Carmel Automobilia 2009

The downtown of Carmel, which is within walking distance from my apartment, is a vibrant place especially in the summer. Often the main street will be closed for special events like concerts, themed fairs or various shows. One of the shows that I have attended is the Carmel Automobilia 2009.

I did not know about the event in advance, and found out about it when I went out to lunch with a colleague who temporarily stayed with me for that weekend. Since he had to run some errands after lunch, I decided to take some time to see what the show was all about. Coincidentally Utah called me about it, so we decided to go there together.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that they have some decent cars on display there. I can’t remember when was the last time I was actually so close to cars like Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins.

Ferrari and Lamborghini:

The Lamborghini Gallardo was actually the one that I used to drive……in Need For Speed Most Wanted. Other cars:

And there was this car which screamed for attention:

The entire car was coated with pennies. Guess how many of them were needed?

 

That’s only $382.95, really.

 

Indeed…

Utah Trip (Last day)

Still tired from our previous day hiking, we did not do much on our last day in Utah. We stopped at a couple spots on our way out of the Zion National Park, went to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, and the Valley of Fire State Park.

By the time we reached Las Vegas, which was where we would catch our flight back to Detroit, it was already 2 pm-ish. We had our lunch in Todai, a Japanese buffet place in the Miracle Mile Shops. And so, that concludes my Utah Trip. What a long post!! (well it took me two months to finish writing it LOL)

 

Zion Canyon

Checkerboard Mesa that reminds me of Excel Spreadsheets

   

Valley of Fire (not as dramatic as it sounds)

Utah Trip – Zion National Park

Our next stop would be the Zion National Park. It was already late afternoon when we reached the park, so we basically just set up our tent (a huge tent enough to fit 5 of us) and had dinner for the night. We did not rent the campground just to ourselves; in fact one has to reserve for it months in advance. Instead, we shared a campground with a group of Malaysians whose trip organizer was Wei Ping’s friend.

One of the stops we had on our way to the campground

Nice scene with cactus plants in sight

The next morning, we left the campground early for the Angels Landing hike. The hike was a tough one, especially the descent. Descents are always difficult for me because my center of gravity is not exactly low, and those worn-out shoe soles of mine certainly did not help. Pei Ying and I got to the peak at a pretty decent pace, but we took quite some time to get back to where we started.

The view up there was definitely worth all the hard work though, and the lunch we had at the top was definitely a satisfying one. I guess it proved that victory will only be sweeter if it is a hard-fought one.

Morning moon

Zion Valley

 

Beginning of the hike

 

A series of steep switchbacks

Rocky mountain (literal)

Insane slope with lots of insane people on it (trail marker in smaller photo)

 

Check out the steep cliff and how close the trail is to the edge…definitely not a time for missteps

Pei Ying making her way up

Deep valley

 

Support chains for hikers (trail marker in smaller photo)

Photoshoped

Zion Canyon viewed from Angels Landing

Zion Canyon widescreen

Utah trip – Bryce Canyon National Park

We left Arches National Park at around noon, heading to our next destination – Bryce Canyon National Park. We did not do any hikes there, basically just stopping at a few spots to take photos. The view there wasn’t that spectacular in my opinion, but my expectation wasn’t high in the first place too.

I somehow discovered the widescreen mode when I was taking photos in this park. Yeah shoot me for not knowing that earlier…but since then I was hooked. Here are a couple of widescreen shots that I took…and I used to think that such photos are computer-stitched panoramic shots:

 

An enlightening trip indeed!

Utah trip – Arches National Park

During Labor Day, five of us (Wei Ping, Jason, Siew Gee, Pei Ying and I) went to the Utah state for a short trip. We transited at Salt Lake City and reached Grand Junction at around 9pm. After collecting our Ford Fusion from the airport, we proceeded to the Arches National Park to spend the rest of the night.

Due to unknown reasons I could not fall asleep (guess sleeping in car only works for me when the car is in motion), hence I spent the whole night pondering on the meaning of life…not (stupid lame sarcastic catchphrase IMO). Too bad there was a full moon, so my plans of capturing the milky way in still frames did not manage to realize.

 

Thank you very much…very bright indeed.

Early next morning, we went to Dennis for a quick breakfast (taking away leftovers for later), then rushed back to the park in hope of catching the sunrise. The walk/hike to the Delicate Arch was unexpectedly long, and at one point we got lost. Luckily we somehow made it to the destination, just in time to catch the sunrise. The sunrise itself wasn’t that awe-inspiring, but the Delicate Arch was definitely majestic and a sight to behold. And I’ve never imagined I could get that close to the Arch, basically to the point that I was under the Arch.

 

Delicate Arch

Pei Ying patting Delicate Arch’s head and commended it for being a good arch

One of the numerous jumps, with Delicate Arch watching behind silently, for it is a good arch.

View 1

 

View 2

View 3

This photo sticks out like a sore thumb after it was photo-shopped. Like the poses though, as if this is a cover shot for an album

Double Arch

Balanced Rock (right column). It has the size of three school buses according to Wiki.