Ying Lan's Travels, October 2002

That was a great trip I had last week. We went on the nothern Appalachian Trip...

We went up to the summit of Mt.Washington and went down by walking.. I thought that it was tough.

Appalacian Trail --- Oct 2002

The day after that, we went to the Bartex State Park of Maine. That was the worst , crazy rock climbing I have ever done before. I did not go to the summit after lunch. I was afraid that I did not have enough energy to go back. One of the member was a British policewoman. She told us that she was scared when she was stepping on the edges of rocks at the summit. We had 4 British, 4 Japanese, 2 American-Korean and 1 Taiwanese in our group, plus our two leaders.

The oldest person was Japanese.. He was 77 years old, his wife was 61 years old, and 2 Japanese ladies were 65 years old. Can you imagine that? The Japanese were runing away from me on the rocks when we almost arrived at our destination around 5:30 pm that evening.

I was the weakest person in that group. ... but I thoroughly enjoyed that trip.

I will go to Grand Canyon with the same company http://www.trekamerica.com

Ying Lan returns to New York before heading west ...

I am leaving for Las Vegas now.

I will take the airplane of United Airlines to Las Vegas via San Franciso. It is not a direct line. I booked it on the internet, because it was cheaper.

I will go back on Oct. 21, 2002 from Las Vegas via Los Angeles by the airplane of United Airlines.

I am praying for two things now.

Don't lose my luggage on the way to Las Vegas.
War doesn't break out when I am traveling.

There is a big argument in the United State about The first strike on Iraq.

I hear a lot American people telling me that they don't want to have a "WAR". But the goverment is not listening to the people now. Anyway, I am leaving now.

I wenton "NATIONAL PARKS WALKING"--- Oct 2002

It was a hiking and camping group--two leaders and twelve passengers. It means I slept in tents for nine nights. Trust me, it was frozen in Utah and Arizona in the evening and at night because of the high elevation.

It was killing me when I had to get up at midnight to go to the restroom. The restroom was never close to my tent. I was lost that night at Grand Canyon. But I was happy I got up at midnight. You can not believe how beautiful the moonlight was there.

We went to Zion Naitonal Park, Bryce Nationl Park, Arch Naitonal Park (Moab), Mexican Hat, Mounument Valley and Grand Canyon.

I don't remember how much money I spent on travelling this year. I always brought the wrong shoes. I had to get other new shoes. This time, I put on my Timberland shoes. I was very happy. But I found out, these hiking shoes just barely fit my feet, it was killing me when I walked up and down on the rocky hiking trail.

I tried not to wear my socks in Arch National Park for walking 8 miles in the desert. After three hours passed, I found out I had two blisters on my toes. I had to buy one pair of shoes in Moab. It was on sale but it still cost USD49.00 to get it. I was an idiot.

One girl broke her tooth when we went mountain biking in Moab next day. It was crazy. If I had known that we would be riding bikes on the rock and desert, I would not have paid USD40.00 to torture myself. Most of the time, I was enjoying walking with my bike. God bless me, I survived.

Ying Lan returns to NYC, end of Oct 2002

I just walked down 6th Avenue from 14th St. to 23rd St.

Why? You probably will say “Were you losing your mind?” or “You just wanted to take a walk for some exercise? Why didn’t you just take the F or V train? Even if it is one stop, it would be quicker than walking.” I often take the F train. But I was faster than the train this time. And here is why…

Because I have not written any stories which I promised my writing partner last week, I wanted to come to “The Int’l Center” early to write my story of the National Parks Walk. I took the E train to go to West 4th station to transfer to the F train. Normally it would only take 15 minutes to get to the Int’l Center. Everything was fine until I was on the F train. I had a seat on the train. I was pretty tired so I was taking a nap. Usually the train goes very fast, because there are no stops between W-4th St. and 14th St.. But the train slowed down, and then I heard the announcement. “ There is a train ahead of us that is out of order now……. The train will move shortly. Please be patient. “

What could I do? I started to read my book about Arches National Park. But it was hard to read very much, because I was feeling anxious, thinking about how I would be late, I would be stuck on the train for hours, I would not be able to meet my partner, I would not be able to call her, and I had to go to the bathroom!… 15 minutes later, the train started moving, I was happy. But it inched along, move-stop, move-stop and then it stopped again. Someone with a nice clear voice said “Please listen to the following announcement carefully. There is a train that is out of order just ahead of this train so we can only reach the edge of the 14th Street platform. You will have to exit through the first car of the train.” I was kind of shocked and I was not sure that I understood the announcement. Should I walked through the train to reach the platform? I was still wondering when everyone stood up silently and walked through the heavy doors between the cars. Trust me, no one complained. The conductor who was standing at the door said, smilingly, “Sorry for the mess.” A middle-age black woman asked him “ Are you the one with nice voice?” “No, I am not” he replied.

It was funny, everyone was orderly, and walked through the train one by one. When we finally reached the 1st car, there was another conductor standing there. The woman asked him the question again. “Are you the one with the nice voice?” He answered “No, it was not me.”

Hey man!! There were only two conductors on the train! I guess no one made the announcement! Halloween is coming. Don’t scare me!! When I got outside on 14th St., the street was crowded. But I felt so good to walking on the ground again. .

The story has been correct by my writing partner Ms. Brook Wilensky-Lanford this evening.

Use your browser's BACK button to return to a previous page

For comments, suggestions, or further information on this page, contact Vance Stevens, page webmaster.

Ying Lan's Travels, October 2002

Last updated: November 5, 2002 in Hot Metal Pro 6.0