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Road Trip 2009

Road-tripping with Stacc and Erek. Will expand as we go!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Stacc arrived Sunday night in his sister's car, which he had on loan for the trip. We quickly departed for dinner and driving practice. I had never driven stick, so for half an hour I jerked around a parking lot in the first three gears until I'd stalled enough times to feel confident that I could get us home. And I did!

But Stacc was hungry, so we stopped at Arby's. That's where I learned to truly fear stopping his car. After delivering his order I stalled twice trying to get into first gear, all the while with a car inching forward behind me. The speaker asked, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" when a minute later we were still in front of the menu. The rest of the evening passed without event.

Monday, August 24, 2009 to Marquette, KS

We left around 10:30 the next morning. He drove. I took over in the afternoon until we stopped for dinner at Dominoes where the water was terrible and they had no plates or trash cans, but the pizza hit the spot. Coming in I peeled out when I confused the gas pedal with the brake for a moment, losing my driving privileges for the rest of the day. I'll have to remember that trick.

We arrived at Erek's house around midnight and took care of a few details of the trip we couldn't put off planning any longer. We now have hotel reservations at the MGM Grand in Vegas and tickets to see David Copperfield and Ka (Cirque du Soleil).

Tuesday, August 25, 2009, to Boulder, CO

Erek's grandparents are very nice. His grandma made breakfast then gave us a tour of the family photos along the walls. We transferred our luggage to Erek's brand new used car with automatic transmission and headed out!

No matter when I looked out the window, anywhere between Indiana and Colorado, it looked the same.

My driving shift came after lunch. When we got to an eighth of a tank, the accelerator ceased to function and we sputtered to a halt in front of a Flying J gas station. But a short walk and a fill-up later we were back on the road. No story there! Not that that stops my co-travelers from blaming everything on me.

Made it to Greg's apartment, but quickly unpacked and headed to Southern Sun, a local microbrewery. Great chicken quesadilla, okay root beer. Well, it was probably great root beer but I was expecting something sweeter. We brought back a glass jar of some dark liquid, a "beer," they call it. It's almost gone, I think.

I should mention that I finally found myself in a situation where not knowing how to parallel park had a detectable impact on my life. I bailed with the car well away from the curb. I'm discovering so many things I don't know how to do with a car on this trip.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 to Las Vegas, NV

Greg is hopeful that the University of Colorado's telescope will be free in a few weeks when we pass through on our way back home. It was cloudy last night, so our plans to peek into space with his graduate student telescope access fell through.

We pulled out around 9 and made peanut butter bagels in the car. There is one bagel left.

We drove for 11 hours. Subway for lunch.

Utah was beautiful.

Arizona scenery hit a high point in an area guarded by "Strong Crosswinds Possible" signs. The highway was raised slightly above a valley floor between steep mountain sides that took my breath away long enough that I didn't get a camera out in time. I really wish I had, since I don't think we will go back that way.

We eventually made it to our hotel, the MGM Grand. I was driving when we made it to the city and freaked out behind the wheel. City driving makes me nervous and feel incapable of getting the car to where I want it to be. I can't think. It was horrible, but they helped direct me on the way.

We walked the strip to pick out places worthy of further exploration. We explored several hotels, but we probably won't do that any more – they were all just casinos with some shops and bars tacked on and there wasn't much to distinguish them in my memory.

The coolest hotel exterior award goes to Excalibur:

Bellagio's fountain show was impressive:

Monte Carlo is famous among computer scientists (well, Erek says it's not this Monte Carlo, but eh):

I sampled several beers at a place called Pour 24, but they were all nasty. I called it a great experience since now I know that I probably hate all beer. Stacc called it a failure since he was trying to make me drunk.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

We slept late then went to Don's DI Auto Repair to drop off the car because of the misleading gas gauge, worn out breaks, and the engine light. We took the monorail back to the hotel.

We had an expensive, but satisfying lunch at the Rainforest Cafe in the hotel. (We never would have had to leave the hotel if we didn't want to.) An animatronic elephant and some jungle cats watched us eat and at one point there was a thunderstorm that got them all riled up.

Then we floated in the hotel pool for a few hours, then dried off on lawn chairs until the sun went away.

I was the only one of us to make money on the slots. Erek didn't want to give $10 to the machine so he traded it for my $5 bill. His first spin won $1, but after a few more he'd lost it all. Stacc lost a few dollars too. Reminds me of something I read recently.

We saw David Copperfield perform from a table very near the stage. I think most of the people who went up were plants, even though that's not very nice. His show had some very impressive tricks, like making a car appear, and disappearing 13 people.

We went to a shady bar, the Double Down Saloon. Erek and Stacc liked the place. I wouldn't have minded it at all if it weren't full of smoke. Erek drank the Ass Juice.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.


Erek's uncle commented, "Good thing for you guys that it's a 'man-eating' shark."

I had a phone interview for a job in the middle of it. It went well.

We went to see Ka (a Cirque du Soleil show) to which Erek got us great tickets. Fantastic show. The set was gorgeous and 20 minutes couldn't go by without the stage rising up and spinning around and performers climbing all over it.

We tried to get into Club V, but I wasn't wearing pants, Stacc wasn't wearing close-toed shoes, and Erek didn't have close-toed shoes nor pants, so the bouncer (dressed in a suit) politely sent us away. Back in the room, I fell asleep immediately.

Saturday, August 29, 2009 to the Grand Canyon

Erek went to pick the car up from the shop. When he came back, we checked out and visited the gift shop on the way to the car. I bought a few goodies and Erek bought a gift for his sister. He needed to break a $100 bill (ehh?) and one of the casino workers walking around happily helped him out.

On our way out of the city we stopped at the Hoover Dam.

And then, the canyon…

We took photos along the first section of the rim we saw after arriving. Stacc couldn't get enough of it; he kept taking photos until there was no way we could get to our campsite before dark.

We got to our campsite after dark. Our tent is huge, but it doesn't have more than a dozen pieces. With the headlights on and me on flashlight duty, we set up the tent… in the wrong campsite. So we lifted it, fully-assembled, to the site next door.

Erek started a fire while I took notes. Munching on marshmallows, we planned the next day's hike.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

The Grand Canyon is littered with warnings. They're on signs, in brochures, and on maps. They are warnings like "Eat more food than usual," and "Take breaks often," and "When you feel thirst, you are already dehydrated." There is a sign telling the story of Margaret, a woman who ran the Boston marathon but died in the canyon from ignoring the food, water, and rest warnings. But it seemed to me that there was one warning which heeding would have saved her life: don't hike between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM – in other words, don't hike in the sun.

We woke up at 9am, made some sandwiches, then started our hike at 10:00. We had two water bottles each, which is not nearly enough for an all-day hike, but we took a trail where we would be able to fill them up at several spots along the way. We stayed salty by eating Cheez-Its, Chex Mix, and Chewy bars.

At the second stop Stacc recommended we start the hike back up, but Erek and I said, "Don't worry about us." That's the dangerous part about hiking down then up instead of the other way around, I guess.

We got to the third stop at 12:30 and rested until 1:00. We snacked and drank. Some squirrels tried to join us, but we didn't share.

Nevertheless, they crawled right up to us and tried to sneak into our bags by coming from around back. I felt something on my back and when I turned around brushing it away I saw a squirrel scurry into the rocks behind us. A squirrel tried to get into a woman's bag. Some birds hopped right between my legs to get some tiny crumbs I accidentally dropped.

Oh yeah, it was hot.

When Stacc started to lead us back up the canyon, the heat got to Erek and I immediately. We stopped every few minutes for water breaks and my heart beat wildly. He got fed up with how slow we were. Traveling with us, his infinite stamina was a curse. I told him to shut up after the twentieth time he tried to stop a rest break short by urging us to, "Okay, let's go."

Erek suggested that Stacc not lead and things got a little better for us (and slower for him). Erek walked slower than Stacc, but we made it furthest without resting at my pace, the slowest.

To be continued!!

Posted Aug 25, 2009, in the late, late night. Updated updated Sep 09, 2009, in the afternoon: Saturday, August 29, 2009 to the Grand Canyon.

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