Last Day of Sin

Last Day of Sin Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

So this morning was the biggest football day of the year. At least in Ohio. The Ohio State-Michigan game was on at 9 am. And it was the reason I would be leaving Vegas much later in the day. Originally I’d planned to get up early and go over to The Venetian to watch the game in their amazing sports betting room. But considering I didn’t get to bed until after 3 am, there was no way I could get up early. So I just stayed in my hotel room to watch the beginning of the game. I actually didn’t mind too much, considering how nice my room was.

But, I had to check out by 11 am. So I left and went over to Harrah’s. I figured there was no way I could get a seat at The Venetian. But I managed to get a pretty good seat at Harrah’s, and watched the Michigan coach make the stupidest coaching decision ever. They got a touchdown right at the end of the game. And instead of kicking the extra point to tie the game, they went for two points and didn’t get it. So Ohio State won! I couldn’t believe it.

When the game was over, I went outside to walk around a bit. I went over to The Mirage, because I’d never fully explored their casino before. They had some neat Christmas decorations. I also walked outside to get a close-up look at the volcano during the day. And there was a great view of Harrah’s from there.

I was pretty tired, so I went back to Harrah’s and played some more video poker until it was time to leave. No big jackpots this time.

Then I drove over to The Hofbrauhaus for dinner. I know, you’re probably wondering why I didn’t go to In-N-Out burger. But I think I’d eaten enough hamburgers in the past week to last me the next year. And German food sounded really good. So I went and had the Jagerschnitzel again, along with a liter of Dunkle.

And then it was time to go to the airport. It was really easy returning the rental car, taking the shuttle to the airport, and getting to my flight. I don’t remember much of it, except that the flight didn’t leave until 10 pm. Which meant I got back to Seattle ~1pm, and didn’t get home until ~2 pm. I was extremely tired and actually went straight to bed for once.

Wonderwall, Cholla Forest, and Jackpot!

Wonderwall, Cholla Forest, and Jackpot! Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

So I’m still very behind on blogging. I’m actually back now from my next vacation, a Caribbean cruise. I had bought internet minutes on the boat, but it was so slow that it would have taken me forever to upload pictures. So I just decided to wait until I get back to upload anything. Most of my blogs from the boat are already written, but I’ll just post one a day to spread them out.

This blog is for my last day in Joshua Tree National Park. I left early again, so I’d have plenty of sunshine. I first went back to the northern part of the park to do a couple more nature trails I’d skipped. But first I drove the Queen Valley Road, a dirt road through what was supposed to be some of the best Joshua trees in the park. But I wasn’t too impressed. These are the trails I hiked:

• Barker Dam Nature Trail: This was an awesome trail, combining the best of everything in the park. The first half went between the amazing rocks of the wonderwall. And the second half went through a wide valley with tons of cool Joshua trees

• Hidden Valley Nature Trail: This was hands-down the best trail in the park. It went through a valley that was completely surrounded by the stunning rocks of the wonderwall.

I next drove down into the southern part of the park. The road went down through a canyon and into the Pinto Basin, a very wide valley between two mountain ranges. These are the trails I did:

• Arches Rock Nature Trail: This was the last part of the park with cool rock formations, including one with an arch in a rock. I didn’t even stop at it, though, because there were so many people climbing over it that it would have taken forever to get people-free pictures.

• Cholla Forest Trail: This was an amazing place going down to Pinto Basin, where there were a ton of cholla cactuses in one place. Another very unique and beautiful place, in a park full of unique landscapes.

I had decided to just continue driving down the rest of the southern road and take a different route to Vegas, all on highways this time. I’d assumed I’d be leaving after dark and didn’t want to go back over the pothole-filled roads in the middle of nowhere. There were also some more hiking trails at the southern edge of the park. But by the time I got there I’d already seen so much beauty and it didn’t look like the trails would be anywhere near as stunning. So I just decided to head back to Vegas. It was only about noon.

In retrospect, I should have just stopped at the Cholla Forest and drove back through the north entrance of the park. Because I didn’t realize how long it would take to get back to Vegas from the southern entrance. Yes, it was all on highways. And I could go very fast. But it still took 4.5 hours. Although traffic getting off the highway and onto the strip was really, really bad. So I didn’t get to The Palms until 5 pm.

I went inside to check in, and there was a bit of a line. Normally it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but I was within sight of the good video poker machines and the temptation to go play was really strong. When I finally got to the check in counter, they told me I’d been given a free room upgrade and would be staying in the Ivory Tower. And when I got to the room, it was incredible. It made me wish I was staying more than one night there, because it would have been really cool just to hang out there. In fact, I think it was designed to be a party room. There was a lounge chair right by the floor to ceiling windows, a big desk with desk chair, another small table and chair, and even a bench underneath the TV. Plus, it was decorated in really cool colors. But, the temptation to go gamble was too strong. So I quickly took a shower and then headed down to the casino.

I only played video poker, of course, but it was really fun. Then when I left and came back, I accidentally played the max bet at first ($1.25 instead of 25 cents) and hit a royal flush with deuce. Which doubled the $20 I had put in. By that time I was getting very hungry, so it seemed like a good time to leave and go visit In-N-Out burger again. This time it was very busy for dinner, but I didn’t have to wait too long.

When I got back to The Palms I gambled some more, but I switched to a different game. I normally play Deuces Wild, because it has more possibilities of good hands with a wild card. So it’s more fun. But that’s what I’d been playing the entire trip, and it didn’t take me very long any more to figure out which cards to hold. Thus, it wasn’t as fun anymore. So I switched to a Jacks or Better machine. This is your standard five card draw game, where you have to have at least a pair of Jacks or better to win anything. And it was much more fun, figuring out which cards to hold. Plus, it seemed like you actually won more often. Although mostly just pairs or two pairs, which didn’t pay out much money. But then I did the incredible and hit a royal flush. I couldn’t believe it. Especially after my friend had just gotten one in the same casino on Tuesday. Apparently people go their whole lives without ever getting one. So I was incredibly happy. I just sat there for a while and gazed at the lovely vision of the royal flush on the screen. Unfortunately, I was only betting the minimum. So I only got up to $60. But I didn’t care. Just knowing that I’d gotten a royal flush, I think I will forever enjoy video poker even more. Because I’ve already gotten the best hand possible, so when I don’t do so well it hopefully won’t make me as angry.

The bad part about actually winning some money, is that it makes you want to win more. So inevitably you end up losing money. And then you just want to win back what you already had. Needless to say, I couldn’t tear myself away until ~1 am. I think I left with ~$40.

But my night was not over. I really wanted to go to the clubs at The Palms. I’d been to the Ghostbar before, which is on top of the casino and has an open-air deck with a great view of the strip. But first I wanted to go to Rain, which had been featured a lot in the season of the Real World that was in Vegas (because they had lived in the Palms). Unfortunately, Rain was closed for renovation. So I just headed up to the Ghostbar. There were many more people there than the last time I’d been, but still wasn’t anywhere close to being crowded. I split time between standing out on the deck to gaze at the strip, and going inside to dance on the dancefloor. It’s been a very, very long time since I went dancing at a club. And I forgot how much I liked it. Needless to say, I stayed until they closed about ~3 am. And then quickly went to bed.

Mountain Tops and Rocky Lows

Mountain Tops and Rocky Lows Twentynine Palms, CA

Twentynine Palms, CA

I am very behind on blogging (sitting in Miami right now awaiting my next vacation). So I will try to keep this very brief. The pictures pretty much tell the story anyway.

I had another amazing day of awe in Joshua Tree today. I went around the loop road this morning in the opposite direction (counter-clockwise), so that I had good views with the sun in the other direction. Then I headed back to Keys View where the view to the west of Coachella Valley was much better in the morning sun.

My next stop was Ryan Mountain, where I hiked a 1.5 mile trail to the top, 1000 feet elevation gain. It was very cold, and I finally learned how to dress in layers (t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, fleece jacket, ski jacket). I never got too warm on the way up, because I stopped enough to take pictures. And I definitely needed the layers at the top. It was very windy and I even used my gloves and two hoods. But the views were incredible. Very, very cool hike. And I was surprised my legs were fine. I literally haven’t exercised since Labor Day, so I was very worried. But I did good.

My next stop was Jumbo Rocks, to do the nature trail I’d skipped the day before. There were lots of really cool rocks, and the afternoon sun was perfect for pictures. I went by Skull Rock again, but there were so many people there that I didn’t even stop. I already had people-free pictures.

The end of the nature trail loop went through the Jumbo Rocks campground, and I met a guy who was filming people and asking why they were in Joshua Tree for Thanksgiving. So I stopped to talk. I’d never been filmed like that before, but it didn’t feel weird, just felt like a normal conversation. And I told him how all my family is in Ohio and I usually spend Turkey Day with friends, but this year I figured why not just travel? Plus, I’ve been so busy at work this year that I couldn’t really take time off earlier.He said he had talked to about 20 people and would post it on YouTube, but I haven’t been able to find it yet.

The other cool thing was the guy mentioned meeting a French Canadian who had bicycled all the way from Montreal, across Canada to Vancouver, and then was making his way down the west coast of the US. I had actually passed a guy on a bike on my way down from Vegas, when I was in the middle of nowhere in Mojave National Preserve. And it must have been the same guy because he’d said he’d just come from Vegas and had to go through the middle of nowhere. Very funny.

My last stop of the day was the Split Rock nature trail, another thing I’d skipped the day before. It was also full of very cool rocks and again the afternoon sun was perfect for pictures. It had actually warmed up to the point I’d taken off both jackets. But by the time I finished the trail the sun was getting very low and it was getting chilly again. So my fleece went back on.

So in total I hiked 6.7 miles today (3 miles @ Ryan Mountain + 1.7 miles @ Jumbo Rocks + 2 miles @ Split Rock). Not too bad for no excercise in almost 3 months.

But my day was not over. In fact, I think it was only about 3:30 pm by the time I left the park. And I had reservations for Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant at 5:30 pm (the Twentynine Bistro). So I rested at the hotel for a while before heading over for dinner. And dinner was amazing. It started off with a great local beer that I cannot remember the name of. Then an appetizer of hungarian mushroom soup, a standard turkey dinner (turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans), and for dessert key lime pie. It was all incredible, except weirdly for the turkey. I think I just didn’t care for the gravy much.

After dinner I went back to the hotel, skyped with my parents for a while, blogged some, and then crashed.

Shock and Awe

Shock and Awe Twentynine Palms, CA

Twentynine Palms, CA

This morning I woke up at 6:30 am and was so deeply asleep that I had absolutely no idea where I was. Very disorienting. Probably because it was the first night I went to bed early and actually slept well. But I was soon all packed up and leaving Harrah’s, bound for Joshua Tree National Park.

Last night I had been kind of bummed to be on my own. It’s been several years since I traveled by myself. But today I re-discovered the joy and complete freedom that comes with solo travel. In fact, I’m not sure I would have been as thoroughly engrossed by the stunning beauty of Joshua Tree if there had been other people there to distract me. Plus, I really love taking pictures. And it was awesome to be able to spend as much time as I wanted and not feel guilty for making other people wait on me. It was also awesome to not have to wait on other people (sorry Mom, Dad, and Derek). I could just do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

On the drive down to Joshua Tree, I was very thankful to have GPS in my rental car. For once I hadn’t really planned much in advance, and just had a general idea of which way to go. There’s no direct route to Joshua Tree from Vegas, and it required some back country highways. So it wasn’t on the maps very well. But the GPS made it really easy. I actually took highway I-15 at first, heading southwest out of Vegas. Then I headed directly south on deserted two lane roads, first through Mojave Desert Preserve, and then through absolutely nothing. Mojave National Preserve was actually really beautiful. The road went through a valley between two mountain ranges, and at one point it went through a pretty dense forest of Joshua Trees. I’d only ever seen fairly small versions near Red Rock in Vegas, but these trees were incredible. At the time I couldn’t imagine that Joshua Tree NP could be better. I also drove by some really big sand dunes, and a cool mountain that looked like a big jumble of rocks.

I have to admit that the entire journey on the two-lane roads I was speeding. A lot. I normally don’t, but the roads were deserted and I couldn’t imagine any cop being out in the middle of nowhere just to catch speeders. Granted, the first half of the road through Mojave National Preserve was really bad, with many sections full of patched-over potholes. But the rest of the road was fine and 55 mph was just way too slow. Shortly before I got to the highway by Joshua Tree, however, I saw a cop that had pulled someone over. I was very thankful that wasn’t me. And I slowed down.

I made a quick stop at a gas station to fill up the tank and get a sandwich and Pringles for lunch, and then I headed into the park. There’s a northern loop road with a highway on the north side connecting the towns of Twentynine Palms at the east (where I was staying), and Joshua Tree at the west. I had made it to Twentynine Palms in 3 hours, which meant it was 10 am and much too early to be checking into my hotel. I made a quick stop at the visitor center and picked up a road guide, to help me explore.

And here’s where the shock and awe comes in. I really had no expectations of what Joshua Tree would be like. I just knew it was a desert, and there were a bunch of Joshua trees there. I’d seen a few pictures that hinted at what it was like. But it in no way prepared me for how magical the place is. Because it’s not just desert and plants. There’s also mountains. And rocks. And stunning vistas. And the combination of all that completely floored me. I was literally driving under the speed limit, because I couldn’t believe the beauty of what I was seeing. I was stopping at every single pullover, and taking pictures of every little Joshua tree. I hadn’t been this thoroughly in awe of someplace in a really long time.

Here’s a summary of the major places I stopped:

• Split Rock Picnic Area: This is the first place I got really close to the cool rocks. The major attraction was a huge boulder that was split down the middle. And there was a great view behind it to some rock-covered hills. I noticed there was a nature trail here, but there was still too much to see, and I didn’t want to take the time. But it looked awesome, so I made a mental note to come back later.

• Skull Rock: This was an awesome rock that looked like a skull, including two eye sockets and a nose. The rock was cool, but the surrounding rocks were even cooler. There was also a nature trail here, and I made another note to come back later.

• Queen Valley: This was the first real joshua tree forest that I drove through, and it was incredible. It was a big wide-open valley full of Joshua trees, with mountains surrounding it on all sides.It wasn’t really much of a “forest” since the joshua trees don’t grow very close to each other. But it was still stunning to drive down the road with joshua trees whizzing by on both sides. I also saw the biggest joshua tree of the whole trip here. It must have been 30 – 40 feet tall.

• Hall of Horrors Trail: This was a big rock complex right next to the road, with a trail going around it. It wasn’t even an official “trail”, more of a trail for rock climbers to access the rocks. But it was in the middle of another really big valley, surrounded by joshua trees and mountains on all sides. I was starving by this point, so I took my lunch with me and found a nice rock to sit on to eat. This was my first chance to really walk among the joshua trees, and it was amazing. There are so many variety of shapes and sizes to the trees.

• Cap Rock Trail: This was a real nature trail, starting at a big rock mound with a small rock capping the top, and looking like it was about to fall off. Once again, it was in the middle of a big valley surrounded by more amazing joshua trees and more mountains. I saw the coolest joshua tree ever here, branching off on one side in the weirdest shape.

• Keys View: there was a side road up to the top of one of the mountain ridges, with a great view looking down into the Coachella Valley to the west. I could see the San Andreas fault, Palm Springs, and the Salton Sea (a big shallow lake at the southern end of the valley, and 226 feet below sea level). Unfortunately it was getting late in the day, which meant the good view was looking directly into the sun and not very good. I made a note to try and come back here in the morning.

• Lost Horse Valley: on the drive back from Keys View, there was a pulloff with a great view of the Lost Horse Valley and surrounding mountains. It was way cooler than Keys View at the time. So I found a nearby pile of rocks to climb up on, and just sat in amazement for a long time. There was a great view of the “Wonderland of Rocks”, or what I like to call the wonderwall. The north side of the valley is lined by a long row of small granite mountains, looking like a solid wall of rocks just plopped down onto the plain.

• Intersection Rock Picnic Area: Yet another place with cool rock formations.

I was almost done with the northern loop road by this point, and it was late enough that the sun was too low for good pictures on any nearby trails. Unfortunately this time of year the sun sets at 4:30 pm. So I decided to head out of the park and go to a place I’d heard of called Pioneertown. It was a few miles north of the city of Yucca Valley, and it was an old west town that had built in the 1950s as a Hollywood set. There was supposed to be some cool saloons and a restaurant with good live bands. But considering it was the night before Thanksgiving, it was pretty deserted. There were only a few other tourists there and all of the restaurants were closed. So it was kind of disappointing.

Then I drove to my hotel in Twentynine Palms and checked in. I asked for recommendations on good restaurants, and if there was anyplace serving Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Thankfully there was, and there was also a Mexican restaurant called Edchada’s nearby. So I called to make Turkey Day reservations, Skyped with my parents for a while, and then headed out for some Mexican food. The food was really good, but the best part was the margarita. Not that the margarita itself was anything special, but it was the biggest margarita I’ve ever seen – 32 ounces!

When I got back to the hotel I actually had some time to blog before going to bed early again.

La Reve

La Reve Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

Not a lot to report again today. We slept in after our long day in Death Valley yesterday. Then we got an early lunch at In-N-Out. Yes, that’s the third time. I actually tried getting two double-doubles, and was finally satisfied. Although a little ill for a while.

After that we went to the Palm’s Casino to gamble some more. The interesting thing about video poker is that the machines have the odds listed to win (by law). And the payouts are different on different machines. So in order to get better odds of winning, you have to go off the strip. Hence, the Palm’s. I didn’t do so well, but my partner in crime did the amazing and got the best hand possible – a royal flush. It’s a 250-1 payout. Unfortunately we were only betting 25 cents at a time, but it was still a pretty big payout.

Before too long we had to head to the airport, and I was on my own. I went back to the hotel and got ready for the evening. I was planning to see a show at the Wynn called La Reve. It’s similar to the Cirque show “O”, where the stage is a big round pool of water. It didn’t start until 7 pm, but I had to pick up my tickets at least 2 hours in advance (thanks Expedia, if I’d known that I wouldn’t have bought them from you). That meant I had to go to the Wynn really early and then just hang out.

I spent the time at first just checking out the lobby, which was decorated with some cool fake plants and lights, Then I gambled some more, of course.

And then it was time for the show. I was incredibly surprised when I went inside and there were signs saying that photography was allowed, as long as it was without flash. I could not believe it. It’s one of the things I normally don’t like about seeing shows. The shows are amazing, but without pictures I don’t remember them very well. So I was super-excited to be able to take pictures. They said no video, but I figured they couldn’t tell and took a bunch anyway.

However, the bad thing about taking pictures/videos was that I spent so much time taking the pictures and videos that I didn’t get super-engrossed in the show. Although I’ll take that trade-off any day, because the show was spectacular. The stage wasn’t just a pool of water, there were also platforms and different structures that rose up out of the water for certain parts of the show. So it was a mixture of dancing, acrobatics, synchronized swimming, and diving tricks. And the lighting was incredible. It amazes me how much money and choreography must go into these shows. Of course, I guess that’s why they charge so much for them.

When the show was over I did a little more gambling. I’d actually gotten a free $10 credit for getting a Wynn card (like a frequent-gambling card that earns you points when you gamble). And it was awesome, because I basically got $10 of free bets where I didn’t lose any money, I just won. So I was able to get back the $20 I originally started with before the show. I still haven’t come out ahead at any point while gambling. However, I’ve probably only lost 15-20 dollars total. So not too bad, considering how many free drinks I’ve gotten out of it.

On the way back to the hotel I walked through the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Palazzo and The Venetian, because it was cold outside. I was surprised to see that St. Mark’s square was lit up darker at night. Very cool.

When I got back it was almost time for the Mirage Volcano to go off (it’s a once an hour show at night). So I stopped into Casino Royal, got a bottle of beer, and took it over to the Volcano to wait. I love that there’s no open container law in Vegas! I’d seen the Volcano before, but only at dusk, or from farther away a couple times this trip (we could see it from the hotel room). But this time I got up close and personal, and it was very cool.

By the time the Volcano was done erupting, it was getting kinda late. And I was planning to get up early the next day to leave for Joshua Tree National Park. So I actually crashed a little early for once.

Valley of Death

Valley of Death Death Valley National Park, CA

Death Valley National Park, CA

We got up really early today at 6:30 am and were headed to Death Valley by 7 am. The drive wasn’t too bad, with a little help from some caffeine. It’s actually a beautiful drive, once you get away from Vegas. You go over the mountains close to Red Rock, and then through another valley to the city of Pahrump. I don’t know why, but I really love that name. Makes me laugh every time I say it. Then you take back roads over another set of mountains, and another valley, before finally arriving at Death Valley.

I’ve been to Death Valley before, so we were taking the must-see tour today. For those of you that have never been, Death Valley is an amazing place, and nothing at all like what you imagine from just hearing about it. It’s actually surrounded by mountains on both sides. And these are some serious mountains, rising 5000 feet from the valley floor. There are also many multi-colored rocks and side canyons that make it seem other-worldly. My route was strategically planned, to be both efficient and provide good lighting at all times of the day:

• Dante’s View: our first stop was a viewpoint at the top of the mountains on the eastern side of Death Valley. It’s a great first stop since it really gives you a sense of how big Death Valley is. We arrived at 9 am and we were not prepared for the cold. I knew it was supposed to be above 70 and sunny today, so we were both wearing shorts. And we were so out of it when we left that we didn’t even think to take warmer clothes with us, just in case. Of course, we also forgot to factor in how early it would be when we got there, and that not all stops were on the valley floor. It might have been okay, except that the wind was blowing really strongly. By the time I finished taking some pictures my hands were ice cold. There was a trail that went up to some better views, but we had to sit in the car for a while to warm up first.

• Zabriskie Point: words cannot explain how beautiful this place is. Just look at the pictures. Very similar to the badlands of South Dakota, with eroded hills and bands of color in the rock.

• Sea Level Sign before Furance Creek: yes, Death Valley is below sea level. It feels a bit strange to pass a sign at sea level and then keep going down.

• Furnace Creek Visitor Center: made a quick stop for me to purchase a National Parks Pass, so that we could legally park everywhere.

• Badwater Basin: this is the lowest part of Death Valley, at 282 feet below sea level. In fact, this is the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere. The Dead Sea takes the prize for lowest elevation on the planet, at an amazing 1401 feet below sea level. But what makes Badwater Basin awesome is that it’s a salt flat. When it rains, the water pools in the salt flat as a very shallow lake. Then later as the water evaporates, the salt is left behind in crystalline formations. We had to walk out quite a ways to get to the cool part of the salt flats, and amazingly not many other people were going that far. We were actually out there by ourselves for quite a while. We were both amazed at how incredibly quiet it was. There was no noise from anything, aside from the occasional car or kids voice in the distance. There’s not many places like this because usually there’s at least some animal noise, insects at the very least. But there’s literally nothing there.

• Devil’s Golf Course: this is another part of the valley floor, where there are crazy salt formations. Except here the salt’s not flat at all, the formations are very lumpy. And there are strange holes scattered around, kind of like the holes on golf courses. Hence, the name. Except I can’t remember what they are. We actually ate our lunch here (sandwiches bought at a gas station). Not the most comfortable seats, because the salt formations are pointy. But incredible views.
• Artist’s Palette: there’s a one-way road that goes to a viewpoint of the Artist’s Palette, an amazing multi-colored mountain formation. There was also another stop with a short walk to a good viewpoint of the mountains. And I was highly surprised to find no one else there. The last time I’d visited I remembered it being really crowded. And there were plenty of people taking the drive to Artist’s Palette today. But apparently no one else knew about this other stop. Because we had the place to ourselves. It was awesome. The only bad thing was that it was starting to get a little late by this point, and we were starting to feel rushed, to make sure we had plenty of time to see everything.

• Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes: this was our last stop of the day, and we got there about an hour before sunset. The plan was to hike out into the dunes as far as we could, but we didn’t think we’d get very far. I’ve been to the very top before, and it is awesome, but it was also very far away. So we just kept walking over and along ridges. Every time we got to a new ridge, it didn’t seem far to the next one. So we just kept going. And eventually we made it to the ridge just before the highest ridge. And judging by the height of the sun, we thought we had enough time to make it to the highest one before sunset. So we trudged our way over, and made it just in time. It was a bit brutal at the end, as it was much steeper than it seemed from far away. And we were both breathing really hard. But we still had 5-10 minutes before the sun actually set. And it was amazing to watch. Mostly to see how the shadows crept up over the dunes. The weirdest part was that the sunlight started to dim as soon as the sun started to set. Even though the shadow line was still clearly below us. And then as soon as the sun was fully down, there were no more shadows. Just faint light everywhere. It seemed like a different world. We sat on top of the dune for quite a while, soaking in the awesomeness of the view. And finally we headed back to the car, running down the ridges and then trudging up the next one. By the time we made it to the parking lot and looked back at how far we had gone, we couldn’t believe it. Thankfully the light held out just long enough, and it was just getting to be full dark by the time we left.

• Wrangler Steakhouse (at Furnace Creek Ranch): so this is one of the main reasons I wanted to come back to Death Valley. I had stayed at the Furnace Creek Ranch the first time I visited Death Valley, and fondly remembered this as being the best steak dinner I’ve ever had. They had a garlic steak with sweet potato fries. And even the green beans were amazing. Unfortunately, they did not have the same menu now. I asked the waitress and she said they’d turned the steakhouse into a buffet for a while, and had finally turned it back into a steakhouse for dinner. But they didn’t have the same food. The horrible part was that I could tell the steak should have been amazing, based on how tender it was. But they charred the heck out of it, and that was all I could taste. It also came with very uneventful side dishes. But, they did at least have a really good beer. I had a Green Flash Double Ale, which was basically like a stout/porter. Yum. But I’m still glad we ate in Death Valley instead of heading back to Vegas, because that allowed for our next activity.

• Stargazing at Golden Canyon Trailhead: Death Valley is one of the best places in the US to look at stars because it’s so remote. There aren’t any nearby city lights to drown out the stars. So we drove a little ways down the road off the main highway, and parked the car at a nearby hiking trailhead, facing it out towards the valley. Did I mention that we weren’t prepared for the cold? Thankfully the car engine stayed warm for quite a while, because we sat outside leaning against the engine. And it kept us fairly warm. Which was a good thing, because the stars were amazing! Although we had to keep shielding our eyes at first every time a car went by. I imagine this might be impossible to do when tourist season is busier. But eventually there stopped being any cars. And the stars were so good that we could see the Milky Way! If you’ve never seen it, it’s like a faintly-glowing band that crosses the sky. I hadn’t seen the Milky Way for almost 20 years, so it was really, really cool. The annoying thing, though, is that when there are that many stars out it’s hard to recognize the constellations. We finally found the Littler Dipper and The Pleides, but that was it. I had actually brought binoculars with me on the trip, which I’d never really used before when stargazing. So when I used the binoculars to look at the Milky Way, I was blown away. What was just a faint glow with the naked eye turned into a field of tiny stars in the bincolars. I was awe struck at just how many stars there are. As much as I love astronomy and have learned about it in the past, it’s completely different when you actually see it. The other cool thing we saw with the binoculars was the Andromeda Galaxy. While all the stars are tiny pinpricks of light, the galaxy was a larger blur of light. Although if I tried to look right at, I couldn’t really see it. I had to focus slightly off of the galaxy and then I could see it much better in my peripheral vision. The other cool thing about the stargazing was that at one point we heard a bunch of coyotes barking and howling in the distance. I don’t think I’ve ever heard them before.

By the time we finally left Death Valley it was 9 pm. Twelve fantastic hours in a fantastic place. The drive back to Vegas wasn’t too bad. I’d brought a CD of my favorite MP3’s, so that helped a lot. And the roads were really good, and it’s really easy to speed in the nice rental car. So I went a lot faster than I normally would. The interesting thing about doing the drive in the dark, is realizing just how empty it is in the desert. I’m so used to driving around Seattle with lights everywhere. But there really were no lights except for other cars and reflectors. But we could tell when we were getting close to Vegas because we started to see the sky brighten in the east. And then after crossing the last mountains, we saw Vegas in all its colored glory.

When we got back to the hotel we weren’t quite ready to go to bed yet, so we went down to the lobby to play some video poker for a little bit. It was the first time we’d actually done anything inside Harrah’s. But it didn’t last too long, as it had been a really long day. But also a really great day.

Football Sunday

Football Sunday Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

Nothing much to report again today, unless you’d like me to go into grand details about the outcomes of all the NFL games.

But all of our searching the night before for a good place to watch football ended up being for naught. We had so much fun the night before that we didn’t feel like going anywhere to watch football. So we stayed in the room. It was still fun, although I ended up knowing pretty early on that I wasn’t going to win any of my bets. There were quite a few games that were blow outs, in the wrong direction. And I’d made the mistake of picking the Carolina Panthers in 4 of my 5 bets. And they lost. But I still had my fantasy football team to root for. I’m very close to making the playoffs with only a week left, so it was really important that I win. And before the Sunday night game I was only down by 10 points with Peyton Manning still left to play. He routinely gets more than 20 points, so I wasn’t really worried.

After the 1 pm round of games was over, we went to In-N-Out burger again for dinner. And it was amazing, as usual. But once again, gone too soon. Surprisingly, the service was actually really slow. It was also the least-crowded I’d ever seen it. Probably a correlation between the two. Although, it’s also the first time I’ve ever been there for dinner. I’m guessing people in Vegas have better things to do for dinner than go to In-N-Out burger.

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to head over to The Venetian and hope to get a seat at their sports betting room for the Sunday Night NFL game (Denver vs. New England). But just as we were going inside they started doing a Christmas show outside. There was a huge lighted tree outside, and the show started with these costumed-things on stilts performing in front of a stage. Then it was just three blond girls on violins, playing Christmas music. But it was really, really cool and we stayed outside quite a while to enjoy it.

By the time we got inside, there were thankfully a couple free seats together at the sports bar. And here’s where I’m going to get geeky about the football stuff. It was just before halftime and I was now losing my fantasy game by 33 points. I couldn’t believe it. My opponent had Denver’s defense, which had put up 23 points so far and Peyton barely had any. I was not happy. But it was much fun watching the rest of the game, because the funny thing about fantasy defenses (at least in my ESPN league), is that the more yards/points an opponent gets, the lower your score. So while Denver was down 24 – 0 at the half, they managed to come back and tie it at 31 to go to OT. I also had New England’s kicker, so by the time Denver failed to score on their first possession in OT, I was only down by 2 points. Then New England came back and got the winning field goal. Giving me 3 points and a win by 1 point. Best come back ever.

The other thing that made the football fun was that we were playing video poker at the same time. Except it was a little distracting at times, trying to play poker and watch football at the same time. And when the game was over, we wanted to stay and just play poker for a while. It was nice too, because the bar had been completely packed during the game, and then completely cleared out afterwards.

After a bit more gambling, we headed back to the hotel. But I got an attack of the late night munchies. And there is a McDonald’s conveniently located right next to Harrah’s. I used to be severely addicted to double quarter-pounders and it sounded really good. So we stopped in. Although the girl took my order wrong and I only got a single. So I had to go back and ask for the right thing. But it was amazing. I seriously think they put something in the hamburger to make it addictive. I also tried a strawberry milkshake for the first time at McDonald’s, and it was delicous! Better than Starbucks strawberry frapaccino.

We ended up getting back pretty late, which did not bode well for tomorrow. We needed to get up early for our day trip to Death Valley, especially considering it gets dark here at 4:30 pm this time of year.

Sports Bets, Hofbrauhaus, and Piano Bar. Oh My!

Sports Bets, Hofbrauhaus, and Piano Bar. Oh My! Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

Originally we were planning to go on a day trip today to Death Valley, but since it was supposed to rain all day we decided to put that off until Monday. And it was a good thing too considering how late we got in last night. That meant we could sleep in this morning and take it easy today. Which was really nice.

So we had gotten in so late last night that we got a ****** small room on the 7^th floor, overlooking some ugly hotels on the back side of the strip, and an ugly roof with a bunch of pipes on it. When we had checked in they mentioned the possibility of moving rooms today, and had mentioned upgrading to a premium room with a balcony for only $10 a day. So our first task of the morning was to check on that. And they did have a room available, with a view of the strip, but it wasn’t cleaned yet. They thought it would only take 1.5 hours, which was fine with us because we needed to get our sports bets ready for the NFL games tomorrow. So we went to the sports betting desk to pick up cards, and I also put in a $10 bet on the Ohio State game. They had to win by 35 points over Indiana at home, and I thought it was a pretty safe bet. I didn’t realize, however, that the payout on single games is ridiculously lame. If I won I’d only get $15 back. So in retrospect, I wish I hadn’t even made the bet.

We went back to the ****** room to do our research on the NFL games tomorrow and figure out which games we wanted to pick. They have these neat bets you can make called parlay bets. You can make picks on a certain number of games (at least 3), and then if you get all of them right you get a really big payout. And you don’t have to bet a lot. You can bet as low as $1, but I did $5 per bet. And I did 5 bets – two 3-game picks, a 4-game pick a 5-game pick, and a 7-game pick. So I only paid $25 and even if I only hit one of the three-game picks I’ll get $30 and get my money back. But the odds go way up the more games you pick, and if I hit the 7-game pick I’ll get $430. The really cool thing, is that I picked a variety of games in each bet, sometimes betting the opposite teams, just to give myself plenty of chances to still be interested in watching the games. If I picked the same teams in all the bets, and one of the first ones lost, then I’d be out on all my bets. And I wouldn’t care as much about the outcome of the games. Except for my fantasy football team, of course. It was actually much more fun making the NFL bets this year. Last year I’d done a couple, but I really knew nothing about the NFL aside from following the Seahawks a little bit. So I was really just guessing blindly. But this year, after playing fantasy football, I am way more familiar with all the NFL teams. So it’s much easier and more fun to pick my bets. Because I have a much better idea of which teams are good, and which ones will beat the point spreads.

All of the betting took a while, and by the time we were done the 1.5 hour waiting period was over. So we went to check on our new room. It wasn’t ready yet. This time the guy said it could take anywhere until 4 pm (it was only 12:30 pm). We hadn’t eaten anything yet, so we decided to make our trip to Vegas official by going to In-N-Out Burger for lunch. It’s honestly one of my favorite things about coming to Vegas. Their hamburgers are just amazing, and they’re only in the southwest. It took us a while to get to the restaurant, even going the backstreet behind the strip. Not because there was a lot of traffic, but because we kept getting stopped at all the lights and they take FOR-EV-ER to turn green again. The burger was indeed amazing, but we both agreed that the tasty goodness just goes by too quickly. And the fries are always disappointing. So the next time we come we’re thinking about just getting two hamburgers! And that will probably be tomorrow.

On the way back to the hotel we tried a different route on back streets behind the other side of the strip and it was much quicker! Except we missed the road we were supposed to turn on and so had to backtrack on the strip a little bit. By the way, I should mention that Harrah’s is not quite as nice as Excalibur (where I’ve stayed previously). But the two great things about it are its location and the fact that the parking is in a garage right behind the hotel. So there’s no venturing outside to get to the car. At Excalibur their parking is very far away from the actual hotel and you generally have to walk outside quite a ways to get to your car.

We got back to the hotel about 2 pm and when we checked on our new room again, it was ready! So we went and got our bags from the ****** room and moved them to our new room, which was awesome! Well worth the extra money. The room was much bigger and even decorated much nicer. And we did indeed have a view of the strip, mostly The Mirage, Treasure Island, and The Venetian. So not an incredible view, but we did have a great view of the volcano at The Mirage! And it was very rainy, so the view really wasn’t that great today. But I’m guessing it will be better at night and when the clouds clear up (which should be tomorrow). But the best part about the room was that there was a TV in the bathroom! I’ve never seen that before. We had gotten to the new room just as the second half of the Ohio State game was starting (they were up 28-0), and we had waited to take showers until we had the nicer room. So it was really cool being able to still watch the game while in the bathroom. The shower even had this big space behind the bath tub, so I could peek out at the TV while the teams were actually running plays. Very cool!

By the time we were ready to head out, Ohio State had done their job by going up 42-0, so that I could win my measly $15. But then they were very inconsiderate of me and let Indiana score two touchdowns before the end of the game. So I lost my bet. Oh well. At least it made it interesting watching the second half of a blow out game. Although I’m sure the BCS won’t see it that way.

Before leaving the room we made reservations at the Hofbrauhaus for dinner (and beer!) at 7:30 pm. Then we went to explore the nearby hotels and scope out a place to watch football tomorrow. The Venetian had an amazing sports betting room. It was a big circle, with tons of big TV screens lining one side. Unfortunately most of the seats were reserved for people spending at least $250 bucks on bets, and there were only a couple rows of bar seats in the back. So it would be an amazing place to watch games, but we knew we’d have to get their super-early to nab a bar seat.

Next we went to the Palazzo, which had an amazing sports restaurant. It had two levels, tons of TV’s, lots of cozy places to sit, and we could even make reservations. But you had to spend $50 minimum per person. And we didn’t want to spend that much, so that was out too.

We headed back to go the other direction on the strip, and went through The Venetian’s Grand Canal shops on the way. The side by the Palazzo had some really cool Christmas decorations up already, and there was also a cool waterfall. The fun part of the shops, though, is the section that actually looks like you’re in Venice. There’s a water-filled canal (inside!), with gondoliers serenading everyone, and fake Venice-looking buildings lining the canals. There’s even a huge square that’s very similar to St. Mark’s Square in Venice. Although the real one is at least 4 times as big.

Our next destinations were Paris and The Bellagio, which involved quite bit of walking outside. In the rain. And the cold. And it felt like it took forever. Eventually we decided we probably didn’t want to walk that far in the morning anyway, and thought about just turning around. But we weren’t that far from the intersection at the Bellagio, and it was only 5 minutes until the Bellagio Fountains would likely put on a show. So we decided to go watch. Except it took forever to actually get there. Crossing the streets in Vegas is very annoying. They have bridges over most of the streets at the intersections. But all of the stairs start way back from the actual intersection, and often you have to go inside a casino to even get down. So what seemed like a very short distance to get to The Bellagio actually took forever. And we ended up getting across to The Bellagio just as the fountains were starting. But it seriously took us a few minutes to get down to the actual fountains. So we didn’t get to see much of the show, and it was a fairly short song. It was actually a song I didn’t really like, so I wasn’t too disappointed.

We were now pretty much across the street from Paris, and had been thinking about going up in the Eiffel Tower. So we decided to walk along the Bellagio Fountains and go do that. But distances are very deceiving in Vegas. What seems like only a short walk along the fountains actually took almost ten minutes. Of course, it’s not easy to walk quickly in Vegas. In fact, Vegas is not a very fun place for fast walkers. Many people stroll. And don’t look where they’re going. And there was also an oddly large number of baby strollers. Not sure why you’d bring a baby here.

So by the time we got near the end of the fountains, we decided to wait and see if they were doing another show soon (because I know they’ve done them as close as 15 minutes apart). And it was actually fun waiting because they were playing a bunch of songs from the 90s that I knew but couldn’t really remember. So we were trying to figure out what they were. Unfortunately I forgot about the most amazing app in the world – Shazam – until the last song. And Shazam told me it was an artist I hadn’t even thought of since the 90s – Jon Secada!

When it was clear the fountains would not be going off in the near future, we decided that we had plenty of time and it would only be another 15 minutes until the next show. So we just waited. And I was glad we did, because this time it was a great song – God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood. It’s one of the few patriotic songs I actually like. And the fountains were amazing.

So then we walked over to Paris and went inside, only to discover that the Eiffel Tower was closed because of the bad weather. We went ahead and checked out their sports-betting room, and quickly realized it wouldn’t work. There TV’s were large but horrible definition. By the time we got back outside it was almost time for another fountain show. So we walked over and watched from the middle this time. And it was another great song – Billy Jean by Michael Jackson. The fountains were just magical.

We needed to head back to the hotel by this point, but we decided to walk back through Caesar’s Palace and check out their sports-betting room. We’d both seen it before and thought it our likely choice for game-viewing, but I couldn’t really remember it very well. And it was indeed very good. Lots of good TV’s and lots of space with extra free chairs.

We finally made it back to the hotel and my feet were glad to be done walking. We decided to take a cab to the Hofbrauhaus because I suspected I wouldn’t want to drive back. And I was right, the beer at the Hofbrauhaus is really, really good. It’s one of the few places I can get a real German Dunkle (dark lager). I was glad we’d made reservations because the place was packed. It was so loud from people talking that we could barely hear the oompah band. Which was actually a good thing because they were hardly playing any German songs. Mostly popular American songs in a German style (e.g. Sweet Caroline, Margaretville, Rocky Mountain High, Brown-eyed Girl). But it was a really fun time. Beer tends to do that. And the food was amazing. I had the Jagerschnitzel with spaetzle noodles and cream sauce. So good. I think I will never get anything else at the Hofbrauhaus.

Actually, right before we got our food the band did have a fun activity that I decided to participate in – a stein-holding contest. I’d actually read about this on their website before and always thought it would be fun to do. So I didn’t hesitate to volunteer. Although they actually had a hard time getting enough volunteers. There were only six and they had to beg for four more people to volunteer. Then we got to all stand in a line and they handed us each a liter of beer. The contest was to hold the beer straight out in front of you, at shoulder height. The person that could hold the stein up the longest wins. Well, I have not been exercising much at all lately so I didn’t do very well. Although they made us keep our elbows straight, which I didn’t understand. I’ve always been taught not to do that when lifting weights. But it was still fun to participate, and apparently I outlasted all but one of the other women. Not too bad for not exercising. But I decided that next time I come to Vegas I want to do it again, but I will actually prepare and train in advance!

A funny thing about the stein-holding contest is that we got to keep the liters of beer they gave us. Which I thought was a great incentive to participate. But when I got back to the table, our food was waiting for us (thoughtfully covered by our waitress). So it took me awhile to finish my food and the liter of beer I was already working on. The waitress actually tried to take away my free beer, saying it was very watered down. But I wouldn’t let her. And when I finally got around to trying it, it was indeed very nasty. Turns out it wasn’t even watered down beer. It was watered down coke. So instead of more beer we got a shot. For those of you who’ve been, you know that shots at the Hofbrauhaus in Vegas come with a price. And if you’ve never been, you’ll just have to go the next time you’re in town, because that’s all I’m saying.

We left the Hofbrauhaus shortly after having the shots, and tried to get a taxi back to the strip. But apparently taxis don’t go to the Hofbrauhaus very often, because the valet guy told us to just walk across the street to the Hard Rock Hotel and get a taxi there. So we did. But we didn’t go back to the hotel, we went to Paris to go to the dueling piano bar there (called Napolean’s). I’d been before and it was very, very fun. This time it was very, very packed. We got a couple of drinks and noticed a table near the back that appeared to have a couple empty chairs. So we asked if they were free, but the people told us no. So we just stood and enjoyed the music. Weirdly, no one ever showed up to sit in those empty seats. But a while later the people actually moved a couple chairs over and asked us to sit down. I think maybe they just didn’t want someone sitting in front of them. But I’d had enough liquor that I wasn’t mad or anything. And it was way too much fun listening to the music.

One of the things that makes the dueling pianos really fun is the bantering that the piano players do. And sometimes they get requests for very bad songs, but they guarantee to play a request if they get $20 for it, so they have to play it. And they know most of the crowd doesn’t like it, so they actually beg for people to come up and give them $20 to immediately play a different song. Well, this happened shortly after we got there. And I was in no mood to listen to bad music (I can’t even remember what song it was). So I actually went up and gave them $20 to play Hang On Sloopy (one of Ohio State’s famous cheer songs). And they did! The entire song! And there was another table of Buckeye fans there that also sang along to the O-H-I-O chant, doing the arm motions and everything. So I didn’t feel weird doing the same.

I don’t remember much of the rest of the night at Napolean’s, except that it was very fun, and I like crown and cokes. Oh, and they played a Metallica song (Enter Sandman) and it was awesome! They also did a medley at some point of frequently-requested songs. Songs that the piano players probably hate playing. So they did a medley with shortened versions. And Bohemian Rhapsody was one of those. I also remember them making a comment at some point that they hadn’t played any Elton John or Billy Joel yet, which isn’t normal.

After a while we finally decided to leave the piano bar, and on the walk back to the hotel we went through Bally’s. And realized that we hadn’t gambled yet. So we sat down at some video poker machines. But I quickly realized that I did not have the mental capacity to gamble, so we quickly cashed out and just left for the hotel to crash. It was a very fun night.

P.S. I was silly and didn’t take my real camera with me today, so all you get is ****** cell phone pictures.

Jack Makes Everything Better

Jack Makes Everything Better Las Vegas, NV

Las Vegas, NV

Nothing much to report for today, just flew to Vegas after work. But did have a few firsts:

• Actually got to use the carpool lane on the way to the airport! It was pretty backed up near Bellevue, but otherwise well worth it. It only took about 30 minutes to get there. If I was driving solo it would have taken an hour.

• Finally tried the Masterpark valet parking, where there’s supposed to be $7 a day parking with my Expedia travel agent discount. It was super-convenient. Just pulled into a parking garage, where they took my keys and gave me a receipt. Then walked outside and got right on a shuttle. No long drives through a huge parking lot! And I did check about the discount beforehand, and they were well aware of it

• Actually had a flight delayed leaving Seatac. There was rain in Vegas and they were delaying some flights to make sure there weren’t too planes in the air at once. So our 7:45 pm flight was delayed until 9:30 pm. But at least there is good beer at Seatac and I finally had a chance to check out the Alaska lodge. We had 2.5 hours until boarding. And for once it paid off to be paranoid. After my second Alaskan Amber I started wondering if it was possible they would move up our flight. We hadn’t checked since we first got to the airport, so I started to worry that they might have moved up our flight and we would miss it. So we checked the departure board and they had indeed moved up our flight to 8:55 pm. So we walked over to the gate and got there just in time to get in line for boarding (we were flying southwest).

• Actually saw someone get kicked off the plane for being drunk. I had paid an extra $12 for early bird check in and so got a good seat in the second row. And the woman in front of us was obviously drunk. She was talking to the first guy who sat there, trying to save a seat for his girlfriend, and the drunk woman trying to make jokes and him completely misunderstanding. When the girlfriend showed up he just left saying something about the woman being crazy. She was quieter after that, but was still fairly talkative and obviously intoxicated. I thought I noticed her starting to lean her head to the side, onto her new neighbor. And shortly after that a security-type woman came on the plane and asked the drunk woman to step out into jetway. Then one of the flight attendants sat down to tell the people in front of us that the drunk woman was being questioned to determine if she was too drunk to fly. Apparently it is illegal to board a plane while intoxicated. But according to the flight attendant it is fine to get completely drunk once you’ve taken off! We all laughed really hard about that. And they did indeed determine she was too drunk to fly, because they brought her back on board to get her stuff, and then she left. I was surprised that she was very calm about it. No drama. All you hear is the horror stories about drunk people causing a scene and getting kicked off the plane. But in this case, it was the flight attendant being proactive and noticing a bad situation before it got out of hand.

• Actually had cocktails on the plane! They didn’t have any good beer so we decided to have jack and cokes. So we got those mini-bottles of Jack Daniels, which are incredibly cute, along with a glass of ice and a can of diet coke. They were very, very tasty and made the flight go by much quicker than we thought it would. But we did learn a lesson. Don’t pour the whole bottle of jack into the glass. It is a bit too strong at first that way. We ended up having a second round and it was much better with only half the bottle of jack at first. Oh, and the best part – they never charged us for the drinks! I guess a benefit of having our flight delayed!

Everything else went really smoothly. Arrived at the Vegas airport, took a tram to baggage claim, got the bags, took the shuttle to the rental car place, drove to Harrah’s, and checked in (after quite a few U-turns because the back streets in Vegas are confusing in the dark). We didn’t get to the room until 1 am, so we just went straight to bed. One interesting thing to note, though. At the car rental place they kept trying to upgrade our rental, asking if we wanted a GPS and better cars. But I was fine with the cheap economy car. You don’t really need more for only two people. But when we got to our assigned car, it was definitely not an economy car. The trunk was huge, there were leather seats, and there was GPS inside! No wonder they were trying to upgrade us. They knew they had to give us a better car anyway! And this was probably another benefit of the flight being delayed. If we’d gotten there on time, they probably would have had economy cars left.