From Peaks to Beach.

Been having a blast on this trip. Was a keynote presenter today at Eye For Travel’s Online Travel Marketing conference at the Fontainebleau.

(Here’s the Twitter thread on Day 1 of the conference)

View of South Beach from hotel's beach.

Well, yesterday I arrived. Made all connections and flights and had feet in sand by 2 pm EST. Bad news: Suitcase didn’t arrive with me. But, wait, good news, says “Baggage Service” person-having-a-bad-day: “It’s on another flight that arrives at 4 pm.” Whew. Crisis averted, so heck, I’ll go get my feet wet in the Atlantic Ocean and by dinnertime my suitcase with “outfit” in it for tomorrow’s presentation will be safe and sound in my hotel room.

To make money to pay to replace clothing in lost suitcase, I took up a shift of lifeguarding.

The beach is spectacular. White sands. Staying at The Palms Hotel & Spa, with direct access to white sands, pool and of course, tiki bar. This place is okay. Not too shabby at all. (Especially for a Wyoming bumpkin.)

By 9 pm suitcase still not here, despite numerous calls to “Baggage Check” at American Airlines that indicated, on each call on the hour: “your suitcase is on the way to your hotel.” (Strange since it took me only 20 minutes in the cab to get here!)

Getting ready to save a life during lifeguarding duty on Miami Beach.

By 10 pm, not having much fun…growing worried about having to present in my stinky, already-been-worn, full-of-sand, Life is Good t-shirt and capris and flip-flops. I decide I better go shopping.

It’s not my fault, I told myself. It’s American Airlines’ fault. (BTW, I really wish someone in a position to help get my suitcase to me would give a damn. Everyone who’s not in a position to fix the problem is caring, and that is helpful for moral support (hotel concierge, peers at conference, valet staff, maids, hotel staff, life guards, @theycallmemrjoe, a conference attendee that tweeted his support… if he was a girl I bet he would have given me the shirt of his/her back — basically everybody who I’ve met and whined to, except for the many shifts of workers I’ve pleaded to, kindly I might add, at American Airlines.) But they just don’t seem to care that I need my suitcase by hour 11 of my 36-hour stay.

So, I’m going shopping. Destination: Lincoln Road Mall.

But there were only ultra-hip stores open at that hour. If you’re looking for Affliction clothing, after 10 pm at night, Lincoln Road is your place. Being from Wyoming, the Affliction clothing in so many of the stores’ windows just didn’t grab me. In fact, it was all a little frightening to me: Skulls, lightning bolts and lots of black and silver.

Also served some guests and helped meet their needs with tables, etc.

Affliction was certainly fitting at the moment… for those of you who don’t know, affliction means “a state of pain or discomfort.” Still, athough very relevant to my mood and circumstances, this skulls clothing wasn’t a good substitute for what I was originally planning on presenting in. (Funny, though, as the night went on and I walked along Lincoln Road, I saw lots of stylish people wearing Affliction, and by gosh, it did look pretty cool and hip. Still, because I couldn’t envision myself ever wearing it in Wyoming (the “frontier” remember – “the country which lies just beyond the existing boundary”), I just couldn’t bring myself to drop a load of cash on Affliction. I had enough of it already without breaking the bank.

Affliction? Oh yeah, I was feeling it. But the clothing? For me? Not so much.

I would have to present “in character” even if not by design. (That is, sandals and Life is Good and capris)

The presentation went pretty well I think, despite the anxiety related to my alternative “outfit.” (The suitcase, would you believe it, was delivered to my hotel room during my presentation).

The conference was great. Heard lots of great presentations and met some great people, and got reacquainted with others. We’re headed to Lincoln Road to eat some sushi tonight and then to the Hotel Delano.

Stay tuned for lots of coverage on that in tomorrow’s post, which I’ll send from layover at DFW.
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BY THE WAY, the moral of the story, if you’re in customer service, or marketing, or the airlines industry, is: hire people who give a damn. Someone could have been a hero just by physically hunting down my suitcase yesterday. I would have paid a cab to fetch it. Now I’m angry. Not good for AA. (And p.s., I know: I should have packed it in my carry-on.)

Here’s short coverage of our drive to Mariposa Grove in southern region of Yosemite National Park.

Among other amazing sights to and from, we especially loved the Grizzly Giant Sequoia, a tree whose base measures 27 feet wide (92 feet in circumference).

Standing in front of Giant Grizzly Sequoia in Yosemite's Mariposa Grove.

The giant sequoias seen in Mariposa Grove are 1,300-3,000 years old. They are truly giants, and should be a must-see on your Yosemite Park trip.

Also on this short clip enjoy the famous “Tunnel View”, Bridalveil Falls and El Capitan:

And while Yosemite is on your mind, check out a fantastic hiking adventure.

To plan your trip, start here: myYosemitePark.com.

P. S. A special thanks to our friends Delaware North for helping provide fantastic accommodations to us during our first, and epic trip to Yosemite National Park.
Also, thank you very much to my good friend, Mike Lilygren (and his business partners, Cade Maestas and Brendon Weaver) of Bridge Outdoors, who outfitted me with enough portable power to charge an army’s media gadgets.

(Don’t tell anyone, but our tent is insulated and heated… electricity included… I’m plugged in right now as a matter of fact. We’d prefer people think we roughed it, but the truth is we’re not very bad off. Thanks to our friends at Delaware North, we have a comfy, warm refuge to retreat to following two days of hard hiking and exploring.)

Yosemite's Curry (Tent) Village. Not really roughing it, if I must be honest...

My dear friend, Sabrina Thoren, is on this trip with me. Yosemite National Park was a our Plan B. Our Plan A had been to take a backpacking trip to the remote Havasu Falls, in the Grand Canyon West region. We were going to experience a little adventure and soaking and relaxing as a belated celebration for our turning 40. (As it is Sabrina is 43 already, so this trip was long overdue) Havasu Falls is on both of our bucket lists. But one-and-a-half weeks ago, we got a call from the Havasupai Tribe informing us all access to the area was closed until June 1. Our flights into Las Vegas, long booked, were nonrefundable.

We soon discovered that not only is Yosemite a Plan A, but it's a true bucket list trip. It is truly magnificent and was an epic trip.

Ironically, at the time I was helping lead development of several national park sites, one of which is myYosemitePark.com. While working with the Yosemite-based writer, reviewing and compiling content, and selecting photos and videos to feature on the site, I was beyond inspired. Yosemite remained one of the national park wonders I had yet to visit.

At the same time, I was furiously looking for a Plan B based out of Las Vegas that would be “epic” and as memorable as Havasu Falls would have been. Zion and Grand Canyon, two epic alternatives, were not options since I only recently returned from great adventures in those regions.

Surfing the net one evening in bed four nights before our flights were to depart, after learning we could extend our flights to SFO for under a hundred bucks, I texted Sabrina (who lives next door) the following message: “How about Yosemite for a Plan B?” Swiftly I got a response. “Wow! Go for it. I’m in.”

And just like that we had a Plan B. These two “country bumpkins” (small town Wyoming girls) would be going to California’s Yosemite National Park. Turns out I’d get to see firsthand what all the fuss is about when it comes to Yosemite. And, most importantly, turns out our Plan B has turned out better than probably our Plan A would have been. If it was a waterfall we wanted, we’d get lots of them, and not just any waterfalls…

Yosemite National Park can best be described in one word: MAGNIFICENT. If I must use a few more words, they would be spectacular, giant waterfalls, phenomenal, giant granite formations, awesome, giant sequoias, magnificent and epic. This is truly an amazing place. Its beauty is astounding.

Half Dome.

By the time we flew into San Francisco and got lost and took several extra hours to find our way to Yosemite National Park, we had taken to referring to ourselves “country bumpkins #1 and #2.” The name was fitting, especially as we stumbled into Yosemite’s Curry Village looking for Tent #942, long after dark.

After a restful night in the tent, we awoke to a clear sky, got coffee from the Coffee Corner and walked a couple of miles to Yosemite Lodge, where we would catch the Hiker Shuttle to Glacier Point. An admitted coffee junkie, who needs coffee when you have views like Yosemite’s? We were greeted by Half Dome towering over a thick green forest surrounding our tent. Along our path to the shuttle pick-up, we enjoyed views of North America’s tallest waterfall, Yosemite Falls. Yosemite Falls, at 2,425 feet tall, is a stunning sight and provides a backdrop for much of the Yosemite Village area.

Near start of our hike to Panorama point and the Mist Trail.

After an hour-long, educational shuttle trip, we were delivered to Glacier Point, where our jaws hung open at the view that greeted us. There before us the Yosemite Valley unfolded, complete with Half Dome towering and framing the left end of the view, and a roaring, white Nevada and Vernal Falls framing the right. Linking it all was a dense, green, healthy forest of endless trees. After being adequately stunned and inspired, we headed down the trail to Panorama Point and the Mist Trail.

It was a long hike, but a pretty reasonable one, as far as effort goes. After about two or three miles, you cross a small bridge over the under-promoted-but-still-beautiful Illoluette Falls, before continuing on for the main prizes, Nevada and Vernal Falls.

Along the raging Merced River.

The 9-mile trail is mostly downhill, except for a mile-and-a-half stretch right before your first encounter with the impressive, roaring, huge Nevada Falls.

The volume of water running off forming Nevada Falls is astounding.

Check out this sampler of the scenery hikers enjoy:


Nevada Falls blew us away. The volume of water and its force and loud roar is overwhelming. Photos and videos don’t do it justice, but certainly they do better than mere words. We could hear the roar of the waterfalls, and also feel them under foot as we approached on the trail. You really have to check these out firsthand. You will be better for it. I know the sights and sounds will remain with me forever, and I will recall them in the coming days and weeks and be inspired each time.

By the time we were done taking in Nevada Fall, we were overheated. It was about 85 degrees, if not more, and we had been hiking in the hot sun for a couple of hours.

We kept hearing people mention Mist Trail and Vernal Falls. As we made our way down the trail between Nevada and Vernal Falls, the people hiking up that we met on the trail were soaking wet – literally dripping wet, hair and all. We couldn’t wait to see what the Mist Trail section would bring, as we were hot and looking forward to some relief and cooling off.

At Vernal Falls, people laid out sunning on the big slab of rock that is separated (thank goodness) from the river and waterfall’s upper brink by a metal fence.

The brink of Vernal Falls.

Boy, were we hot. Sabrina was getting a little tired of all the media capture and wanting to get “misted” like the upward hikers we were meeting on the trail. I was eager as well.

Soon after we finally got a great vantage of Vernal Falls and started descending a stone staircase-like trail that was being misted over by the nearby rush of Vernal Falls. The view and sound and mist of Vernal Falls was more than enough to satisfy, but throw in a rainbow cutting through the mist and this was a major thrill for us.

We packed all the gadgets and cameras away except for the one waterproof camera and off we went. Eager to get wet but (apparently) not too wet, Sabrina left me in the Mist and I lolly-gagged taking videos and pictures and enjoying both the awesome, cold, refreshing shower Vernal Falls provided me and the spectacular scene… a rushing waterfall, rainbow and mist spraying a cloud over the nearby trail and its visitors.

Country Bumpkin in the Mist.

From there, we hiked another mile or two to the bottom, ending at Happy Isles, where a shuttle awaited, but we didn’t take. (Much to Sabrina’s regrets. I bribed her to walk the remaining flat mile to Curry Village and it only cost me a fudgecicle.)

It was a glorious day in God’s country. Like so many of our national park wonders, Yosemite National Park gave and gave and gave. Our first day, and time, in Yosemite National Park was nothing short of epic. The sights were stunning, the sounds were exhilarating and the adventure was epic. It was a fulfilling and rewarding day in California’s star national park.

We returned to our tent village, where we enjoyed a hot shower, great meal and restful night, where I’m currently entering this post. : >

Here is a compressed video clip that captures the hike from Glacier Point to Panorama Point to Mist Trail:

If interested, here’s another post about Giant Sequoias, and other stunning Yosemite Park sights.
If you’d like to see more images from Yosemite National Park, here is a link to my Flickr Photostream of the whole Yosemite trip, including waterfalls, Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, Mariposa Grove (including the 27-foot-wide Grizzly Giant Sequoia).

Or, here’s a link to another post that covers a handful of other stunning Yosemite sites.

BTW, when I’m not enjoying our national parks in the West, I’m most likely working on promoting them on behalf of Active Interest Media.

To get in on all fun, start here. We want to share tips and media about our favorite national park wonders in the West and help others have a vacation of a lifetime like my recent one in Yosemite.

P. S. Thank you very much to my good friend, Mike Lilygren (and his business partners, Cade Maestas and Brendon Weaver) of Bridge Outdoors, who outfitted me with enough portable power to charge an army’s media gadgets.

Sabrina Thoren, and I, are en route from Riverton, WY, to Denver, to Las Vegas, to San Francisco, where we’ll then head to Yosemite National Park.

This trip is a hiking adventure to belatedly commemorate each of our turning 40.

Here, our “private jet” awaits our boarding in Wyoming. For any travelers crossing our paths today, we will be the 2 “country bumpkins.” hahaha

At this moment, we’re gambling our way through a layover in Las Vegas.

Sabrina tries her luck during layover in Vegas.

It will get much more exciting when we’re in Yosemite National Park and can share some of the grandeur of that national park.

No way. Just passing through... the poster.

Wow. I knew Angel’s Landing was exposed and that as a result of its heights and exposed nature it was to be an adventure.

Important Information.

We had been to Zion a few other times but as a family. Our sons are small so we had been (wisely) advised to stay away from Angel’s Landing… until the kids grow up.

But in early March, Kathy and I were going on a girlfriend adventure vacation and Angel’s Landing would be the “big star” on our itinerary, around which everything else revolved.

Holding on for dear life.

We started up. It was pretty mild. A climbing and switchbacking trail to be sure, but nothing too tough to start. However, we had hiked to Observation Point the previous day which was 8 miles roundtrip and a gain/loss of 8,000 vertical feet. So we were “warmed up” anything this hike would throw at us.

Angel’s Landing is a 5 mile, roundtrip hike. For the first two miles, it’s a climbing trail but on a good trail that isn’t scary. Then, at two miles, the trail’s personality changes, big-time.

When we arrived at a narrow slick rock ridge that had chains/cables on which to hold, I thought to myself: “This must be where we get our money’s worth… This must be what all the fuss is about.” Even though I’d heard it was exposed and that small children shouldn’t go on the hike due to heights, for some reason I wasn’t mentally prepared for the reality.

Chains to hold onto.

We ooohed and aahhhed and took in the views in all directions. I knew we hadn’t received the prize yet, but I think Kathy thought we had reached the end. Certainly the views were breathtaking and spectacular. The views at that point would have met my expectations in terms of scenery, no doubt.

But then when I was capturing some video I noticed that the cables/chains went all the way up, much further over a knife’s edge and to a precipice about a quarter mile away, yet.

The Prize – well worth the anxiety.

It was a thrilling adventure that left us anxious at times. The views at the top, and all the way up and down really, were striking and beyond words. The beauty was worth the hike, and all of the anxiety is stirred in us.
For an 8-minute clip of the “middle” of the Angel’s Landing Hike/Trail:

I was looking for an adventurous getaway where I could capture some video for the MyZionPark.com website we’re working on while getting some great hiking and sightseeing in. It would be a short adventure vacation.

My husband, Jerry, and I and our sons had been to Zion a couple of times. We had done some serious hiking even with our kiddos, including the 8-mile, steep Observation Point hike. But that had been about 5 years ago and I was eager to do it again, and this time with a digital camera and Flip Video in tow.

Most exciting was our plan to hike Angel’s Landing. On my previous trips with our kiddos, Angels Landing had not been an option. But, since I first learned about it, it beckoned. It’s been like an itch that needs scratched.

Kathy is a chiropractor and is married to my cousin, Jody Kloewer. They have three kids. I was a bridesmaid in their wedding in 1990, and Jerry was a groomsman. That’s how Jerry and I met, so Jody and Kathy hold an extra-special place in our hearts.

Kathy, my partner in crime.

Getting our rental car.

In a few hours we were pulling into the Desert Pearl Inn, our home for the next four nights. Desert Pearl Inn has loads of raving reviews on the internet, and many people claimed it’s the best place to stay while visiting Zion. By the looks of it, I was sold and we booked our stay.

Desert Pearl Inn, near Zion National Park.

Some people, including myself before this trip, would say that a hotel can’t really be a reason to visit a place. Until this trip, I agreed. But Desert Pearl Inn made me change my mind. Desert Pearl Inn is situated under the shadows of the towering Watchmen red rock cliff and its back yard is cut by the Virgin River. Our room had a balcony with deck and we had the luxury of the sounds of a babbling brook in the background thanks to slightly-opened windows during sleep after a long day on the trails. But that’s not all. We had a kitchen, a wide screen television, big comfy beds, wood floors, great earthy and rustic interior design, and even a – get this – bidet.

Beautiful, spacious rooms with comfy beds.

If you’re visiting Zion National Park or the other national park wonders accessed by southwestern Utah, Desert Pearl Inn offers truly a wonderful retreat after a day of exploring nature’s wonders.

People who know me and know how I love gadgets and all of technology’s wonders don’t believe it when I say it, but I sometimes like it when my cell has no bars. It forces me into isolation, which is what I want, but often have a hard time surrendering to.

Camping at Grand Canyon.

We recently camped for most of our Spring Break vacation. Except for yurt stays the first two nights, which were fortunate given the blizzard conditions, we camped 4 nights.

The boys love looking for treasures, finding and collecting rocks and other interesting items, climbing trees, helping build a fire, making s’mores, reading aloud to each other, playing ball, looking at the stars and everything else that comes as part of the camping package.

My parents rented an RV from CruiseAmerica in Salt Lake City and toured some of Utah’s national parks on their own before meeting up with us on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon for a few days.

Our boys w/Mommom & Poppop at Grand Canyon.

Boy, did they arrive in comfort. What a great idea and business CruiseAmerica has. My boys fell in love with the RV and truth be told they much preferred that to tent camping. Some of the fond memories from the camping time with their Mommom and Poppop were the walks they took and helping my parents find their way with walkie-talkies after getting lost and disoriented several times. : >

Great times to be sure. We can’t wait for the next camping trip.

Here’s a short video that captures the essence of our camping experiences:

In addition to taking a long swim and watching a couple of circus acts at Circus Circus, we went with the kids and my parents to Fremont Street Experience. Everyone we know suggested that we do this.

It was great advice. The light show overhead and musicians playing… It was culture shock in a great way as the place was charged with energy.

We especially enjoyed listening to this magnificent saxophone player, Carl “Safe Sax” Ferris: