Smells of summer: Off bug repellent and sun block.
The amazing thing to us is the different people---all languages, colors, attitudes, everything you can imagine. Walking up and down the strip, we heard German, French, Spanish, and next to us at dinner were Italian and Japanese folks (with a really cute baby sucking on a lobster claw :-)).
When we were leaving Mountain View, we got all our spare change, and put it in an easily accessible place in the car. When we were in Las Vegas, we took the nickels down to the casino cashier. They just thought we'd won it, and we didn't have to deal with counting and rolling the change. Even better, we found a place with penny slots, so we went there next. We hoped they would also have dime slots. (Note: this is not to suggest that the way to handle your extra pocket change is to gamble with it, or even to travel to Las Vegas with it. Neither will result in your still having the change when you're done, really.)
Our room overlooked the pools at Caesar's. One is called the Temple Pool because it has a miniature temple in the middle (that's the awesome pool we mentioned earlier). The other two were Neptune's Pool and---shoot, I forgot. We didn't go swimming, but it looked perfect!
When we got the car adapter for the cell phone, B saw some small cell phones: ``OoooOOOohhh.'' Wait til we get our phones in Europe, E tells him. He knows---he just thinks tiny cell phones are ``sexy''.
Someone said that the lion's head at the MGM Grand had to be moved because according to Feng Shui, it was in an unharmonious place (facing the wrong direction maybe? Or just entering through a lion's head?). It's now on the side of the entrance, facing kitty-corner to the intersection in front.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn for a second night in Las Vegas. We did the hotel's buffet dinner, which was only sorta so-so. All the lemonade you want, tho. :)
Found Howard Stern on 107.5 on our way out of Vegas, woo hoo!!
We made it to the Hoover Dam, where there was a line of easily fifty cars waiting to make it to the parking area. In the line coming the other way, up the hill. was a cab for an 18-wheeler towing another 18-wheeler with its full trailer. We went to the lookout area to actually see the whole thin. When you look down you see just how incredibly tall it is. During an exhibit tour we did, we learned that the dam is in fact two hundred yards wide, made of an intricate concrete construction.
When we left, the car said it was 107 degrees in the shade---yeesh. We think we made it there just in time; as we were leaving, we saw a sign saying that the parking garage was actually full. Saw a sign on the way out: ``Look out for Mountain Sheep''.
12pm MST, June 14, 1999 We entered Arizona just after the Dam. On the radio, we learn about a woman who is artificially inseminated with the daughter's egg and the step-father's sperm. The baby will have the daughter as a mother, aunt, and sister.
2pm MST, June 14, 1999 Gas in Kingman AZ is $1.15 or so. The speed limit in Arizona's 75mph. Although it's located in the Mountain time zone, Arizona chooses not to observe it---you don't see a time change where you'd expect one. Apart from some ``tall green things'' (we think they're trees, but high-speed travel at a distance can distort reality), the ground is very, very dry (arid) for as far as the eye can see! (We're guessing the trees are mesquite.)
On the side of the side of the road was a ``Truck Wash''. A large garage that could take four 18-wheelers, it unfortunately wasn't in the process of doing a cleaning when we went by. Imagine the sort of drive-through car wash that's often at gas stations, have four instead of one, and then grow them to about fifteen feet in height and each twice as wide as normal. Imagine what they must wash off those things! After a few thousand miles, it's got to be a painting of insect carnage. (Our car's dabbling in that alternate art form a little itself.) It seems like the juiciest bugs always land right in front of the driver.
Got a picture of a wild storm, and E saw two lightning bolts! (B saw one, prompting us to park at the side of the road for a few minutes patiently waiting for another.)
Crossed our 1000th mile just before Williams, AZ. We had 107 degrees in Vegas, down to 78 degrees in Williams.
We think the rain cloud is chasing us...
7:45pm MST, June 14, 1999 We finally reached the Grand Canyon. Ate dinner on a bench looking out, with bread, cheese, and lunch meat. Tourists from all over---again. There was even a great spot where we could have a picture taken of us by some other folks passing by.
``He's gonna jump!'' (Guy walks to the edge and stretches his arms, like he's preparing a dive.) Walks to another edge, contemplates, and with a slight shrug walks back to the path. Today's not the day.
Set up camp in a forest outside of the Canyon, since all of the campsites were full. We probably should have called and made a reservation (national park service, 800-365-2267), as we did at Yosemite. The campground we're staying in is called ``10-X''...makes us wonder if we're part of a medical experiment involving a new drug from Breyers-Squibb or something.
We sat on the bench for about an hour watching the sunset. Cold breeze (after such a hot day?) but worth it. Gotta show up early---as we were leaving, there were still cars coming in.
6:40am MST, June 15, 1999 Heard a coyote last night. So right now someone else is getting ready to move into our apartment. Too weird.
There are a number of places at the Grand Canyon to look at; we saw perhaps half of them. We went into the shop and finally got B a hat, after he lost his earlier one a couple of months ago. Heading along the East Rim for a bit (our way out anyway), we finally stopped at one point for breakfast.
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Gas in Cameron, AZ is $1.35. We saw incredible desert sights on our way through Arizona and into Colorado, including more than one mesa (new word for us).
When Elana was driving out West back in 1991, she listened to ``America'' by Simon and Garfunkel. We got to listen to it driving through Arizona since it is on the Bridge School CD.
You don't expect to see ads and billboards for Taco Bell out here...it seems similar to trying to sell Ragu in Italy.
Our version of the state slogan: ``Arizona--lots of not much.''
3pm MST, June 15, 1999 Just as we cross the New Mexico border, we stopped at the Four Corners National Monument. It's where Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado meet. (The signs for Colorado and New Mexico there are like 300 yards apart.) $1.50 to get in, and interestingly enough it's on part of the Navajo Nation land. We each did a picture (B's, then E's).
Surrounding the monument itself are a bunch of shops. We had a yummy, tho not low fat, lunch of a frybread burger and a frybread hot dog. The woman running the snack bar made everything to order, including the lemonade. During lunch she and another Navajo lady (who does the sand painting demonstration there) told us about "shetade" (shee-tahd), the Native American slang for an annoyed "golly gee". A fellow running one of the stands near them had said that word in passing.
Finally read the manual for the radio in the car and learned what the A-ME button does on the radio. If you hold the button down for 2 seconds it seeks out the six strongest station signals. When you disable it, the previously set six stations in the 6 buttons are still available.
Just before the Bridal Mart (hehehe) was a store offering a *5 case beer special*. And, we went through Cortez, Colorado just in time for the Ute Mountain Round Up Rodeo. Gas is $1.26 in Cortez. Not reading into the name too much, but one hotel caught our attention called the Stoner Lodge.
One fellow had a sign ``Jake Johnson--Jake of All Trades''.
Rico, CO, first time we see a Saab outside of California.
The only road up to Telluride can be closed due to snow/ice/whatever. I wonder how the residents here deal with it?
(Side note: our car's now named "Peri" after its color, Periwinkle Blue.)
9am MST, June 16, 1999 Got into Telluride around 6 last night. There was already a line of cars into town of early arrivals and perhaps folks who'll be working on the festival. Bob and Jill were actually back--we thought they were coming home on Wednesday, but Bob's work took longer than expected, so they just came straight back.
We (Jill, B and E) went to the grocery store and split the four page shopping list (everyone in the family has to make a breakfast and a dinner, so that one person isn't always cooking) into three parts and off we went. It totally went faster with us doing it in parallel--if Jill had tried to do it all by herself, it would've taken forever!
We're at about 8000 feet--the standard warning is that we should drink lots of water, use plenty of sun screen and take it easy on the alcohol. (Getting less oxygen at this higher altitude apparently makes alcohol--even wine--have a more pronounced effect on you.)
10pm MST, June 16, 1999 Long day! Most everyone's here, only E's stepbrother Brendan (great name!) And his girlfriend Nina are still due to arrive, sometime tomorrow afternoon. We ran lots of errands, got the table, cutlery and chairs; unloaded the Saab into the condo to regroup and got detergent to do laundry. Even got an awesome picture of our niece and nephew. :)
We're staying at a condo that a family regularly rents out to visitors. It's kind of odd; they own a store up in Denver, and periodically will go and tuck away all of their private stuff (padlocked closets), and pretty much give you their home. They go up to Denver and stay there while you're visiting, raking in the bucks. This place is wild---it's got a huge projection TV, laserdisc player, VCR, stereo, the works. When you enter there's a hall with three bedrooms and a hall bathroom. One of the rooms is in fact a master bedroom, with a steam shower and a jacuzzi. My goodness. On the second floor is the large living room with a deck, and a pretty decently-sized kitchen. Wowza.
We also have a satellite dish here! E watched ZDTV, and she even dialed up into the chat room and got to talk to Jeremy (who's hosting Screen Savers all week with Kate) during a break on the set. How cool is that?!
The local grocery stores are being raided...yesterday we went up to the checkout stand with three (large) carts absolutely full of stuff, and th cashier said it was fine with her, as long as we (Jill, B and E) were willing to bag it. :-)
The volume of food here is insane. For 11 people over four days, there are dozens of tomatoes, three huge bags of corn chips, five kinds of ice cream, everything required for each breakfast, lunch and dinner while we're here, and still more.
The deal is that each couple will make two things---in our case, Elana and I will be making dinner tomorrow and breakfast on Friday. Our choices were Mexican Lasagna (out of the cookbook 365 Easy One-Dish Recipes), and pancakes for breakfast. We'll hopefully be getting a copy of the schedule for the festival tomorrow. Not really sure who's playing, but we heard Willy Nelson is a definite, and probably also Shawn Colvin. Apparently Nancy Griffith normally does, but is unable to appear this year, shoot!
Over the next day, we're reportedly going to be seeing a barrage of people arrive and really fill up this little town. We understand that Telluride has a number of different festivals for a variety of interests. Music, wine, art, all sorts of 3-4 day gatherings drawing people in over the twisting mountain roads.
It takes a little while to become acclimated to this sort of altitude. Even after being at decent heights in Yosemite, we're finding the 8000+ feet of Telluride to be a bit challenging. You a walk up a set of stairs with a shortness of breath you normally equate with a strong run or sprint across a field. Your heart goes a little faster, and you wonder why you could be so tired so quickly?!
Way up in the mountains behind Bob and Jill's place is a really pretty waterfall. You can see it while it's clear and sunny outside, until you turn your head and suddenly see a large gray could racing in. Telluride has sudden thunderstorms, often complete with lightning bolts. They last for five minutes, fifteen tops, and then inside of about ten minutes the sky will clear and you see the pretty blue again.
There are a lot of nice homes around here. The prices are crazy, on the scale of what the Bay Area charges. A home of medium size is a good $400,000. Apparently a number of famous folks own homes here, but only actually use them for a couple of weekends a year. The places have all the amenities, and look really, really nice. How strange.
We've been asked why we talk about the price of gas in different places. In the San Francisco Bay Area, the cost of gasoline is remarkable; sometimes as high as $1.80 for regular unleaded. So we decided we'd track the prices of gas as we go along, and see if it gets more reasonable elsewhere.
Most important detail: one car had a bumper sticker reading, "ToHellYouRide". Hee hee.
11am MST, June 17, 1999 Picked up our wrist bands for the bluegrass festival. They're our only way in; if we lose 'em, we lose out. (They take the ticket in exchange for getting the wristband.) We had a delightful breakfast of muffins, orange juice, cantaloupe and honeydew melons, as created by Stacy and Jeff (Stacy's E's step-sister). We actually woke up to a really strong rain storm, but then it was clear blue sky again. And now a couple of hours later, we see more gray clouds crawling their way in for another dose of rain.
Across from the condo are three houses that were reportedly ``cribs'', where ladies of the evening could be of service to the many men working in the mines here years and years ago. (Elana's grandmother reportedly called folks like the ones who worked there ``hoors''.)
