I’ve been enjoying the hospitality of the people of Salt Lake City, Utah for the pass few days. I first visited a friend of mine from college who lives in the suburb of Draper. I stayed with her for two days and enjoyed time with her whole family.

Next I decided to go camping at Spruces Campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon, about 30 minutes east of Salt Lake City.

I’ve had to break out the heavier clothing at night, sleeping in 45 degree weather. It is cold but bearable. When the mercury gets below 32 degrees, then I think a motel would be nice. During the day It has been typical Utah weather peaking in the mid-80s. I LOVE Utah.

I woke up this morning to a commotion outside my tent. It turns out that at least three squirrels were fighting over pine cones that were falling from the trees. The video above is a stash of one squirrel who was making the ruckus. Now I thought they were suppose to hide them too? Hmmm.

While in Salt Lake City the area, I have been spending some time at the LDS Family History Center. They are known on the web as FamilySearhch.com This place is a great resource to look up your family tree. I found information on relatives as far back as the early 1700s. I meant to spend about 10 minutes at the center but now I have visited on three different occasions.

I’m not rushing to get out of town. I will probably stay a couple more days. Next, I plan to make my way down to Sedona, AZ. I will probably visit a few places along the way. From Sedona I will head east to Albuquerque and stay with a “biker buddy” of mine, then back to Ohio.

Man I can’t believe it, but I have been in Zion National Park for two weeks. I tell you, I have been loving every minutes. [more_text]

This is a perfect place for me. There’s beautiful scenery and plenty of places to go hiking and see. On my downtime I have my Internet access at The Pioneer Lodge Coffee Shop where I made friends with two great women named Rachel and Cassie. I wish all the best to you.

I’ve been camping at The South Campground near the visitor center.

This trip is different for me because I am not riding my motorcycle and I actually took my car. I did bring my bicycle along. You know…one of the funny type motorcycles without a motor. Because of this, I am getting to see Zion in a whole new way by riding down it’s main 8 mile road into the canyon. No traffic is allowed on this road except visitors from Zion Lodge and national park shuttles.

The canyon road goes up hill into the canyon for about 85 percent of the route. This really gives me a good workout but it also allows for a very peaceful and enjoyable ride back out the canyon. I’ve ridden this route about four times now. I have also cheated a few times by taking my bike on the bus into the canyon but we won’t speak of that.

I’ve been taking my usual hskes here. I’ve gone up Watchman Trail from my campsite a couple times in the morning. The Kayenta Trail is also scenic and good for a mild workout. It merges with the Emerald Pools which are always beautiful to see.

A new hike taken this visit was “The Narrows” river hike. This is my new favorite hike. You hike down the Virgin River right into the heart of Zion Canyon. The walls of the canyons narrow in on you, (hence the name) in several places and the colors of the walls change constantly as the sun moves across the sky.

The weather has been much warmer than I am use to and the mercury has peaked into the 100s during midday several times. I’ve combated by doing odds and ends during this time or hanging out at the Pioneer Lodge and Coffee Shop and getting some work done there. I highly recommend this place. The people are friendly, the ice coffee is excellent and I always feel welcome.

Zion has been a quiet peaceful escape. This is a place I would love to move to but realistically right now, is probably not going to happen.

Below are some other scenes that I saw on my trekkings day to day. I love Zion National Park. I definitely will be back.

Click to view all

The bird’s name is Kramer and she has been with her owner for 17 years. She pretty much goes everywhere with her owner, Dr. Glenn Greenfield. She even goes mountain biking with him. Below is a video about the bird and her owner.

On my way to Zion National Park, my GPS told me to turn right on this dirt road. Well as a guy, I naturally figured the GPS wouldn’t steer me wrong. Besides, the GPS said I would only be on this dusty path for a few miles. Well I was wrong and after driving 7 miles down this washboard route, I decided it best to turn around and go the old fashioned way and I pulled out an atlas.

My friends know me all too well as being much more of a cat person then a dog person. Some might say that I hate dogs but that isn’t the truth. I love the well behaved animals. I do have problems with some dog owners who mistreat and don’t give the care and attention that is needed by the animal and this in turn can lead to bad behavior.

Oddly I have been told to always be careful around stray dogs but I find them the most gentile. Granted, they are trying to get a meal, but I have never felt threaten and they generally are very fun to be with. So many times I have wanted to take home a pup, but it was just not feasible

The one pictured here I met in Gallup, New Mexico. He was hanging around a motel I where I was staying. He actually never came up to me but was happy to accept some food and water that I left behind.

After 2 days of multiple meetings and seminars, I am moving on from OpenCamp here in Dallas, TX.

I’ve learned quite a bit by bathing in the world of web development, social media and the such. Some of the subject matter was over my head but I didn’t drown in the massive amounts of information that was discussed. I did feel a little like the nerd hanging out with the cool kids at times. Everyone was so kind and I met so many people with so much knowledge of these subjects. It was great to just pick their brain.

At lunch today I sat with the host of a new TV web podcast called WebBeat.tv. Her name, Pelpina Trip, will start this program in a few weeks as part of Revision3‘s lineup. Pelpina was a social media reporter for the local TV station, KDAF-TV here in Dallas. It did bring me back to the days of working at CNN by talking a little shop with her and others around our table.

Pelpina Trip
Shot by Giovanni Gallucci, Social Media Consultant http://blog.gallucci.net

In the morning I am heading to Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo, TX and find myself a campsite. Eventually I plan to make it to my favorite national park which is Zion and do some hiking and bicycling there.

It’s has been quite a while since I have posted on my website. I wouldn’t say life has been dull but it has been pretty stationary. Except for last month in Mammoth Cave National Park, I have been in Ohio for the most part with family and friends. I’ve been teaching myself programs such as Dreamweaver and Apple Motion down at what I call my “church”. It’s the coffee shop “The Emporium”.

Now I am burning some tread west again. (surprised?) I love it out there.

First I am stopping off in Springfield, MO to visit my sister and her family for a day and a half then I am going to Dallas, TX. Yep…this Miami Dolphin fan is going to cowboy country. I am bringing my Miami Dolphins jersey and if I have some time, I might wear it while visiting Jerry Jones’s huge monstrous stadium. Maybe I will go find a star and lay my jersey on it for a picture….lol

While in Dallas, I will be attending a conference called Open Camp. OC is a multi-web platform conference with seminars in Drupal, WordPress and different types of social media just to name a few.

After Open Camp, I plan to do some camping in a couple national parks, (probably Zion NP) and visit Albuquerque before I head back to Ohio.

As something different this trip, I thought I might add a video journal to my site from time to time. Doing something like this is much easier with video camera phones now. Main drawback is that the video quality isn’t that great.

I look forward to taking many pictures on the road, which I will post too. (Seems hard to take a bad shot with all the beauty out west quite frankly)

I recently purchased a road bike and I am quickly catching the bug, so I hope to be riding out in the national parks much of my trip too

Catch you next time on the road.

This shoot encompassed a full day of travel, hiking, fishing and quite a bit of fun. I started my adventure around 730am just south of Taos at Noah’s ranch. From there we drove north for about 90 minutes, arriving near the Colorado border. After that, we hiked another hour down the river where we started our fishing day.

Here’s a taste of that wonderful time.

I typically don’t post material from other people on this website but I thought this was a great video. I figure it would make any motorcyclist smile on this, the first day of the new year.

I plan to totally revamp this website to make it even better that it is now. Ideas I have are to create a live webcast as well as start a sister site with a business idea I have.

I hope everyone has a wonderful new year and if you are on the road, please be safe.