Utah State Capitol

A few days ago, my friend Leah and I decided to go to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City, Utah.  We bought tickets and went into the zoo where we first came across the elephants, there were three.  We observed for a few minutes until I said to Leah that one of the elephants looked very sad which depressed us and we moved on.  Monkeys were next but they also looked sad so we just decided to leave...  We were able to get a refund since it had been less than thirty minutes since we bought our tickets.

We didn't want to just go home since we had already driven an hour to Salt Lake City so we decided to head to the Tracy Aviary.  Leah was sure she knew how to get there but we ended up on the wrong side of the city.  We gave up and went to the Utah State Capitol building instead.

I had seen the Utah State Capitol building from afar but had never been inside, everything was so grand, I wanted to open every single door.  

We saw everything that we we allowed to see at the Capitol building and then ate at Applebee's before heading home. 

It wasn't exactly the adventure that we were looking for but it was a great day.  The thing about travel is that things don't always work out the way you thought it would and you have to learn to go with the flow.

Four Hours From Home...

This weekend my roommate invited me to come to Capitol Reef National Park and Goblin Valley State Park. I had never been to either of those places before and am always happy to go along when adventure/fun/travel is involved.  We left our apartment on Friday afternoon and stayed in a hotel just outside Capitol Reef.  We ate the pasta salad that we brought with us and played canasta before going to bed.

On Saturday we ate breakfast at the hotel and made PB&J sandwiches for lunch before making the 5 minute trip to Capitol Reef.  We mostly just drove though Capitol Reef stopping a few times to look at petroglyphs and a few other things.

We made our way to Goblin Valley and ate our lunch in the car.  We eventually decided to brave the wind and go down into the valley.  There are no hiking trails so you are free to explore wherever you wish.  I would definitely like to get lost there sometime :)



Capitol Reef



Capitol Reef



Capitol Reef



Capitol Reef



Capitol Reef



Capitol Reef



Goblin Valley

 



Goblin Valley
 

I am inspired again to explore more of Utah, particularly Monument Valley.

Alissa's World Tour Continues...

I think I have a problem.  I can't seem to stay home for very long...  I can't help it.   I want to see as much of the world as I possibly can.

Two weeks after I went to Mexico, my mom and I went on a Caribbean cruise. We flew to Miami and from there went to Cozumel, Belize, Honduras and Grand Cayman.  Here are some pictures..

Getting ready to drive to the airport

Welcome to Miami :)

Excited to get to the port of Miami and board the ship

My impression of Horatio Caine

Waiting for our shore excursion

 The first stop was Cozumel, Mexico.  My mom wanted to go see some Mayan ruins so that is exactly what we did.  We took a ferry to the mainland of Mexico and went to the Mayan Ruins of Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula.

On the ferry

 
 Belize was my favorite stop.  We got off the ship and found someone to take us snorkeling, we hopped on the boat and went to a small island that the locals call Gilligan's Island.  We hung out there for a bit before heading off on a smaller boat to snorkel.  My mom totally rocked it!  We had to jump off the side of the boat into the water and it was her first time snorkeling.   We didn't see to many fish but oh well, we got to see lots of coral :)  We snorkeled our way back to the beach where we hung out for another hour or so.

Our snorkel gear

Heading back to the ship

Next we went to Roatan, Honduras.  We decided to face our fears and go zip lining.  My mom and I both had lots of fun and would do it again.

No Hands!

The last stop was Grand Cayman.  It was the most "Americanized" of the places we went and my least favorite.  That is not to say that I won't ever go there again, I just probably won't seek it out.  My favorite shore excursion was at Grand Cayman even though I didn't much care for the island.

The first thing we did was take a half hour boat ride to a sand bar where the stingrays hang out.  We got in the water for about twenty minutes and then took the thirty minute boat ride back.  Mom enjoyed the Stingray City but I was a little bit disappointed, I felt like there were way to many people and not enough time in the water. Most likely I wouldn't do it again.

I'm glad that my mom was able to hold and kiss the Ray.

We also went swimming with a dolphin.  I have been in love with dolphins ever since I went to Hawaii when I was in the eighth grade.  The dolphin that we were paired with was Luna and she was so sweet!  First Luna gave us a kiss on the cheek then she gave us a ride on her belly.  It was awesome and I loved every second!  I will never miss out on an opportunity to interact with a dolphin.

After one more day at sea we returned to the port of Miami where we would stay for about a day and a half before we had to go back home to the cold.  There were two things that I wanted to do in Miami with such limited time; take an air boat ride at the Everglades and go to South Beach.  We did both.

mom and I got to sit on the front row of Taz (the air boat)

Builders Without Borders--Because I have been given much, I to must give.

My sister, Michelle, had been looking for a humanitarian/service project for a little while but everything she was finding was either too expensive or not the type of project she was looking for. One day a classmate mentioned that she goes with a group every year to Mexico to build houses.  This was right up Michelle's alley so she, her husband Steve and I signed up.

We arranged for a ride to Tijuana, Mexico and set off the day after Christmas. We stayed in Vegas for the night where we met up with most of the group. The next day we all drove to San Diego where we met up again to cross the border into Mexico.  It was fairly quick, they didn't even bother to look at our passports or ask what we were doing in Mexico-I guess they aren't that worried about who is going to Mexico....

On Friday, December 27, all 211 of us made it to the church where we would stay and began unloading all our things--both personal items and donations.There were so many donations; bicycles, clothing, suitcases, mattresses, kitchen stuff, etc.  The sisters from the relief society were there with homemade carne asada tacos for us. I had previously decided that I would have to take a break being vegetarian while in Mexico.  When in Mexico, do what the Mexicans do, right? 

Ordering tacos

There were various projects going on; repairing roofs, sewing, painting houses.  I was part of a crew that would be building a house from the ground up. 

What we had to work with

End of Day One

End of Day Two

End of Day Three

End of Day Five

The final product-now its up to the family to complete the rest

We built a house for Sylvia and Damian Soriano along with their three kids, Brandon(6), Lupita(4), and Brianna(2) as well as Sylvia's younger brother and sister, Guadalupe(11) and Antony(9).  

Brianna, Michelle y Guadalupe

Guadalupe was so sweet, every time we saw her she was taking care of Brianna.  At first she was very shy and didn't really seem interested in talking to us but my sister was persistent and she soon became our friend.  Antony was the best kid.  He would constantly poke my shoulder and then immediately tell me that someone else did it.  I guess that joke is funny in any language :)

I learned that the Soriano family lived in a different stake than where Builders Without Borders usually works but it was really cool to find out how we came to build them a home.  The Bishop of their ward emailed Chris, the guy in charge, and wanted to become a part of what was happening.  Chris told him that they had no boundaries and were happy to help.  Two weeks before we were set to leave Chris received another email informing him that the family the Bishop originally had in mind had left the city and he didn't know when or if they would be returning but he had another family in mind that needed a new roof.  He sent Chris pictures of the house, if you can even call it that, and Chris said we wouldn't build them a new roof, we are going to build them a house.  It was the Soriano family.  They were strangers when we first met but by the time the week was done they were family.  It didn't matter that we didn't speak the same language.

Michelle trying to explain to Sylvia that our Grandma made the blankets that we gave her

Hermanas Siempre

Sisters Forever

We worked on the home for four and a half days and were able to leave them with four exterior walls, a finished roof, two bedrooms, doors and electricity.  Now when it rains they don't have to get wet.

Our last night in Mexico, we had a devotional with the stake members.  Several people shared their testimonies and we sang Because I Have Been Given Much.  Because I have been given much, I to must give.  That is a very appropriate sentence considering we were all there in Mexico to share some of the things that we take for granted every day.  Every moment was worth while (even the ones when I was sick), you learn to appreciate the things that you do have when you see people who we might think have nothing be so willing to share the things that they do have with us.   

I shall pass through this world but once.  Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to another human being, let me do it.

                               -Stephen Grellet