Day 20

I woke up this morning in Hurricane, Utah planning to spend the next two days exploring Zion National Park but that didn't exactly work out the way I had planned. When I woke up VERY early that morning to photograph the sunrise, I felt awful with a nasty cough and sore throat... I had planned to hike the Zion Narrows today which is an amazing hike deep in a canyon where you are actually walking in and through the Virgin River. Doing that hike while sick seemed like a really bad idea and result in me getting even sicker...

Considering there was still 10 days on this trip with several more destinations / activities on the agenda, I made a decision to sacrifice today and focus on getting better. I made a quick trip to the local grocery store to stock up on soup, vitamin C, and medication and stayed in bed all day...

Since I had sequestered myself in my motel room, I decided to use the opportunity to do some reading and reflection on what my next career looks like since I've decided to leave BenefitSpecialists.

The last year I've been part of a entrepreneurial coaching program and one of their core tenets is this idea of Unique Ability. The idea that everyone has a skill or ability that they are exceedingly good at, perhaps the best in the world at it, and they fundamentally love doing it... One of the things this program talks about is identifying that unique ability and trying to spend as much time as possible doing it.

Between doses of soup and vitamin C, I re-read sections of the book on unique ability and tried to identify things in prior experiences that I loved doing and am passionate about. One of the common threads across all of my experiences from the time I was very young to today is a passion for education. I've always been innately curious the guy who is always asking questions to dig deeper and deeper into an issue. Frankly this probably drove people nuts when I was in school or even training for a couple of jobs but I always wanted to know more about something or why is that the case...

On the flip side, one of things I've loved about all of my jobs is the opportunity to teach and educate people on complex tops. One of the things I've done successfully and really love doing is take complex topics and communicating them in a way that resonates with an audience. Whether doing it with technology, insurance contracts, or healthcare reform. Synthesizing a complex topic down to it's essence and then sharing that information is something I really love doing and people seem to think I'm good at.

One of the big questions for me going forward is how I leverage this is my career going forward; hopefully to do something I'm passionate about. Time will tell as I continue this process of self discovery and hopefully it will end somewhere exciting...

Thanks for reading my blog and as always any questions / comments please post below or email me at chris@pricelessperspectives.com

Day 19

My last blog post ended with me leaving Bryce around 11 PM and headed to my next destination in Page, Arizona. The drive to Page was several hours long and I was short on sleep to begin with so mid way into the journey I had to grab a five hour energy to ensure a safe drive. After a several hour drive I hit Page about 2:30 AM and pulled into the first hotel parking lot available. I didn't have a hotel reservation for that night since the plan would only allow for about 3 hours of sleep before getting up at dawn for another day of photography. I tried to get comfortable in my rental Chevy HHR and make the best of the limited time available to sleep.

Quickly I learned that sleeping in a car at my age is a REALLY bad idea and after a very restless night started my car and headed to Wal-Mart. After picking up a couple of items at Wal-Mart and getting directions to my next destination I was off to Horseshoe Bend. Horseshoe Bend is point in the Colorado River where it takes a complete 180 degree bend around a giant cliff and there is a really nice viewpoint about a mile off the main highway.

The directions I found online indicated that Horseshoe Bend was past a specific mile marker on the right and down a dirt road... I found that road and started cruising down it in my Chevy HHR and things were going smoothly until the road went from compacted dirt to very soft and very not compacted sand. In case a certain rental car company is reading this, I can't say exactly what happened when I hit the soft sand but it was an interesting morning...

Turns out the road I went down was NOT the right road for Horseshoe Bend but after getting better directions from someone, I arrived mid morning. Unfortunately, the sun had risen too high by then and a nasty shadow was cast across the middle of the canyon so photography was out. So I decided to alter my schedule slightly and check out Antelope Canyon! This was the main reason I came to Page and is something of a Mecca for photographers for good reason.

Antelope Canyon is one of many slot canyons on Navajo tribal land in this part of the country. The canyon is made out of sandstone and has been formed through erosion primarily due to water from flash floods. When it rains, the water carries sand into canyons and as it rushes downhill it expands the canyon and creates these very cool flowing shapes in the canyon walls. It's incredibly difficult to describe how beautiful this place is but it was one of the coolest places I have ever seen... I'll let a few pictures from Antelope and Rattlesnake Canyon do the talking:

Our group of photographers that day:

These are just a handful of the nearly 1000 pictures I took of Antelope Canyon and I would highly encourage anyone reading this to check out these slot canyons if you happen to be in Arizona. After leaving the slot canyons, I grabbed a quick dinner at McDonalds and then went back to Horseshoe Bend for sunset. After going down the right road and arriving at the trailhead, grabbed my camera gear and began the ¾ mile hike down a sand trail to the viewpoint. Once arriving at the view, I realized that a small piece of my tripod was back in my car which means taking sunset pictures is very difficult if not impossible...

Having not slept well and already been out all day, I didn't feel like trekking back to my car and back again to the viewpoint so I decided to make the best of a bad situation. Here are a couple views of Horseshoe Bend taken before giving up with no tripod available...

After the hike back to my car I began yet another late night drive this time to Hurricane, Utah which is nearby Zion National Park. On the plus side, this time I got to my destination by 10 PM and wisely booked a hotel with a comfortable bed to sleep in! This proved to be very important on Day 20 as you will hear about shortly. Thanks for reading my blog and as always any questions / comments please post below or email me at chris@pricelessperspectives.com

Day 18

This was a big day on my journey and I had specifically planned a chunk of my trip around being in Bryce Canyon on this day for a very specific reason. I mentioned on my last blog that Bryce is one of the premier sites for astronomers and stargazing in the entire country. The reason I wanted to be at Bryce today is there is a full moon which means great light and shadows engulf the canyon at night which should mean excellent photographic opportunities. In addition, the park rangers lead guided hikes by moonlight into the canyon on a handful of days each year and today happened to be one of those days.

However, these hikes are very popular and they limit the number of tickets available which means getting up very early and waiting outside the ranger station before they open at 8 AM. After getting up around 6:30 and throwing on a couple layers of clothes, I arrived at the ranger station about 7:15 to find about 50 people in line already... I wasn't sure how many tickets they had available but decided to wait it out and hope for the best. Eventually I reached the front of the line with the ranger still having tickets and he explained there were two hikes that night. A moonlight hike down into Bryce Canyon which was filled and a moonlight hike along the rim of the canyon which still had some tickets left. I was disappointed since the plan was the moonlight hike down into the canyon but it was better than nothing.

Fortunately, I started chatting with a few women in line who expressed the same disappointment about the hike and we decided to inquire about doing our own group hike into the canyon. We asked the Bryce Canyon rangers about the possibility and they said it was fine but encourage us to scout the trail in the daylight before doing it at night. So we made plans to all scout the trail this afternoon individually and met back up at 8:15 to embark on a moonlight adventure in the depths of Bryce Canyon surrounded by the Hoodoos.

I had about 12 hours to kill between the moonlight hike so decided to split my day into two sections. First, I decided to spent the day viewing Bryce Canyon from the rim and multiple viewpoints that are all available either at or a very short walk from the road. All of these view points were from up above the canyon and looking down at the Hoodoos and other geological features of the canyon. Some pictures from this morning are below:

Paria View

Inspiration Point and the hundreds of Hoodoos all over Bryce Amphitheater

Natural bridge, which is not really a bridge and instead an arch; meaning it has been carved by weather over time and not rushing water like most arches.

After hitting the major viewpoints along the canyon rim, I spent the afternoon hiking down in the canyon to scout for the moonlight hike later that night. Since the path for our hike tonight was not set I decided to hike the three major trails in the canyon including Queens Garden, Navajo Loop, and Peekaboo Loop. Combined these were just under 10 miles with more elevation change than I expected and just made it back before the moonlight hike was to start. On the plus side, the perspective of the Hoodoos down in canyon was dramatically different and had some cool photographic opportunities. A few sample pictures are below:

After getting completing my “scout” hike and a very quick snack for dinner; I met up with the ladies from this morning for our moonlight hike into the canyon. We waited until well past the moon rise to ensure we had sufficient light to start the hike. We hoped to not use any artificial light so enough moonlight was crucial... Some pictures from that evening are below:

After the midnight hike, I had to start a long drive to Page, Arizona for the next day of my trip... Quick dose of caffeine and the drive was on! Since the drive bled over into Day 19 the story will continue on my next blog update. Thanks for reading my blog and as always any questions / comments please post below or email me at chris@pricelessperspectives.com

Day 17

Today was a long travel and began with getting up before dawn to make the long drive from San Diego to Long Beach for my Jet Blue flight. Having made this drive a couple of days ago and dealing with the brutal traffic I didn't want to take any chances of missing the one flight to Salt Lake City that morning. The drive was smooth and arrived in Long Beach with plenty of time for my flight which ended up being delayed anyway.

After landing in Salt Lake City, I had to swing by a camera store to pick up a graduated nuetral density filter since I sadly sat on mine and cracked it a couple of days ago in Portland. A quality GND is an absolute requirement for great landscape shots and which I hoped to get lots of over my next few days in Utah and Arizona hitting some of the most beautiful places in North America.

My first destination on the Salt Lake City leg of my trip was Bryce National Park which is about three hundred miles away so I began the long drive through Utah. The drive through Utah at some points reminded me of west Texas in that it was very dry with few cities and cars in site. Beautiful scenery was all around with spectacular mountains and views in nearly every direction. Late that afternoon I arrived in Tropic, Utah where I checked into my motel for the night. Driving through Tropic, Utah reminded me of the fictional city of Radiator Springs in the Pixar movie CARS. Especially the dozens of old motels from the 1950's with the pitched roofs, old school neon, and single story L shaped building containing maybe 20 rooms. After checking into my room and dumping my suitcase, I grabbed my camera and made the 30 minute drive to Bryce Canyon where I hoped to get some decent pictures before the sun went down.

First, some background information on Bryce National Park courtesy of Wikipedia.

“The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon which, despite its name, is not actually a canyon but a giant natural amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by wind, water and ice erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular vistas for park visitors. Bryce is at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet (2,400 to 2,700 m).”

I got to Bryce National Park shortly before sunset and headed to Bryce point which has a great view of of the amphitheater and hoodoos in every direction you could look. A few of my favorite pictures from this evening are below:

Approaching the viewpoint at Bryce Point.

View down into the Canyon, the green patches are large groves of trees for a sense of scale.

View looking west with the cliffs in the background and the hoodoos in the foreground.

Full moon rising over the canyon, notice the purple haze / light surrounding the moon above the horizon. Bryce is very dark with little artificial light or clouds. As a result it is considered one of the premier stargazing / astronomy sites in North America.

With the sun gone for the day and the moon quickly rising in the sky, I decided to head back to Tropic and made a quick stop at the grocery store for supplies. I knew for the next several days I would be spending almost all my time in the various national parks so quick and easy food was paramount. After stocking up on beef jerky, granola, and fruit I headed back to my motel with an early and cold morning planned for Day 18. Stay tuned to my blog for the next update, tomorrow proves to be a very interesting day.

Day 16

Today was my first and only day in San Diego and I had one thing on the agenda, check out as much of the San Diego Zoo as possible. I'd heard great things about this zoo and wanted to dedicate nearly a full day to soaking it all in. I left my hotel early that morning and got to the zoo shortly after it opened. The San Diego Zoo is gigantic with over 8000 species on 107 acres which was impossible to cover in just over 9 hours... I started with a bus tour off the Zoo which gave me a decent idea of the layout and what areas I wanted to hit up over the rest of the day.

One of the things that really sets the San Diego Zoo apart from other zoo's I have visited in the past is the way they try to showcase the animals in a natural habitat with limited barriers between you and them. Which means it's much easier to take pictures of the beautiful animals around every corner of this zoo. With no further delay; here are some pictures from the San Diego Zoo.

Clyde, a 300 lbs Male Orangutan

Nameless Female Gorilla chilling under a tree to keep cool.

Bonobo, a kind of small chimpanzee.

Mallard Duck shaking it's wings.

Kalluk, the male polar bear with two interesting facts:

1. Polar Bears can eat 140 lbs of food at a time!

2. Polar Bears are HUGE... At 180 lbs, I weigh about the same as a 1 year old polar bear cub.

Giant Panda Bear cub, these are very rare in the states and the San Diego Zoo is one of only a handful of zoos outside of China that have these on exhibit. FYI, adult giant panda eat 25-30 lbs of bamboo in a single day!

Koala Bears, most of these animals do not much if any water and get the moisture they require from the eucalyptus leaves they eat.

Baby giraffe, did you know that giraffe horns lay flat when they are born and they are the only horns that are covered with skin as adults?

One of the last places I stopped was the childrens section of the zoo and they had a building called “Spineless Marvels”. Having no idea what was inside but my curiosity peaked, I had to check it out and was not disappointed. The building contained some of the most interesting insects I had ever seen close up.

After leaving the San Diego Zoo I decided to head to Sunset Cliffs which were supposed to be one of the best places to watch the sunset. There is really no beach to speak off here and instead very rocky cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean which are quite beautiful. I got my tripod and camera gear setup and waited for the sun to fall... Here is what I came up with.

Finally, I was heading back to my hotel and needed to grab something for dinner... I decided to check Yelp on my phone and there was a BBQ joint close by with rave reviews. I was dubious about how California bbq could compare to the plethora of great places in Texas but the reviews persuaded me to check it out. As I walked up to Phil's BBQ I noticed a line which seemed odd for a restaurant and was floored when I realized the line was probably 200 + people long... I made my way to the take out line and ordered some pork ribs to go and actually briefly met the owner who was very friendly. Let me just say these were some of the best ribs I've ever had and if you are ever in San Diego checking out Phil's BBQ is an absolute must, finger licking good!

Thanks for reading my blog and as always any questions / comments please post below or email me at chris@pricelessperspectives.com

Day 15

Today was a big day and had plans to meet up with 25 other Jet Blue “All You Can Jetters” to attend a taping of the Price is Right. After a quick shower and breakfast, I headed over to The Grove to meet up with other people in our group and head over to CBS. We arrived at the staging area for the Price is Right and began a long wait for the taping to start. Couple things to note about this process:

1. CBS is very clear about no cameras / phones during this process so unfortunately no pictures, which is sad but I had to follow their rules to get anywhere near the studio.

2. If you ever plan on attending The Price is Right be prepared to do a lot of waiting around before showtime.

We arrived about 8:30 and checked in with the Price is Right staff; because we were part of a large group we were guaranteed seats for the morning taping. If you are not part of a large group; the seats are assigned on a first come / first serve basis and some people had arrived at 2 AM that morning. They were prepared to wait over 12 hours for the chance to be on the Price is Right; which seemed crazy to me.

After waiting around for an hour, our group was told to sit on a bench in a specific order and we were given paperwork to fill out. We had to provide our name, contact info, and social security numbers to CBS in the even we won, because income taxes are required on anything you win. We also had to fill out a questionnaire telling the show about us, what we did, why we wanted to be on the show, etc. Basically it was your pitch about why they should pick you to be called down to Contestants Row. I was surprised to know that the people were not picked at random to be on the show and instead are screened by the producers.

After going through a couple drafts of my pitch to the producers, I finally got the card filled out and the waiting continued. Eventually our group reached a Price is Right team member where I got my official Price is Right name tag, hopefully they would be calling my name soon!

After some more waiting we eventually reached the producers where, 10 people at a time were lined up and the producer talked to us each for about 30 seconds. Quick question like what do you, why do you want to be on the show, etc. After waiting for nearly three hours, those 30 seconds flew by and I enthusiastically answered his question hoping it would be enough to get me on the show. After meeting the producers we were ushered through security where we had to empty our pockets including cell phones which were left with the security personnel.

The waiting continued but now they had flat screen TV's playing Price is Right reruns which just ramped up the energy level even more. Our entire group was practicing our pricing skills and getting ready to win big on the show. About 1 PM nearly five hours after arriving we began walking into the Bob Barker Studio. Music was blaring, people were dancing, and it was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever seen. Walking into a place I had never been before but it seemed so familiar and comfortable at the same time. It was the Price of Right for crying out loud, an American institution, and I was about to be part of that for the next hour or so.

The studio was much smaller than I had anticipated and only held about 300 people, with a small stage, and three doors where the prizes / games would come out from behind. I was not allowed to bring my camera inside but found a few pictures online that show the inside of the studio.

After everyone was seated the producer came out and gave us some details on the show, which the main one was have fun and act crazy excited, which wasn't a problem for everyone in the studio. He also mentioned that we have a 1 in 29 chance of being called down into contestants row and a chance to win thousands in prizes, best odds of any game show on TV. This had the crowd going nuts, screaming, clapping, cheering, etc. Our entire group made a pact that when someone from our group won the showcase showdown, everyone in our group would come streaming onto the stage and get some national tv exposure.

The show started shortly there after with Drew Carey coming out and calling the first four people down to contestants to row. The show moved quickly with pricing game after pricing game with no one from our but no one from our group was called down to contestants row until the very last slot. Suddenly the announcer called out Nicholas from our group, who I had spent the last few hours talking to and was sitting next to at the taping. He jumped up / screamed and our entire group did the same! I'm not sure what my reaction was but suffice it to say it was capture and will be on national TV at some point.

Sadly, Nicholas didn't make it on stage and before you knew it the show was over and we were filling out of the studio. The show will air on October 12^th if you want to check it out, our group is in blue in the left / rear section of the studio and keep an eye on the last contestant called to contestants row, you will clearly see me in light blue polo shirt.

Overall, the Price is Right was a great experience and if you ever find yourself in Southern California with half a day or so free, check it out. It's an American institution and something you will never forget, even if you don't make it on stage. After leaving the show I decided to head south down to San Diego after a quick bite of lunch at a local diner.

Part of the reason for the trip was to see various parts of the country to see about moving if the right opportunity presents itself. Southern California was quickly eliminated off this list because the traffic here is AWFUL. The waitress at the diner where I had a late lunch though it would take a couple hours to get from Long Beach to San Diego but it turned out to be nearly four hours of stop and go traffic with no apparent reason for the slowdowns. No wrecks, no construction, nothing just constantly going from 70 down to 20, rinse and repeat a few dozen times over a few hours.

Finally, I made it to San Diego and made plans for the following day which includes hitting the San Diego Zoo! Thanks for reading my blog and as always any questions / comments please post below or email me at chris@pricelessperspectives.com

Day 14

My last day in Portland and I decided to head back to the Colombia River Gorge to do some hiking with decent light. The weather that day was cloudy and overcast; as it is often in Portland so decided to do a hike in the gorge near the river and not to a vista that would likely be shrouded in clouds. After checking out a map of the region, I decided to hike the Onenata Trail which hits several waterfalls including Horsetail falls.

The hike was beautiful beautiful over the several mile trail but about halfway through I came to a realization... On every hike I take there is a really steep section where you keep climbing, muscles burn, heart pumping fast, shallow breathing, etc. Immediately, following every really steep section like that there is a section of trail where you seem to go back down a lose all the precious elevation you just gained. What's the deal with all this up, down, up, down, up, down, etc. on every single trail. It's really frustrating and it happened constantly on this hike. I'm sure there is an excellent reason for this but it couldn't come up with it, if anybody knows please share!

Some pictures from the hike are below:

A small unnamed waterfall near the start of the trail.

View of the Colombia River Gorge I found doing a little exploring off the beaten path, notice how cloudy it is Portland. Apparently this is normal and results in Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD which is a really problem for some people in the Pacific Northwest.

Upper Horsetail falls, notice how the water falls away from the cliff into a slight curve similar to a horse's tail.

The trail actually continues into a cave of sorts where you hike behind upper horsetail fall, which is a pretty interesting perspective of a waterfall you rarely see.

Further down the trail, we saw Lower Horsetail which is MUCH taller than upper with a couple distinct levels.

I decided to break out my macro lens which allows me to take very detailed pictures of small things. It's a nice change of pace from shooting huge waterfalls and really forces me to focus on the details around me to find interesting things to shoot. Macro photography is a lot of fun for me since I can spend hours in a very small area taking pictures of things we normally walk right by.

After a full day in the Colombia Gorge, I had to drive back to Portland catch my next JetBlue flight. After making the quick drive back to the city and dropping my rental car back to Enterprise I boarded my flight to Long Beach, California. I'd never spent any length of time in Southern California before and was looking forward to the experience. The main reason for this trip was a meetup of a couple dozen other Jet Blue All You Can Jetters to visit quite possibly the best game show ever... The Price is Right!

I landed in Long Beach at 8 PM and after getting a free rental car upgrade to a Toyota Camry Hybrid, how appropriate for southern California is that? I drove the long drive from Long Beach to Burbank where the CBS studios are. I met a couple other Jet Bluer's at a motel right next to the studio and we crashed for the night. Dreaming of winning big on the Price is Right; stay tuned for my next update to see how I did.

As always any questions / comments please post below or email me at chris@pricelessperspectives.com