Diana Ellefson. Travel. Write. Repeat.

Today’s Travel Tuesday picture is in honor of Memorial Day which occurred yesterday here in the States. It is a day of remembrance for all who have served or currently serve our country in the military. The focus of today’s post is more of a time-Travel Tuesday post that focuses on a man, instead of a place. This man is a military hero I never had the chance to meet: my grandfather, Grant Wahlquist.

Grant served in the Korean War and WWII where he received a Purple Heart among other medals. After his service he was a school principal in Washington State and a husband and father to 3 children (my dad being one).

Grant died of a heart attack at 45 when my dad was just 11. I have heard many stories about this man and my dad always spoke of him — making my siblings and I feel like we did know our grandfather–and we hoped, he knew us.

my grandfather back row, 2nd from left on his war time basketball team.

my grandfather with his kids, holding his new baby (my aunt Julie). My dad is the shorter boy standing in front of my uncle Jeff.

Twice, in as many months, I have heard the title of this post uttered and have now adopted it as an essential descriptive phrase to use when beholding beauty that nearly hurts my eyes.

I first heard it in the British Virgin Islands when the transparently blue/green water and the scores of rainbow fish got to be just too beautiful to see over and over again (yeah, I am really not complaining here…) and one of my travel partners on that trip longed to see “the grayness of Newark” (well, she said that, but of course no one longs to see Newark)… anyway… I uttered the same phrase again while in Zion.

I’d like to think I have visited epic locales– oceans, cities & mountains known for their beauty– but I had not yet seen anything like Zion National Park.
Let me tell you now, any pictures you see, even the professional ones do not capture, in the slightest, what you will witness in person.

The Park, that welcomes three million visitors a year, is divided into 4 sections–all with gorgeous views, scenic drives and hikes for every level of mountaineer.

1.Zion Canyon containing: the Emerald Pools (that Jean, Rachel and I hiked), Angels Landing (the steepest hike in the entire park and upon your completion, if you have the energy to to make it back down, can buy a t-shirt proclaiming your victory ascent and The Narrows which has been voted by National Geographic as in the top 10 of their best 100 hikes in the Nation.

2.Kolob Canyons known for the famous Kolob Arch that is shown in many Zion pamphlets.

picture courtesy of First Light Photographs

3.Kolob Terrace: with the well known, yet challenging Subway hike. Parts of this hike travel through naturally made mountain tunnels and in some parts require partial or depending on the time of year (like last week while I was in Zion) total submersion and swimming into cold water.

photo courtesy of zionnationalpark.com

4. Highway 9 that includes the Tunnel– a spectacular scenic drive that leads to the South side of the Park.

Zion is a massive area and my time there was for exploring the park, but also for my friend’s wedding (which was IN the park and was GORGEOUS) which did not allow me excess time to get all of the hikes in I had wanted. Next time I go back, the Subway hike is first on my list.

Now that you know a little bit about Zion, and my original purpose of the trip… let me display some of my favorite pictures and accompanying stories.

Hiking around various areas of the Canyon we found ourselves in dry river beds full of … sand? Yep. Some of the softest sand to ever have passed in between my toes! The mountain rocks are all Sandstone (some of the largest amount anywhere in the World actually) and the Virgin River, over time, has eroded parts down into, well, sand.

We came across a family of Mountain goats while hiking and I didn’t zoom on this shot–we were this close.

This was the lodge we stayed at, just outside of the Park. The views were incredible and a free shuttle ran every 10 minutes to take you either into town or into the Park (of course we had our stealth Hybrid (see part 1). Us 3 girls shared a giant room with 2 queen beds, a queen sleeper sofa a nearly full kitchen and a deck overlooking the heated pool.

On one of our hikes…

Scenery shot! Too much beauty!!!!

I swear– it was not easy to climb up here even though it looks like it’d be pretty easy…

This concludes part II of the Zion trip… but there is more to come… and take a read of part I if you haven’t yet.

Last Thursday I caught the early flight to Salt Lake City to meet up with two of my old high school buddies, Jean & Rachel. We three had a reunion road trip planned to Zion National Park via Park City to attend our friend Melissa’s wedding in Zion.

When I got into Salt Lake (an hour early–thank you Delta) I had some time to kill before Rachel flew into town. I had been to Salt Lake about 10 years ago for a Husky football game and had a chance to see some of the city and surrounding area. Salt Lake is small, but it is surrounded by mountains pretty much entirely which makes it look even smaller when viewing it from above–which is exactly what I did!

After picking up my hybrid rental car and taking like hours to start it [word to the wise—hybrids make NO noise --not even at point of ignition--until they are going like 25 mph. Who knew?] I drove to the highest point I could, within reason, and found a hike up to Ensign Peak. This place, as many places in Salt Lake, has religious significance to the large Mormon population, but to me it offered a spectacular view of the mountains and city.

After the hike and the wheezing, breathless reminder that Utah is at a much higher elevation than I have been used to on the East Coast, I caught my breath at a Starbucks then toured the city –drive by style–and saw the highlights.

Below is the Capitol building that lies at the foothills of the mountain I had just climbed–near the University of Utah.

After picking up Rachel, we headed north to Park City — the ski mecca of Utah. Of course, skiing wasn’t really going on while we were there, although snow was in the forecast. We were much more interested in gabbing and cruising the town–and what a cute town it is! The “Main Street” had art galleries, restaurants, shops and outrageously expensive pet clothing stores; needless to say–we were in heaven!

Rachel & Di hanging out on the lift chair

Main Street

Absurdly long staircases which have got to be damn near impossible to climb in the snow

One of 3 enormous resident Park City dogs at the doggie boutique

Rachel scoping out some night spots for when Jean meets up with us.

We drove back to Salt Lake to pick up Jean (only 30 minutes away) and then back to Park City to have some dinner and start our reunion! We ate at what we heard is THE hangout during the ski season: The No Name Saloon. The food was awesome and while we were outnumbered by like 75 to 3 in a men to women ratio — we had plenty of time for ourselves to visit and laugh before stopping off at Lindzee O’Michaels Mixologists (see above pic) for $2 Ladies Night. Did I mention that driving is not necessary in Park City? Everything is within walking distance to the hotels!

At the No Name Saloon we got our first taste of Polygamy Porter: Why have just one?

Relaxing at Mixologists. The place had some interesting people… & I don’t mean just us!

Rachel dancing to, what else? The Beastie Boys! Its as if the Girls Trip Reunion Gods were smiling on us!

to be continued…

Since I am headed to Utah tomorrow morning (very early, UGH) I thought I’d do a little informational post on some things about the state—and my connection to it.

1. It is the law, that birds have the right of way on any public highway.

2. In some counties in Utah, daylight must be visible between dancing couples. How is this enforced??

3. Utah has what I think is the coolest state animal: Rocky Mountain Elk.

4. My ancestors settled in Utah in the 1800′s as part of the influx of Mormon’s coming over from Europe (Sweden in my case). While I am not Mormon, some of my extended family is and my previous trips to Utah have been a great representation of geneology. My great-aunt, a Professor at BYU, remained in touch with a family that lives on the property once owned by my great-great-great-great Grandmother and that still has the cabin her son Charles (my ggg Grandfather) built when he was 14 and new to this country. Years ago I visited that cabin in which the current owners have decorated with antiques from the time period of the cabin’s creation. No one resides in the cabin–but it is often used for the current owner’s family Christmas celebrations. Touring the cabin and the grounds is one of my fondest memories and when I saw the Swedish newspapers breaking through the walls that were used as insulation when Charles built the cabin really impressed upon me the reality of the hardships my family had as immigrants: a new country, a new language, a new life.

diana in front of the cabin

diana in the loft of the cabin

5. Utah has the highest literacy rate in the nation. Wow. Interesting.

6. Utah is home to two of the largest dinosaur graveyards in North America: Dinosaur National Monument in the northern part of the state and the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry in east central Utah.

7. Utah does not allow alcohol to be served on election day.

More to come…

As many of us already know, the train is the way to go when traveling through Europe. Since not everyone has the luxury of time or even if you do, but want to get out of town quickly (i.e., fallout with your travel partner, a small misunderstanding with the French police) or feel your schedule is getting a bit cramped, a sleeper car on an overnight train can be a perfect solution. Aside from it being a budget friendly choice, sleeping while traveling at night kills two birds with one stone by saving money AND time.

I’ve traveled through all of Western Europe by train with my eurail pass. Various ticket choices are available for however many days and train rides you plan on taking. Of course you can buy your tickets at each stop as you go along, but for those on a budget this can get costly.

Aside from smelling the worst smell that I have ever smelled in my life (seriously, it woke me from a dead sleep) in my 4 bed sleeper car on an overnight train from Paris to Barcelona–most of my rides were non-eventful and I always felt great the next morning to have gained ground while sleeping.

In my pack, I carried a sleep sheet made of fleece (that my mom sewed for me). Fleece is nicer than the thin sheet most travel stores sell mainly because it is warm enough to be your sole bedding. I recommend to anyone who plans on overnight train travel or staying in a hostel (or if you are lucky enough to have an experience like I had and spend the night on a heart shaped bed with a zebra skin head board in the last available room you can find in all of Frankfurt that of course is in the red light district),to pack one of these… and to wash it often.

As I was saying, most of my overnight rides were uneventful–that is until I got to Austria.

On this particular leg of my trip through Europe I was actually on work assignment with my then-job so the train tickets from Vienna to Amsterdam were covered for my travel partner (my friend Sheryl) and me. We felt we were living the high life as we purchased two first-class overnight tickets in our very own sleeper cabin.

diana on the tracks

Fritz, the concierge for our particular car who had a severe case of jazz hands, was overly eager to assist us with our every imaginable need. He gave us a tour of our cabin–and while it was larger than the normal cabin, it was still small and his tour really could have been conducted from the hallway. He explained how our table folded down and how to push it back up against the wall. He showed us how each light switch turned on and off and probably the only useful thing, was how to adjust the air conditioning. As he headed to the door to leave us, he stopped suddenly–his face serious and his stance firm. He held one finger up and with his thick accent in a hoarse whisper said: “do not forget to lock the door”. Looking at each of us, he repeated the statement slowly then added, “You must be safe”. With a click of the lock as well as securing the chain at the top of the door we thanked Fritz, rolled our eyes at each and laughed!
Before we had time to open our complimentary first class sparkling water there was a rap at the door. Sheryl unlocked the bolt and opened the door with the upper chain still fastened. Peering out the gap we saw Fritz slowly shaking his finger at us for opening the door. He was a bit freaky, I mean, was he warning us of his psycho alter ego?

sheryl sitting at the table fritz folded down for us

The laughs from Fritz’s oddness boiled over as we tried to move about our bedroom. Seriously, this was first class??!! There were 2 thin bunk beds, a reading light at each bunk and a small window. Sheryl is about three inches taller than me so she took the top bunk. There was no way we could both fit into the room at the same time so while I sat on my bed unable to sit straight, Sheryl stood in the doorway while we recapped our day. Neither of us were very comfortable in our respective positions so we decided to get some sleep. Our car was last in the train and as I was dozing off to sleep the swaying seemed somewhat more pronounced but it still had that soothing effect I looked forward to on night trains.

diana “sitting” on her bed

sheryl taking up the entire doorway. note the old school camera!

The route we were traveling though seemed to have more curves than normal and the swaying started to resemble that game you play as a kid at the roller-rink–the Whip I think its called; do you know what I am talking about? The last person in the chain of people gets whipped around the rink trying their hardest to hang on and not get “whipped” off.
I remember sliding up and down my bed vertically and a couple times even holding onto the bars of the bunk above me to try & keep still. Sheryl of course had the same problem and for some reason we weren’t scared–just sort of along for the ride and our laughs started up again until we heard a loud whoosh sound and then heard nothing but the train whirring along the tracks.
The night light I had turned on went out, the air-conditioning vent shut off and we could hear commotion in the hallway. Fritz was knocking on each door letting people know that the electricity was out and he wasn’t sure if it would be back on. The train kept moving and the room was starting to get warm with the a/c off. Fritz was passing out sparkling water and advising everyone to open our doors to let air circulate–but he was quick to point out that we shouldn’t fall asleep so as we would all stay safe. Sheryl and I threw the idea around that maybe the lights out and the doors open were all part of Fritz’s master plan–or his alter ego’s master plan…and our laughs came on even stronger while we waited out the electricity while toasting each other with our water.

We did end up making it to Amsterdam safe and sound and we had a fabulous time all over the Netherlands… but thats info for future posts! By the way, the power in the train did come back on after about 3 hours.

So–enjoy your train rides and do try an overnight route if you haven’t before.
Just remember: Avoid the last car, even if it is first class; if your concierge is named Fritz, keep your door locked and most important–keep laughing!

amsterdam by day

amsterdam by night

Two Tuesdays in a row now in the great city of New York it has been rainy and dreary.
No me gusta! Last week I posted a photo to help me escape from the rain. Today I am embracing this spring weather by celebrating the rain and the green landscape it produces!

This photo was taken in Central Park a couple of years ago around this time–on a rainy day.

Amazingly, I had a day with nothing scheduled on my calendar so I decided to do one of my favorite things: play tourist. My destination this time was Brooklyn–the hip Borough.

view of the bridge

Brooklyn water tower

Brooklyn is known for many things. Some call it the new “Seattle” for its music scene. So many bands are coming out of Brooklyn right now that its hard to keep up (my fave currently: TV on the Radio). The NJ Nets will soon make Brooklyn its new home thanks to a Russian billionaire that has a passion for basketball and this borough. It is the home of stroller pushing mothers that work their mandatory hours at the local, yet uppity co-op; large parks that host pickup games of all types; and, it also seems to be the place to live if you (men) want to sport a throwback mustache, Tom Selleck circa ’84 style. I can’t believe all of the ‘staches I see here and maybe its ’cause I don’t live here but I gotta say big N.O. no on that look making a comeback. The only guys I think look good with a mustache, in this order, are 1) Tom Selleck and 2) my dad. However- seems that I am the minority in this line of thinking since Brooklyn did host the 2009 NYC Beard and Mustache Championship.

But I digress…

Brooklyn street

Aside from roaming the quaint brownstone lined streets and and shopping at the some of the best stores around (such as my favorite bookstore Spoonbill & Sugartown), I enjoy noticing the seemingly acceptable, ample amounts of street art. The street art I am talking about could also be called graffiti, but the photos I am posting here will show that the graffiti stereotype of wall litter and/or tagging wouldn’t be appropriate. Enjoy and let me know where you enjoy browsing street art.

a little live art

It’s a pretty dreary day here today so I am posting the photo that takes me to my happy place–a newly discovered one located in Jost van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. Just a little to the right of that pink roofed house, laying in the sand on a nearly empty beach with the warm waves gently rolling over me. Ahhhhh.

For those that think NYC is a concrete jungle–well, they are sort of right… but what you may not know, the city has many parks spread throughout not just Manhattan, but also through the other boroughs. When the words “park” and “New York” are mentioned, one often thinks of Central Park, but now that may change. One of the newest parks to hit the city and definitely the one getting the most press these days is the High Line Park.

The High Line is on the lower West Side of the city starting in the Meatpacking District (very trendy area full of restaurants and in general just a neat place to be) around 16th Street note: for those of you familiar with NYC but not super familiar, Madison Square Garden and the Macy’s store are around 33rd/34th so to walk, briskly, from 33rd to 16th it’d take about 40 min) This isn’t just a regular park–its an elevated walkway that allows you to traverse the West Side above the city streets with sweeping views of the Hudson river on one side and the city on the other.

heart of the Meatpacking District

Tasteful food vendors are scattered around selling Gelato and pretzels while sunbathers and those wanting to escape for a while with a book or a friend take a seat in one of the oversized teak lounge chairs that are plentiful (but get pretty full on a sunny weekend day). Currently the park is just in its first phase of completion. Once all phases are completed, the park will be a mile-and-a-half-long running through not just the Meatpacking District but also through the neighborhoods of West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen.

me enjoying the teak lounge chair with a random woman beside me

I discovered the High Line when it first opened. I was down in the Meatpacking anyway having lunch at a cute place–5 Ninth where by the way I had possibly the best Cobb Salad I have ever had. After lunch I walked the park and marveled at the views and how it felt like such an escape from the streets below.

5 Ninth

You may be wondering, as I did, how this Park was dreamt up considering the fact that its elevated and how much work that must have been to get it built and up and going with this economy and NYC’s budget issues… Well, it was actually a pre-existing structure constructed in the 1930′s to lift freight trains up off the streets of Manhattan. As you walk the park you see the beautiful landscaping planted in and around the old existing railroad tracks. Pretty neat.

Since that first visit, I have been back many times and below are some of the pictures from those visits.

the still existing railroad tracks have been used as part of the landscape

the empire state building peeking out

elevated!

a jazz band playing out of their apartment–next to the High Line

just a sampling of the gorgeous sites you will see from the High Line (billboard)

Check out the High Line in person AND on their website for hours and construction information.

ROME! During my backpacking trip through Europe I snapped this photo while touring the Coliseum.

The picture cannot do justice to the size of this building nor the feeling of disbelief I had knowing I was walking in the same area where gladiators fought for their lives with the cheers and boos of the crowd as their soundtrack.