El Ano Nuevo-Cabo Style!

Ola mis amigos!
As a part of my new year's resolutions, I've decided that I'm going to pepper this blog with our life.  Now you may be thinking: Bryan, that's what a blog is for...   but ours has just been a nice thought until now.  So sit down, strap in, and get ready for a ride (happening once weekly, probably on weekends).

New Year's 2016 found us climbing aboard a plane in wintry Salt Lake City and flying off to Mexico! Now you may be wondering how the heck two college students can afford such a trip, and if you're truly curious another page detailing how we do all this stuff for free will be posted in the coming months.  Back to the trip.

We decided that we needed a break, school, work, life, it was all just too much ;) so a weeklong retreat south of the border ought to do us some good.  We packed up our things, snorkels included, and made our way down to Cabo San Lucas.  I was nervous at first, I mean you hear these stories about Mexico, cartels, El Chapo, you know the likes and I was worried we'd be walking into trouble. My fears were immediately lessened after we passed through the hour long line at customs and walked out of the airport doors into the shining sunlight.  Those feelings I got when I spoke to latinos on my mission came rushing back and my tongue picked up the rolling r as if it was riding a bike.  We got our rental car with ease and off we went to find our hotel.  Now I won't say we didn't get lost while we were in Mexico, in fact, we got lost more often than I would've hoped, but it comes with travel.  After learning the rules of the road (Mexicans don't stop at stop signs) and wandering about the city a bit, we finally found our hotel, Fairfield Inn Cabo.  We got ourselves checked in and then went in search of food.  We turned into the first little restaurant we passed by and were immediately welcomed, seating, fed and watered, and waited on hand and foot (we were the only people in the place).  It seemed pretty authentic, the bright colors, the open air, the birds begging for table scraps, it was the perfect spot for our first stop.

 After the meal, we decided to walk down to the beach, which wasn't too far and stroll along in the sand.  We soon learned that the sand in Mexico is more like small gravel and if you aren't wearing sandals you'll soon wish you had.  The rest of night we spent strolling along the beach and around the marina.

The next day started the real fun.  After Ally's morning rituals, we headed out and found our first tour, Whale Watching! But not just touristy whale watching, Whale Watch Cabo! Small boats with no more than 10 people, all led by an actual Marine Biologist.  Lisa, our german Marine Biologist educated us on everything whale.  We even got to see a whale breach, something we were told doesn't happen every day.

My favorite part of the trip wasn't in fact the whales, though I did love them, it was in the first five minutes of the tour.  As we were leaving the marina I spotted a sea lion hitching a ride on the back of a returning fishing boat begging for a snack.  They are so smart.

The famous arch at Land's End

That afternoon we spent eating and exploring.  Who knew that Cabo had some of the best Gelato to offer.

New Year's Eve was a full day.  We first made the hour drive north to the small and quaint town of Todos Santos and wandered about looking for the perfect souvenir, but to no avail.  We also got to see our sought after Spanish Mission, get ripped off by a street taco vendor, and hung out on the beach where we saw, even more, whales playing in the surf. 

On our way back home we thought we try for even more authentic Mexican, and stopped at a quaint little taco stand on the side of the road.  The food was great, the atmosphere was fun, and the little dog begging for scraps at our table was the perfect added touch.  It was great, up until we realized the keys had been locked in the rental car.  Then the next hour and a half wait for the rental company to bring us another key was pretty dull.

We finally did make it back to our hotel just in time to get changed and walk to the marina for what Ally likes to call our Booze Cruise.  An evening of free drinks, some finger foods, plenty of reggaeton music, and a catamaran on the bay.

At the stroke of midnight, the entire Medano Beach lit up with fire. We ate the traditional 12 grapes at each chime of the bell and then we boogied on down for the rest of the night.

Also, in keeping with the name of this blog I feel obligated to tell you though the boat was full of people our age, we somehow managed to spend the entire evening partying with a group of mid-50-year-olds.  So in that sense, we were the youngest ones there.

While on the booze cruise, one of our older friends told us we simply had to visit two restaurants.  One for breakfast and one for dinner.  So we did! They were both great recommendations. The first was a little restaurant right on the beach, where the tables sat right in the sand so you could play with your feet in the sand as you ate.

The other restaurant was rated in the top 5 most beautiful restaurants in the world by tripadvisor: Sunset de la Mona Lisa.  Because it was rated so high, we were unable to get reservations, but we did manage to get a table at the clifftop bar overlooking the restaurant.  The food was still great.  They even thought it was our honeymoon and they brought us out some treats.

The New Year's day was spent finding somebody to take us across the bay to Lover's Beach.  There was a tad bit of drama with that one, want the deets?  Ask Ally, I'm sure she'd love to fill you in on that.

The next day was the day I was anticipating with childlike wonder.  SCUBA day! We went down to a shack on the beach and out we went.  It was just the two of us, the dive master, and our boat captain. When I say boat, I mean more like dingy.  They took us out and around Land's End, got us suited up and in we went! Straight down to a wreck, it was a cool dive, but there wasn't much sea life.  There were also currents pulling at us and so by the end I think we were both tired of kicking.  Our dive master showed us a small cave under the water and tried to coax us in, but Allysann wouldn't have any of it and so we didn't venture too far in.

The second dive was the memorable one.  We were taken over to Pelican Rock, an area that the famous explorer Jacques Cousteau nicknamed the aquarium of the world.  We went down 30 feet and there was a massive school of fish, sort of like the school from Finding Nemo.  It was shimmering and sort of undulating, we probably could have spent the entire dive just staring at that ball but our dive master wanted us to keep moving.  It was a good thing we did too, because we reached "The Wall" or the drop off into the bay.  It's a wall that drops straight down 5000 feet below the surface, you couldn't see anything down in the darkness, and the vastness was breathtaking.  At the wall, we also got to meet our dive master's little friends.  Our dive master would tap on his goggles and up would swim a few fish as if they knew him, at the first sign of his apparent lack of food they would shoot off angrily.  Luckily I had packed a little bit of tortilla in my wetsuit, the dive master called them back and as they feasted we got to pet them.

We don't have any video from the dive because your's truly forgot to charge the camera.

The next day we had to check out of our hotel.  So I decided that was the day that we would make the longest trek up to the city of La Paz to do some swimming with Whale Sharks.  The video speaks for itself.

After the swim, we drove back down to Cabo (after a fruitless search for a bat cave and getting the car stuck in a river bed) and checked into the Hyatt Ziva all-inclusive resort.  I got us two free nights there and we planned on taking full advantage of the all-inclusive clause in the guest agreement.  We had two days, they had 8 restaurants, they were no match for our stomach capacities! We felt like kings, and they kept treating us like them too, almost to the point of annoyance.  You couldn't so much as look at a drink, or food, or anything for that matter without the employees trying to give it to you and if you wouldn't take it they would look at you as if you had just murdered their child.

Also, you haven't lived until you've watched Mexicans try and perform Disney and Abba.

After two short days of lounging and eating it was time to say goodbye to Mexico.  We drove to the airport, dropped off our car, and flew back to the winter.

Birth Weekend in South Dakota

Last week Bryan and I took a weekend trip to Mt. Rushmore to celebrate my birthday. 

It was on our bucket list of places to visit in the U.S. and it was only a 9 hr 45 min drive from Salt Lake City.

Before starting our trek, we stopped by the new Draper aquarium for my company's summer party. It was pretty fun!

We saw penguins and piranhas (not in the same exhibit) and got to pet sea stars.

I also took some necessary pics behind some shark jaws.

(...Although it looks more like I've been startled while playing the organ.)

After a couple hours, we headed eastward toward bounteous Wyoming. 

We drove for about 5 hours until we finally stopped to make camp just off the freeway. 

Bryan set up our tent while I tried to find a secluded place to tinkle.

The next morning, waking up surprisingly refreshed, we heard someone moving outside our tent. 

We poked our heads out of the tent like prairie dogs and there was a guy all suited up and ready to go for a bike ride. Bryan asked him if he had stayed the night too. He said yes and when Bry asked him where he slept, he pointed to the very same dirt mound I had done business at the night before. 

I was mortified. He left before I could apologize.

So Mr. biker, if you're reading this, I am sorry, but in my defense 

you probably should have spoken up!

We quickly packed up and continued on our trek. We didn't reach Wolf Camp, which was our final destination until about 5:00 pm. I was pretty tired. We had a little shed all to ourselves!

(Here's a tour of our shed.)

That night we drove through Iron Mountain Roadway to get to Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty picturesque. The tunnels you drive through frame the faces of Mt. Rushmore. 

We finally arrived at Mt. Rushmore. We walked around the visitors center and made our way out to the outside amphitheater. Once it got dark, they started a thoroughly patriotic movie about 'Merica. Then they ended it by asking all service men and women to make their way down to the stage. There were probably 300 people who went down and the national ranger/host had them tell the audience their name and division. It took forever. 

It finally ended and we decided to drive to the tourist area and buy some Subway sandwiches. We're adventurous like that. Then when we got back to Wolf Camp, Bry took out his new telescope he got for his birthday, but it was too foggy to see any stars. 

Bryan: This is where I'll pick up the story.  After unsuccessfully trying to see some stars we went to bed in our shack ready for a full day the next day.  We woke up bright and early and being the prepared souls that we are, I whipped up a nice elaborate skillet breakfast using our camping stove and still cold foods from the cooler full of ice that I brought along.  (I learned vacationing from the best, thanks parents) After we got the food all cleaned up and ready for the day we went back to the Mount Rushmore monument to get up close and personal with the four heads.  We hiked up to the base of the monument, toured the museums of how it was carved, and even poked our head into a tee pee for a spell. 

After we felt thoroughly convinced that we had seen all that those four presidents had to offer we meandered down to the little town of Keystone.  There we found the Red Garter Saloon and got us some meat and sarsaparilla, also got to witness us a real live mock-gun fight.

After feeling completely cowboy-ed out for the day off we went into the famous Black Hills Forest.  We found our car winding in and out of trees, up and down hills, and through cut rock tunnels until we wound up on the famous Needles Highway.  It was spectacular.  We even got to drive the car through the famous Crack in the Rock.

I just had to pop this picture in, my wife's a babe.

On the other side of the Needles Highway lies the Crazy Horse Monument.  If you think Mount Rushmore is big, than you've got a surprise waiting for you at this monument.  The Crazy Horse Monument was ginormous! We both really loved the history in the museum and what the monument stands for, we even got to participate in a ritual grass-stomping dance with a Native of the local Lakota Tribe.  

On our way home we stopped for pizza and got to see the in-the-flesh Flintstones Theme Park! If you are in the area of Custer, make sure to stop in and see this marvel. 

We got home late and went to bed in the shack, too worn out to much think of doing much else. In the morning we knew we had a long drive in front of us so we went and gave one final goodbye to the wolves of Wolf Camp and then we were on our way.

 I had read that there was a nifty cave in the area that the National Rangers will take you down into if you show up on time so I had scheduled everything down to a T.  My plans worked.  We showed up at Jewel Cave, got our highly sought after tickets to the Gas-Lamp tour, and made our way over to the Old Ranger Station near the entrance of the cave.  Waiting there for us was the most authentic National Parks Ranger we've ever met, if Yogi Bear would've seen him he would've turned tail and run.  He had the puff-kneed pants, socks, and wide brimmed hat.  We set ablaze our kerosene-lamps and set off down the mouth of the cave.  Long-eared bats flitted past us as we ventured further and further into the cave.  There were parts where I was afraid we weren't going to fit through but fit we did with what probably looked like some improvised yoga poses. 

 At the end of the cave was a big room called the Heavenly Room, in it was a rock formation that looked like the famous sculpture "Madonna and Child." That was Ally's favorite part.  

After that we headed back out and made it back to our car for the long ride home through nothing Wyoming.

I hate Disney

There are few things in this world collectively regarded by society as sacred. I would argue one of those things is the Walt Disney World Company. Most people agree the Disney parks are the 'Happiest Place on Earth'- which is why people consider me sacrilegious when I say: I hate Disney. I hate everything about the Disney corporation. Let me give you a little bit of background.
Disney cartoons were very much apart of my childhood. My dad used to record old school cartoons (actually animated and created by Walt) on VHS tapes, and boy, did my siblings and I watch the heck outta those! We loved Donald Duck and the Silly Symphonies. They still make us laugh. The truth was that those cartoons were actually creative and quality.

I think it was around the early 2000's when the famous 'Disney quality' started to decline and become trashy. I remember watching the "Zoog" robots on Disney channel and thinking "this looks like the cheapest animation I've ever seen..." That was also the age of the low budget films, such as Halloweentown, Brink, Smart House, and Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century. These live actions films were painful to watch. So low budget that I remember thinking I was on crazy pills because I was the only one who seemed to see them for the low quality they were.
But whatever, if the Disney corp chooses to stray from Walt's original vision and produce garbage, that's their right I suppose.

But my siblings and I still held on to what Disney used to be and rejected pretty much everything that came out after 1995. Fast forward a few years. My cousins took my sister Kaitlin and I on a road trip to California with a surprise stop at Disneyland. We were both overcome with emotion because we'd spent our childhood watching late night segments on the Disney Channel exploring the Disney Parks. We couldn't believe we were actually there, seeing those things in real life. We got up early the next morning and made our way to Disneyland. I remember feeling like the Disney magic wasn't completely dead. They still had structures in the park from when Walt Disney had designed it. They had characters walking around that I actually recognized and a lot of the rides referenced cartoons from Disney's early days. I had a renewed faith in Disney!

Now fast forward five years. I was in my first semester of school at Utah State University and I saw recruiters on campus advertising internship opportunists at The Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. My interest was peaked. I went to a meeting and decided I wanted to audition to be a character performer. Long story shortened, I was accepted into the program and hoped on a flight to Orlando to start my 6th-month internship. At first Disney World seemed just as magical as Disneyland, but the longer I worked there the more I realized just how unethically the Disney company runs their business. Because I hadn't paid attention to the prices for admission when I went to Disneyland (because my uncle paid for everyone) I was absolutely shocked by what Disney was charging for a day pass NOT including a park hopper.

This was around the time of the r

the Walt Disney Company turning into a "rapacious, soul-less" company