Mother Nature is larger than life

In November 2012 I embarked on adventure to hike in one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World: The Grand Canyon. We arrived before sunrise at the rim of the canyon; by far it was one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen! (And that says a lot because Arizona is known for having beautiful sunrises) Surrounding me was a swarm of visitors from all over the world. We might not have been able to speak the same language, but I could still understand their excitement and awe in the presence of such a beautiful sight. If there is one thing we all have in common it’s living on the same planet.

But the beauty didn’t stop there; we proceeded with our 5-hour hike down the South Kaibab Trail. The sights were even more breath-taking inside the canyon. The colors from the layers of sedimentary rock added to the quality of our pictures. I was also lucky enough to snap pictures of different birds, mule deer and elk. Looking out from our trail, all I could see was canyon wall after wall. I felt like I was on a whole new planet (Also the powdery red sand made me feel like I was on the surface of Mars). In one of the pictures below the caption reads “Larger than Life” and at that moment, all I was thinking was that Mother Nature is just so much larger than life. I could not grasp at how small I felt!

I definitely got my work out on the hike back up! Good thing I had the scenery to distract me from my aching quadriceps. Might I mention that I also went from wearing a coat and mittens at the top of the canyon, to sweating in my normal clothes a few hours later. Canyon temperatures fluctuate like crazy and if it is windy, you must be careful not to fly right off the trail.

The sunset was equally if not more beautiful than the sunrise. If you have watched Disney’s “The Lion King” and the scene in the beginning with the sunrise and the sunset, imagine seeing that in person!

My adventure in the Grand Canyon proved to be everything I hoped for and more. Humankind can create plenty of things, but they cannot create the beauty of Mother Nature.

Land of Beauty and Liberty: Washington D.C.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in D.C.

“I have a dream that one my four little children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”

Where I stood, some of our world’s greatest leaders stood!

Do I look like a Supreme Court Justice?? haha :)

Martin Luther King Jr. waves to supporters during the 1963 March on Washington and President Barack Obama speaks at his first inauguration in 2009.

I recently went to Washington D.C. for a business journalism conference (SABEW) and I fell in LOVE with the city. The more places I go to, the less I want to come back! It was a nice 50-60 degrees in D.C. and it is almost a 100 degrees over here in Phoenix…

What I learned from visiting our nation’s capitol:

• It is unusually clean for being a city.
• It is quite spacious and green for being a city.
• The people are surprisingly polite.
• EVERYONE dresses so professionally (which makes me soooo happy)
• D.C. is a big melting pot of cultures.
• The hot dogs are actually good!!!

Going around in National Mall in D.C. is like taking a trip down memory lane of history class. You are surrounded by history. You are surrounded by statues and monuments of moments in our nation’s history that sculpted our nation’s future.

I give thanks to those who fought/fight for this country. I give thanks to live in a country where I can decide what to do with my life. I give thanks to my family for risking everything to give me a better future.

Let freedom ring.

Thank you to everyone who has defended the freedom of our nation.

Going to the Lincoln Memorial at night was full of tranquility.

Thank you Mr. Lincoln :)

The White House was surprisingly small…

“Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

Let’s travel the world together!

As you all know by now, I entered a competition hosted by the wonderful My Destination team to win a trip to travel to 6 different continents for 6 months.
The winner will be announced in 3 days!!!

When I first applied for this contest, I was pretty confident in my entry. I thought I did a good job showing what plain-jane Phoenix, AZ has to offer: my video was fun, personable, upbeat and local. I thought it was unique! But as the end of the competition came, I saw better and better videos!!! By the last day for entries, I am pretty sure there are about 2,000 entries the poor team has to plow through. And to be honest, many of them were AMAZING! I don’t know why I expected any less. Everyone has a unique story to tell. Some of contestants lived in BEAUTIFUL place like Barbados or Australia. And I had PHOENIX…. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO COMPETE WITH THAT?? hahaha :)

So the Top 10 will consist of  5 winners picked by the public vote and 5 picked by the judges. I was banking on the judges to pick me because I knew I could never beat out these crazy famous bloggers and social media gurus.
The contestants with the most votes got almost 30,000 votes!!!!!
How is that even possible???

I got 129… *cricket chirping in the background*

I honestly think I could have gotten more votes had I spammed/annoyed people to votes for me daily.

But I didn’t. I wanted the judges to pick me for me:

• because I can be one hell of a blogger
• because I can make a big story out of anything
• because I have the skills to make videos for the world to see about my adventures
• because I am connected in all aspects of social media
• because I don’t have too much “traveling experience” I will be able to tell my audiences the do’s AND dont’s of travelling from a whole new perspective.
• because I will be able to relate to many different demographics
• because I can immerse myself in an experience or culture
• and because they think I have what it takes to fulfill the BIGGEST, BADDEST BUCKET LIST!

So as you go over my entry, I hope you keep these pointers in mind. :) Plus I really would like to finally meet Anna and Hannah and the rest of the team! You seem like a fun crew.  :)

BUT even if I am not picked as the winner (or the top 10 for that matter) here are a few lessons I took away from this experience:

• I have a surprisingly extensive and loving support system that wants to see me succeed.
• My Mother will support all my dreams no matter how bizarre they are!
• I can be passionate about more than one thing.
• I might want to shift my focus from being an entertainment reporter to a travel reporter/writer.
• No dream goal is too crazy to be accomplished!!!

Thanks for hearing me out!

And for other contestants:

You mean to tell me the Batmobile is real???

The famous Warner Bros. Tower inside Warner Bros. Studio (Burbank, California)

Different sets of movies and shows.

Do recognize any of these places?

The set of Argo (this looks like somewhere in D.C.) .

The set of the late-night show Conan O’Brian :)

My well-deserved, over-sized Oscar :)

The car from the movies Gran Torino starring the respected Clint Eastwood.

An older version of the Batmobile :)

I LOVE THE BATMAN MOVIES.

We got to ride around in these nifty carts :)

Touring Warner Bros. Studio was quite the trip! It is amazing to see how well studio production fools the eye. Things that look so big and real on screen are surprisingly small on set! Warner Bros. Studios (if didn’t know is located in California) even has it’s own Central Park. haha :) We went on the set of “Two and a Half Men”; if you have watched the show you know that it supposedly takes place on Charlie Sheen’s mansion but it was actually more like a stage with a fake Malibu backdrop of the ocean. How have I never noticed that!!?

Because I was not allowed to take pictures of the Warner Bros. Studio Museum I will just tell you a little about it. There are 2 levels to this museum. The first level is filled with costumes from some of Warner’s best movies including the Dark Knight Trilogy (one of my personal favorites), the Big Bang Theory, Selena, The Matrix and many other ones!  The second floor was just HARRY POTTER! :) Shout out to all my Potter nerds, I am one myself! :) The ORIGINAL costumes that the actors wore throughout the movies were all there. The original SORTING HAT from the set. I was sorted into Hufflepuff. :) I really wanted Gryffindor but Hufflepuff has admirable traits ;)

If you would like to find out what Hogwarts House you belong to click here!!

Even though I had a nerd fest in the museum, I would have to say I freaked out the most about this bad boy:

THE BATMAN TUMBLER

OMG THE BATMAN TUMBLER.

Japan comes to the Valley of the Sun

Arizona is full of festivals: Beer Festival, Aloha Fest, Tempe Arts Festival, Mardi Gras, Rainbows Festival, Matsuri Festival, etc. :) I got a glimpse of the Japanese Matsuri Festival. My videos are usually more upbeat buuuuut my videography class requires me to be more boring and “professional”… haha :) Enjoy and leave some comments, hate or love! :)