Spirit awards

I was walking along the beach near my hotel and came upon a large tent set up for the Spirit Awards issued by the Independent Film Commission. I could hear the applause and the announcers from inside the tent, even though the wind is absolutely off the charts. Well I wasn't sure if this was a "real" awards ceremony or not, but check out the list of actors and actresses who were present.

http://www.courant.com/entertainment/zap-2011-independent-spirit-awards-red-carpet-pictures,0,1291312.photogallery?track=rss

And the Oscar goes to...

This morning I ventured to Hollywood to check out the famed city. I parked on Hollywood Boulevard and made my way west. In all honesty, I didn't think much of the Hollywood area. The one cool thing though was that I came upon this area that was all covered up with lots of security. I asked one lady security guard what was all the hub-hub about and she pointed to a large sign- The Academy Awards. I asked if that was going to take place where we were standing and she said yes, that I was standing in front of the Kodak Theater. There I was, standing where in 24 hours the biggest movie stars in the world would make their way down the red carpet. I thought if i didn't move for the next 36 hours I would have the best seat in the house (for viewing the red carpet entrances that is).

I then drove down to check out the surrounding areas. As no surprise to anyone, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Mulholland Drive, UCLA are all really nice areas. After being asked to vacate the freshmen dorms on the UCLA campus, i proceeded to drive back to my motel in Santa Monica. Unlike last night however, which was very cold and stormy, today was full of sunshine. I guess that, accompanied with it being Saturday, meant that Santa Monica was blowing up with people. Lots of people. And that is the problem with LA. There are so many people here, 9 million in LA county. The combined population of Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties.  It is almost impossible to escape it unless you happen to be rich enough to live in Beverly Hills.

Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.

After a five day hiatus without internet access, the travel blog is back. 

Sunday, the 20^th, I was completely unsure of what my plans were going to be.  First I was going to the Grand Canyon, but then all the travel advisories said a blizzard was hitting the park that weekend dumping 20 inches of snow at the south rim visitor’s center. I then thought I’d bypass the Canyon and make it up to Zion and Bryce Canyon. 

As I was checking out of my room Sunday morning, the hotel manger overheard my conversation with the receptionist about my plans and informed me that if the Canyon was getting hit badly with the snow, Zion and Bryce would get hit worse due to their higher elevation. He then advised me on some really beautiful trails through the red canyon recreation area located in one of the national forest that was on the way to flagstaff (the splitting off point between going to the Canyon and heading west to Vegas).  Based on this new information, I headed off believing I was going to hike these red hills area. As I got to the visitor center, it just started to snow. As best as I can recollect, that was the first snow I’ve touched in 15 years.  In fact, when I got out of my car at the visitor center and the snow just started fall, I told the ranger ice was coming down.  

After getting a chuckle, the ranger told me that the road I needed to get to the red rock area was closed. He advised me to just head to the Canyon anyway, as the interstate was probably going to be the only road open anyway. So I did, and after a 3 hour delay on the interstate with numerous accidents, I made it to the Canyon.  It was beautiful. I am sure it is wonderful in the summer, but with all the snow on the ground it really made the view even that much better. I took a plethora of pictures, and if I ever figure out how to post them I will. I ended up splurging that night and stayed at the El Tovar, Circa 1906. It was a really cool experience spending the night at the historic lodge right on the canyon rim. The main walkway around the canyon is the rim trail, and I had it pretty much to myself for miles and miles while the snow came down. To sum up my experience at the Grand Canyon- awesome. 

The next day I again hiked around various parts of the rim trail, and drove down one of the roads that wind around the canyon. In fact, they had just opened up that road 20 minutes before I checked out of my hotel. After that, I headed to another magical wonder, Las Vegas. 

I got into my hotel around 5 and was completely exhausted. I had gotten up at 6 AM that morning to catch the sunrise over the rim.  So needless to say, I was exhausted. I managed to make my way to down to the Venetian to check it out. That’s all I did that night in vegas.

The next morning I got up again at 6 and extensively walked and checked out Casears Palace, the Mirage, TI, and Wynn.  That afternoon I made my way south visiting the hotels along the way including Paris and MGM. The next day I finished off my hotel tour by visiting the Baliago, City Center, Monte Carlo, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay.  I should probably go ahead and disappoint anyone who is still reading this blog by telling you that I never went out at night. I was so tired from walking each day that I pretty much was in bed by 8:30 pm every night. Sleeping was iffy with the noise that resonated from everyone coming back after partying at the 2-4 AM time slot.  Regardless, I never did see the night life that put the Sin in Sin City. That only means that next time I visit Las Vegas, I have that experience awaiting me. 

I gambled occasional the first 3 days, losing some and then winning it back. I entered my last day up 13 dollars when I decided to get some real gambling in. I had some good luck with roulette and tried my hand at that again. I lost $100 the first hour. So much for spending my last day gambling. I did make some of that back thanks to the Gators. For once the gators actually came through for me on a bet. In the end, my gambling losses were around $80.  Maybe next time I need to stick with sports bets, as I was 2-0 and would have been 3-0 had I followed through and bet on the AL-AUB basketball game.

I left Vegas this morning not sure of whether I would cut my trip short and head back east to Bryce Canyon and Zion, followed by Albuquerque, then Austin TX, followed by home.  I made up my mind sitting in my car that I would go to LA as planned. I did cut out San Diego even though many people have said nice things about the city. I figured I’d try to find a hotel in the Santa Monica area and use that as a jumping off point. 

 Traffic was thick through the LA area, but as I got close to Santa Monica, I-10 once again became my nemesis. An accident had shut down a couple of lanes effectively causing a standstill for 10 miles. Using the handy Garmin, I took side roads until I could get back onto the interstate. I got into the area and started looking for a hotel. The Holiday Inn wanted $230 a night before tax. I thought this isn’t going to work. As I headed back to my parked car along the main strip, I stopped in front of one of those mom and pop motels. I figured why not check it out.  As I walked to the front desk area, some guy was walking out. I didn’t see anyone behind the desk and started asking the guy (who looked like he was gay) if he was staying there. The follow up question was going to be whether it was a decent place or not. Before I could get to the second question, however, a young lady came out to the desk area and so it probably looked like I was hitting on the gay guy. No problems though, as the girl at the desk was very nice (and attractive) and allowed me to look the room over before committing. As it turns out, her family has owned the motel for over 60 years. 

It is only 2 blocks from the famed Pier.  I walked down there earlier and it was really cool. The weather is cold, rainy and foggy. I sort of like that given that we don’t experience that very often in FL. Santa Monica is really neat. It reminds me of South Beach with mountains springing up along the shore line. There are so many young people here. I went to the aquarium at the base of the pier, and talked with some of the employees who are marine biology majors at UCLA. 

I am not sure how well this blog entry flowed as I am trying to recap quite a bit. I’ll def try to do a better job in the future.  Please excuse the absence and any flaws with this entry.

Update

 It looks like I have to call an audible to the Grand Canyon. After 2 weeks of abnormally hi temperatures, a blizzard is hitting the canyon this weekend and dumping 20 inches of snow. So I might try to hit up Zion and Bryce Canyon tomorrow instead. It doesn’t work as well as the Grand Canyon would have, but hopefully I can salvage the next two days.

Last night I pretty much turned in at 5 pm. I was tired and didn’t have the energy or motivation to go out. Tonight I was feeling the same way, but I thought of what you guys would say and want me to do, so I headed to the main strip for bars next to the ASU campus. The strip is really nice, much nicer than what you saw at Tallahassee or Gainesville.  After walking to the end, it looked like most of the action was happening at Fat Tuesdays. So I ventured back and stood outside for a minute debating whether to go in. I finally did, and then debated whether I wanted to order a drink or just leave. There was a large crowd of people in white shirts writing on each other. It was a very diverse crowd, from probably 30’s through 50’s.  I ordered a beer and started talking with this one lady who was part of this group. Apparently there is website called meetup.com and this site allows people who have common interest or geographic areas to meet up. Anyway, long story short, I got to meet a few of these people (there must have been at least 60 in the group) and I hung out with them as they bar hopped up and down the street. Once a year they do this bar crawl where everyone in this specific group based on geography (I think its an alternative to a dating website for the most part) wears white shirts and signs each others and gets theirs signed. It’s a pretty cool idea. So I did that for 4 hours before calling it an evening.

Night.    

Things purchased at the CVS 2-18-11 and 2-19-11

My fervent followers must have noticed that I missed a blog update yesterday, so here is playing a little catch up. 

I started off yesterday visiting the Phoenix Zoo. It was about 10 minutes from my hotel and sits pretty close to where Phoenix/Scottsdale/tempe meet.  The zoo was alright. It had everything you would expect at a zoo- a lion, tiger, some rhinos and giraffes, but I wasn’t all that impressed. I mean the tiger and lion exhibit was like a ¼ of an acre. Not much of a habitat for the animals. Plus, there must have been thousands of kids. I had stop myself from being one of those people complaining about kids running around. Some were on a field trip, and others I’m not so sure. The zoo is also a major destination for new moms with the kids. There was even one group of women who would stop at each exhibit area and do cardio exercises while the little ones watched the animals. I naturally watched the cardio. 

After that, I ventured down the road about another 10 minutes to the Scottsdale Mall. That’s a large mall. I got lunch at the food court, went into my first Neman Marcus store (where I touched a $3,000 Armani sports coat), walked the entire three story mall, checked out some of the men’s fashion stores, scoffed at how I could go to the vero beach outlets and buy almost the same stuff for ½ the price and became extremely tired by the whole process. I left the mall, drove around the town of Scottsdale before returning back to my hotel. I then called it a night (at like 4 pm). I did venture out of my hotel one more time that evening to cross the street to eat at a IN-and-Out. All they have are hamburgers and french-fries. But they do it very well, judging by my taste buds and by the large line at the counter and drive-through. 

I woke up this morning and headed to downtown phoenix. I was surprised a little bit by the distance that downtown Phoenix was away from Tempe. It was more than I expected. I was, however, very pleased with the clean and walkable downtown area.  Downtown has two of the major league sports venues right there. The Diamondbacks stadium and the Suns arena are 2 blocks from each other on the same street. I had a great lunch at a Friday’s in the baseball stadium. I got there right when they opened and got a table right on the window over the outfield. There was a crew spreading the dirt down on the outfield. Apparently every year the stadium holds a motor cross and monster truck show, which requires them to rip up the grass and then replace the grass when those events are done and prior to baseball starting back up.  I stopped being a baseball fan a while ago, but if I lived in downtown Phoenix, it would be really cool to just walk to the stadium and watch a game. 

I also want to say how impressed I am with the mass transit. Not only do they have an efficient bus system, but they have a very cool light rail system. I noticed it when I was walking through the ASU campus. I just assumed that it connected the campus with some of the surrounding residential areas. But the rail extends from downtown Phoenix all the way out to Mesa (which is the city on the other side of Tempe). That means a student at ASU could just jump on the rail system and get dropped off right at the sports venues and then get back on and be right back on campus without ever driving. Our inept and jackass of a governor should take notice. 

Tonight I hope to garner the energy to venture out to either the Scottsdale downtown area or the Tempe downtown area. Both look pretty neat, although the Tempe seems more compact and walkable.

I was planning on visiting the grand canyon tomorrow and still hope to do so, but apparently a blizzard is blanketing the entire south rim with snow. I am following the road closure report and hope they don’t close the main entrance into the park. I have never driven in snow, and although I don’t have 4 wheel drive (if I had only gotten that Tundra 2 years ago, I finally would have been justified with the purchase) I do have 4 new tires. I think its been 15 years since the last time I touched snow. 

You know your old when you visit the CVS next to the campus and stand in line with a bottle of fiber pills while the other (young) people in line are buying beer and condoms.

ASU Student for the next two days. (2-17-11)

It turns out the cheapest hotel of the trip so far gave me the best nights sleep. The red roof inn and its $42.95 a night rate was perfect. No noise, just sleep.  There was even a gentleman’s club right next door, but I stayed away.  I had the opportunity to meet up with my grandfather and my step-grandmother the next morning for breakfast.  They have lived in El Paso for over 40 years and I only see them about once a decade. 

The trip in to the Phoenix area was a nice little drive once I got out of SE New Mexico. Most of it remainder was very scenic, including coming across the valley and seeing Mt. Graham rise up over 10,000 feet.  I drove through the Town of Duncan, est. in 1883, which time has apparently forgotten. In addition, I got to drive through a portion of the Tonto National forest, which was interesting. 

I feel like I scored a good room and rate. I am staying at the Best Western in Tempe, just about a mile from the ASU campus. You guys know what a new state and new school means- no restraining orders. jk  I spent the last hour or so walking all around the campus. It reminded me of being at UF, but something funny occurred. I realized I had no desire to ever go back to college. I use to believe well into my upper 20’s that I would love to be a career student. No such desire anymore. Been there did that- twice. But that wont stop me from pretending to be an ASU student for the next two days.

Tomorrow I shall try to pick out some fun things to do in the Scottsdale area. The mall is a straight shot 7 blocks north. On the good suggestion from a devoted reader, I shall have to drop by. I think I’ll wait till Saturday to visit downtown Phoenix.  

The Lower Level

Today, I drove that section of west texas that everyone talked about; the endless, vegetation-less flat part. It was not anything like the I-10 drive that occurred west of San Antonio. That’s alright though, cause the end destination was worth it. I made it to Carlsbad Caverns and had a nice time. The caverns are really cool, and I paid an extra $20 and got the “lower level” tour which involved ropes and ladders. I was glad I got there when I did cause they sort of shut down the caverns around 4 pm. 

When I left Ozona this morning, I took the main drive out of town. It was pretty cool. I didn’t know this when I arrived during the night, but my motel was down the street from the town square. They had a really neat looking city hall, Crocket museum, and a main street with an old time drug store. 

I am currently in El Paso, staying at a red roof inn. Its amazing driving in to El Paso from Carlsbad cause even though it’s a straight shot, there is nothing on the road.  And I mean nothing. Then I got into El Paso, and came around to the hotel district, which sits above I-10 on a hill, and as far as the eye can see its just lights from houses. It’s just interesting to go from nothingness to endless sea of houses. 

I am going to look forward to actually staying put for a few days when I get to Las Vegas. Next is Phoenix though. I will spend a couple days there, after which I’ll hit up the Grand Canyon, followed by sin city. 

I want to give credit to George H. W and George W before signing off on my blog for the evening. I would think it difficult for anyone who lives in West Texas to get elected governor much less President. I didnt make it up to Crawford to see the Ranch, but there is not a whole lot going on in West Texas. 

Now that i am sort of on the subject of west texas, I do want to make one observation. Some one please explain how it makes any sense to try to grow anything in the desert. I mean its dry and sandy and windy. Going across, i saw them watering vast fields that are literally in the desert. I mean this isn't the 1880's. How anyone can think its a good idea to that when water is so scare out here. Texas would easily rival California for population if it actually had water.  

Also, the whole W-Texas landscape seems to be litered with those small oil drills. Not that huge ones, but more like the 15 foot ones. I mean just thousands of them, and it looks like most of them stopped working years ago. I also saw something that was pretty cool. When i came up to this ridge line on I-10, there must have been 100's of big wind turbines. Pretty neat.

Day 2. (no attempt at a clever headline) 2-15-11

I am in Ozona, Texas, which is where they probably filmed No Country for Old Men, or got the real life story of it. The TraveLodge is a little sight for sore eyes, but I have the entire wing to myself. That is a good thing, cause I hardly slept at all the previous night due to extremely poor sound proofing. I swear I could hear every footstep, door shut, and conversation that went on. And that was even with a noise maker on. 

Several things about Texas:

1. The next time some one tells me that Houston doesn’t have any zoning laws (as if that were a good thing), I am going to tell them to go live there.  Other than the Downtown area, the rest of it sucks.
2. Didn’t make it into the heart of San Antonio, just drove around it. I would like to go back sometime and check out downtown and check out Austin just a few miles north. It does look like a pretty cool city.
3. I enjoyed driving through West Texas. I loved the scenery, openness, empty highway, and most importantly the 80 mph speed limit. I was able to go 88 most of the way.
4. Didn’t like all the road kill I saw during that stretch.

Tomorrow I would like to get to Carlsbad Caverns National Park just inside the New Mexico Border.  I have heard nothing but good things about it. 

As a side note, don’t ever speed through Western Louisiana. I counted no less than 25 cop cars on I-10 over a 90 mile stretch. I even got to see a police chase.

For those who drive I-95 north through South Carolina, you know of “South of the Border”. I am not exactly sure what it is, but it has like 40 billboards leading up to it. Well in Texas, its Bucc-ees Beaver. No you perverted minds, it’s a glorified Convenience store. Well, I was tempted with all the billboards, and also because I didn’t really know what it was, I stopped there.  If you want 30 types of jerky, then this is the place for you.  

El Numero Uno Dia (2-14-11)

I hope not to bore with trivial details, but considering all I did today was drive for 13 hours, that’s mostly what I have. The Mobile station at 90^th and Rt. 60 is closed, and the pumps at the Citgo across the street suck. Learned those the hard way. The first half of the drive was quite pleasant. I saw an amazing amount of wildlife, including a bald eagle, hawks, and ospreys, all before I had even left the County. There was no traffic and the weather was perfect, until I got near Gainesville. I just drove past the McIntosh exit when all traffic came to a standstill. It took me 30 minutes to go ½ mile at which point I utilized one of those “official use only” breaks in the guardrail to go back south to the McIntosh exit and jumped on 441. That was a smart move. What was not smart was turning on to Williston Rd to get back onto I-75, as every other person on the interstate was attempting to do that. It turns out some large truck hit the base of the Williston underpass an hour before I got there and the powers that be decided to close the entire North Bound I-75 and reroute everyone through Micinopy (maybe Café Risqué got some good business) onto 441. All three lanes of I-75 were backed up 8 miles. So that cost me an hour and a half. 

I am staying the night in Covington Louisiana. Despite the mishap around Gainesville, I made it a pretty good distance. Mark was right, I could have gone to New Orleans, if I had the desire to spend the money and the energy needed to have a good time. Maybe next time. 

Some observations, Russ lemon style:

The people in the Panhandle are both bossy and helpful. I passed one billboard that said “America, Love it or Leave”.  The very next billboard, however, advised me not to go to Hell, because it was very hot. They must know what they are talking about though, because it looks like the economy is in much better shape. I passed numerous manufactured homes being transported on the interstate up there. 

I passed a billboard for a spine institute at www.gulfcoastspine.net.  The billboard advertised “minimal intrusion into the spine”, and I thought to myself, if any group is going to touch my spine, it better be someone who has a  .com address.  .net addresses just always sound so shady. 

I was informed this morning that I used “think” rather than “thank” in my first blog post. You guys should know that I am an awful speler. 

Now excuse me while I go hit on the girl working the front desk.

The night before the big exit (2-13-11)

"You have to shoot. You are logical. You have to shoot." Yes, spending the night before my first day traveling watching the end of a star trek marathon. It's relaxing. I do not consider myself a good writer, but I want to keep everyone updated as to my whereabouts and misadventures as I travel West. So I have started myself a blog. I hope to make a blog entry once a day, but if I am unable to connect to the internet, I'll just post multiple days worth of updates when i get to a location that provides internet access. 

I am proud to say that I rechecked the flamingo website today and they had an additional deal with 25% off a stay of 4 nights. The good news is that my 4 nights in the Flamingo Hotel will now cost $147 with taxes and fees. The potential bad news is that the reviews on Expedia  have been slightly negative as to upkeep of the hotel. But for such a low price, it seems hard to go to wrong. I need to thank Mike Bielecki for helping me find such a great deal.

I hope to be out by 7 AM tomorrow morning (probably more like 8:30ish realistically ) and make it to Biloxi tomorrow evening.