on the road across the nation

During my last trip to the US, I traveled across the country, on land, for the first time. These pictures were taken during the single longest trip, from Flagstaff, AZ to St. Louis, MO - 1362 miles. Pretty much all the travels within the US were made on the Greyhound buses, or similar (as portrayed the driver - who got lost around St. Louis airport, nearly missing a few passengers' flight.) A lot of ground we covered, thus a post "from the road".

fall collection

Most of the times I hang out with Antek we're doing fun stuff, like cycling, climbing, or winter hiking in the mountains (all these links refer to this year's posts.) This time though, we were both stuck in Warsaw.

hiking down

For a person used to climbing mountains it was quite an experience to hike down for a change. It was easy for sure, but we couldn't stop thinking of the necessity to climb back up! Did not make it all the way to the Colorado River, as it's a near impossible endeavour to go down and back up in one day. The trek across the Canyon ("rim to rim") usually takes three days. Have a look at what's hidden beneath the horizon. Another posts from the Canyon to be found here and here.

nightfall at the south rim

First night at the Grand Canyon brought a spectacular sunset (we were a little late, can you believe the parking there!), and deer sightings! Click here for my first post from the South Rim of the Canyon, and here for the Monument Valley post!

peeking into

First glance at the Grand Canyon. Took a long walk along its south rim. A realization that standing a few miles north, I would be a mile lower was a fun feeling.

backroads arizona

I miss being on the road for no reason. This is from driving between Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley. The gas station was so much in the middle of nowhere that the hand-written sign in the restroom said to conserve water: they have to haul it!

warsaw protests backwardness

November 11 is the Independence Day in Poland. However, instead celebrating over two decades of freedom in our country It's an occasion to show how much divided we are. Last Monday three different events took place in Warsaw. One of them was the "Independence March". Some of the people taking part in it attacked the Russian embassy, there was a siege of two downtown Warsaw's squats, and newly refurbished rainbow - a giant arch on the Savior square was burnt. Friday was the day for all of the Varsovians, including myself, who do not accept this. There was marching, chanting and kissing under the corpse of the rainbow. No throwing stones, breaking trees, setting cars on fire. Peaceful. This comes out of a anger, yes. But we hate them for hating everything different then themselves in the first place. And we show our disagreement in a civilized way. Glad to see so many people thinking the same way. Look up more information on last week's events, for instance this Guardian piece.

sunrise in monument valley

And so we're back to the States. I was really specific about this part of the trip: it must be the sunrise when we arrive in the Monument Valley. And so after spending another night in a parking lot of a local Walmart we drove up to see the sun rise above these ancient rocks. Monument Valley isn't really a destination - you can basically drive through it, but that's it. We made a detour and lit a symbolic bonfire and we were on our way back to Flagstaff to have the biggest breakfast in our lifetime. PS. Just spent two afternoons trying to figure out what on earth is messing with my pictures - turns out it's an automatic setting: google plus picture "enhance". Fuck you, google!

daylight savings end in warsaw

Now that we've moved our clocks back, it's dusk a little earlier. And it overlaps with rush hour, which makes an afternoon bike ride even more interesting.

weekend in the tatras

We were really lucky - We've got the last weekend with no snow in the mountains. It was the only serious mountain hike I did this year: a trek up to the Five Lakes (Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich), and two climbing days on Zamarła Turnia, one of the Polish famous walls. Thanks Anto and Dawid, and the crew at the Five Lakes mountain shelter (Schronisko.)