The travel snippets from the race are finally here. I'm trying to figure out how to add my flickr badge to these pages. The template keeps rejecting the code. T:help!
Once I do that I'll add the rest of the images. Until then, the collages I've added will have to work. They're just thumbnails, so go ahead and click on then for the whole deal.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN...

I was at the ACLC (Arizona Collegiate Leadership Conference) welcome event, when Karrie mentioned the Amazing Race adventure her and Corey were planning. As soon as we both realized that I did not have to be at Hall Director training this year, we got excited at the prospect of me joining in the adventure. I LOVE the show - The Amazing Race - and really wanna be on it. But you have to be a US citizen to participate. So much for that! I got all excited and called a friend of mine to see if she wanted to do it with me since she was planning a trip to come see me anyways. That kinda fell through and I thought I may not do the trip. But, as luck would have it, I started talking about the Race at Championship (Sam Hughes) since Corey and Karrie were there, and all of a sudden asked Jen about it since we were both not gonna be HDs anymore and didn't have to go to training:) Jen said yes! and it all fell into place. We had a planning meeting to figure out the rules and boundaries. Set a meeting time for the 30th of June and a departure time for the 1st of July and headed on our way to pick destinations and tasks. Each team had to pick eight destination and activities to do there. We planned to meet on the 30th which is when we would draw out eight out of the 24 options. These would become the required destinations. The others would be bonuses. Judging criteria was based on time and money: The first team to arrive at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Las Vegas (after 4hr deductions per bonus completed) and the team to spend the least amount of money on the trip (after 0.40cents a mile deductions for any out of the way travel needed to be at a bonus).

June 30th 2006

Here are the destinations:) We're excited. We meet for breakfast at 8am tomorrow and head out.
Some of the tasks involve something called geo caching. It’s basically an activity where a bunch of people all around the world hide clues and caches in random places, and other people look for them using GPS technology. You get a set of coordinates, and you need to find the cache based on that. The caches can be as small as a bullet, or as large as an ammo box. Some are virtual caches, and others are multi caches where you need to find a clue from the first one to get to the final. It's a really cool activity/hobby:)

TEAMS:
LadyJacks - Corey & Karrie
SPanthers - Gary & Jamie
Team JR - Jen & Ramya

REQUIRED DESTINATIONS:
1) & 2) Zion National Park - UT: 2 different tasks to do
3) Winslow - AZ
4) Petroglyph National Monument - NM
5) Mesa Verde National Park - CO
6) Cerreta Chocolate Factory - AZ
7) Lava Caves - AZ
8) Elephant Butte Lake State Park - NM

BONUS DESTINATIONS:
1) 4 Corners (twice = double bonus)
2) Sandia Tramway - NM (3 times = triple bonus)
3) National Bridges Monument – UT
4) London Bridge - AZ
5) Sedona - AZ
6) Hoover Dam
7) Cortez - CO
8) Madrid - NM
9) Valley of the Gods - UT
10) Virgin - UT

July1st, 2006 - The Adventure Begins!

The 6 of us met at Bruegger’s Bagels on Campbell and Speedway at 8am to begin the madness! Around 9am the other 2 teams left. Jen and I had some things to take care of before we left, so we only headed out around 10am! a whole hour behind the other 2 teams. Hopefully it wouldn’t cost us too much.
We decided to head towards Elephant Butte Lake State Park in New Mexico, instead of going to Phoenix first. We thought we’d be smart and miss the July 4th traffic. And we definitely did miss it. There was no traffic whatsoever :) And no cops which led to 100mi/hr speeds! We knew that at least one team had gone the Phoenix route cuz we chatted with them and they mentioned being stuck in traffic. Which was completely not the case on Interstate 10 E :)


1:45 pm, NM Time: We stopped at Lordsburg, NM to find a library so we could use the internet, and find a museum we needed to be at. We finally asked some residents where it was. The library was closed though! Considering it was literally right across the street from them I would’ve thought they would’ve said something. But it was a cute library none-the-less. So I called James (a friend of mine at work) and asked if he could find a museum based on some clues we had. Before we knew it, James texted me back and we were on our way to Geronimo Springs Museum to take a picture with ‘The Famous Apache Leader (Geronimo)’ in the Apache Room.

3:00 pm, NM Time: Arrived at the museum, signed the log and went on a tour after paying the $6 admission fee. We realized that the museum was closed on July 4th, which is when we thought the other 2 teams would get there, based on our speculations of what direction they went. So we were happy:)


3:45 pm- 6:30 pm, NM Time: Arrived at Elephant Butte Lake State Park to search for our first cache. There were words in the clue that made me think it was gonna be close to the Rec Area, and I saw a sign for it. But Jen didn’t see the sign I was referring to and thought we were in fact at the rec area. So now we’re hiking through rocks and cacti! And then Jen – who’s a quicker climber than I am – vanishes. And we have no cell signal! I try and follow some logical path, slip, fall on cactus thorns, keep on going calling on my resilient side (which I had to do many a time on this race)… I finally saw Jen way on top somewhere. Close to where I thought the rec area was. I got back to the car and drove in Jen’s direction cuz it would’ve been silly to hike all the way back down through all those rocks. We met up and start searching based on clues we had looked up that referred to a vine covered walkway, lotsa people etc. We also decrypted a clue that read “Are you stumped? look again”. Finally found the cache in a tree stump covered with a slab of bark. This was a 2 part cache, so we headed to part 2 based on new coordinates we were given. Found part 2 fairly quickly in a rock wall. We signed the log in the cache, left our ‘2 CENTS’ since that’s what the directions said, and headed out. We also confirmed at this point that the other teams had not been there or signed the logs.

July 2nd, 2006

We spent last night at my friend’s place in Albuquerque and slept in a little since we knew we only had a few more things to do in the area.


1:40 pm- 2:15 pm, NM Time: Arrived at Petroglyph National Monument and hiked the Boca Negra Canyon trail. From the top of the trail you can see old volcanoes, rooftops and feel the cool breeze. We got pictures of the pertroglyphs for the record and headed on our way to Madrid.

3:20 pm- 4:40 pm, NM Time: Arrived in Madrid. It was one of the cutest towns I’ve seen:) It was once a ghost town, but is now inhabited and really eclectic. We took a picture at a trading post. Turns out the owners visit the Tucson Gem Show to buy their supplies. We also had to have a cold treat, but the old fashioned fountain place was closed cuz apparently the girl who owned it had financial trouble. We got a picture of it though. They’re shooting a movie in Madrid - ‘Wild Hogs’. It’s about Harleys and has Travolta in it! We got to see some sets and trailers that belong to the production crew. I kept saying the only way I'll come back to NM is if I can come back to Madrid. Let's see if I can stick to that ;)

5:30 pm- 8:30 pm, NM Time: Arrived at Sandia Aerial Tramway. We made it to the top, despite Jen’s fear of heights. But once we got there it was stormy and we had to wait until 8:30 to come back down! They gave out boarding passes for next available trams and we had to wait for the storm to pass before anything. Good thing I had my laptop :) The view was great though and I tried my hardest to capture the lightening! But only ended up with 20+ pictures of the grey cloud! We were at an elevation of 10378 feet. We finally got back down and met up with my friend at this restaurant/bar place (I can't remember the name). One of his hockey buddies randomly picked up the tab! Really nice of him. And I finally got the margarita I was craving all the while!

Jen thought it would be best to stay the night again and then head to CO in the morning, vs driving all night. So we did just that. And I had some unfinished business to take care of as well ;)

July 3rd, 2006

We headed out around 8:30am for breakfast at this place called Flying Star. They have ‘Fabulous French Toast’. And it was indeed fabulous:) It lasted me all day. French toast smothered with syrup, bananas and strawberries. What more can you ask for!

1:38 pm- 2:45pm, CO Time: Arrived at Mesa Verde National Park in CO after a short stop at the Balloon Fiesta Park in ABQ. We got to the Spruce Tree House trail. These dwelling are really cool. It’s amazing to think that a long while ago people actually climbed these mountains and canyons to build homes for themselves. If only I could go back in time and witness it all. I'm glad this spot was on the trip. Probably not somewhere that would've made my 'I wanna visit...' list otherwise.

3:00 pm- 3:25pm, CO Time: Still in Mesa Verde for task# 2. Went down the Soda Canyon Trail and took a pic of the view and the Balcony Shelter way yonder! Turns out that Jen may have the rock climbing down, but I have the brisk stride :) Especially when it starts raining! yuck

5:10 pm- 5:20pm, CO Time: Arrived at the Cortez, Co Animal Shelter. We had to play with a dog for 10mins or donate $15. Jen and I being the animal lovers that we are, did both! I posed with Shadow (dog) and Jen with a cat (don’t know the name). The women there told us that one team had been there that morning, and the 2nd was there 30mins before us and were headed to Mesa Verde where they were gonna camp.

5:41 pm- 6:05pm, CO Time: Started searching for cache# 2 in the area. We finally found it after jumping over a wire fence and looking under rocky ledges. The cache was in an ammo box this time. We left a Cortez souvenir with our team initials and took a Taiwan magnet.

Before we left the area for the 4 corners, we ran back into the animal shelter to get moreinformation from the women, since this crossover between teams was crucial to us figuring out where they had been and what was left to finish. We learnt that Corey and Karrie had been to Zion National Park already, but we knew nothing about Gary and Jamie still! Other than educated guesses.

7:05 pm- 7:20pm, UT Time: Arrived at 4 Corners Monument - The only point in the US where 4 states meet! Took the picture every tourist takes, walked around a little, and started the chase to get to the Natural Bridges Monument before the sun set!

9:10 pm, UT Time: Arrived at Natural Bridges. It was twilight, and we could see the bridges but the pics came out black. So we took pictures of the boards instead. It’s really spooky here! Both Jen and I felt a presence and it was scary. We continued driving and did not want to camp out here to see the bridges in the morning. The drive back is miles and miles of dirt! all switchbacks through the canyon. There is nothing on one side!!! so if your car moves even an inch more than it should, you’re done! It was really stressful to maneuver my way out of there. And it didn’t help that there were a million crazy bunnies crossing the street. I’m not even exaggerating when I say a million! It felt like the plague of bunnies. And we saw cows and deer as well. Our piece of advice: Go when the sun is shining bright and you’ll probably have a breathtaking experience.

12:57 am, AZ Time: Arrived at Flagstaff AZ. Yes! We did the whole drive there. After the Natural Bridges experience, there was no stopping along the way. We just had to get out of there! We got to the Northern Arizona University campus and stayed with Jen’s friend. Ironically enough, we ended up sleeping in a residence hall room and taking showers in the community bathroom of Taylor Hall. So much for both of us being done with living in:) This was our longest day throughout the trip. It started off very well and ended up being very stressful! We were glad it was done so we could check it off as ‘complete’ in our binder!

July 4th, 2006 - No fireworks for us

11:15 am- 11:40 am, AZ Time: Arrived at Winslow, AZ to take a picture of the corner from the song ‘Standin on a Corner’. Not much to talk about here. It was a quick drive by spot.

12:45 pm- 1:19 pm, AZ Time: Went through the Lava Caves in Flagstaff. It’s a cave formed from lava flow. It’s in the middle of nowhere and there are barely any signs for it. Luckily for us there were a lot of people there and it was broad daylight. It’s a great experience as long as there are others there and it’s bright out. You’ll need good flashlights and batteries. And be ready for your car to be covered in orange dust. So don’t go after you’ve just been to the car wash! The other teams called us several days before to tell us that the caves were closed due to forest fires close by. So now we don’t know if they’re coming back or just skipping it all together.

2:40 pm- 3:20 pm, AZ Time: Arrived in Sedona, AZ and took a picture of the ONLY teal McDonald’s arches. Piece of trivia: The city of Sedona won a court battle against McDonald’s in its attempt to preserve the natural beauty of the red rock. We also took pictures of the Chapel of the Cross. If we weren’t on the race I would’ve stopped and actually attended a service. It seemed really peaceful and a good place to reflect and rejuvenate.

5:05 pm- 5:35 pm, AZ Time: Arrived in Glendale, AZ. There was a chocolate factory tour we had to take as well as a cache we needed to find and log. The Cerreta Chocolate Factory (The Sweetest Place in Arizona!) was closed for the holiday so we proceeded to find a cache we needed and then to my sister’s place for the night. We found the cache pretty ‘QUICK’ly. Several clues led us to pump# 13 (baker’s dozen, Quick cache, window washing etc) at a local Quick Mart gas station. On the hinges that the window cleaning squeegee thing hangs off of was the cache :) This one was my favorite cache! For what the actual cache looked like, and the ingenious hiding. The location too was tricky, cuz right across from the chocolate factory was a Mexican bakery, and a car wash place. So it threw us for a loop. But our trusty GPS unit took us to the right spot on the opposite end of town. And I’m glad I was able to read into the baker’s dozen clue and come up with pump# 13.

It’s here that we found out, thanks to the logs we had to sign, that Jamie and Gary had either not been here yet, or had not signed the log on purpose. Throws a whole new twist to the game.

6:30pm, AZ Time: We did the planned conference calls between teams and picked up on some clues from the rather ambiguous conversations. We learnt that the other teams had been camping out in the open battling storms every night while we managed to sleep in comfy beds and take real showers :)

July 5th, 2006

8:20 am- 8:45 am, AZ Time: Cerreta Chocolate Factory in Glendale, AZ - ‘The Sweetest Place in Arizona’. Did the self guided tour, got pics and left for Lake Havasu. I was always the kid that luved field trips and factory tours so I really wanted to go through the real thing. But time was a huge factor of course. It’s only an hour and a half drive away from me, so I’ll need to go back. I know I’m a dork, and you'll luv me for it :)

11:45 pm- 12:30 pm, AZ Time: Saw the real London Bridge at Lake Havasu. In 1962, when the bridge was sinking in its original spot in London, the British government decided to put the bridge up for sale. And Robert McCulloch, Founder of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and Chairman of McCulloch Oil Corporation, submitted the winning bid of $2,460,000. The bridge was dismantled, and each stone was numbered. Everything was shipped 10,000 miles to Long Beach, California, and then trucked to Lake Havasu City where it was all put back together. It’s cool, but kinda crazy. I can think of a lot of things to do with $2,460,00!!! Anyways, we enjoyed some shaved ice, I bought my sister candles from the local store. She luvs the store and they claim it’s the largest in the world. But they haven’t been bit by the technology bug and don’t have a website! Off to Hoover Dam.

2:50 pm- 4:30 pm, AZ Time: Did the Hoover Dam tour and headed to Zion National Park in Utah. It was really hard to drive through Vegas and not be done! We had to go to Zion cuz it was a required destination. I was tempted to stop and get the finish signature we needed at the Imperial Palace Hotel, but Jen kept me grounded:) The tour was kinda blah. We had both seen it before and pointed out right away that it was different. The old video had more about the workers, old Vegas etc. but the new one seemed more commercial and talked about how great the CO rover project is! There were these really annoying Indian kids on the tour too. I luv kids usually, but these ones… Let me just say my kids are never gonna turn out that way! I guarantee that.

7:50 pm, UT Time: Arrived in Virgin, UT. According to the local ordinance in this 300 person town, it is illegal not to own a gun! We did our HW last night and researched a lot, which may have been a bad idea in this case. We found a lot of scary facts about this town which made us very nervous to be here. Here’s the website that gave us the information we weren’t too happy to read! We asked a little girl how to get to town hall which was the picture we needed, and I barely opened my window to ask her! She had really scary eyes and who knows if she carried a gun or not! I know I’m exaggerating a tad, but you had to be there to experience it. We got to town hall and saw a group of white men outside and decided to just drive by and get a picture later when we were not so obvious in my blue corolla! Technically we were supposed to get a picture at town hall with an employee and one of us dressed like Madonna. Not happening. Getting the pic of town hall through my car window was gonna be it!

8:50 pm, UT Time: Arrived in Zion National Park, UT. Once again chasing the sun. Luckily the park was open and we were able to take a shuttle to get to the Emerald Pools Trail where we needed to photograph a waterfall (I have a ton of pics, but none do justice to the real thing). We started the trail as it got dark and the shuttle guy scared us by saying there was wildlife around including mountain lions. We heard rustling several times and finally gave up and turned around. I was really frustrated at this point cuz we were so prepped to be done tonight and in Vegas! I did not want to end, but there was no choice. It was a required destination!!! We decided to camp at the local KOA. Of course, as luck would have it, it was the one night we did not have any of our camping stuff with us cuz we left it at my sister’s thinking we would be in Vegas! We slept in the car at the campsite in the pouring rain!

This was the only point during the race when Jen and I stopped talking to each other and were frustrated :) turns out every team had at least one falling out. Some many many more!

July 6th, 2006 - Home Stretch...

7:35 am, UT Time: We left the KOA in Zion to head back into the park and actually complete the trail this time!

8:15 am, UT Time: Drove through Virgin again and got a picture of town hall this time. But neither of us dressed like Madonna as the instructions said! We were not about to risk our lives in Mormon Virgin, UT!

9:02 am- 11:00 am, UT Time: Walked the Emerald Pools Trail and saw some beautiful waterfalls! I’m glad we came here during the day and weren’t discouraged like the Natural bridges. The sights were so soothing and I absolutely luved it. My luv and need for water was quenched as we got ready to end the race and head back to the desert.

12:00 pm- 2:20 pm, UT Time: This was the cache from hell! It was a four part and had us trudging through a canyon. The ground was really wet from the rain the night before and it was all orange clay! Our shoes were disgusting. I almost went down on more than one occasion but held my ground. I chose to trudge through the canyon while Jen walked on rocks higher up. We each have our comfort zones and fortes and just let the other do what worked for them:) After we found the 1st three caches (under a bridge, among rocks, in walls), the fourth one was crazy! I went back to the car since the clues read that we would finish where we started. Because of a detour we had to start at a different point, which would mean we ended somewhere a lot further than where we had parked. So we decided that I would drive and meet Jen, because my asthma was kickin up and I was pretty close to being dehydrated, and as we’ve established earlier rocks was not my forte on this trip since we were carrying things and I needed both hands. Jen on the other hand hiked a cliff! I wasn’t there to experience it cuz I was reading clues in the car, but from what I hear, 1 wrong step and it would all be over! We had great teamwork going in my opinion. Jen was getting frustrated with not being able to find the cache, and I was on the phone with my mom figuring out the next stop we had to do, and reading more clues so I could guide her through. Jen found the cache though finally and got back in one piece.

On our way out who do we run into? Jamie and Gary!!! And they thought the cache trail was closed (which it was). But they just hadn’t read far enough on the clue sheet to see that it started elsewhere :) We were excited. We knew we were at least in 2nd place if not 1st since the cache took us forever to find! (we found out later that Corey and Kerrie had to come back a 2nd time to find the last part. And other geocachers did as well. So we’re proud of the fact that we found it the 1st time around)

2:45 pm, UT Time: Found Nancy Ferguson’s grave site thanks to some clues my mom gave us. She’s a pioneer apparently. Left a TY bunny that had flowers and took a picture. (we were instructed to leave flowers at her grave)

It was home stretch now. All that was left was to get to the Imperial Palace Hotel in Vegas and get something that said what time we were there! I was driving as fast as I could.....and I’m not gonna say how fast ;)

July 7th, 2006 - The End!

4:30 pm, NV Time: Jen got us our signature at the Imperial Palace Hotel after creating a trail of orange mud on their carpet :) We found out here that Corey and Karrie had beaten us there by 3 hours! We still had bonuses and such to figure out so we didn’t give up yet. Turns out all of us thought we would beat the others by getting to Vegas on Thursday instead of the originally planned Friday :) The ambiguous conversations trying to figure where we were all at was priceless!

We met up the next day and finally sat down to share our scrapbooks and experiences.

THE RESULTS:
1st team to get to Vegas after deducting bonus times - Corey and Karrie - Team Ladyjacks
2nd team to get to Vegas after deducting bonus times - Jen and Ramya - Team JR
(we were only 3hrs behind!!!)
3rd team to get to Vegas after deducting bonus times - Gary and Jamie - Team SPanthers

Team who spent the least amount of money after deducting bonuses
Jen and Ramya - Team JR! (We would’ve won without the deductions too:)

It was a great adventure! I’m glad we did it and I’m looking forward to future Amazing Races!
My only caveat: We did not gamble a single penny in Vegas, or drink a drop of alcohol! Who goes to Vegas and leaves without drinking or gambling! Apparently after a 2000mi race you’re exhausted and can’t think of anything beyond sleep and the fact that you can actually wear coordinated clothes and clean up and look pretty :)