Ger and Kenji both say everything in America is bigger. Ger points out car engines in particular: he doesn't get why we need an engine that's capable of taking us over the maximum speed limit. Also, we apparently drive a lot more than they do. Both these things, I tell them, probably have to do with the fact America is, geographically speaking, a bigger country. We have more room, so why not use it.
They're also kind of amazed when I bring up the fact I started out this trip with a 9mm pistol. Japanese and Dutch gun laws are much stricter, and even though Ger seems to be more in support of the stricter laws, both of them want to go to a gun range before leaving the country.
They also teach me things about their countries I find interesting. For instance, Ger says in the Netherlands, the meat is not the main portion of a meal, the vegetables are. If he were to call his mom and ask what she was cooking, she could very possibly tell him the vegetables and not even mention the meat. If I were to call my mom and ask that same question, she would say the meat first and I could very possibly hang up the phone because that's the only part of the meal I care about: 'Merica.
Ger says it seems much harder to make a living working in America. In the Netherlands, taxes are much higher, but the government hands out enough to those in need for everyone to at least be able to own a living area and food.
“Pretty much the only people who are homeless are people who want to be homeless.”
I ask him if he prefers having that safety net there or would like the American way of less taxes with more risk; he prefers the Dutch way.
“I like the feeling of security in case something goes wrong.”
Both say their countries crime rates are pretty low. Ger points out something crime related I thought was kind of disturbing though: in the Netherlands, if someone breaks into your house to take your stuff and you hurt him bad enough, with for example a baseball bat, the person who broke in may have the right to sue you. Everything else about the country just made it seem very liberal; whether I agreed with it or not, all the ideas were normal, understandable ideas. But being sued for defending your property is a little topsy turvy to me, even though I'm sure there are similar laws in America somewhere.
I ask Kenji if the Yakuza are really like they are in the movies. He says Yakuza only actually fight with other Yakuza, unless you borrowed money from them or something and didn't pay them back. Then they cut out your tongue.
Sometimes we'll be discussing a numerical value, like speed or length, and it's slightly funny for me to hear them both trying to convert the value from American to metric, though I tell them, “I wish America would switch to metric.” Ger says, “EVERYONE wishes they would,”: apparently, it's a pain in the ass for the entire rest of the world to have to deal with American conversions. Come on America, let's get it together: let's go metric.
There's more discussion about various topics; all the differences are interesting. It seems the Netherlands are pretty much a very liberal version of America. Kenji doesn't talk as much, partly due to being in the back seat, partly due to the language barrier, so I don't figure out as much about Japan, but I know enough to not borrow money from the Yakuza.
When we first started driving I realized I forgot my Park pass and we had to waste a few minutes turning around to get it. When we arrive at the gate, there's a sign saying, "Free for Winter Season". This is not the first time I've gotten into a park for free even though I bought a park pass. The best time was Arches, when I pulled up to the gate and a sign saying, "Out to lunch, go in for free," was posted on the window.
When I travel to a National Park, I generally try to find the biggest, baddest thing and go up that so I feel like I never have to come back again. Ger and Kenji are more into winging it: they just start riding the road, stop at some observation points, find a trail, decide whether or not it looks good enough to hike, and repeat. I didn't have anything particular in mind to look at in Canyonlands so it's a good change of pace.
Canyonlands is divided into 3 distinct sections: The Maze, The Needles, and The Island in the Sky; we explored the Island area. The first trail we took was, ironically, to an arch, even though we'd all been to Arches the day before.
It's here I learn Kenji loves to climb. Ger tells me, "Yesterday, every arch we came to, this guy had to climb on it."
Sometimes I try to take pictures from over the edge to see how far down it is. I'm very careful about not positioning too much of my weight near the edge though. Kenji sees me doing this and laughs at me.
"Why is so much of your waist away from the edge?"
"I heard about this guy who climbed Long's Peak. He got all the way to the top, decided to look over the edge, and a gust of wind blew him off the mountain."
"Oh."
Kenji takes a couple steps away from the edge.
We leave the arched trail and drive on. Along the way I hear some ripping and smell something familiar.
Me: "Kenji...is that oatmeal?"
Kenji: "GARGLEGARGLEGARGLEGARGLE."
All: *laughter*
Ger: "Allow me to translate: he says he tries to have 3 packs a day."
Kenji is eating raw, microwaveable oatmeal in the backseat.
Ger: "Oatmeal packets - that is one thing America does not make big."
This is The Island in the Sky. According to the information stands around the area, the Island was made similar to how the arches were: cracks are made in the ground, water seeps in, that water freezes, and pieces of the ground break off of the canyon initially made with a river. And suddenly, a thought clicks in my head: this is a huge pothole. Pot holes are often made the same way: cracks develop in the asphalt, water seeps in and freezes, and they collapse; that's why you'll suddenly see more during a wet winter.
On the rims of the island you'll notice the color of the sand changes from red to a yellowish white. Before the collapse of the pothole, the land in this area was built like any other land: in layers. The reason the rims of the island have refused to collapse is because those layers just happened to be developed with a harder sediment, so they don't develop cracks or erode nearly as easily. So rather than be sloped, the island has a very distinct edge to it. Here's a close up of some rock formations that have also developed because of a hard layer: you can see the yellow sediment on top.
While walking, we get a close up look at some layering as well.
As well as the unexpected sight of a plant growing between two layers of rock.
A couple old ladies tell us not to get so close to the edge and I hear 1 of them mutter how stupid we are for doing it: just because YOU need Nordic Walking Poles to traverse flat terrain doesn't mean we can't stabilize ourselves enough to not get blown off an edge from 6 feet away. Aside from that, nothing too exciting happens, so we go back to the hostel. Here's a few other shots from Canyonlands:
Back at the Lazy Lizard, Glen is busy ironing a shirt. The night before he'd told us he had a job interview in 2 days. Even though he travels all over, he enjoys Moab the most, so he's excited about the opportunity to get paid to stick around. He does not, however, have much experience with job interviews, and if I recall correctly, not much was actually none. Not being the type to wear a button down shirt, he's been learning and executing the ironing task for 4 hours now.
I believe this was also around the time I met Harry. Harry is the one eyed man who runs the place during certain hours. I got the feeling he didn't care for me the night before, and I wasn't sure why. I'm pretty good about not looking at people's unwanted physical attributes, so I stared at him right between the eyes (you know what I mean), but I don't know what that looks like from a one-eyed perspective, so maybe he still thought I was staring at his missing eye and didn't like me for that. I decide the best idea is to stare at him in the one eye and start some conversation.
Harry works one of the later shifts at the Lazy Lizard, so he gets to rent out the room in the back as his own apartment. His grandfather owned a bakery, so he knows a lot about baking, which is why when I get back, he's baking bread (macadamia walnut I think). What he'd really like to do is start his own bakery, and based on the taste of his bread, which he lets everyone in the room try, he can do it. He came to Moab at a time when he didn't know what he was doing with his life but has collected himself since. And like any great man, he likes to ride motorcycles.
The nameless man left the hostel already, but the girls get back from their trip to Arches, and unlike most visitors, they're in dresses and heavy makeup.
“We like to take really good pictures.”
It's explained to me that Alex and Jazz don't like to take normal, rugged and dirty looking, photos. The girls instead go hiking one day, find spots where they would like to have pictures taken, and the next day dress up and put on makeup to go to those places and take more photogenic pictures. I have a look at them, and they are good - almost too good. I could swear they're using backdrops, like something that was taken in the back of a Sears.
Trying to take a shower this morning, I discovered I left my bodywash and shampoo in Wyoming (all yours Wes), so I head to a grocery store to get more. Ger had mentioned wanting to try doughnuts, so I pick up a dozen for he and Kenji to try. When I asked Kenji,
“What do ya think? Too sweet?”
“Yeah, too sweet.”
I figured as much; they were over iced even to me, and the consensus between them already seemed to be Americans put too much sugar and fat in everything. Ger says they're too sweet, too, but still alright.
After finding a way to hang up his shirt (he didn't have a coat hanger), Glen starts to polish a pair of black shoes he got from a thrift store today.
“It didn't come with instructions, so I'm just gonna assume it's like polishing a car.”
I google some instructions for him, but he seems to know every step before I tell him, so he must've been right.
The girls let everyone know they're going to have some drinks at a local bar tonight. Glen let's them know, “I don't wanna go out tonight because if I might have too much, and I don't wanna go to my interview hung over, but I will probably celebrate tomorrow night just for having made it through the interview.” Hearing this, I look at my schedule; yep, I've got somewhere else close by to go: I'm gonna stay another night to celebrate Glen's interview.
The first night at the hostel, it seems I got very lucky. Absolutely everyone I met was a pleasure to be around. Tonight though, it seems the slightly sketchier people are coming by. I'm not gonna point out any characters in particular, because I didn't have the time to know these people personally, but I definitely felt like I had a better chance of getting stabbed in my sleep.
Leaving for dinner, I decide it might be better, afterward, to meet up with the girls. Finding them in the bar, they're sitting with 3 other people. I assumed they were just other hostel patrons at first but find out 1 is a guy they met hiking, and the other 2 were just 2 guys in the restaurant when they walked in; there were no other seats in the bar area so they asked them if they could sit down: these girls are bold.
It's this night I really learn the things I mentioned in my last post: Jazz's gas masks and knives, Alex being a psychology major and tutor. Getting back to the hostel, the living room is nearly full with people watching the Olympics. Luckily, none of them look crazy.
Alex sits across from Glen to help him prep for his interview. The job Glen is applying for is a fire safety preparation position for the city of Moab. Neumont (my college) does a pretty good job of prepping you for interviews, so I jump in as well when I feel it helpful:
“How do you feel about Smokey the Bear?”
“I think he was a very good way to teach kids about fire safety and that made him a good thing.”
“Okay, well he's our competitor. We're thinking of coming up with our own mascot, Licky the Lizard, what do you think about that?”
“I think lizards are an important species here in Moab. You don't see a lot of bears but you see lizards everywhere, so I think it's a good way to teach the people of Moab about fire safety.”
“Good job, you even know how to handle stupid questions.”
“It's the stupid ones I'm good at!”
The Olympics go off, we get done prepping Glen, and eventually everyone goes to bed. Ger spent most of the night looking up jeep and dune buggy rentals. He decides he wants to rent a jeep and go 4x4ing somewhere. The next day, after his interview, Glen joins Ger and Kenji to show them the best places to go. I, however, have another National Park to visit.
Capitol Reef National Park, which, ironically, Kenji and Ger several times had to correct my English on (it is not Corral Reef National Park), is the location of the Waterpocket Fold. I never completely understood what that is, but the best I can come up with is that land which was once undersea rifted (or folded) due to shifting landmasses, and now it kinda sticks out of the air awkwardly.
I'll be honest: I was not looking particularly forward to this park. After going to Arches and Canyonlands, you start to see a pattern: there are lots of big rock formations in the southwest. It gets kind of boring really quickly (for me at least). Starting a trail, though, I quickly realized these rocks had something the others parks' rocks didn't have; these rocks had colors.
My eyes are immediately hit with what looks like a huge chunk of yellow chalk. Finally, a rock that's not red!
It doesn't show well here, but even the ground had purples and yellows in it.
And even though the formations of the rocks weren't what I was looking forward to here, they did have have some good ones, and the rift itself was particularly exciting to see:
Some more colors that aren't red:
I decide to take the Scenic Drive through the park.
Near the end, there's a dirt trail through a canyon. It looks very smooth at first, so I decide it's worth taking. Then it gets less smooth. By the time it gets really bumpy, I figure I'm so close to the end, it would take longer to turn around to get out than to continue. Finally it does end...at a dead end. So I return the same way I came in. Counting the entrances to Ramsey Cascades and Longs Peak, this would be the third time I've 4x4ed my 98 sedan and it turns out to not be the last.
The road to get to Capitol Reef from Moab is 2 and a half hours of mostly no humanity, but mostly no humanity normally means an awesome looking environment:
Returning to the Lazy Lizard, I hear of Ger, Glen, and Kenji's 4x4 adventure. Harry is making coconut amaretto cookies the size of biscuits. I don't even like coconut and they were amazing: someone give this man a bakery. The girls are gone: they left this morning to another national park and won't be back. And Bryce went to Arches again; he seems to love the place. Glen says his interview went well enough and later finds an email in his inbox requesting references. Ger suggest cooking dinner, so he, Glen, and Kenji go to the store to get groceries to make something. Bryce and I join by doing the dishes. I have no idea what they made, but it was delicious.
After returning the email, Glen is ready to head down town. The bar he wants to go to has a band playing tonight. When we get inside, they ask for Ids: Kenji doesn't have his. Between the noise and the language barriers, there's a lot of confusion. Eventually, Kenji and I make it outside; I'm expecting to drive him back to get some form of identification. He says he doesn't care for so much noise and would rather walk back, for the night, to cool off.
“Apparently, I am not worthy of the land of freedom.”
Going back inside, Ger and Glen are ordering beers. After getting them, we talk about the differences between an American and Dutch bar; a Dutch bar is not so lively. Glen ask about being crazy at a bar: how to be crazy at a bar, should you go crazy at a bar, just general being crazy at a bar stuff. It was an odd series of questions, but it appears my mass accumulation of being in bars knowledge is finally paying off.
Nothing particularly exciting happens while we're at the bar, but everyone seems to have a good time before heading back to my last night at the Lazy Lizard.
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