Hiking in Arches

 

Maybe you remember that it was quite foggy when we arrived in Arches in the morning, but the fog eventually lifted and made way for sun and blue skies, although there were still a lot of clouds. We were now able to enjoy the Windows without any fog. (This photo is actually from the back when we were already on our hike and had escaped the crowds).

At Turret Arch we of course had to take our usual shadows photo.

Then we left the crowded area for our hike on the "primitive trail". Primitive in so far that there was no clear path made and often enough it was just rocks on the ground or cairns that would guide us.

The sky, even though blue, was covered with clouds over and over again which made for much more atmospheric photos than a plain blue sky.

However, taking those photos sometimes was a challenge because of the rapidly changing light.

The views over the park and beyond were fascinating and quite frankly breathtaking. This is such an interesting and amazing landscape that seems to change every few miles.

We were mostly alone on this hike. It seems that most people just walk up to the interesting features, but have little interest to explore this fantastic landscape beyond those. Good for us, of course.

In the distance the clouds danced around this butte and among the mesas.

When we were almost back to "civilization" we stopped for a while to enjoy the view of Double Arch in the distance.

Closer to the parking lot, these signs were everywhere, put up in the hope that people would not step onto the delicate soil that can be damaged so easily. Did people obey those signs? Sadly, there were way too many entitled jerks.

We did not hike over to Double Arch. We had done that many years ago for the sunrise and we didn't feel like joining the crowds.

With a little bit of imagination you can see a lot of figures and shapes in the rocks. Don't you think the rock on top looks like a bird?

We drove several miles through the park and then decided to hike to Skyline Arch. 

It's only a short hike, but the scenery was different - there are so many different rock formations in this park.

At the end of the road in this part of the park is a huge parking lot because many people want to hike out to Landscape Arch. We had done that hike on Christmas Day 2008, after we had stayed the night in the campgound (yes, in a tent, and it was very cold the moment we crept out of our warm sleeping bags). So we decided to take a different trail - again less crowded - and visit Pine Tree Arch where we hadn't been before. It was a lovely but cold hike - this part of the park is on a higher elevation than most of it.

On our way back we only stopped for a short while at Balanced Rock, a very fascinating rock formation. 

We mainly enjoyed watching these two ravens in the parking lot. They were highly entertaining. Look at their sweet and sassy faces - of course they are for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

We passed by Park Avenue on our way out of the park. This is a hike that we did twice before and liked very much. However, it was a bit late for this one and we still had other plans for the day.

You might have noticed that we skipped the most popular hike in the park, the one that everybody wants to take. It's the hike up to Delicate Arch, the famous landmark of the park. We had taken it into consideration, but after we had seen through our binoculars how crowded both the hiking trail and Delicate Arch were, we decided to do other hikes. See for yourself:

It looked like a tidal wave. No thank you.

We had hiked up to Delicate Arch on Christmas Eve 2008. This is what it looked like on that day, just a couple hours before sunset.

We had the entire area to ourselves...

December

 

Our home is decorated for the winter - the Geek always puts these lights up the weekend after Thanksgiving and they will stay there until daylight saving begins. We call them winter lights - this is a rather dark corner and all the dog walkers and joggers are thankful for some light. The lights are on a timer and switch on half an hour before sunset, switch off at 10pm and then switch on again at 6am for 90 minutes. We don't do any kind of Christmas decoration anymore and we said goodbye to a Christmas tree several years ago. It was a big relief for me.

December here looks a lot like autumn. The Japanese Maple in front of our house usually gets its most brilliant color around Thanksgiving and this year it lasted well into December.

These pictures were taken at sunrise when the leaves are backlit and the most beautiful.

Winter sunrises and sunsets are so much more intense. I enjoy the view from my bedroom window, shortly before sunrise...

... and after sunset.

However, I don't look that brilliant before sunrise. Here I am before breakfast, and more importantly before coffee, and although my hair looks kind of wild I did comb it. My curls simply can't be tamed and do whatever they want. This is for Nicole's Friday Face Off. Good morning!

Our mornings are cold and foggy, but our afternoons are sunny and very pleasant. I work a lot in the garden since there is still so much to do (the weeds are dancing salsa there). But I also take a break, sit in the sun and knit. My little companion is never far away and claims ownership. Another sweet face for FFO.

And lastly, I gave myself an early Christmas present (the only one since we don't so presents), this beautiful enameled cast iron covered casserole that comes with a lid. This has been on my wishlist for a long time and I finally used my tutorial money to buy one. The crisp gnocchi with brussels sprouts and brown butter turned out delicious in it.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend. It's the third Advent weekend, time for the Christmas market in Tübingen.

Hidden in Fog

 

Let's go back to Utah and almost a year back. After we had met the Goblins and got our tire fixed in Green River we finally arrived in Moab. We quickly checked into our hotel and went to the Moab Brewery for lunner (a meal between lunch and dinner), then we just did a quick drive up to Arches National Park as long as there was still some daylight. We had been to Arches often and knew exactly where we wanted to go.

It was an early night for us because we wanted to go into Arches the next day before the crowds. We had heard horror stories about long waiting times and overcrowded parking lots even in winter. Sadly, all of this is true; we were pretty shocked. We had never experienced the park that crowded before.

So we left early after a very satisfying breakfast at the Moab Diner - if you're ever in Moab and you like Southwestern cuisine, this is the place to go to. We went their for breakfast as well as for dinner. Definitely don't miss their green chili sauce. 

Even though we were early, there was already a line of cars at the entrance. Arches has a long driveway up to the toll booth and along that driveway you see those lovely signs like "one hour wait from here" etc. We had to stop at "half an hour wait from here" and thankfully only had to wait 15 minutes until we were through (the longest we ever had to wait here). 

Arches presented itself hidden in fog.

Over breakfast we had decided that we wanted to go to the Windows first and do a little hike here that we had done several years ago. The upper parking lot was already full, but we did find a spot in the lower parking lot. From here it's just a 15 minute walk or so to the North and South Window Arch - if you don't stop all the time because you want to take foggy photos like yours truly.

Who can resist such beautiful crooked trees?

I succeeded in taking a picture of the walkway up to the North Window without a single person in it! 

From the Windows you can enjoy the beautiful view of Turret Arch, and the fog gave the entire scenery a very special atmosphere.

The silhouettes of the trees in the fog had something quite mysterious.

We could already feel the sun behind the clouds, working hard to get through the fog. The light around Turret Arch became slightly brighter.

The sun was squinting through the rock and the fog.

And suddenly the fog was lifting, just like that, and revealing Turret Arch in all its beauty. Almost. It was like lifting a veil.

We could see some of the famous features in the distance like the Great Wall.

Turret Arch was on its way to lose the remaining bits of fog. The mystery was gone.

With the disappearance of the fog a selfie was in order. My contribution to Nicole's Friday Face Off.

After that we started our hike along the Windows Sand Loop Trail. As soon as we had left the main trail at the Windows, we were almost alone. This was much more to our liking. While the fog had lifted, it was still hanging around in some places. We could see it for a while from our hiking trail.

Last week Nicole asked for the recipe of my Tiramisu. I thought I post it here because perhaps someone else would like to try it too. I brought it from Italy sometime in the mid 90s and it therefore is in metric measurements.

4 eggs, separated

100 g sugar

500 g Mascarpone (I use the Trader Joe's one, two packages are a bit less than 500g)

Italian ladyfingers (the hard ones, not the soft)

cold espresso

cocoa powder

Lay out the ladyfingers in a dish and soak with the espresso.

Beat the egg yolks, sugar and marscarpone until creamy. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the cream.

Put a first layer of soaked ladyfingers on the bottom of a deep dish. Spoon a first layer of cream on top f it.  Add a second layer of soaked ladyfingers and a second layer of mascarpone cream. Cover and chill overnight. 

Shortly before serving shake cocoa powder on top of the chilled cream until it is completely covered.

Enjoy!

Community

 

Today I'm not only joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday, but this post is also for their Second on the 2nd. Actually this is a third - I published this post two years ago, but I first wrote it several years ago for Vision and Verb. Since this is the time of advent when everywhere in Germany the most beautiful Christmas markets pop up, I thought it is the perfect time to repost this.

I remember the third weekend in December back in Tübingen, Germany, where I spent more than twenty years of my life. It's a medieval university town with its typical old buildings that look like they're straight out of a fairy tale by the Grimm Brothers. Narrow lanes wind among medieval timber-framed houses and cars are not allowed within the city center (except for residents living there). It's a huge pedestrian zone that makes wandering the old alleys so peaceful.

This is the setting for one of the most beautiful traditions of the town: the Christmas Market. It's nothing like its big siblings in Nürnberg, Stuttgart or München and so many other cities. First, it only takes place from Friday to Sunday and not during weeks and weeks and weeks. Second, it's not commercial. There are tons of local artists who sell their work, school classes who raise funds for their annual end-of-the-year trip, small local environmental groups who fight for preservation, neighborhoods who try to raise awareness and money for the disabled - the list could go on and on.

So that's the eye-candy. The next is the food - just one word: delicious. The food is mainly local specialities, the best time to eat "Bubaspitzle mit Sauerkraut" (a thin rolled kind of potato pasta with sauerkraut and sometimes bacon), one of my fondest memories in the food department. There was a guy with a complicated portable special oven who made Swiss Raclette that was to die for. Of course there was Glühwein (mulled wine), very welcome in the cold. None of the food or the drink was allowed in any kind of plastic or paper container, everything had to be re-usable! So you bought a beautiful mug with the words "Tübinger Weihnachtsmarkt" written on it and this could be refilled at any booth that offered Glühwein or juice punch. I still have a few of these mugs and they are my ticket to T Tuesday. Most of the plates were edible - envision big sturdy waffles for apple strudel! No trash!

Throughout the market you could listen to music. Children were singing, little choirs stood at the fountain in the market square, someone played the violin, another one the bagpipe, and again another one the flute. There was a cantata concert in the main church. There were jugglers and clowns. It was a very festive atmosphere. 

And of course there was “Paupersingen”. The Paupersingen (paupers singing) is a tradition that originated in the Middle Ages. "pauper" is a Latin word and means poor, and in this case it refers to poor students of Latin who paid part of their school fee by singing during church services and at funerals. During Advent they wandered through the narrow lanes of the town, wearing their black scholar cloaks and singing in front of every house, hoping for some donations.

Today it's the children's choirs who start out at different parts of Tübingen and slowly, with several stops in between, walk to the market square, all the way singing the old Christmas carols. They all meet at the huge Christmas tree where all of them together sing for another half hour or so. The donations today go to some charity of their choice.

We felt like a community, we were a community. People spend three days in the cold in order to help someone else. To serve others. To share stories. To entertain children and their stressed parents. To bring smiles on the cold faces, red cheeks from the mulled wine.

That third weekend in December was spent in the streets among those medieval buildings, no matter whether the sun was shining, it was raining or snowing. It was freezing cold - always. But everyone was there. Community.