Memorial Day trip part 4 (final part!)

Our last day of our trip was spent at Arches National Park.  It was really pretty, but incredibly packed with people.  So many people, in fact, that we didn't get to see and hike as much as we wanted to.  But that didn't stop us from getting in as much as possible!!

the colors are gorgeous!

 We did get out a hike around a tiny bit (in between dodging tour buses and rvs full of people). My favorite picture from one hike is this one below, because I didn't even realize I had captured the mini rainbow!

 The rock formations in Arches are awesome!

The trip was pretty awesome.  It was a great experience and I know that Jay and I will probably head back to Canyonlands and Arches again one day.  It was too much to see in such a short amount of time!  Now... to plan our next adventure!

Memorial Day trip part 3

Canyonlands was our second destination of the weekend.  We had planned to get up early Sunday morning and head out.  Unfortunately, the rain had other plans for us! So... we slept in, got dressed super fast and made a mad dash to the truck in between rain drops. ;)  We weren't sure if the rain would stop as we got into Canyonlands, but we figured it was a risk to take.  Better than hanging out in the tent all day!  Boy, am I glad we left, the day ended up being slightly rainy and overcast, but warm and sunny as well. Perfect for hiking and sightseeing!

Newspaper Rock

heading into Canyonlands National Park

Jay gets his jumping shot!

 We headed to the southern end of the park.  Where the Needles are located. We got to take a fun little off-roading type road and drove out to a trail head. From there, we jumped out and went for a hike to the Needles themselves!

getting started on our hike!

 Our destination seemed far in the distance...

Jay adds to the rock cairns on the path

 The whole hike was chock full of picture opportunities...

dessert flowers are always so cool to me

 The hike had some interesting bits, we went from dirt paths to rock paths, to narrow passage-ways!

so close! just to get through all the rocks...

 The hike was totally worth it!  We could have kept going and gotten up into the rock formations, but the weather forced us to turn back.

Needles!

Memorial Day part 2 - Mesa Verde

Mesa Verde was really awesome.  For those who don't know what it is... google it! Kidding!
Mesa Verde is a national park/monument of Pueblo cliff dwellings.  Scientists date the dwellings back to the 1200's.  There are apparently over 600 dwellings in the cliffs around Mesa Verda and the smaller surrounding mesas within the park.  We were able to get into 3 of them and see just a couple more from lookout points on the road.

The first night, we headed up to the Spruce Tree House.  It was a self-guided tour, and was really neat.

looking down onto Spruce Tree House

the main plaza

 One of the cool highlights of Spruce Tree House is that there is a kiva (ceremonial spot) that you can actually climb down into.  In the picture above, that ladder in the middle leads down into the kiva.

Jay inside the kiva

looking back up the ladder

here comes Jay!!

 Being inside the kiva was pretty awesome, especially since in the other dwellings, you can't get into them and they are open on top.  After checking out the tree house, some hiking was in order.  We decided "Petroglyph Point Trail" sounded the best, so off we went.

following the leader...

tiny space to get through!

looking up at the wall

look! I found our next camp spot ;)

petroglyphs!

 

 

 Luckily we got to get our hike done before the storms rolled in, because it rained that night!  The next morning, we packed up our little campsite and headed back to the mesa to check out Balcony House and Cliff Palace!

On the way we got to see the House of Many Windows (thank goodness for zoom on the camera!)

 The Hemenay House

 Balcony House is listed as an adventurous tour.  Mostly because you have to climb quite a few ladders and crawl through an 18 inch wide tunnel. But it was was really cool!

ladder leading up to Balcony House

a small portion of Balcony House

 Next up was Cliff Palace.  This is the largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde, and it is literally a palace!

looking down on Cliff Palace

the round holes are uncovered kivas!

After that, we headed back to the truck and made our way into Utah!  We were lucky and had a gorgeous night that night.  Campfires, steak dinners, desserts and drinks around the campfire. 

Memorial Day trip, part 1

Last weekend was a ton of fun... so much so, that I will have to split my blog posts into parts in order to fit even a portion of the pictures I took with the stuff I want to write about.

So, here goes!  Part 1:

Friday morning, Jay and I headed out pretty early. We took highway 285 into the mountains.  Its a lovely drive.  Some of our favorite "normal" camping spots (quick weekend trips) are found off of 285.

This route took us over Wolf Creek pass and the continental divide.  We had to jump out of the truck to snap a few pictures.

Jay straddles the divide

Our next quick stop along the way to Mesa Verde was at a place called Treasure Falls.  It was surprising to see such a waterfall here in Colorado!

We will have to go back to that area again, because the whole part of the state was really pretty.  We also took a short lunch break in pretty Pagosa Springs, CO.  I have never been there, and its a really cute little town. We stopped at a local brewery for beers and food. And WOW, they were both AMAZING.... :)

After leaving Pagosa Springs, the weather turned a bit... icky. The clouds rolled in and we had some pretty stormy weather for the next few hours.

Luckily, we got to our campsite in Mesa Verde park and it was not raining! Hooray!!! Not to say it didn't rain a ton (and it did) the rest of the weekend.

camp site in Mesa Verde

Pettiness in the workforce

Do remember high school? The pettiness? The behind-your-back conversations? The snubbing of certain people "just because"? Boy - do I remember that. I hated high school. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Not to say I didn't have friends in high school, but man the overwhelming amount of little crap that went on drove me nuts.

And then I became an adult.

Somehow, I thought we had left all that petty, nit-picky, bullshit behind us. But, the longer I work in the the "real world" the more I realize that high school mentality still exists in the workforce. There are still cliques, snide looks, behind-your-back conversations and a lot of he-said/she-said.  Its unfortuate that as adults, the same mindset still exists.

Do you deal with pettiness at work? How do you deal with (or not deal with) the drama thats created?