A Brazilian lost in the USA

Finally we arrived at one of the most desired locations of our trip, Yellowstone. I always had a dream to know one of the most famous parks in the world that with an unusual size still preserves wildlife inside!

The park was still snowy and cold, and for the first time in my life I saw a frozen lake, and it was a huge lake!

After we parked the car and some minutes walking we started to smell a strong odor of sulfur, but I didn’t know yet where it was coming from and finally we saw one of the most famous attractions of the par, the geysers!

I was not expecting to find that many types of geysers in the same place, since we don’t have that diversity in Brazil. The colors and shapes are diverse, Those are fantastic natural phenomena that are in constant construction and still alive, however they smell very bad and may not attract everyone.

After spend the noon discovering landscapes that our eyes never saw before, the sun light was almost over and we had to find a place to sleep. This time we were lucky and we found a beautiful place close to the lake.

This was the only time of the trip that we had the chance to have a shower and have a little more of comfort. We were really happy with the trip and that everything was working well, but in the next day we were going to have one of the most dangerous days of our lives and we didn’t know about it yet!

Thanks for reading and see you next week with more details of this day that we put our lives in risk!

I confess that I have never heard of these two states, even though I am a good student in geography, I have never seen those names even in movies and the internet. However, at the same time it is a very positive experience to explore a place you have never seen and be amazed by every detail and novelty.

My Idaho’s first impression was that it is a very rural state and really plantation-focused, but with a great difference from Kansas, it has many mountains and valleys that make the pictures much more beautiful.

Getting near to Wyoming we stopped at a homemade ice cream shop and tasted several different ice cream flavors like play dough. And of course we put a pin marked at the map in Rio, Brazil.

Finally we arrived at Wyoming and the first impression was that it would be a rather cold journey there, as we began to find plenty of snow in the mountains. After a few minutes of road we reached the main Wyoming square and almost everything referred to the main pride of the population and state’s largest tourist spot, the Yellow Stone Park.

It’s very charming what a road trip gives you, the day before we were in a big and busy city and in the next day we were in Wyoming in an old west style city with another pace of life. We already knew the main places of the city but we could not forget our main objective, our entry and first day in one of the most famous parks in the world, YELLOWSTONE. But next week I’ll tell you more about this adventure, thanks for your attention and see you!

After about 6 hours of travel we finally arrived at Salt Lake City which is a very charming city full of young people. Our main objective in the city was to visit the famous school of the movie High School Musical that many people do not even know about its existence in real life.

It was an amazing visit, I really felt inside the movie and the details remain the same. It was a very different feeling, because I already knew those hallways without ever going there, but I had the perception that the school seems bigger in the movie.

After visiting the school, we went to the Utah Capitol.

Inside the Capitol we learned a lot about Utah’s history and how it has a so close relationship with the Mormons who still having a lot of economic and political influence nowadays.

The city is full of buildings remembering the mormons as many types of churches; old and new ones, a mormon bank and an university of mormons. It was very impressive for me, because I didn’t how strong that religion was.

After a long day without a big meal yet, we finally stopped at a burger shop to eat. but we didn’t stay too long there, because we didn’t have a place to sleep yet. We came back to the road but at the same time we were trying to find an opened camping site to stay, however we didn’t find so we stopped in a rest area on the side of the road. That was the place that we spent our night before the next day of adventure. It was a really big day, full of different things and one more time unforgettable for me!

See you next week with the next episode of that crazy trip.

After a not very comfortable night of sleep but essential for our rest, we decided to explore more the place that we were in what was called Island in the Sky.

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This morning we did a one hour trail through the Canyos, at each moment those landscapes managed to surprise me more and more. I had never seen this kind of landscape in my life, so it was a unique experience. It was very hot and we had a big and simple problem, WATER, we had to sustain a few hours thirsty because our water was gone and there was no place to buy, because we were practically in the middle of the desert. At that moment I saw that many times we are not grateful or even forget the basic things we have and do not even realize.

We did a trail down the canyons too, it was one of the most exciting moments of the trip because each pass had to be well given as a mistake could cost dearly. At this point my father preferred to wait in the car because of knee problems and to be without water for hydration.

After the last trail we had to say goodbye to this wonderful place, as we still had a very important and very curious place to visit the same day. The best of a road trip is not just destinations, but the way, and how landscapes and cultures are changing before your eyes. We left Utah heading to Salt Lake City, especially to a place I only imagined seeing in movies, see you next week for magical surprise!

After many fantastic landscapes in Colorado, having a big diversity, going from sand dunes to snow and then small towns we finally arrived in Utah anxious for one of the biggest points of our whole trip, the Canyonlands!

Even before the state sign we already saw that the type of adventure was going to be different, because the scenario was getting transformed into a desert

We also noticed that we started to go up on the hills, that road had a lot of dangerous curves so we had to drive carefully, but at the same time not so slow because we were in rush to don’t lose the sunset.

After some minutes on that road we finally saw the WONDERFUL canyons and how the sun light makes everything even better, this scene was one of the unforgettable ones that I will save forever in my mind!

We had a small amount of time until get totally dark so we explored a little bit more, then we started to find a spot to camp and get ready for the next day.

From the moment of the last photo until the morning of the next day I don’t have more pictures, however before we sleep I saw the prettiest sky of my life, full of stars and shooting stars. We had to take a good rest because the next day would be replete of more surprises. Thanks for your reading and see you next week with more chapters of this crazy journey!

After a very cold night we woke up with a gorgeous view that we didn’t realize yet because we have started to build the tend already at night. But nothing is perfect and we had a big surprise.

We were finishing to pack our stuff when 2 police cars stopped by us and asked for our documents and the ”camping receipt”. We didn’t know but we were not supposed to camp in this place. After some minutes and many questions the police officer gave us a ticket of $10, to pay, representing the price of a night in the camping site that was closer of us.

A small problem was not enough to mess with our day, we were enjoying the last moments in this incredible place.

Food was my biggest problem in this trip, because many times we didn’t have time to stop to eat, buy food or we were in a very isolated location. In the beginning we had a lot of food in the car but after one day we were already needing to eat something better and drink some coffee, so we stopped in a cafe 40 min away from the Great Sand Dunes.

Our trip was not totally programed, so this stop was very important to decide our next destiny, Durango!

Along the way we saw a lot of RV camping sites, it’s something that impressed me a lot, as it is not so common in Brazil.

Our landscape started to change again and for the first time in my dad’s life he saw snow!

It was a very happy moment that will be forever in our minds!

After some driving hours we finally arrived in Durango. We were starving so we stopped in a bar and we ate some salad/burgers. Durango is a pretty small town that I loved, the life looks slower and happier than in crazy big cities.

After some inedited experiences we didn’t see the biggest one of the day yet, but you will just know what was that next week. Thanks for your reading and see you you soon!

After some hours of the same kind of landscape we were finally crossing the border to Colorado, and we could not lose the opportunity to take a picture with the sign. (Joaquim tried to go up but you can see what happened).

Our views started to change and for the first time in my life I saw mountains with peaks covered with snow, that was incredible and I was fascinated.

So we were finally ready to visit the main attraction of our first day, the Great Sand Dunes.

I never imagined to see something like that, we were in the middle of the sand dunes that are usually associated with deserts and warm places. However, it was a cold place with frozen mountains in the background and a stream made of melted snow from the peaks.

After we crossed the river and almost turn to a human icicles we started to walk into the direction of the sand dunes. I didn’t know exactly where we were going to stop and how far Trace would be guiding us. It was very hard to walk in the dunes and my dad was having a lot of difficulties with that, but for my surprise we went to one of the highest peaks and I had one of the most marvelous views in my life.

The dunes are huge, bigger than the skylines of KC downtown! That was a spectacular sunset that I will remember forever!

We could not stay for a long time in the peak because the light of the day was going down and we didn’t have a place to sleep yet.

We had to cross the river with no sun lights anymore and carry Trace, because he has a very serious problem with cold temperatures.

After some hours walking and a whole day of trip we were very tired and we didn’t have a camping site or place to stay, so we just drove a few minutes near a camp, we pitched our tent and slept. By far this was the coldest night of the trip, with temperatures below 32 F. It was an unforgettable and very happy day but we ended up having a very unpleasant surprise the next morning when I tell you next week!

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