home for the holidays!

Ahoy,

This was probably the first time I was in Chicago for Christmas in a handful of years. And it was the first time my dad was home ever for this holiday. After what I assume was a successful and arduous run at a pretty popular and long-standing restaurant in Chinatown, they sold it. So my dad for the first time in his life has had time to do things that he wants to do. Mostly watch old Chinese war movies. I deemed this year necessary for us to be in Chicago.

Also, we drove the car from Chicago to LA. So we went car shopping with my folks wherein they very casually purchased a subaru forrester because they did not mind the look and size. A and I made the 2000+ mile trip from Chicago departing the day after Christmas. We loaded the car with snacks and beverages and buckled in for the first stretch from Chicago straight to Denver. There is nothing to look at and no reason to stop in the Midwest, so we deemed it wise to just go the 15 hours straight to the Rockies in one leg. We left around 7:30am and made it in around 9:30pm thanks to a new time zone! Fortunately, this would be the halfway mark leaving us more time in Utah to check out some national parks.

The second day started with a 5 hour drive to Arches National Park. There were more people waiting to get in than I thought, but I'm sure less crowded than a non-winter day. We made the rounds in 3 hours despite warnings of icy roads and trails. Weather warnings be damned! We are going to see some arches! They were super cool. A told me later he was most excited for this park. We'll definitely have to come back. We scrapped the idea of checking out Canyonlands, and made a beeline for our hotel right outside Capitol Reef National Park. What was supposed to be a 2.5 hour trip ended up taking about an hour longer because we missed the initial exit and A drove like a grandma. In his inexperience of winter driving, he thought the car would stop working. We ended up on this incredibly windy, icy road for about an hour, wherein we saw one other car quickly pass us and a rabbit. The temperature dipped to -10 and A continued to drive like a grandma because he thought it was so cold that the car would just stop running or we would run off the ice. Painfully slow. We arrived to the hotel to find out all the businesses close at 8 this time of year so we could not get dinner. I was a grumpy human that night. A was happy to have made it alive to a heated hotel room.

The next day we drove through Capitol Reef in about an hour and continued our journey to Zion. We decided to scrap the trip to Bryce because A was afraid of the ice. He was over the whole winter thing. We ended up with 3 hours in Zion, which was a perfect taster also to get in a couple short hikes on icy trails. I would guess he was the most impressed with Zion. I think he had lower expectations, but immediately he mentioned regretting our decision to cancel Zion earlier that year now seeing what he missed. Zion is a gorgeous, breathtaking, incredible piece of American terrain. Also, it looks a lot like California Adventure. Ironic. We will definitely be back.

We zipped over to Vegas that evening driving through some dramatic canyons and cliffs. So much more scenic than the Midwest, it's amazing all the different landscapes there are! We decided to get dinner at a restaurant on the strip and I immediately regretted my decision. The contrast of the Vegas scene and tourist to a National Park ecology is jarring to say the least. We were so happy to just do nothing in our hotel room that night.

The following day would be a drive we were thoroughly familiar with - Vegas to LA direct. At last we were home! I can't say that I was ready to ring in the new year, but we would be rounding that corner regardless. And I know I always look forward to seeing O & H!

rarely over-looked,
jt