But I Don't Want to Go to the Mainland

 

This past week, Star and I took separate adventures.  I was sent to Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas for training, while Star took off to our neighboring island, Molokai.  In my opinion, she had the bigger adventure by far.

We have decided to do two separate blog posts to attempt and illustrate just how far culturally our two experiences took us.  Star will follow my post with hers later tonight.

Talk about culture shock.  After being on Maui for 11 months straight, I finally ventured back to the mainland, and the sensory input was almost more than I could handle.  The huge city crowds and interstate driving was literally a shock to my system. 

Admittedly, part of the fatigue and stress was due to me waking up at 3:45am Maui time every morning and driving out to Lake Mead for class that started at 6:00am Maui time.  As the week progressed, I realized the Maui lifestyle has literally spoiled me.  I could feel my stress and anxiety levels rise as I attempted to navigate traffic and deal with people who were generally rude and unwilling to offer such simple things as directions and advice.  As Star told me on the phone Thursday night, you and I could not be in two more opposite cultures this week.

Upon returning home yesterday afternoon (yes, it's home, because home is wherever Star is), I was ecstatic.  I had returned to the friendly, jovial, laid back people of Maui.  As the sun set last night, I stood on our lanai and looked out at the sleepy island of Maui and could literally feel the stress of the past week leaving my body.

My hope for Maui is that it can somehow avoid joining the fast paced world of the mainland, because for all the immense beauty of this island, the lifestyle here is what sets it apart from most of the world.

I'll start my photos with my last full day in the Vegas area on Friday.  We had an exam Friday morning and were released from class at 10am, which gave me time to head north to the Valley of Fire State Park and do a little hiking:

Former Visitor Cabins Built by the CCC

 

Valley of Fire State Park

 

Beginning of White Domes Hike

Cool Slot Canyon

Silica Dome

Incredible Petroglyphs

On Thursday night, I went to Fremont Street, where the original casinos are located.  Since we want to keep the blog PG, however, these are the only photos I can share...

 

Mr. T and Mini T

 

 

 

After my hike Friday, I attended Pole Day for the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  The final group was fantastic.  Dale Enhardt, Jr. broke the track record and less than two minutes later Jeff Gordon set another track record and gained the pole position with a 195 mph lap.   

Coming off Turn 4 at 200 mph

 

Obligatory Hoover Dam shots...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the week, I took the 5 mile Historic Railroad Hike near Hoover Dam before sunset.  This was the route the contractors transported materials to the construction site. 

 

 
 

Just made it back to the parking lot at dark