WWWTP: A Large World
July 31, 2008 by Justin
I have decided to come up with yet another weekly routine here on Life of Justin. First it was Friday Videos, now I bring you a new Thursday event.
It is going to be called “WWWTP”, which stands for “Whats Wrong With This Photo.” Every Thursday, I am going to post a random picture I took and write about a few things that I noticed in the photo. There’s a lot going on in the world, and every picture I take usually has something unique, weird, or just straight up wrong about it.
So here we go, I bring you week 1 of:
“What’s Wrong With This Photo?”
It seems everything in World is getting larger, just in this photo alone I noticed these three things:
1. A Big Ass Soda
I know proportions have been on the rise here in America, but come on! Look at the size of that soda that person is holding. It’s pretty much a 2 liter in the shape of a cup with a straw in it. How many ounces is that thing, like 100? That’s damn near a gallon of soda.
My guess is that wasn’t diet soda in there either. I did some math and if that cup was full of 80 ounces of Pepsi, this is what the nutritional breakdown would be:
Calories: 1,000 (Yikes!)
Carbohydrates: 280
Sugar: 280 Grams
Thats half a days worth of calories without even eating any food. No wonder people are getting larger by the day, which leads me to my next observation…
2. One Large Person
Now, I am in no way, shape, or form trying to diss anyone. I am simply making an observation that there is a very large person in that truck. That person easily weighs double my weight, if not triple. My guess is that truck is not getting the best gas mileage, which may explain why I now have to pay $4 a gallon to fill up my car.
It doesn’t help the person is sitting in the back of the truck, with a bright orange shirt, and a soda the size of my head. It’s hard to not notice things like this.
3. Three Trucks, All With The Tailgates Down
Like I stated in the last observation, gas is getting pretty damn expensive. I thought it was because there were so many more countries utilizing fuel that the demand has gone higher. But then I thought, maybe it’s just because people all drive trucks everywhere.
In this photo, there are no cars except the one I am in, the rest of the vehicles are all trucks. And to top it off, they all have there tailgates down. I’m pretty sure that doesn’t help the aerodynamics of these things.
Tune In Next Thursday For A New “What’s Wrong With This Photo?
And don’t forget to leave a comment on today’s photo!
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Tonto Natural Bridge State Park
July 29, 2008 by Justin
I had the privilege of checking out the Tonto Natural Bridge, near Payson, Arizona this past weekend. It was a really cool experience and I would love to share it with everyone.
If you have never heard of the park, it is a natural bridge that was formed by running water from a small creek. While I was there I also learned that the Tonto bridge was discovered by David Gowan in 1877 , while hiding from Apache Indians. It is a pretty interesting story to read about because he eventually moved his whole family to this location.
My Photographs
I took a lot of pictures, but narrowed them down to a few I would like to share. So check them out (click to enlarge):
Top of Tonto Natural Bridge
Tonto Natural Bridge Waterfall
Believe It or Not, This Is the Creek
Lizard Along the Trail
Standing In One of the Caves
Look How Small The People Look Inside
The Hiking Trails
When I first arrived at the Tonto State Park, it did not look like anything special. It looked like a grass field with a parking lot and a ton of people picnicking. But I was amazed once I finished all of the hikes.
There are three separate trails to hike, and they all lead to different places. Here is a little information I gathered from the trail guide they had at the park:
Pine Creek Trail - about 1/2 mile long, which leads to the Pine Creek natural area. They recommend wearing hiking shoes and say to allow one hour for the hike.
Waterfall Trail - about 300 feet long, and ends at a waterfall cave.
Gowan Trail - about 1/2 mile long, and it leads to an observation deck at the bottom of the creek. This trail also recommends wearing hiking shoes.
The hiking trails are a little rough, but overall pretty easy to walk along. There are a lot of stairs when heading to the creek bottom, so plan on walking down a ton of wooden steps. Also, plan on getting a little wet if you really want to snoop around in the cave. The water leaks through the rock from the top of the bridge, and makes it feel like a light rain at the bottom.
If you are taking your camera (I highly recommend it), bring along a case to put it in so you don’t have to worry about getting it wet.
Location
The Tonto Natural Bridge is pretty easy to find if you are coming from the Phoenix area. You simply have to head towards Fountain Hills and take the SR 87 north to Payson 80 miles. From there, continue north another 10 miles until you see a sign for the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park.
Just a word of caution, there are some steep roads after you turn left towards the State Park. Some of the roads reach as much as a 14% grade.
An Awesome Trip
Overall, this was an awesome thing to do. It was cool to see this thing in person, because it looks so much different in person than it does in pictures. I highly recommend checking it out if you are ever in Arizona, specifically in the Payson area.
Top of South Mountain (w/ Photos)
July 28, 2008 by Justin
Saturday night, I made my way up to South Mountain for some hiking and sightseeing. If you are unfamiliar with the valley, South Mountain is south of downtown Phoenix and has an elevation around 2,600 feet. There are some old ruins at the top and some pretty cool views of the Phoenix metro area.
Along the way, I saw a few coyotes but managed to get away without seeing any rattlesnakes. It is still too hot here in Phoenix to do any intense hiking, but it was still a good work out. I drove to the summit and then hiked down a ways before turning around and heading back up. There are trails all over the mountain, so I am planning on going back in the near future. Perhaps after the weather cools down a bit.
The Photographs
I took my camera and tripod along because I am looking to get back in to photography. I have been slacking with it lately but hope to hop back into it. There are so many cools things to see around Arizona, I just need to get out and get some nice shots. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the top of South Mountain:
View of South Mountain and Phoenix
An Old Building Near the Summit
View of Phoenix Area (about 1/3 of the city?)
A Very Weird Photo of A Plant
A View of the Sierra Estrella Mountain Range
I have a few other photos I took and I’ll be putting them up on my Flickr account this week.
Next Stop, Tonto Natural Bridge
This weekend, I also made my way to the Tonto Natural Bridge, located near Payson. It is a natural bridge formed by water running over the rocks. I took some really cool shots of it, and will be posting the summary of the trip tomorrow.
