Carry On wayward son, there will be days...

There are no guarantees that this blog post will make any sense. I've driven over 770 miles today where I started off at Yosemite National Park and have now ended up right outside Petrified Forest National Park.

I left sunday morning from my motel in Santa Monica and made my way north on the California Coastal Highway. That was the most beautiful drive I've ever taken. I took it up all the way to the Monterrey Peninsula. Along the way I stopped off and took a tour of Hearst Castle. That stretch of land where the Hearst Castle sits is the most beautiful piece of property I have ever scene. I think it takes the cake over the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Smokies, etc. Mountains on one side, the dark blue waters of the pacific on the other. I also stopped off and walked around Santa Barbara, which is now my favorite city in America.

Yesterday I made my way into Yosemite and hiked all around there. Breathtaking. I suspect that the late spring is really the best time to visit as most of the trails and roads in the park were closed due to heavy snow and ice.

Tomorrow I shall check out the Petrified Forest National Park and then head to Santa Fe and Tous.

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.