Las Vegas!

Saturday saw my first snow in Flagstaff! I'd gone to the cinema and came out to snow. And the snow kept coming. By nightfall it had completely settled, which was fun for me as there was only two of us in the house and so it was an excuse to go crazy in the snow outside, in my new rainboots! They had already proved their usefulness. They were also useful the next day when I had to walk the snowy paths to the Greyhound to catch a bus to Las Vegas, where I was going for a couple of days. The bus ride was a bit hectic, especially in my lack of common sense I had decided to sit opposite the restroom - not a good idea at all. If you've ever sat opposite the toliet in a FGW Train to Reading or London you'll know what I mean. Also there was a kid continuously kickin' the back of my chair for 5 hours.

Staying the Stratosphere (it had a special offer and so much better than the Motel 6), it was lovely to have a bit of luxury, including cable TV and...a bath! In my infinite wisdom I decided to walk the Las Vegas Boulevard strip - not realising how long it actually was. But I was OK, stopping to take pictures, go inside the casinos, and the mall and other shops. It was great seeing all the famous casino hotels such as Caesar's Palace, The Venetician, New York New York, Excalibur, and teh MGM Grand.

It wasn't until I reached The Luxor at the far end that I ran into trouble. For luncg I had gone to the Earl of Sandwich and tried their hot Holiday Roast Turkey and Stuffing Sandwich with Cranberry sauce, which was alright. After that however, I went to the Coca-cola store and thought it rude not to have a drink in the store so bought a Cola Icee. That was probably my mistake. I don't know what in the drink my stomach didn't like, but it wanted it out. I had to make an agonizing slow walk to my hotel. What made it worse was I was walking behind a short man smoking a cigar, nearly the whole journey. I may have not have given a lot of the casino's my money but I did leave my stomach contents in a lot of their restrooms. It was hideous, but I eventually made it make to the safety of my hotel room where ironically I was feeling ok again as I had nothing left inside. That was a $8 wasted on a sandwich I wish I hadn't seen again. After a little rest and an electrolytes drink I made my way up the Stratosphere observation tower on the 108 & 109 floors for sunset. I had planned to go on one of the rides up there too but after my afternoon, I decided it was best not to risk an encore. I grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back out to the strip - this time taking the bus to the Luxor. It was great seeing all the casinos lit up at night, although a little distressing to see the lack of energy efficiency. I saw a great fountain show oustide the Bellagio, and the Volcano display outside the Mirage, and of course - a little flutter here and there. I lost everytime...mostly because I had no idea what I was doing. Even the slot machines were complicated - I'd spent a dollar before I even understood it. But nevermind... just the Greyhound bus ride back to Flagstaff left - another hideous journey, this time, it was the coughers and loud people with smelly food. In conclusion, loved Las Vegas and glad I got to see it, not sure if I'd go there again. Or if I did, I won't take the Greyhound and I probably won't eat or drink anything there neither!

Thanksgiving in Flagstaff!

After the small roadtrip, it was time for another project - this one would only be 3 days as Thankgiving was approaching and no one wanted to work that. I was to head back out to the familar Wupatki National Monument but this time on a different project - Pueblo Stabilization whereby we were to help with keeping the many Native American pueblo remains (dotted around the area) in an OK state. However, on arriving at the site no project partner was waiting for us and a phonecall later we learnt that nor would they be coming. The other Wupatki crew set to do some extra fencing work in the area were in the same situation. After cursing ACE's organisation skills, or lack thereof, we waited to hear what we were to do for the next three days. As it turned out, instead of working (as there was no work) we would become tourists instead. So we visited some of the bigger pueblo remains such as Wokoki, before crossing into the Navajo Indian Reservation lands - the biggest in the U.S. We parked near a fenced area and when asked why it was fenced off, "ATG" - our old fencing supervisor with the long hair, and beard, told us it was an old Navajo graveyard, which was fine until you realised that meant old Indian burial ground. ATG showed us a collection of petroglyphs (rock art) left by the ancient puebloans when they lived in the area in 700 AD. We saw rock engravings of people, supernatural creatures, animals and birds - they were amazing. ATG said no one apart from Navajo people, a few clued-up locals and park rangers knew of the collection and so ACE volunteers are perhaps the only internationals to ever see them - which was really humbling and so I thought I'd definitely get a picture of these - except on close inspection of my camara I'd left my SD card out. It was so typical, of all the projects to not have a camara on! By 4pm we were at the campsite, tents up and cooking beef buritos for dinner. The clear night and desert landscape meant the night was absolutely freezing - my little bag thermonmeter read at minus 4 at 5am when I got up. It was very hard to leave the sleeping bag!

The next day we visited Sunset Crater, the site of a volcanic eruption 1000 years ago. We had a little walk around the lava trail before heading up a nearby park fence line to do a tiny bit of work, basically looking for overhanging trees, snapped wire and fallen trees on the fence to repair at a later date. But it was really pretty surroundings. After venturing back up to Sunset Crater visitor centre to have a talk with a park ranger, we drove more into the Coconino National Forest area to walk up Strawberryhill Crater. I don't know why it was called this but nearby was Deadman Wash. When we asked why it was called Deadman Wash, ATG simply said because a man died in it. Apparently there's loads of places called something similar and at this one a man's horse got stuck so he had to shot it, then realising he was out the middle of no where with no horse he then shot himself. Makes sense.

That night was bloody freezing. I'd helped cooked Tuna Mac n' Cheese with a strange and suspicious cheese product that was bright yellow, felt like rubber and did not need to be refridgerated. But it turned out OK. I woke up several times that night, finding it colder and colder, and by 4.30am I'd given up trying to sleep altogether. When I got up, I found the water in my 2 litre and 1.5 litre water bottles had both frozen. Luckily having become accustomed to the freezing nights I'd taken to placing some things in the sleeping bag with me...my head torch, mp3 player, Nintendo DSi, alarm clock, work clothes for the next day, several tissues, and a small bottle of water - which stayed thankfully upfrozen so I wasn't completely without drinking water.

There was just time for a few more stops to see a few more pueblo remains and a sink hole, before making ourway back to Flagstaff. I couldn't be bothered to go to the crew dinner that night so instead some of us from Cedar House decided to make the night walk up to the Lowell Observatory just outside the downtown area. This was where Pluto was first discovered and they had a multimedia show for visitors as well as lots of telescopes set up to look through. I had a look at Jupiter and some of its moons, the Andromeda Galaxy which is 2.5million lights away or put another way - what I was looking at through the telescope was how our closest other galaxy looked 2.5 million years ago. Lastly I went to see their big telescope for a close up of the moon - that freaked me out the most! You could see so much detail - like craters and mountains (made from impacts that escape erosion as there's no rain or wind to act upon it). It was a really interesting place.

The next day was thanksgiving. Me and a few others (all Europeans) headed out to the local supermarket to pick up some food for making our own roast Thanksgiving dinner. With most people still on 8 day projects all the houses were pretty empty and so those in the other ACE house - Cisco house, were to come to ours for dinner, and we'd have dessert back at theirs - so there was a little pressure to make a good meal and enough of it. We decided to go for a big chicken instead of a small expensive turkey, however we then discovered its giblets were not in a convenient bag tucked inside - no they were attached inside, and so was the neck. Having done biology I decided I could tackle the chicken - but really I wanted to make sure everything was removed and cleaned thoroughly before basting. Soon our little chicken was stuffed and in the oven. It came with a great little invention - a pop up thermonmeter that's poked in the chicken and pops up when the chicken is done. Amazing. There was plenty of food and for once we had a TV so we watched some American Football, followed by Home Alone, and Uncle Buck. I was so happy to see a TV I could have cried...but I didn't as that would be a little weird.

Next on to Cisco House (a half hour walk in the cold night air - I was regreting the plan), they had put together 5 desserts including choloate brownies, a swedish chocolate cake, lemon pie, chocolate cream pie, cookies, with coolwhip and icecream. I was in heaven until 2 hours later when my stomach hated me.

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without shopping sales, and the day after thanksgiving is a tradition of sales, so much so that its called, "Black Friday" (- not sure why, really?!). But it sounded good so me and a housemate got up at 5.30am to get the bus to teh mall at 6am. It was crazy shopping before teh sun was up but there was so many people there that it didn't seem weird. It was an experience to embrace, plus I managed to get my Christmas shopping done, plus lots of goodies for myself - including designer rainboots to compensate for my melted boots no longer being waterproof. Very essential.

Roadtrip to the Grand Canyon!

After celebrating the end of the project and buying some superglue for my trainers, plus new socks in Wal-Mart, I was left with a couple of days before my next project. A group was heading to Grand Canyon and I decided it was now or never and so joined the two car convoy to the famous landmark. Cruising America's roads is crazy - the roads are long, stretching out as far as you can see, and you can drive along one for a half hour before actually passing another car. It was about a two hour drive to the Grand Canyon National Park. We were starving and looking for somewhere to eat. An old shack by the road selling handmade jewellery offered us beef jerky for $12, thinking better of this we waited and eventually found a food bar -that grilled cheese was worth the wait! After eatting we headed out to the main lookout at the South Rim by the watchtower before driving to random lookouts along the way to the trail we had decided to do.

The annoying thing about walking a trial at the Grand Canyon, is its all down-hill going and uphill on the return which meant we went further down than perhaps we should've as I was completely knackered by the time we made it back up - luckily it was in time to see the sunset on the rocky landscape which was beautiful. There was just time for a last food stop - this time some choclate pudding (basically chocolate mousse) before heading back to Flagstaff. It was fanstastic to finally see the Canyon in all it's grand-ness!

Project 3: Zion National Park, Utah

With my weekend off I went on a road trip to Sedona, a small town south of Flagstaff best known for its red rock formations - most with ridculous names like "Coffee Pot", "Chimney Stack", and "Snoopy". The town was very touristy which meant we could easily hop on to a tourist bus to catch the sights before a small hike to one of the famous vortexes. The vortexes discovered at several different sites in Sedona are said to be metaphysical and offer spiritual healing and the power of insight. I sat on top of a rock at such a vortex but alas no powerful insight hit me and so crestfallen, I headed back down to Earth.



A couple of days later I was sat in a truck for 6 hours on my way to Utah, for my next project. This was to be my first 8-day project and we were off to Zion National Park. The journey did provide me with an encounter with some local Hillbillies! We were at a gas station stop when they rickety old truck (that you could tell was once painted blue) pulled up, on the front seat meant for a max of 3 people, were at least 5 and they just about had a complete set of teeth between them. I wanted to keep looking at them like they were a museum exhibition as they were so sterotypical but that was rude so I instead tried to look anywhere but at them which was really hard.



Zion National Park is beautiful, with the rocky mountains capturing the sun as it sits low in teh sky and the yellow fall leaves, and creeks running through - finally it was time to go snap-happy. After the journey tehre was time for a hike and so we headed up to the infamous Angel's Landing. It was a hell-ish steep walk and the last 0.5 mile is scrambling up a rock edge with only a chain to keep you safe but it was great for the views, but I was more interested in taking pictures of the sweet little chipmunks scurrying about. They're so cute!



We had set up camp but had to move when we got back from the hike and so had to put up our tents in the dark which was not much fun when your name is Carla, and you're using a big rock to hammer in the pegs held in your hand. But it was totally worth the throbing thumb as the new campsite was a real campsite with benches and a fire pit and.....bathrooms! I had never been so happy to see a fluching toliet in my life, so much so that for 4 days after I still hadn't noticed the spiders lurking around them. The first night was mild, but then we had rain and my tent leaked a bit, and then the mountain we were working on had snow so the rest of the week got cooler and cooler.
The work itself was bloody hard. We were taking down some fencing around the edges of the park for when the heavy snow starts to arrive. This meant a lot of carrying, clipping, cutting, and more carrying, before lack of energy drove me to just drag the damn things along the snow. The problem with taking fencing down is that the further you go along the fence the further you have to carry the wrapped fencing back. We devised a chain that got longer and longer as the week went on, so you spent a lot of time alone in the snow to play with the snow and think about the possible eyes watching you as we were in Mountain Lion country but I never saw one. The fencing was so heavy, I tried so many ways to carry it, sometimes under my arm, or on my hip, and if I could lift it - then on my back but when you're carrying it for about a half a mile, whatever way its carried is going to kill you, what with the barbs, and the slippy snow that then turns in to slushy mud - there was never much hope for me. I remember carrying a load of fencing at one point and yanked it up on to my back, the barbs managed to grip something and I thought 'this is great - its not slipping' - only later I would discover I'd dug the barbs through my two layers and into my skin. When we weren't cutting down and carrying fencing we were working in a yard with great view of the mountains to prepare the old fencing for recycling - Though a little frustrating, I liked this part best as there was little carrying. The nights around the camp fire were great fun, even when I put my boots near the fire to dry and the melted, or when I put my socks there too and they burnt right through. The was an old ACE supervisor that would show up in the evenings and tell us old ACE stories or set us annoying riddles, and even had chocolate cake to accompany the usual marshmallows - but the end of the week came as a bit of a relief - mostly for my aching limbs and the mass of bruising I had sustained. Plus unwashed hair after 8 days is not great - thanks god for bandanas.

I can honestly say I will never look at fencing the same way again, and if I see barbed wire ever again - it will be too soon!

Mount Elden

With another weekend free, it was time to find out what my next project was - Zion National Park: Fencing. I just hope it's not barb wire again. It's an eight day project so pretty long but it'll mean I'll have 5-6days off after it. With the weekend free it was time to get some food, a new pair of gloves (I cinged mine in the fire when I was a bit too eager to get my hands warm after washing up!) and figure what to do with my time off. On Sunday me and others from Team Wupatki set up to climb Mount Elden, one of the mountains surrounding Flagstaff. The journey started out ok as I'd packed my Power Bar but soon the up hill climb was starting to take it's toll and I wanted to simply collapse.

The trail was rated Strenuous, and yes it bloody was. The higher you got the harder it got, and when we reached a top, we realised we'd taken the wrong trail and gone up the wrong mountain and so had to climb higher to get to the right one. 3 hours later we sat down and ate lunch at the Mount Elden Lookout - 2,300 feet above Flagstaff. On top it was bloomin' windy of course but the view of Flagstaff and the surrounding area was breath-taking. So some would say it was worth it! ; )

Then it was time to make our way down again, which can actually be hard, it doesn't make you out of breath like going up does but it's bloody hard on the knees and when you're as uncoordinated as me you have to take your time. Slow and Steady wins the race, well, in my case not when the race but had me back in Flagstaff in one piece at least. Now that my limbs have forgotten the pain, I can say it was a good trek.

Project 2: Back to Wupatki

Soon Tuesday morning was here again, and luckily this time I had the bedroom to myself so I could use the light to pack up my sleeping bag, etc instead of the usual reaching around in the dark, hoping your eyes will adapt but still managing to wake those not getting up when you trip. Soon we were on the road and back to the old campsite. I was a bit more speedy putting up my tent this time, especially without having to fight the wind. Back to the work site, and it was bright and hot - stark contrast to last week. This would be the last week the project would be running and so we knew we had a lot of work cut out for us to do.

The first couple of days involved us working to complete the last section of fence which meant more cement mixing and pouring for me, rolling up of old barb wire (very tricky and made me glad my Tetnus vaccination was up-to-date) before rolling out barbed wire (bloody heavy, I wanted to cry). We'd then take our positions along the length of the new fencing from the corner to the newly contructed A-bracket, and prepared to stretch and clip the fence into place. We then had to screw in "stays" into the fence at equal intervals to help it stay in place (I took the equal intervals to heart and with my Virgo streak, I proceeded to use the length of the stay to measure the intervals correctly while others just did it by sight - I may have taken longer but at least I could look back at my fences with complete satisfaction!). The days were long, made longer by the heat we were working in this time. I don't know how hot it was, as when I asked, someone would say in the 80's, and not knowing how that translates into degrees celisus, I just made the sufficient nod and slow low whistle to make it appear that I did.

Dinner, back at the camp was always what I looked forward to best, once the fire was started and the pans were boiling up ready for rice, or pasta, or rice, or pasta. But it was all good, except when the gas container ran out one night and we had to start putting the pot directly on the fire. Everyone helps prepare, cook and clean up so that by 7.30pm-ish we all sit round the fire, trying to store it's warmth before making the journey to the dark cold tents. The nights were so clear that it was great to see the stars (including the Milkyway) and the red moon rising (a little odd) but it also meant that again the temperature would drop. I'd wake up each morning slowly taking each arm out, then my head and upper torso - slowly trying to aclimatize to the temperature. It never worked. Instead I'd just sit there huddling and shivering in my $5 fleece blanket from Walmart, before changing into my dirty, dusty and freezing cold work clothes, and making the break into the cold air outside.

The last two days involved and lot of clearing up, and trekking back and forth across the dessert park carrying old wire, clippings, poles and tools. Before moving to another location to do the same. There was a crazy moment where realisation hit me about where I was - I was sitting on the tailgate of ATG's (our other "expert in the field" supervisor, yes ATG is his name) truck lobbing old poles and metal clippings from out of the truck while Country Western music blarred from the radio, and then I suddenly thought "Oh my god, I'm in Cowboy Country".

The last fencing location was hideous - it involved climbing down, and up both sides of a canyon. I wanted to cry when I first saw the pile of crap we had to carry back, expecially in the heat of the day. But luckily I masterfully constructed myself a sleigh out of the cement mixing tray, and loaded it up to take back. Not finding any coyotes or enough lizards to sufficiently pull the sleigh for me - I instead half carried and half dragged my load back. The journey was hard and I'd grumble and curse under my breath but eventually I made it to the truck only to empty my load, take a quick swig from my cantene and make my way back again to reload.

I may make it sound like it was not enjoyable, but even though there were times I wanted to lay down and die in peace, there was really good fun times too. On the last night we made our Chilli Macaroni and put our little Guy Fawkes (made out of twigs and with a grape for a head) on the fire as it was November 5th. Then ATG came over and made us a cake from cakemix, blueberries filling and Sprite, cooked on hot cinders. We then played a game of throwing hot cinders to and fro, before he told us some stories of rattle Snakes, where practically everyone who was bite died. I on the otherhand was more concerned with a Spider I had spotted (the first one) - it came out of the fire so I suspected it was some kind of magical fire spider with powers so great it could potentially take over the world in time. All I could do is wind up my headlamp to full power and make sure it wasn't making its way to my tent, only a mere 20 metres from the camp fire. I unfortunately lost it's track, so had to do a thorough spider check of my tent and sleeping bag before bed. Rattle Snakes and Scorpians be damned.

And so our time at Wupatki was finally over, we made our way back, washed the truck and ran to the nearest shower.

Halloween in the U.S.A

I had three days off after my first project which were mostly used for shopping for all the things I didn't on the first project and wish I did. Near the Mall we came across a store called Marshalls which is kind of an outlet store selling designer clothes at rock-bottom prices. It was cool looking at all the clothes,bags and shoes but what all I came away with was a big cosy jacket and some fleece pants. Though I think I'll be making another stop there before my flight back to the U.K!

Saturday was also Halloween. Boy, was that a strange experience. I know Halloween is slowly expanding in the U.K but it is a massive holiday over here. Some people seemed to be in costume by lunchtime and most houses were decorated with Autumn Reefs, halloween decs and about 3 or 4 massive pumpkins. By nightfall, the streets were filled with people in elaborate and well thought-out costumes, including medieval kings and queens, cowes, blues brothers, evil EVIL clowns, plus the usual witches, ghosts and goblins, and a guy dressed as a solar panel! We went to a bar called the Green Room which was full of dressed up NAU students and townsfolk - infact me and a housemate were the only one's not in costume and so we were the one's getting strange looks. Being dressed head to toe in black, I first started to tell people when they asked us that I was dressed as a backstage hand, but it got difficult to explain that after a while as people can't always understand the English accent, so I started to say I was dressed as Anti-matter, since no-one really knows what that could look like I guessed. It was a good night, if not a little crazy walking back and passing Mr Incredible, a man dressed as "Where's Wally?", and several men dressed as women.

The British Accent: It's a strange thing with the accent, I like seeing the look on people's faces when they realise you're British. They go, "oooohh, you're from England?!", I still correct them and say the U.K but the weirdest thing is, I've had to start saying my name in an American accent as when I was first arrived and American's asked me my name, they couldn't quite get it so I had to keep repeating "Carla" to them, but as soon as I said is like "Caaa-rla" in my best American twang, they understood.

Well, I'm all set now for project 2: back to Wupatki, tomorrow morning. Just time to enjoy one last shower!

Project 1: Wupatki National Monument - Fence Building

I arrived in Flagstaff Arizona after a 10 hour flight and a 3 hour drive from warm 30 degrees Phoenix. In Flagstaff it was anything but 30 degrees. Soon I was however, settled into the house I would be calling home for the next seven weeks and over the next few days we received our orientation and safety training plus a little time for shopping and exploring Flagstaff city. Flagstaff has a small town friendly feel to it, where everyone is helpful and polite especially in the supermarkets where they greet you as 'Ma'am', and ask "How would you like to pay", "Would you like paper or plastic?", and of the course the obligatory, "Have a nice day"!

The buildings are all mostly one level, flat and huge. Which means they are spread out, there's so much room in between , it's crazy, but it means Flagstaff looks big and is big to walk around luckily there are also a lot of buses fairly priced. There are so many places to eat its crazy, and a massive Wal-Mart that dominates down town. But with all of this, its surrounded by the mountains and dessert so its very pretty, and there's usually beautiful blue skies and sunshine during the day. As soon as ths sun drops however, so does the temperature, and the lack of humidty (around 20%) means your skin, lips, hands, and even eyes feel quite dry which takes some getting used to. Plus we are some 7000 feet above sea level.

Soon I found myself with details on the first volunteer project I would be working on. Wupatki National Monument is the remains of a community dwelling used by native Americans and dates back to about 700AD. In the surrounding area there are lots of artifacts such as pottery remains, and for some reason, protected 50+ yr old trash cans (maybe left by old cowboys or something?!). Anyway, these artifacts (and old trash) needs to be protected by wandering nearby cattle, hence the need to build the fence. So we left on Tuesday, backpack in tow to drive the 1 hour jpurney out of Flagstaff. Driving through strange dust clouds and real tumbling tumble weed (for real) to our campsite where we each set up our tents and headed out to the worksite for a safety briefing and to start work. However, it was so bitterly windy that day that it didn't start well and we ended up first visting the vistor centre before going back to the work site and simply carrying out barb wire fencing from the work site to the truck for the rest of the day. To and fro we trekked over dusty, windy, rocky, dessert. The land is protected so you have to follow a path of foot prints which is difficult when you are walking by yourself and you come to a junction with footsteps going off in two directions. But after a mild panic I found my way and heaved the load back and forth against the wind, and enduring the prickles of the barbs sticking into my legs and arms until it was time to call it a day. We went back to huddle in the truck at the campsite with fish and rice (with plenty of ketchup for me) while watching an episode of Friends on our Supervisor Max's laptop, before going to bed at 8pm.

The next couple of days passed in a blur of wind, snow, heat and sunshine - taking a pike axe to vegetation, clipping barb wire to fence posts and mixing cerment to suppport the T-posts. The hardest gruelling part was still the continuous trekking across the rocky desert trail back to the truck either taking new poles and equipment to the worksite or bringing back old poles and equipment. The trekking usually meant you'd walked about 12 miles before 11am in the morning - it's at least a good way to build up your appetite - which, is why it's a good thing they supply you with a lot of food; cereal, bagels, trail mix, salad, fruit, ceral bars, Gatorade (sport's drink) plus great dinners including hamburgers and my favorite..broccoli! The next couple of nights we could build a fire which made all the difference and yet you still found yourself tucked up in the sleeping bag ready to sleep by 8pm! Which was good as you had to up again by 6am. With no bathroom facilities to speak of, it was just a case of you and nature, however the morning sunrise made a great bathroom view ; )

On the last night I awoke at 1am to the sound of Coyotes howling in the distance - it was cool but also made me a bit nervous as my overactive imagination ran away with me and I started to imagine they were getting closer and were going to scratch their way in. I even thought at one point I heard the tent zip opening before common sense kicked and I realised, (a) it was the wind on the velcro and not the zip, (2) the Coyotes are probably miles away and the sound it just being carried well in the night air, and (d) Coyotes probably can't open zips.

By Friday we were all exhausted as well as bruised, aching and lacking blood from all the barb wire scratches, plus in great need of a shower. When we arrived back in Flagstaff, unloaded and washed the truck there was just time to grab a shower (it felt like the best shower in the world) and a bite to eat before I was out for the count, but at least I managed to stay awake til 8.30pm this time.