TRAVEL TRIP: SLC, day four

SALT LAKE CITY.

Sunday, April 18, 2010. Day Four or The Wonderful Way In Which We Walk.

No matter how old I get, sitting alone in the backseat makes me feel 5 and 1/2.

We drove the 40 minutes east of SLC, through the Wasatch Range, to Park City. I spied out through the backseat windows, eyes wide like a baby kitten. Dry grasses and thirsty aspens dotted the eastern slopes while the westernmost hills were still blanketed with snow and cool shade. Abandoned farm houses littered the mountain drive. And we drove a steady 60 miles per hour, I could have sat there forever watching snow slowly melt into creeks. Imagining mountain goats and Heidi and the Swiss Alps from the hot leather of the backseat. Juniper tinged wind blowing my hair back. There's almost nothing more satisfying than the silence in observing mountain geology. Superior and slow, you can only watch.

Welcome to the dollhouse... street.

Park City strikes me with skepticism in the same way that Santa Fe does. Like, really? Like lunch specials are 18 bucks? And this consignment store ring is $52? Really? And there's no garbage in the gutter? And that obvious millionaire is wearing a cowboy hat? And this town is 80.5% White as factored by the 2008 census? And seriously, 18 dollar lunches?! Really? Come on now, be serious, Park City.

If I weren't with the Cleavers, I'd have literally pissed on their sidewalks. Excuses, excuses! I'm just a wimp.

CLICK BELOW TO READ MORE :)

TRAVEL TRIP: SLC day three

SALT LAKE CITY.

Saturday, April 17, 2010. Day Three or The Little Criticisms That Bind.

To really understand the trauma of my visit to Salt Lake City, you have to understand the serious differential in personalities between my hosts and me. My warm, fidgety body and too-jokey voice were at war with the ornamental y muy frio atmosphere of two people who look down at blogs... at parties, at drug experimentation, at dive bars and seeing bands, at going to sleep at 3am and laughing about notes written in eyeliner on a notepad left in the bathtub, at begging a boy to dress up in ninja clothes, at walking down dark alleys, at helping friends jump a fence, at kite flying on a weekday, at blow jobs in a bathroom, at what I typically find fun and maybe crazy and fleeting, too.

I'm pretty sure my hosts would have considered this picture a blemish of my self character.

I'd love to calibrate our differences at opposite ends of a personality spectrum. Our open-minded decisions, awareness of the brevity of life and considerate of wanton pleasures to their close-minded, privileged workaholic lives, critical and boring, but what do I know? My judgments are rarely accurate and I can't bash it 'til I try it. Next experiment: Act Like An Adult For One Year... (yeah right).

At our age, adult is a state of mind. FLASH ME YOUR ASS AND I'LL GIVE YOU A PBR, NERD.


CLICK BELOW TO READ MORE :)

TRAVEL TRIP: SLC day two

SALT LAKE CITY

Friday, April 16, 2010. Day Two aka Escape From Space Jesus in Pleasantville.

This is exactly what I opened my eyes to on Friday morning. I'm living in a boudoir.

Unlike any other travel trips, I was completely unprepared and unplanned. I usually have suggested places to visit written on scraps of bus transfers, addresses written all over my hands, a city street map scribbled onto a plane ticket. It was already 9am and I had yet to figure out where the animatronic Mormon pioneer museum was. I put on Sly's Fresh album and typed into Google "tacky tourist traps of Northern Utah."

I had a long, long day ahead of me......

CLICK BELOW TO READ MORE :)

TRAVEL TRIP: SLC, day one

Thursday, April 15, 2010. Day One or travel day coffee suicide.

Here's what the very end of the Albuquerque-Rio Rancho metropolitan area looks like from above. There's the Rio Grande on the left:

My flight didn't leave until 12:55 so I had the whole lazy morning to myself, picking out dresses that could act as shirts, pants that could be worn everyday, scarfs that could transform into sweaters or belts... My regular suitcase broke so I had to use the little red one meant to transport doll clothes. I did a pretty wonderful job of packing though so you have to give me a hand.

I packed (including what I was wearing on the plane):

2 dresses
2 shirts
1 pair of pants
1 pair of shorts
3 socks
5 underwear
2 shoes
1 loose cardigan
1 bra with removable straps
1 light coat

Plus, I fit in my battery charger which took up a tenth of space in the little red case (that rhymed) and my big bag of toiletries: toothbrush, hair bands, deodorant, baby powder (for greasy hair), razor, tweezer, mirror and tampons because I'm an idiot and keep scheduling travel days on my period. I'm going to look on the bright side and remember traveling with a period is still a million times better than traveling with a fetus or worse, constantly wondering if I'm pregnant to the point where I accidentally blurt out "Yeah, I'm visiting here from Abortionquerque- ALBUQUERQUE! I mean Albuquerque. Whoops, ughhh..."

CLICK BELOW IF YOU'D LIKE TO READ MORE :)