A prickly subject

Note to self: Corduroy flats do not protect one's feet from stray cacti. Trust me, I learned this the hard way... 5 times.

|Shawna

10 Things about Nicole Hatjioannou

Hey Everyone! Nicole here -

1.  Feelings on coffee

I am not a fan of coffee.  I don’t plan on being a fan either. I know I know, how can an architecture student survive without coffee??? I don’t need coffee’s caffeine to keep me awake and going, I’ve got my own energy!

2.  Favorite color

Blue. It’s the kind of blue that makes you smile when you see it.  It’s the blue color you always reach for. You wish all food could be that color blue. That’s my favorite color.

3.  I'm from

Charlotte, North Carolina. I’ve lived there my whole life and don’t feel comfortable driving around downtown. I would like to live in downtown Charlotte for a while, just to say “I’m from Charlotte” and to have experienced it all. Great museums downtown, by the way.

4.  Previous life before architecture

I can’t remember my life without architecture. Ha. Kidding. I spent most of my time tying ribbons on my pointe shoes. But, I’ve been exposed to architecture my whole life, so even though I wasn’t studying it at school, I knew I loved it and was interested in it.

5.  Favorite road trip foods

Granola bars - Chocolate chip. Trail mix. Wheat thins. Cheez-its. You know, unhealthy food.

6.  I'm looking forward to

Everything!  You should always look forward to something, right???

7.  At Forum, I'm looking forward to

Working on my sketching ability. I don’t want to depend on my camera so much this trip. I even want other people to draw in my sketchbook – if you haven’t done this with me, you should. It’s fun. I’m pretty excited to see the Phoenix Science Center too.

8.  My preferred mode of road trip documentation

I take notes. I draw, not for perfection or to show off, but to help me remember certain things. For example, today on the airplane the guy sitting near me had a funky hair cut, so I sketched it out. If you asked me to explain it, I could in a heartbeat, pretty accurately too. (I’ll show you the sketch sometime).  The baby sitting next to me smiled at me when I smiled at him. I made a note of that in my sketchbook. 

I also like writing down what people say – funny quotes, serious ones, questions I have or thoughts that I have. And don’t get me wrong, sketching and photography are wonderful too, but I think the tiny details you remember make a road trip  (and just life!) memorable. Combining all of these things together makes a great documentation!

9.  Books I brought on the trip

The AIAS CRIT magazine, and The Hunger Games (everyone says it’s good).

10.  What would I do other than architecture

I’d like to be a comedian. If that doesn’t work out,, I would just travel around and read jokes to people.  A lot of people could use a good joke, dontcha think?

The Petrified Forest in 60 Minutes or Less

When Shawna, Kelly, Jimmy and I arrived at the Petrified Forest National Park we needed fuel. It was out first stop since lunch, four hours earlier, so we took our time roaming in the gift shops, there were three. Maybe the kitschy gifts and toys brought out the children in us because Jimmy and Kelly had a snow ball fight and I felt compelled to imitate a desert lizard sculpture.

"We need to get going guys," said Shawna. We pilled into the SUV and headed to the gate.

"The park closes at five, so you have 50 minutes." The gatekeeper said.

"How long is the road?" someone asked.

"28 miles" Shawna said, "so we got to be quick."

We had been driving through the desert all day but as soon as we approached the overlook the landscape opened to expose a rippling velvet pink valley and we all gasped. Then we jumped out of the car to take pictures. After snapping picture like paparazzi we sprinted back to the SUV and hurled down the two lane road at 50 miles per hour. We stopped at as many places as we could: Pintado point, Nizhimo point, Newspaper rock, the Tepees, Jasper Forest and finally Crystal Forest.

With each new turn we became more giddy and louder as we screamed, "look at that," and "no, over there."

The vastness and texture of the painted forest proved more profound than photographs could hope to express. Instead of processing the landscape to a point of astute analyzation, the visual stimulation of purple and magenta banded limestone mounds and orange, gold and red crystalized logs came at us with a constant assault.

We rolled out of the park a few minutes after five feeling satisfied and humbled by the painted desert and the petrified forest.

Day 3 | Wednesday | December 28

Need for speed

The gate keeper told us we had to be out of the park by 5pm and, oh by the way, it's 28 miles to the end. I looked at the clocked - 4:15pm - I've got this... So with a bit of fancy maneuvering we made it out just in the knick of time and we didn't miss a thing.

The Great American Petrified Forest Road Race

28 miles. 50 minutes.

And then Jimmy started running... And we all followed suit. With Shawna driving only a mere 40 miles over the posted speed limit we managed to make it through the whole park, making executive decisions about where to stop.

Once stopped it was a free-for-all of picture taking and then a race back to the car.

And it was beautiful... Most was fairly typical of the southwest, but the petrified wood was really unexpected, a plethora of colors and textures. And by petrified wood, I mean huge fallen trees, but where did they come from? There certainly aren't any trees of that scale there now. And they said not to take any of the wood with you, but with all the mystery how can you resist just one souvenir?

Toms... Not made for ice

Snow? In the desert? Really? I am clearly just not prepared.

Amarillo was where we first saw snow and that continued through most of New Mexico.

Stop one of the day was Cadillac Ranch, a recommendation from our friends, Jacob and Liz.

On this particular plot of land an art group, Ant Farm, chose to plant cars, right in the ground, nose first.

And the deal is.. You spray paint them, leaving your mark , asserting your presence to all other travelers. So in fluorescent orange vertical lettering I wrote KellyMo, for all the world to see. I wonder how long it will last?