it to be much larger that it actually was.  In fact the only that kinda blew me away in terms of size was the Grand Canyon.  That was big.

So after Meteor Crater I went to the Petrified Forest.  I was kinda rushed and I did miss some of the finer points of the Painted Desert.  But seeing as how I have been here before, I did not feel that bad.  I wanted to rush by and collect the stamps for my National Parks passport; and get my pin and iron on patch (as of today, I have gotten seventeen patches.  Not bad considering I have only started of March this year!)  I will have to get a picture of my coat.

After this, Carlsbed Caverns and the Howard Museum.

Grand Canyon Adventure Part 2

This is the second part of my Grand Canyon Adventure.  Sorry it is so late in coming.  Just mainly pictures this time around.

Yavapai Point

The Grand Canyon stamps one can get for their Pass Ports

Kolb Station

The next stop, Meteor Crater and the Petrified Forest.  Then I went to Carlsbad Cavern.  Will be later!

Grand Canyon Adventure

So, I am in Mather Campground inside the Grand Canyon National Park.  It is Thursday when I am writing this, so forgive me but I am not sure when this will go up.  Wow, I have done a lot in the two days since I started this trip.  Went to Vegas and went to Bachi Burger.  It was an interesting place.  It was a little heavy on the asian flavors, but all in all the place will get my thumbs up.  Stayed at the Hilton on the Strip and boy was it nice.  I would have liked to stay much longer for they gave me a suite.  Good gods, it was wonderful.

On the 18th I went to the Skywalk at the Grand Canyon West.  I was expecting to pay something, but it was $75!  I paid for it anyway and got my first good look at the Canyon.  Breathtaking.  The Skywalk is owned and run by Hualapai natives.  Now I didn’t take pictures on the Skywalk.  You werent allowed to take any cameras due to some problems.  That kinda sucked.  But I walked the inside of the ring (gripping the handrail), walked the outside ring (again gripping the rail) and tried to walk down the middle of the glass.  Got a third of the way before I went to the inside.  I could feel it sway.  It was worse than the Skytree or Tokyo Tower, because it was open to the outside.

Skywalk is in the upper left corner.

I got to Grand Canyon East later that evening.  Tusayan is a nice little town, except for the internet is totally unreliable.  It says I have four bars and full connection but I didn’t.  I stayed the night in the hotel (too expensive) because it was too late.  I asked the front desk person where to get something to eat and she suggested a steakhouse or mexican.  I chose the steakhouse.  I have been seriously steak deprived for seven months.  I hope she gets a kickback or something because I wont be eating there again.  I had the combo steak and ribs.  I don’t think they put salt on the steak, the ribs were too dry and the baked beans were watery tasting from a can.  Sad, sad steak experience.

The next day was today, Thursday.  I got into the campground and got it for two days.  Today I went to east exit of the park and I stopped at nearly all the overlooks.  Today was better for the sun was out and shining.  Yesterday as I left the Skywalk it rained… hard.  Today it was nice and bright and you can see all of the pictures I have taken on the east side of the camp to the Desert View about 25 miles away.

Today, the 20th of March, I am going to go to the west side of the camp.  I would like to come back here and hike the over 200 miles of trails.  So I am going to put this up right now, and to the rest of today, tomorrow.

I am off!

Today, Tuesday, March 17 is when I begin my road trip.  I have left a little after 8:00am from Pismo Beach and here I am, almost noon at the Toyota dealership here is Claremont, getting a final look at my car.  It was quite a fast trip from Pismo, only a little over three hours.  Get that done a quick trip to AAA and I am truly off. 

Now I will have to book a room in Vegas... 

So What Now?

So I am sitting up here in the Coffee Bean in Pismo Beach.  It is not that I want to, but my doctor's appointment isnt until the 16th, barring any cancellations, which I am calling in every morning to find out if the office has any.  Well, what am I going to do now that my expeditions to Japan and Taiwan are over?

Roadtrip!

Expedition America!

Yes, I am going on a roadtrip to visit all my +Rynyn, family and friends that live across this great nation.  From my grandfather in Pennsylvania to my friends who live in Waco, Texas; in Canada and in Chicago, just to name a few.  I am going to leave as soon as my doctor's appointment is done and my prescriptions are refilled.

I am first going to Phoenix via the Grand Canyon.  I am going to visit Rynyn.  Then Texas, Kansas, Chicago, Pennsylvania Canada, Maine, Virginia, then cut across to Colorado and back down to do Gamex in Los Angeles and up north to San Francisco for my niece's graduation.  Whew!

Hey, if I know you you may get ahold of me and let me know.  If I can squeeze you in, I will.

Travelling Abroad Is Over For Now...

Well, I have spent six month abroad in Japan and Taiwan and now I am going home.  It is not that easy, no matter who you talk to or what you hear.  You arent guaranteed a job though your chances of landing one are a bit greater if you are white.  It seems that in Japan and in Taiwan they want the classically white, European look.  Now before you say anything, I am not faulting them for that.  They want to hire who they want to hire.  Now for myself, I am half Taiwanese and the other half in mainly American Indian so you can see how hard it was for me to find a job.

I have several cases in point.  The first point in the sheer number of applicants, especially in Japan.  Now I mainly used a website called Gaijin Pot.  Every week day I look and applied to the handful of jobs that I could do.  I did this for twelve weeks, [does some math...] around 140 applications all told.  Now when you apply to Gaijin Pot, they send you an email back, stating that they have got you application and sent it in.  They also let you know how many other applicants that they got.  I think the highest one I got was 372 other applicants.  On average, the number of applicants was around 60 per job and that is all just the number when I applied.  Out of the 140 or so applications I only had one interview.  It was perfect, being near Shibuya.  I dressed up and even wore a coat and tie to the interview.  Now I looked around and saw that it was a conversation school and the other teacher they had... well they werent as nicely dressed as I.  But all of them were white.  I had the interview and the guy said he had a few other interviews to get through.  Long story short I didnt get the job.  Was I not "white" enough?  I dont know.  That is how tough it was in Japan.

In Taiwan it was just as bad.  One instance I got a job because I took over for Laura.  Now Laura is a sweet little thing from Poland.  She got a tutoring job for these really smart, and I mean smart seven year old kids.  But, her english wasnt as good as theirs.  Heck, I was teaching her english by this time.  She told the mother but the mother said, "oh, your english is just fine!  You are great!  I want to keep you."  When I took over the class for her, I did a mighty fine job.  I enjoyed working with the kids and they enjoyed me.  But you know, I didnt get a word of praise from their mother.  Laura, the perfect white, me, not so much...

I am not saying thtat I had a bad time of it.  If all they wanted to do is treat me as a tourist, then so be it.  I mean in Japan, I am sure I was not everyone else pick.  My gods they had upwards to 300+ applicants for a single job.  I still had fun though.  I got to see much of Tokyo.  I took the Shikansen to Shizuoka.  I met many relatives in Koahsiung.  I went to the Ghibli Museum, heck a lot of Ghibli exhibitions.  I went to Sun Moon Lake, where my parents honeymooned.   I went to Zuoying and marveled at how much things have changed in 25 years.  I was at Shibuya Crossing (smaller than you think) on Halloween.  And you know what?  I want to go back there and do it all again.