As all the team leads were away, we were asked to leading the hiking group this week. Went to the Buffalo Creek Forest Preserve. It is a newish trail, only open in the last few years, after I left Zoro. It’s a very nice trail but the weather was windy, cold, drizzle, with light snow, so we had the place almost to ourselves. The soccer field on the west end was closed, so we went to Menard’s for bathroom break. Overall 6 miles in 2.5 hours.
Utah
Took an eight-day trip (19 – 26) around Thanksgiving to visit national parks in Utah. We visited Zion during 2017 spring break. This time we will cover Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyonlands.
We flew to Salt Lake City on Friday night, drove about 2 hours before lodging for the night. The next morning we got up before sunrise and arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park at around 9.
We spent two days at Bryce Canyon, a day driving through Grand Staircase – Escalante, two days at the Capitol Reef, a day between Arches and Canyonlands before heading back to Salt Lake City by way of Price.
National Parks
As the traveling restriction started to ease off, we started venturing to the outdoors. During spring break in March, we went to Southern California to visit the girls. During that time we went to the Joshua Tree National Park for a couple of days.
In July we went on a six-day trip to the Glacier National Park. The weather was hotter than we expected. We were sweating even at the peak of the trail. There were many beautiful trails, the most memorable one was from The Loop to the Grinnell Glacier Overlook where we look down at the glacier from the top. It took us 11 hours to hike the 9-mile round trip. We were planning on hiking the Grinnell Glacier Trail the next day to see the glacier from the bottom up but will have to leave that for our next trip. From Many Glacier, we hike to the Iceberg Lake. A spectacular view with many “icebergs” floating on a glacier lake. We definitely will have to come to Glacier again some day.
For the Labor Day week in September, we were in the Rocky Mountain National Park for five days. This time, we bought an annual America the Beautiful Pass. For sure we will be visiting many more national parks in the next 12 months. Similar to the Going To The Sun Road, the Bear Lake Road requires a timed pass for entry between 5 am to 5 pm. We could not get a pass on the first day, so we got up early and got to the Bear Lake by 4:30 am to start the hike to Sky Pond! This is the first time we hike in the mountains in total darkness. It was quite an experience to see the starry sky and rising sun over the mountain range as we ascend the trail. The second day we took a cross mountain hike from Bear Lake to Fern Lake, then on the third day toured the four lakes around Bear Lake. On the final day we drove up to the Alpine Visitor Center before heading back to Denver for our flight back to Chicago.
Next, we are planning for an eight-day trip to Utah for Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase, Canyonlands and Arches during Thanksgiving holiday.
Downtown
I always wanted to work and live in the city, especially in Chicago. Since I started at the Tribune Company I have always worked in some sort of famous building, the Tribune Tower, Prudential Tower, Merchandise Mart, etc. Only until Zoro, where I had an office in the suburb and a desk in the city in a shared space.
In Shanghai, I lived about 20-minute walk from the office. Still Pudong is not really in the downtown area.
In San Antonio, it is truly downtown living. The office is right next to the main tourist attraction, River Walk, and the apartment is a 20-minute walk along the river. On weekends I can take an easy stroll along the river, either south to River Walk or North to the Pearl. Recently, we also discovered the Historical Market Square with lots of interesting shops and restaurants. It does get old after a few weeks. Unlike Chicago, where there are endless places to go and things to do in many diverse neighborhoods. Also, it is currently 93F with heat index of 104! Even sitting in the shade under a Big Ass Fan I feel the inescapable heat and humidity.
