6,500 Miles With the Crazies - A National Parks Road Trip Extravaganza

[HouCuseChickie]

July 27th Continued...

Whew...I was really hoping to be able to update sooner, but there's been a lot of "life" going on.

So, we finished breakfast and headed back into the park...

*see, I said we'd get the sign again. LOL

After entering the park, we went to the visitor center for the kids to get stamps and so I could buy another ornament. Well, in this case...a key chain. I didn't like any of the ornaments, so I'll just add a bow or something to dress it up for the tree. We also overheard a ranger telling people to start at the back of the park and work forward. So, I guess I had the right idea on my first trip in earlier in the morning. Of course, this time, I would also see the signs I missed for Sunrise Point. Oh well, we started down at Rainbow Point again...

I was kind of done with the spots I'd already seen, but David and the kids were taking it in. David kept finding all kinds of things off in the distance that he thought looked like things...like a trio of monkeys and a castle.

I took a few more pics from this point before moving on...

I'm not sure why, but we were all feeling especially cranky today. I'm sure some was the toll of being crammed in the car together for this many days, but I got kind of snippy about where I wanted to go next...and I really don't know why. When we did get to this next point, I also found I had some admirers. A couple from CA, especially the husband, had been excited about my vehicle. I guess the husband has one too and had all kinds of questions about mine. They were on a tour, so his was safe at home in CA. So, that was kind of fun, but I was really here to see Natural Bridge...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The next stop was Bryce Point and a few of the other surrounding points. This was exciting because these areas are more of what I was thinking Bryce would look like in person. While Natural Bridge was super cool, these were sort of the real WOW spots.

Hello chipmunk!

Now down in a slightly better vantage point.

My crankiness was also starting to extend beyond the family, although, I'm not sure it was just unwarranted crankiness with this one. A family had pointed out my crazy pants and sort of mockingly said it's kind of obvious to see where I'm from. They weren't wrong. I was wearing my obnoxiously bright Houston Astros rainbow pants. It had been chilly and I couldn't find any of my other pants that morning, so I resorted to wearing something that I'd packed more for the purpose of bedtime in a hotel where I might feel chilly. Shortly after this awkward interchange, this guy came out...

Cute little guy, but the people who were snarky about my pants kept calling him a chipmunk. I channeled my crankiness into passing by on my way to more pictures and nonchalantly said "He's a Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel."

Back to focusing on pictures...

Now this...this what I was expecting. This is what Bryce looked like in my mind before ever seeing it in person.

I may have also gone a bit overboard with the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness stuff in this part.

We finally moved on to some Fairy Point area...but not before trying to get to Sunset Point first. I guess that's where you can see the iconic Thor's Hammer. There were rangers at the entry, as there were at several popular points, but I was optimistic about finding something. I guess that opitimism was all for nothing. I went slow, but there was absolutely nothing. I was hoping to do a second pass through the lot, but they had cones blocking things off and extending down the center median to prevent both looping and U Turns. There weren't any nearby pullouts. So, we moved on to Fairy Point, since that was on Kendall's list of spots to see.

It's kind of hard to tell in pictures, but there's a structure with a darker stone top that I dubbed my own version of Thor's Hammer.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'm sorry...I got the name wrong...Fairyland Canyon.

I was done and started to head back to the car, while the rest of them took in some more. On my way back to the car, I started seeing some birds with blue in their plumage. I could never get any good pictures, but good for you if you can find the birds in this pic!

After going through all of the birds of Bryce in Audubon's resource, it appears I finally got my Mountain Bluebirds. They all would have been females, but there is no other bird I can find that matches what I saw.

Oh well, it was time to leave Bryce area...

Next stop...Zion! I wasn't overly excited, but boy did I underestimate this one.


Coming up...Our short time at Zion.

 

[Songbird76]

It's a strang, panicky, sort of feeling. I knew they'd turn it back on and I knew it was off so they could fix what had been messed up with water flow. Still, there's that "WE HAVE NO WATER!!!" sort of feeling.

Oh wow! So, dream bike for a 1970s little girl in the US is bike protection in the Netherlands. Wow! Granted, my kids always had to lock their bikes at school too. It's amazing how many bikes get stolen during the school day. I would have to assume that those are "her" sort of thoughts over people knowing that you're not Dutch. Like she's being irrational and it's not a big deal to others. We have a cousin who has lived in the Netherlands for decades and I never have heard any issues with her being American and having some US based traditions and actions.

That's wild about the sweatshirt. The fact that she felt the need to announce to people that you're not Dutch. Just WOW. The blue decoration thing hits a different nerve with me. I've seen that on and off throughout my life in different areas from different people, but the reason was always so that people don't see them putting a color associated wtih Judaism in their Christmas decor and somehow tie them to that. It's been ages, but I know I heard it from someone I knew when I was very young. I remember watching them prep to put lights on their house and they had the job of swapping out all of the blue bulbs for any other color, because that's not a Christian color. Like you said, the moment you start speaking, people will know you're not Dutch. I know different generations have these rules, and I remember a lot of these kinds of things with my grandparents, but at some point...the rules aren't so much rules as they are an intollerance for anyone other than those they perceive to be like them.

I know thereare a couple of areas of the rivers in Yellowstone where it's thermally heated at a safe temp and people are allowed to swim. I think they're spots in the Firehole River (I want to say it's an area north of Norris) and in the Yellowstone (Boiling River section north of Mammoth) where you can get in.

Yes, my husband said they are turning off something soon for maintenance, either power or water, I don't remember which, and they will let us know when. It says "briefly", but what exactly does that mean? Is that like....a whole day? An hour? 15 minutes? I HAVE to be able to plan. It makes me nervous.

It's more about the label of "foreigner". They wouldn't be able to tell where I'm from by looking at me, but just being a foreigner. The thing is MOST people wouldn't necessarily have a problem with it, I don't think, but it IS more of an issue than many would like to believe. When we were looking for a house, the only places we could afford were in some not so nice areas (run down, high crime rates) and my MIL said "No, you aren't moving to an area with a bunch of foreigners. I won't let you raise my grandchildren in a neighborhood with a bunch of foreigners." This was before we had kids, but I looked at her and said "I'M a foreigner!!" And at work, we had a bunch of temps from Poland and there were a couple of women who were really nasty about it...making comments about how if foreigners were going to be coming in and stealing jobs from Dutch people, they were going to have to do the crappy jobs no one else wanted to do. Then they looked at me and said "Oh....we don't mean YOU of course." Yeah...right. It's just this stigma of foreigners coming in and not learning the language (which it's actually MANDATORY to learn) and taking jobs from the Dutch people, and all living together in neighborhoods with other foreigners and not adapting. Of course all the family knew I was American, and my husband has 3 cousins who all married American women, so that wasn't a big deal. She just didn't want strangers to think SHE was a foreigner, or that she was accepting of foreigners who don't "adapt", which to her meant I should ride a bike and eat stampot, and not wear clothing popular in the US, etc...It wasn't good enough that I was going to school, learning the language, etc. It wasn't just adapting, she wanted me to BECOME Dutch. I can't change where I was born, and there are Dutch people who don't ride bikes, too....riding a bike is not what makes a person Dutch and it's not proof of assimilation. I make it a point to wear the Christmas sweater every year when we visit. But one of DH's uncles was at the house and I had only been there for a few months at the time, and I was waiting on my paperwork so I could register for school to learn Dutch, so I only knew VERY limited things like I knew the words for room, table, light, etc, but couldn't actually have a conversation with anyone yet. The uncle made the comment that I had been there for several months, why didn't I speak Dutch yet? Rhonda speaks Dutch. DH just said "How long has Rhonda been here? 2 years?" And he said yes, something like that. DH said "Yeah...Susan has been here for 4 months. When she's been here for 2 years and still can't speak Dutch, THEN you can comment. 4 months isn't enough to learn a language fluently without a class! Wait for her to actually get into school before you judge her!" And then when E was 3 weeks old, we were at my in-laws' house and I was just talking to her, in English, because I wanted her to learn both. This aunt was there and says "Stop speaking English! I can't understand you!" Her son was there too, and said "She wasn't talking to you, so you don't NEED to understand her." "Well, she's in the Netherlands and we speak Dutch here and she needs to learn to speak Dutch." And I said to her, IN Dutch, that I was perfectly capable of speaking Dutch, which she knew, but that I also have a whole family who DOESN'T speak Dutch, and THEY would like to be able to speak to my child, too, so it was also important for her to learn English, plus it's required at school in the Netherlands, and if -I- didn't speak English to her, how was she going to learn it? Being the ONLY one who spoke English to her, I was confident that if she had a problem learning one of the languages, it wouldn't be Dutch. She kind of grumbled, but it did at least shut her up. But there's definitely a stigma here, at least with the older generations, and people seem to think that adapting means becoming. It's not enough to learn the language, celebrate the holidays, participate in society with Dutch people....if they can tell you aren't Dutch, you aren't trying hard enough, and they want you to do it all immediately. They even have a law here that you have to learn Dutch before you are allowed to come here. They changed it shortly after I finished school here. My friend's mom came over from Sri Lanka and had to learn the language there and pass a test before she was allowed to move here. I don't know how a person is supposed to learn it in their own country....it's not exactly a common language like German or Spanish or French. How much demand is there in the US, for example, to learn Dutch?? Where will you even find a teacher for it??

I'm not much of a natural water swimmer. I need a pool. I HATE getting sand on my feet, or dirt or whatever. So beaches, lakes, etc are not my thing. I love to LOOK at a nice lake at the foot of a mountain, but I definitely don't want to swim in it.

 

[Songbird76]

July 27th Continued...

Whew...I was really hoping to be able to update sooner, but there's been a lot of "life" going on.

So, we finished breakfast and headed back into the park...

*see, I said we'd get the sign again. LOL

After entering the park, we went to the visitor center for the kids to get stamps and so I could buy another ornament. Well, in this case...a key chain. I didn't like any of the ornaments, so I'll just add a bow or something to dress it up for the tree. We also overheard a ranger telling people to start at the back of the park and work forward. So, I guess I had the right idea on my first trip in earlier in the morning. Of course, this time, I would also see the signs I missed for Sunrise Point. Oh well, we started down at Rainbow Point again...

I was kind of done with the spots I'd already seen, but David and the kids were taking it in. David kept finding all kinds of things off in the distance that he thought looked like things...like a trio of monkeys and a castle.

I took a few more pics from this point before moving on...

I'm not sure why, but we were all feeling especially cranky today. I'm sure some was the toll of being crammed in the car together for this many days, but I got kind of snippy about where I wanted to go next...and I really don't know why. When we did get to this next point, I also found I had some admirers. A couple from CA, especially the husband, had been excited about my vehicle. I guess the husband has one too and had all kinds of questions about mine. They were on a tour, so his was safe at home in CA. So, that was kind of fun, but I was really here to see Natural Bridge...

That's a very cool rock feature, but why do they call it a natural BRIDGE? You can't go across it....it's more of a natural TUNNEL, isn't it? There's one like that kind of outside of Douglas, Wyoming, too. Same deal, though there is actually water underneath that one, so I guess it makes a BIT more sense.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm sorry...I got the name wrong...Fairyland Canyon.

I was done and started to head back to the car, while the rest of them took in some more. On my way back to the car, I started seeing some birds with blue in their plumage. I could never get any good pictures, but good for you if you can find the birds in this pic!

After going through all of the birds of Bryce in Audubon's resource, it appears I finally got my Mountain Bluebirds. They all would have been females, but there is no other bird I can find that matches what I saw.

Oh well, it was time to leave Bryce area...

Next stop...Zion! I wasn't overly excited, but boy did I underestimate this one.


Coming up...Our short time at Zion.

Breathtaking views!! But how rude of those people to mock what you were wearing. I suppose they were runway models themselves, were they?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 27th continued...

We left the Bryce area to head to Zion. The two parks are actually quite close to each other and many people pick one of the two to be their home base. I couldn't decide, as we were only doing 1 night each, so I split it. As we headed that way, we watched the terrain change.

I can't recall if we'd stopped for drinks, potty break, or a little bit of both (because I know we got gas in Bryce), but I remembered seeing these numbers painted up on the cliff and wondered what they were for...still wondering.

This was also the point where we started seeing lodges and cabins for tourists. I had remembered seeing there were a few things on this northeastern side of the park (assuming I have my directions correct), but everything in the town of Springdale, on the other side of the tunnel seemed to be the spot.

This wasn't the entire update I'd planned, but Kendall needed the computer and I don't want to waste my efforts with what I've already written. Hopefully, I'll get to post our arrival in Zion later today.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Yes, my husband said they are turning off something soon for maintenance, either power or water, I don't remember which, and they will let us know when. It says "briefly", but what exactly does that mean? Is that like....a whole day? An hour? 15 minutes? I HAVE to be able to plan. It makes me nervous.

It's more about the label of "foreigner". They wouldn't be able to tell where I'm from by looking at me, but just being a foreigner. The thing is MOST people wouldn't necessarily have a problem with it, I don't think, but it IS more of an issue than many would like to believe. When we were looking for a house, the only places we could afford were in some not so nice areas (run down, high crime rates) and my MIL said "No, you aren't moving to an area with a bunch of foreigners. I won't let you raise my grandchildren in a neighborhood with a bunch of foreigners." This was before we had kids, but I looked at her and said "I'M a foreigner!!" And at work, we had a bunch of temps from Poland and there were a couple of women who were really nasty about it...making comments about how if foreigners were going to be coming in and stealing jobs from Dutch people, they were going to have to do the crappy jobs no one else wanted to do. Then they looked at me and said "Oh....we don't mean YOU of course." Yeah...right. It's just this stigma of foreigners coming in and not learning the language (which it's actually MANDATORY to learn) and taking jobs from the Dutch people, and all living together in neighborhoods with other foreigners and not adapting. Of course all the family knew I was American, and my husband has 3 cousins who all married American women, so that wasn't a big deal. She just didn't want strangers to think SHE was a foreigner, or that she was accepting of foreigners who don't "adapt", which to her meant I should ride a bike and eat stampot, and not wear clothing popular in the US, etc...It wasn't good enough that I was going to school, learning the language, etc. It wasn't just adapting, she wanted me to BECOME Dutch. I can't change where I was born, and there are Dutch people who don't ride bikes, too....riding a bike is not what makes a person Dutch and it's not proof of assimilation. I make it a point to wear the Christmas sweater every year when we visit. But one of DH's uncles was at the house and I had only been there for a few months at the time, and I was waiting on my paperwork so I could register for school to learn Dutch, so I only knew VERY limited things like I knew the words for room, table, light, etc, but couldn't actually have a conversation with anyone yet. The uncle made the comment that I had been there for several months, why didn't I speak Dutch yet? Rhonda speaks Dutch. DH just said "How long has Rhonda been here? 2 years?" And he said yes, something like that. DH said "Yeah...Susan has been here for 4 months. When she's been here for 2 years and still can't speak Dutch, THEN you can comment. 4 months isn't enough to learn a language fluently without a class! Wait for her to actually get into school before you judge her!" And then when E was 3 weeks old, we were at my in-laws' house and I was just talking to her, in English, because I wanted her to learn both. This aunt was there and says "Stop speaking English! I can't understand you!" Her son was there too, and said "She wasn't talking to you, so you don't NEED to understand her." "Well, she's in the Netherlands and we speak Dutch here and she needs to learn to speak Dutch." And I said to her, IN Dutch, that I was perfectly capable of speaking Dutch, which she knew, but that I also have a whole family who DOESN'T speak Dutch, and THEY would like to be able to speak to my child, too, so it was also important for her to learn English, plus it's required at school in the Netherlands, and if -I- didn't speak English to her, how was she going to learn it? Being the ONLY one who spoke English to her, I was confident that if she had a problem learning one of the languages, it wouldn't be Dutch. She kind of grumbled, but it did at least shut her up. But there's definitely a stigma here, at least with the older generations, and people seem to think that adapting means becoming. It's not enough to learn the language, celebrate the holidays, participate in society with Dutch people....if they can tell you aren't Dutch, you aren't trying hard enough, and they want you to do it all immediately. They even have a law here that you have to learn Dutch before you are allowed to come here. They changed it shortly after I finished school here. My friend's mom came over from Sri Lanka and had to learn the language there and pass a test before she was allowed to move here. I don't know how a person is supposed to learn it in their own country....it's not exactly a common language like German or Spanish or French. How much demand is there in the US, for example, to learn Dutch?? Where will you even find a teacher for it??

I'm not much of a natural water swimmer. I need a pool. I HATE getting sand on my feet, or dirt or whatever. So beaches, lakes, etc are not my thing. I love to LOOK at a nice lake at the foot of a mountain, but I definitely don't want to swim in it.

I think that was part of my fear. The workers shut it off around 1pm and said they were hoping they'd have it restored by the end of the day. HOPING?

Oh wow...that is so interesting. In some ways, it reminds me of some of my maternal grandmother's stories of my great grandmother fleeing to America. I remember my grandmother saying that her mother was required to learn English under the various Americanization laws that were enforced at those times. She had so much pride in learning the language, but it also created some generational resentment when such immigrant requirements were lifted and our official language was changed to none. On the flipside, she and my aunt could hold full discussions in the version of Yiddish my great grandmother brought to this country, and my aunt was always quite bothered than none of the kids and grandkids understood more than a few key words. So, it was like a tug of war with the languages and mentalities. Beyond that, there was always discussion about somebody being "one of us" and certain cultural norms/standards. I'm just drawing a lot of common issues here, except that a more liberal mindset prevailed as members of that generation passed. I guess the benefit my great grandmother and others of the time had is that many were going through this at the same time and there were all sorts of resources, even if they weren't as speedy and accessible as many of today's options. You had to do this on your own and were always under the microscope while learning. That seems like that alone would create more challenges. I know there are all kinds of resources these days for learning languages. Dutch is one of the language options on Rosetta Stone, so she may have gotten her start on there. I'm not sure how good any of them are, but I did have quite a few results when I Googled "Learn to Speak Dutch."

I don't mind sand bottoms when I'm in the water, but I hate getting out and having sand on my body. Slimy, mushy, soft bottoms are what really freak me out. It looks like everything with this would be rocks. I wasn't sure how hot it was in the areas where people go, but I found this couple's video from a winter visit and I guess there are little areas where the cold and the hot mix to make it hot tub temps. I don't think they get in until 6 minutes into the video.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

That's a very cool rock feature, but why do they call it a natural BRIDGE? You can't go across it....it's more of a natural TUNNEL, isn't it? There's one like that kind of outside of Douglas, Wyoming, too. Same deal, though there is actually water underneath that one, so I guess it makes a BIT more sense.

Who knows. I suppose maybe it got the bridge name because the top doesn't arch? That's the only thing I can think of.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Breathtaking views!! But how rude of those people to mock what you were wearing. I suppose they were runway models themselves, were they?

It really is a beautiful park. I think I was extra put off by their reply because they were from the Houston area, and most people from here love the pants. They are loud...



...nothing shy about these. Still, there are better ways of saying things. Their facial expressions also gave away their feelings. I love the pants...wasn't originally planning on wearing them...but I couldn't find my black leggings. They ended up fitting a practical need on this day, because I would rather be in loud pants and warm, than freezing in shorts. I had hit a point in the day where I actually forgot I had them on and had to do a bit of a double take at my legs. Oh well, I guess not every stranger you meet on vacation will be a nice encounter.

 

[Songbird76]

I think that was part of my fear. The workers shut it off around 1pm and said they were hoping they'd have it restored by the end of the day. HOPING?

Oh wow...that is so interesting. In some ways, it reminds me of some of my maternal grandmother's stories of my great grandmother fleeing to America. I remember my grandmother saying that her mother was required to learn English under the various Americanization laws that were enforced at those times. She had so much pride in learning the language, but it also created some generational resentment when such immigrant requirements were lifted and our official language was changed to none. On the flipside, she and my aunt could hold full discussions in the version of Yiddish my great grandmother brought to this country, and my aunt was always quite bothered than none of the kids and grandkids understood more than a few key words. So, it was like a tug of war with the languages and mentalities. Beyond that, there was always discussion about somebody being "one of us" and certain cultural norms/standards. I'm just drawing a lot of common issues here, except that a more liberal mindset prevailed as members of that generation passed. I guess the benefit my great grandmother and others of the time had is that many were going through this at the same time and there were all sorts of resources, even if they weren't as speedy and accessible as many of today's options. You had to do this on your own and were always under the microscope while learning. That seems like that alone would create more challenges. I know there are all kinds of resources these days for learning languages. Dutch is one of the language options on Rosetta Stone, so she may have gotten her start on there. I'm not sure how good any of them are, but I did have quite a few results when I Googled "Learn to Speak Dutch."

I don't mind sand bottoms when I'm in the water, but I hate getting out and having sand on my body. Slimy, mushy, soft bottoms are what really freak me out. It looks like everything with this would be rocks. I wasn't sure how hot it was in the areas where people go, but I found this couple's video from a winter visit and I guess there are little areas where the cold and the hot mix to make it hot tub temps. I don't think they get in until 6 minutes into the video.

I think there used to be a lot of pressure on immigrants, at least to the US, to forget their homeland and just become American. My mother's parents were German and my mother never learned to speak German. It was kind of expected that you would throw yourself into American culture, which is kind of ridiculous when you think about it because American Culture is that it is so diverse because people came from all over the world to settle there. There IS no such thing as American culture without other cultures....every tradition and language, with the exception of the Native American languages and such, was brought from somewhere else. Christmas trees are German, for example. But of course at that time, we didn't have telephones where you could call your family back in Europe and your family there could talk to your children, and travel was dangerous and expensive. You didn't take a vacation to go back to the homeland so your children could meet their grandparents. And a lot of times, entire families immigrated, so there was no need to go back to the homeland to visit. My mom's grandparents were all in the same small area of Illinois, and her parents lived there and all the aunts and uncles immigrated as well, so all the cousins grew up in the US. I'm pretty sure my grandmother was actually born in Germany and came over as a child. But because the grandparents and everyone came over, they could all visit each other and made an effort to learn English. I don't think that's necessary or even realistic anymore, at least in my case. I wasn't coming to the Netherlands in search of a better life or more freedom, etc. So when I came over, it was just me. Of COURSE my family missed me and wanted to know my kids, etc. I made an effort to learn the language and I gave up a LOT to move here. I don't think riding a bike is a necessary part of assimilation. I don't live in a neighborhood where I'm isolated from Dutch people and not speaking the language. For all intents and purposes, I participate fully in Dutch life, and I DO ride a bike when it's necessary, but I'm not going to ride a bike when I could walk. I'm GOING to have an accent...I can't get rid of it, but I speak more fluently than probably 90% of immigrants, so I don't think that accent matters much. It just seems unreasonable to expect what my in-laws expected of me when I first got here. Now that I don't live with them, I don't follow their rules, but I think they've calmed down now that I do speak so well, and now I'm considered "adapted".

Nope....I can't see myself getting in there. I see some grasses, which means dirt, and I can't stand getting anything on my feet. I wear slippers everywhere. I step out of the shower into my slippers so my feet don't touch the floor.

 

[MinnieM123]

It really is a beautiful park. I think I was extra put off by their reply because they were from the Houston area, and most people from here love the pants. They are loud...

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...nothing shy about these. Still, there are better ways of saying things. Their facial expressions also gave away their feelings. I love the pants...wasn't originally planning on wearing them...but I couldn't find my black leggings. They ended up fitting a practical need on this day, because I would rather be in loud pants and warm, than freezing in shorts. I had hit a point in the day where I actually forgot I had them on and had to do a bit of a double take at my legs. Oh well, I guess not every stranger you meet on vacation will be a nice encounter.

I was surprised by their reaction, because there's nothing I've seen people wear these days, that elicits any reaction from me. Your pants were "tame" in comparison to some clothing I've seen people wear! But more to the point, maybe I'm just more of a "live and let live" type of personality -- If someone wants to wear bright prints, then so be it. None of my business -- can't understand why those people gave you the "look". For heaven's sake, you're all on vacation -- it's not like you wore them while attending a funeral.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I was surprised by their reaction, because there's nothing I've seen people wear these days, that elicits any reaction from me. Your pants were "tame" in comparison to some clothing I've seen people wear! But more to the point, maybe I'm just more of a "live and let live" type of personality -- If someone wants to wear bright prints, then so be it. None of my business -- can't understand why those people gave you the "look". For heaven's sake, you're all on vacation -- it's not like you wore them while attending a funeral.

I'm sure there are some people who see my pants and would think it's fine for a baseball game, but not everyday wear. You are right...they are nothing compared to some of the things I see people wearing. I just don't understand why they felt the need to say anything. I'm sure we've all seen some crazy outfits and while I don't have much of a poker face, I would never dream of saying anything to a perfect stranger about their attire. I might scrunch up my face if it was something like a t-shirt with something truly offensive, but I wouldn't engage them in conversation.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I think there used to be a lot of pressure on immigrants, at least to the US, to forget their homeland and just become American. My mother's parents were German and my mother never learned to speak German. It was kind of expected that you would throw yourself into American culture, which is kind of ridiculous when you think about it because American Culture is that it is so diverse because people came from all over the world to settle there. There IS no such thing as American culture without other cultures....every tradition and language, with the exception of the Native American languages and such, was brought from somewhere else. Christmas trees are German, for example. But of course at that time, we didn't have telephones where you could call your family back in Europe and your family there could talk to your children, and travel was dangerous and expensive. You didn't take a vacation to go back to the homeland so your children could meet their grandparents. And a lot of times, entire families immigrated, so there was no need to go back to the homeland to visit. My mom's grandparents were all in the same small area of Illinois, and her parents lived there and all the aunts and uncles immigrated as well, so all the cousins grew up in the US. I'm pretty sure my grandmother was actually born in Germany and came over as a child. But because the grandparents and everyone came over, they could all visit each other and made an effort to learn English. I don't think that's necessary or even realistic anymore, at least in my case. I wasn't coming to the Netherlands in search of a better life or more freedom, etc. So when I came over, it was just me. Of COURSE my family missed me and wanted to know my kids, etc. I made an effort to learn the language and I gave up a LOT to move here. I don't think riding a bike is a necessary part of assimilation. I don't live in a neighborhood where I'm isolated from Dutch people and not speaking the language. For all intents and purposes, I participate fully in Dutch life, and I DO ride a bike when it's necessary, but I'm not going to ride a bike when I could walk. I'm GOING to have an accent...I can't get rid of it, but I speak more fluently than probably 90% of immigrants, so I don't think that accent matters much. It just seems unreasonable to expect what my in-laws expected of me when I first got here. Now that I don't live with them, I don't follow their rules, but I think they've calmed down now that I do speak so well, and now I'm considered "adapted".

Nope....I can't see myself getting in there. I see some grasses, which means dirt, and I can't stand getting anything on my feet. I wear slippers everywhere. I step out of the shower into my slippers so my feet don't touch the floor.

Looking back on it, that's really the bizarre part about all of their assimilation efforts at that time in the US. While today's issues are a bit different, just due to the size of the country, there are still all kinds of regionalisms - some of which are also part of cultural differences in different areas. You're right though...for your situation, at the end of the day, you've done what you could do. I'm glad that they've calmed down, but that had to be so uncomfortable in the early days.

I'd have to be in something like my Keen sandals. I could never go walking around barefoot.

 

[Songbird76]

Looking back on it, that's really the bizarre part about all of their assimilation efforts at that time in the US. While today's issues are a bit different, just due to the size of the country, there are still all kinds of regionalisms - some of which are also part of cultural differences in different areas. You're right though...for your situation, at the end of the day, you've done what you could do. I'm glad that they've calmed down, but that had to be so uncomfortable in the early days.

I'd have to be in something like my Keen sandals. I could never go walking around barefoot.

The first three years here were very unhappy ones for me. As soon as we moved into our own house, it got better. It's true what they say "Good fences make good neighbors.'' or in my case, make good in-laws. We desperately needed boundaries. I had told my husband that if we didn't have our own place in 6 months (this was after nearly 3 years of living with his parents), I wanted to move back to the US because I just couldn't stand to live like a naughty little child anymore, and I needed to have my own place and independence, where we could be a married couple, not someone's children. Then we got this house. We still have our moments, but I do love my in-laws, and we get along better now that we have that distance. I don't think they intended to hurt me, but just didn't realize how much I was going through and they thought they were doing the right thing, but it just wasn't what I needed. At the time I moved here, my mother had just passed, we had just put my dog to sleep a couple of weeks before mom died, and within a couple of weeks, we had packed up and moved all our stuff, quit our jobs, gave up the lease on our apartment....it all happened so quickly, and it was just so much change for me all at once, and so much to say goodbye to. They were so focused on me adapting to Dutch life, I don't think they stopped to think about everything I had just gone through and how I was feeling and that what I needed most was support. They weren't thinking about what I needed, but about what they wanted. I literally had less freedom than a teenager, and I don't think that's how they saw it, or rather, they didn't realize what they were doing to me. And part of that is on my husband, because he DID know, and he should have stood up for me more, but I think he was kind of blinded by his love for them. He knew they wouldn't intentionally hurt me, but he encouraged me to just let it all go because they MEANT well, instead of telling them to knock it off because they were being jerks.

 

[meggo819]

after nearly 3 years of living with his parents

I can’t even imagine doing this with my own parents, let alone my husband’s! If it’s not too nosy, I’m very curious how you met your Dutch husband

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 27th continued...


I was really all over the place in my mind about going to Zion. The park is ridiculously popular, to the point that personal vehicles aren't permitted on the roads through the most popular parts of the park. It looks like a relative easy drive from Vegas, so that may be part of it. I've also heard a lot of mixed feelings on the park. While some say it's an all out must if you're going to hike to popular areas like Angels Landing and The Narrows, others say it's highly overrated or at least not worth it for people who don't want to do these major hikes. We had no desire to do either of these hikes. Angels Landing is high and narrow with chains to hold onto to get up and down. Obviously, not my video, but this is it...



The Narrows is a wet hike, which can also put you in dangerous spots while in the middle of monsoon season. Also not my video...



Most people also find they have to rent special gear for both of these, and because of heat and afternoon rain threats, most people start lining up for the shuttle as early as 3am. Supposedly, the lot for Zion is filled to capacity before 6am, so that's another challenge with all of this and was a big factor in my changing our lodging.

In any event, I learned that there was a shuttle leading through the park adjacent town of Springdale, to and from the park. There was also a separate shuttle inside the park to get you to all of these spots that weren't accessible by personal vehicle. My original plan was to see Bryce on the afternoon of the 26th, maybe a little at sunrise and then head to Zion, but with the previous day's rain...well, that just didn't happen. So, here we were, driving into Zion in the middle of the afternoon of the 27th. At first, I was OK with it, but I made the mistake of reading too many opinions on my national park fan groups pages that colored my opinions before ever setting foot in the park. It's kind of like Disney...there are some parks fans who will tell you it's a waste or not that great if you don't do it their way or because things aren't like they once were with crowds, rules, etc. I was shocked how much time allotted and hiking shaming that goes on in those groups. Seriously...a few weeks ago, I was asking about Katmai in Alaska and this guy devoted 4 paragraphs going off on people like me who don't hike and all of the ways we're a waste. Now, I have hiked and I do sometimes hike, and if wasn't so excited to get on his soap box and actually read my post, I said I wanted to hike in the other parks...just not Katmai. In any event, I've learned a lot about some of the other park enthusiasts out there.

So, I went into Zion thinking whatever we could see would kind of fall flat. I couldn't have been more wrong. I guess that's a good thing...it's nice to be wowed when you're not expecting it. I'll be honest, on paper and in pictures, I couldn't really tell what to think about Zion, but I regret not giving it an extra day for exploration. This is a taste of the drive in...

I also had to laugh...my dad had gone on quite a bit about the tunnel at Zion. We drove through this and David was like "that was nothing!"

Yeah, that wasn't the tunnel.

Before we got to "the" tunnel, I started a bit of an animal jam. I think I cared everyone in the car too, because I just had to yell, "SHEEP, SHEEP, SHEEP!!!"

 

[HouCuseChickie]

This next one wasn't THE tunnel either!

See, we're barely inside the park at this point and we've already experience beautiful landscapes as well as wildlife. I was already really liking it.

Shortly after the sheep, we hit a bit of a backup. It turns out that this was the backup for "the" tunnel. While we were stopped, David and I switched off since I'm generally better with the camera. I even took some video in the tunnel.

The tunnel didn't seem that scary to me. Yes, it's a mile long, and it's very dark...minus the few vented areas where you get these random peaks out at the scenery around you, but it wasn't awful.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I'd later find out that we were lucky. Rangers were only allowing one way traffic through the tunnel. Apparently they allow it going in both directions at times, which makes it terrifying. Even more terrifying...my parents had this experience in a big tour bus!

And when we exited the tunnel, it was kind of like Dorothy walking out into Oz. We went from really beautiful scenery to WOW...just WOW! It's another one of those places that makes you feel small...really really really small...and pictures just don't do it justice. You start out fairly high and go through a series of switchbacks that bring you down to the bottom.

(wow- you can see the reflection of my pants!)

I also took some video on our way into this area, but I warn you, David lets out a big belch. I decided to keep the video because we weren't going to turn around and try and redo it, but it still bugs me...and yet it's kind of funny at the same time. The video also gives some better perspective on how huge this place feels when you exit the tunnel.



And more pics of us coming into the park. It feels a bit redundant after a bit, because you're getting the same scenery for much of it...just at different elevations.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

It's a lot of pictures, but I was just in complete awe of this place. The shock of that was also part of it.

We soon exited the park...

...which put us in the town of Springdale. Initially, I'd booked a place towards the end of the road. It got great reviews and was on the Springdale shuttle, but I was afraid about shuttle hours. So, maybe about 2-3 weeks before the trip, I switched us to a place called the Cable Mountain Lodge. It connects to the official Zion parking lot for the Zion visitor center and the official Zion park shuttle, so it eliminated any parking fears I had as well as town shuttle concerns. The only real hitch...parts of Zion and the town of Springdale were hit with flash flooding shortly before our trip. This is obviously not my video, but this is footage of how bad it was...



That river goes right behind our hotel. Honestly, I was just happy we still had a place to stay after all of this happened. Unfortunately, it meant parts of the hotel were still having some work done to fix things. The big things...1. No elevators 2. A/C was a bit wonky.

After we lugged our bags up to the room...we took a look around our spacious and scenic spot for the night.

Sam also spotted a friend that was hanging out near our room. I had seen video that a number of deer like the grounds, so I wasn't totally shocked, but she was one of a few that was around during our short stay.

Deer or no deer...it was a very pretty spot.

While a tad warm, the room wasn't bad either.

(pants again!)


Coming up...we walk into the park, explore our hotel, grab some dinner, and discover the Milky Way while doing some laundry.