# Sarah the Quitter!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [July 4, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939 "2009-07-04T23:54:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 11

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/201 "2009-07-08T23:41:43Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Both. We sold our house in May and have been traveling since then. We’re in Kalispell, MT at the moment and plan to spend another few weeks exploring Montana. Then on to MN/WI, then New England, then down, then over to the Southwest, then back up to the Northwest to look for a home.

Cool. When you go through Arizona, pencil in a day to take 89A\* from Flagstaff, AZ to Prescott, AZ. No matter what you see and do on your trip, that short stretch of road will be what you rave to your friends and family about for years to come. If it’s getting dark when you get down into the valley, spend the night in Sedona or Cottonwood, so that you can have your breath taken away when you get up and it’s light again. Do not take any part of that trip at nighttime.

Note: 89A (as in Alternate) not Hwy. 89, which is totally boring.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2009, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/202 "2009-07-08T23:53:03Z")

</div>

I’m not sure which bumpersticker to make up and put on my car.

Dingbat / Batshit '12

or the more family-friendly/work safe

Stupid / Crazy '12

Woot! Palin/Bachman '12!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/203 "2009-07-09T00:30:17Z")

</div>

How about:

Crazy Is/Crazy Does  
2012

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/204 "2009-07-09T00:32:47Z")

</div>

> [@Equipoise](#):
>
> Cool. When you go through Arizona, pencil in a day to take 89A\* from Flagstaff, AZ to Prescott, AZ. No matter what you see and do on your trip, that short stretch of road will be what you rave to your friends and family about for years to come. If it’s getting dark when you get down into the valley, spend the night in Sedona or Cottonwood, so that you can have your breath taken away when you get up and it’s light again. Do not take any part of that trip at nighttime.
> 
> Note: 89A (as in Alternate) not Hwy. 89, which is totally boring.

We’re going to be spending about a month in the SW, exploring New Mexico, Utah and AZ. The photography opportunities are just too enticing to pass up. I’ll note 89A as a ‘must do’.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/205 "2009-07-09T00:41:28Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> Both. We sold our house in May and have been traveling since then. We’re in Kalispell, MT at the moment and plan to spend another few weeks exploring Montana. Then on to MN/WI, then New England, then down, then over to the Southwest, then back up to the Northwest to look for a home.

Swinging by New York sometime? We should show you a time in the Big Apple. Or the suburbs thereof, if you fancy that. Some good music, some good barbeque, maybe.

In more Alaska-related stuff, I wanted to ask about a Palin-lie. The whole ‘Aw, the villages have enough fish’ ‘we only got five fish and we need fifty, bitch.’ thing. Is that as seriously screwed up as it sounds? Are these people going to starve this winter?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/206 "2009-07-09T01:42:12Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> We’re going to be spending about a month in the SW, exploring New Mexico, Utah and AZ. The photography opportunities are just too enticing to pass up. I’ll note 89A as a ‘must do’.

Yay! Being from Alaska, you’re used to spectacular scenery, so it’s hard to think of anywhere in the Lower that would impress you, but there are _so many different_ types of scenery on that short stretch of road that in itself is breathtaking. It’s only about 80 miles long, but it’s got forests and canyons and mountains and deserts and huge red rocks and copper mining towns built precariously on the sides of mountains and so much more.

When you travel through New Mexico, check out [Carlsbad Caverns](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlsbad_Caverns_National_Park). It’s totally touristy but for good reasons. Also, if you spend time in Albuquerque, take an evening and travel to the west side rim (Albuquerque is in a bowl, so if you’re traveling east to west, you go down into the bowl, travel across the city, then up to the west rim of the bowl). Do this at night. Take the first exit once you get to the top, take a left, pass over the interstate and then find a good place to pull over and get out, to look back down at the city. At night, it looks like sparkling jewels spread over black velvet. Something abut the atmosphere makes it special. Lots of cities look spectacular at night, but only one city looks like Albuquerque at night: Albuquerque. It’s really boring during the day though, and doesn’t have the same effect from the east side of the bowl at night. It’s a nice city, it’s not that boring, I’m just talking about the view.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/207 "2009-07-09T03:08:08Z")

</div>

Chefguy, admit that you are sick of scenery and settle in Chicago. We have all the political scandals of Alaska but a climate that is only somewhat worse that Juneau’s.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/208 "2009-07-09T03:17:13Z")

</div>

> [@dropzone](#):
>
> Chefguy, admit that you are sick of scenery and settle in Chicago. We have all the political scandals of Alaska but a climate that is only somewhat worse that Juneau’s.

You guys also seem to have produced at least one politician in recent years who seems to have avoided scandals of either a corruption or sexual nature; he’s sitting in the White House for the moment.

ETA: Admittedly, he’s not quite as pretty as Sarah Palin. But, unlike her, he doesn’t induce any urge to vomit in me, which I find a plus…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/209 "2009-07-09T03:17:58Z")

</div>

> [@dropzone](#):
>
> Chefguy, admit that you are sick of scenery and settle in Chicago. We have all the political scandals of Alaska but a climate that is only somewhat worse that Juneau’s.

For example, today’s high (on July 8th, mind you) was about 65 degrees, with overcast skies and occasional rain. Of course, it will be 95 and humid by Friday.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/210 "2009-07-09T04:19:37Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> We’re going to be spending about a month in the SW, exploring New Mexico, Utah and AZ. The photography opportunities are just too enticing to pass up. I’ll note 89A as a ‘must do’.

In the Four Corners area, just east of Bluff, UT is a rickety wooden suspension bridge across the San Juan river. On the other side, although you have to take a big detour around some Navajo land, is a beautifully preserved Anasazi cliff dwelling.

To the west of Bluff, if you have a strong stomach, especially since you are driving a camper, take US 261 north towards Natural Bridges National Monument and experience the 1100 foot rise in three miles of the Moki Dugway.

[![](http://lagan.sulekha.com/mstore/lagan/albums/Utah/mokee%20dugway.jpg) ](http://lagan.sulekha.com/mstore/lagan/albums/Utah/mokee%20dugway.jpg)

> **[Webshots - Desktop Wallpaper / Screen Savers](https://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1203949075032212970YocgKL)**
>
> Webshots, the best in Desktop Wallpaper, Desktop Backgrounds, and Screen Savers since 1995.

Yes, that second picture is of the way you go up.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/211 "2009-07-09T05:54:54Z")

</div>

> [@saoirse](#):
>
> Has anyone really checked in to the possibility that Sarah Palin is actually a mermaid?

Well, you’re on the right track, but not quite. I’m thinking of _other_ creatures who live in the sea. Creatures who provide abundant fishing to villages such as, oh, Innsmouth, who provide them with human sacrifices. And when they git ready, I say, _when they git ready…_ ever hear tell of a _shoggoth?_

It all fits! Shoggoths were engineered by the Elder Things in Antarctica, so they’d fit in perfectly at the other pole. Sarah Palin always talks about how she and her family are fisher folk. And her husband Todd is of Eskimo ancestry… or should that be _Esquimaux?_ Like, maybe, that tribe from Greenland who once had an idol of Cthulhu?

And, oh yeah, Todd! We haven’t forgotten what your ancestors did to the land of Lomar! Sure, that was back during the last precession of the Pole Star, but _Lomar is remembered!_

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/212 "2009-07-09T12:53:33Z")

</div>

> [@Cartooniverse](#):
>
> I disagree.
> 
> When she’s elected in 2012, we will have to endure her for a total of 7 years.

Seven? Don’t you know there’s no point to having a lame duck coasting around? Since she’s not a quitter, she’d resign shortly after reelection.

Five years max.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/213 "2009-07-09T14:58:06Z")

</div>

I didn’t mean for this to hijack into _National Lampoon’s Cheffie’s Vacation_, so I’ll answer some comments and turn it back over to the Sarah bashing, which is much more fun.

**E-Sabbath** : We’ll be spending a bit of time in Buffalo, where the Ms. is from. She lived in NYC for a few years while going to college, and we’ve visited there together a few years ago. We’ll be heading up into New England in the fall, however.

**Equipoise** : I’ve been fascinated by the slot canyons and light conditions in the SW for years, ever since I saw a photo shoot of the area. It’s hard to beat the dramatic scenery in that neck o’ the woods, particularly for someone who’s a fan of B&W photography.

**dropzone** : Ain’t happenin’.

**Lamar Mundane** : Rickety bridges spanning a sure-death drop is really not my thing. Neither are abrupt cliff edges or high bridges. I can grit my teeth over most of them, but I have a fear of heights that keeps me from doing some things. I’d have to take a closer look at the place, but the Anasazi dwelling is certainly a very big lure.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/214 "2009-07-09T19:07:21Z")

</div>

> [@Voyager](#):
>
> It makes me laugh to see Republicans who no doubt were calling Obama a secret Muslim/Socialist/non-citizen writing to the paper to say how poor Sarah quit because she couldn’t take the heat.

But didn’t you hear? Palin quitting is all [Obama’s fault!](http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/07/09/a-final-palin-post/#more-14455)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/215 "2009-07-09T20:52:03Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> We’ll be heading up into New England in the fall, however.

Leaf-peepin’ season! October air bracing and clear and invigorating! And the colors, man, the colors… 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/216 "2009-07-09T21:43:11Z")

</div>

> [@saoirse](#):
>
> I just saw a post on Mudflats that compared Palin’s grasp of the English language to that of Darryl Hannah’s character in “Splash.” I think the commenter may be on to something. Has anyone really checked in to the possibility that Sarah Palin is actually a mermaid? Spawned upstream in the Pacific Northwest, granted legs by some passing octo-witch? This would explain her hostility to those political elites she’s always railing against. All she ever wanted was to be part of their world.

Plus, you know, mermaids don’t have souls. 😃

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/217 "2009-07-09T23:24:44Z")

</div>

> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#):
>
> Leaf-peepin’ season! October air bracing and clear and invigorating! And the colors, man, the colors… 😃

That’s the idea, fo sho. Glacier Park today was pretty impressive turf.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/218 "2009-07-10T00:52:11Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> **Lamar Mundane** : Rickety bridges spanning a sure-death drop is really not my thing. Neither are abrupt cliff edges or high bridges. I can grit my teeth over most of them, but I have a fear of heights that keeps me from doing some things. I’d have to take a closer look at the place, but the Anasazi dwelling is certainly a very big lure.

I don’t know how this thread turned into “travel tips for Chefguy”, but I’ll make one more post and that’s it. The ruin near Bluff is one of the most accessible ruins in the area - most are down at the bottom of some seriously inaccessible canyons. It is worth the visit if you are near, and you probably will be as there aren’t a whole lot of towns in that part of the country.

Here is a picture of it:

> **[Redirect Notice](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http:%2F%2Fmc2.vicnet.net.au%2Fhome%2Fvhra%2Fweb%2Frhrut_1_web.JPG&imgrefurl=http:%2F%2Fmc2.vicnet.net.au%2Fhome%2Fvhra%2Fweb%2Frhrut.html&usg=__ekzzzf5epcIEWQpgxhhl-GK8V9M=&h=551&w=879&sz=101&hl=en&start=15&um=1&tbnid=DOJWaSwLW2gs6M:&tbnh=92&tbnw=146&prev=%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dbluff,%2But%2Banasazi%2Bruin%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLR%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1)**

The bridge is seriously rickety, though, unless they’ve improved it.

The spot on the north end of the bridge is the site of a murder of a UT state patrolman by a wanted fugitive which was used as the basis of a Tony Hillerman novel, Hunting Badger.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/219 "2009-07-10T03:01:11Z")

</div>

> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> That’s the idea, fo sho. Glacier Park today was pretty impressive turf.

And I’m here in part because of it (parents worked there), but how does that help us make fun of Sarah Palin? :mad:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939/220 "2009-07-10T03:15:45Z")

</div>

> [@eulalia](#):
>
> Neither could Dubya.

Concise is good.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939.md?page=10)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-the-quitter/501939.md?page=12)
