"It ain't rare to hear the streetlights"

“Call themselves stars”

That about covers Vegas. Wow. But we’ll get there.

Left Flagstaff in the morning and headed to Hoover Dam…and found a Dunkin Donuts in Kingman! I was thrilled.

“Mmm, perfectly circular eggs…”

Thanks, Colleen.

But it wasn’t terrible, although the NJ bagels are better, even at Dunkin. Sigh.

On to the Hoover Dam. I’m not a big man-made structures guy…I prefer woods and mountains and things like that over eleventy billion tons of concrete, but it was alright. Wasn’t crazy about the charging for everything part of the Dam experience, but it was ok. Lake Mead is cool.

From the Dam, we headed on to Las Vegas, hitting a Del Taco on the way. It’s like Taco Bell but less gross…not that that’s a challenge. We made it to our hotel, Circus Circus, around two in the afternoon and checked in. It was a far cry from America’s Best Value Inn in Flagstaff…which was a dive. This place was really, really nice. We took a cab down the Strip and wandered around the Flamingo, the Mirage, the Bellagio. It was total sensory overload. Noise, lights, smells…we hit a Mexican place inside the Flamingo, and the food was good. The waitress was pushy (of course) and tried to give me food I didn’t order and then charge me for it, but that didn’t end well for her. After dinner we wandered around and eventually found a brew pub, where I tried my second stout in as many days…and enjoyed my second stout in as many days. I’m becoming concerned about my tastes. After that, we watched a couple of the fountain shows at the Bellagio and then headed back to Circus Circus, totally exhausted.

I cannot accurately describe Las Vegas, like I cannot take pictures of the Grand Canyon that will do it justice. Suffice to say that for a guy whose ideal night is a pine forest and a campfire, the constant sensory bombardment of Las Vegas is overwhelming.

I took Colleen to the airport at 5 this morning and made it to work by seven. 5 weeks until I’m home.

"Charismatic Geo-what?"

So there’s this hole in the ground…

Colleen and I went to the Grand Canyon today. We left Bullhead about 2 AM and headed north east to the Grand Canyon, which put us there about 5:15. Driving through the park, in the dark, on a road with no street lights was wild. I turned off my headlights (briefly) and was astounded at how dark it got, as the sky was covered with a layer of clouds I’ll reference in a few. But as we were discussing the dark, and the difference between the Canyon (at 7000ish feet) and Bullhead (at 500), I realized what the real difference was.

“Colleen…TREES!”

We were both shocked. It’s funny how fast you get used to scrub brush and rocks and not trees and shrubs. We kept on the lookout for elk, but were disappointed as we were much too early to really see anything beyond my headlights. We parked at the main lot, just off of Mather Point, which Colleen mentioned to me is a great first view of the Canyon.

Boy…was she right. Even before the sun came up, Mather Point and the Rim Trail on the South Rim were breathtaking. We positioned ourselves with about fifty to seventy other people to watch the sun come up through the clouds and illuminate the Canyon, and then all of us snapped away wildly for a few moments before the sun disappeared behind the clouds again. I’ve seen some great sunrises…LBI at the lighthouse, the various prairie sunrises on my way across the nation, Talbot Island State Park in Florida, the Atlantic Ocean from Smithbauer’s boat…but this one was hard to beat. After the sun came up, we headed back to the car, had some breakfast and prepared to hike down the Rim Trail for a bit.

**Before the sun came up, after we had been at the Canyon edge for roughly five minutes, Colleen uttered my favorite line of the day. My eyes were glued to the giant hole in the ground, trying to take it in and understand the scale…and I catch Colleen out of the corner of my eye staring the opposite direction at a scrubby little juniper. “I love this tree,” she exclaims. I find her difficult not to like**

Our hike along the Rim Trail was certainly two things…breathtaking and wet. It rained. A cold, cold rain that was often sideways, so I hid my camera under my Rowan cap and soldiered on through it. We stopped to identify a few trees along the way, and check out some little tuft eared squirrels that were running about, and made it Pipe Creek Vista just in time to realize that the Canyon was full of fog and the rain wasn’t going to stop. Thankfully, a shuttle (free inside the park) pulled up just after we snapped a picture and we were able to ride back the mile rather than hike. This led us to a little café shoppe, some coffee and tea, and a veggie breakfast burrito that really wasn’t bad at all.

After breakfast and a foray into the visitor’s center and bookstore (where I bought a new map for my wall…) we headed the opposite direction down the Rim Trail. More stunning vistas followed, and we made friends with a few people from around the world who were amused by the fact that I was taking several photos of Colleen’s boots on the edge of the Canyon (including tying them together and hanging them from a scrubby little pine that was clinging to life) for her. Our ultimate goal was the trailhead of the Bright Angel Trail…because that’s the place to go to look for the California Condor, a critically endangered scavenger in the vulture family. And while we did not get to see one up close, we did see one soaring over the Canyon…and had to debate for a few moments whether it was a Condor halfway across or an airplane all the way across. Then it flapped and came close enough for us to be sure. Very, very cool.

We hiked the Bright Angel Trail just a little…by that point we’d hiked almost five miles and were more or less exhausted. So we headed up to the shuttle stop and prepared to head back to the visitor’s center and drive on to Flagstaff. Except, along the way, the driver spotted a bull elk.

I will repeat that. The driver spotted A BULL ELK.

We hopped off the shuttle and rushed over to see him. Un. Real. Huge. So huge. Huge rack. He fed along one side of the road, decided he was done, wandered across the road, fed there, and then knocked some branches down with his antlers. As he fed he worked his way away from the road, and we wandered off to leave him in peace as well.

After that it was on to Flagstaff, a great brew pub, and a questionable motel room. Tomorrow, we strike out for Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, and I prepare myself to drop Colleen at the airport Tuesday morning and make it down to MVJH in time for work.

Arizona gets a little more (forced) sunshine

So Colleen has been here for over a week. I take her to the airport Tuesday...and I’m really not looking forward to it. But that’s another matter, and another post.

Tonight I’d like to focus on the drive up to Las Vegas to pick her up. I watched her flight information rather closely, and shot up to the airport to be there just before she arrived…which turned out to be a half hour early. This fact did not make me sad.

So at 10:15 on August 24, I was sitting at baggage carousel fifteen at McCarren airport in Las Vegas when she disembarked. It was very, very nice to see her face…and it has been very, very nice to have her here.

The drive itself was ridiculous. Just over an hour and a half from Bullhead, the drive starts with a quick up and down through some mountains (which were a little surreal at night) and then a long, fairly straight drive up to the airport through open empty desert. The spread of stars was absolutely incredible, and I almost stopped more than once just to look at them. But I pushed on.

The first thing that struck me about the drive was the little town about halfway to Las Vegas. It appears suddenly, out of nowhere, slows the speed limit, charges too much for gas, offers casinos, and then disappears again as rapidly as it appeared.

Then the glow that is Las Vegas appears on the horizon…hidden behind mountains, there is still no doubt what you’re seeing. The desert is so dark, and so totally bleak at night, that the glow on the horizon (which couldn’t even be distinguished in New Jersey, I’m certain) draws you in.

It does not, however, prepare you for the first vista of the city itself. You pass a casino, then back into desert, then come around a hill and BAM…the city of Las Vegas and the lights are laid out before and below you. It’s like looking at the sky upside down. I actually exclaimed something to the effect of “Woahhhawwooowwww,” and then looked around the empty car to make sure nobody had heard me. It was wild. A sight that I’ll never forget.

And certainly a good reason to be going up there, as well.