Pictures for Colorado through Utah

I'm at my friends' house in LA now. I took full advantage of his FIOS and uploaded a whole bunch of pictures. I've also started uploading them in sets, so hopefully its a bit more organized. Enjoy!

Days 35-36: Joshua Tree and Visiting the Brady's

I arrived near Joshua Tree late on the 34th and stayed at the worst motel of the trip. I said to myself, "Self, you've been staying at too many nice places, time to go cheap!" and ended up staying at the first place I found. For $50 it sucked, especially since there was a Motel 6 1 mile down the road. When I arrived, no one was in the office but the sign said back in 15 minutes. So I waited. Across the street was a bar, and shortly a guy exited and ran over (liberal usage of "ran"). I was worried when he said he had to show me the room and explain the quirks. The quirks were nothing too odd, mainly having to do with the cable tv and juggling the power outlets for the lighting. OK, already too much time spent on this place...

Joshua Tree was really nice, as you can see from the pictures. I love the photos warning against swimming.

After the bulk of picture taking was finished, I decided to drive through the park figuring there would be a gas station near southern entrance to quench my rapidly parching tank. Without realizing that California had a helmet law, I cruised to the other side sans protection since I was the only one on the road and it was damn hot. When I arrived at the highway, I returned my helmet to its proper location and set out towards Palm Springs and a gas station. Turns out it wasn't that close, and I rolled in almost on fumes. Luckily the cycle gets about 55 MPG or it would have been fun hitchhiking for the first time.

I had intended on going up the tram to the top of the mountains in Palm Springs, but I didn't find it until I was leaving. Suffice to say, Palm Springs may be skipped unless you are, as my friend John described it, old or have an alternative sexual preference. Stevie, which one of these are you?

I finished up the day by visiting my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ed. Sadly, Ed has pancreatic cancer and isn't given much time to live. As I write this (2008-06-28), I have find out that he passed away last night after exiting his coma long enough to say goodbye to his family. I'm very glad I was able to see him because it had been about 21 years since they moved to California. It was fun catching up. Even sick, Ed looked good, and Nancy didn't seem to have aged.

Next up, the Bloomers in Redondo Beach!

Days 31-34: Sin City, Now for Children!

After dropping my bike off for service on Friday, I had a wonderful wakeup call at 8am on Sunday when BMW of Las Vegas called to tell me my baby was all fixed up and ready to go. I was very fearful it would take until Tuesday, so knowing I'd be free to roam on Monday made me happy. After picking up the bike, I met my cousin at Excaliber and our weekend of drunken debauchery commenced.

When I think of family vacations, my thoughts tend towards skiing, the beach, camping, Disney, and cultural excursions into the museums and galleries of the cities. I did not realize how many people had Las Vegas on that list. The only thing I can think of is the parents showing the kids where they were conceived. Some might even have had the biological father along for the show and tell portion.

Seriously, who thinks Las Vegas is for kids? There were kids of all ages, too. From one year olds up to young teens. Of course, the streets are lined with desperate looking scallawags snapping business cards with images and advertisements of women on demand and strip clubs. These same cards ended up plastering the sidewalks -- the same side walks used by the kids. Sigh...

Of course, it got worse. Someone thought it would be a great idea to bring their little yipster with them and then lock it in the hotel room all day and late into the evening. The dog was yelping for about 12 hours, though I think it was getting tired around midnight because I could no longer hear it in my room.

The two shows we saw were Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity at New York, New York and Penn and Teller (at the Penn and Teller theater, no less!) Sadly, tickets for Robin Williams were starting at 200/ticket so we had to pass. If only I had won more that first day at the tables. I had seen P&T before, and they didn't disappoint -- by far one of the best shows for your money. Zumanity is the adult/over-18 show that all the casinos are pushing right now. The difference is that this is Cirque du Soleil and you know they craft an good show. Though there was toplessness, the nudity really wasn't what made it adult; it was the extensive and well acted lewd jokes and behavoir that made it so risque. I won't say more, but I would urge you to splurge on the loveseat tickets.

On Monday, luckily the crowds were too busy escaping Vegas to worry about clogging up the buffet or the line for the roller coasters. I managed to ride the Manhatten Express with a wait of about 10 minutes, whereas the line always looked at least an hour or more on Saturday and Sunday. My first stop after leaving Vegas was Buffalo Bill's Desperado roller coaster, which in 1996 had the longest vertical drop in the USA. Both were amazing rides, and if you suck at gambling, you are better off giving the casinos your money that way.

I met a guy at Buffalo Bill's who said I should go see Hoover Dam since the traffic heading towards LA was stretching as far as the eye could see from the top of the roller coaster, so I turned around and drove back to Vegas and on to Boulder City. Sadly, there's a bunch of construction going on at the dam which caused more ridiculous traffic, plus the hike I took (4 miles each way) was also affected by the construction and didn't offer a view of the dam.

As for gambling, a great streak at the $5 blackjack table in Buffalo Bill's enabled me to at least close the gap in my losses. Officially I'm 1-1-1 for the three days, but the loss day was a big loss, especially since I was going to walk away even and then ended up losing $140. Oh well,I suppose it was all part of the fun. The big win day did allow me to pay for both my cousin and my dinners in Paris.

OK, I'm off to Joshua Tree now to look for a place to stay tonight...