Finally got some sleep, still woke up early but its all good. Breakfast at the motel, spent 10 minutes watching a lady monopolise the whole breakfast area with her geriatric muffin preparing skills "I'm hogging all the space aren't i" "Why yes, yes you are, now move your geriatric, man voice having ass, or I'll move it for you" we didn't say that but it was defiantly a thought. All the while people politely stood by and waited for this inconsiderate woman to master her butter smearing skills.
We're going to see the Hoover Dam this morning. Dam's and mechanical boy stuff, not really my scene but Mark wants to see it so I'm on board. We took a tour of the power plant, along with a million other people. Surprisingly they squished the whole million of us into two elevators, there were personal space violations all over the show. Its so damn hot, we take a walk over the dam but don't hang around too long. Next stop Las Vegas!
We've booked a room at the Riviera from Sunday until Wednesday, but today is Saturday so we go in to see if we can just grab an extra night. Wait in line for 45 minutes infornt of two obnoxious loud line talkers. Only for a "We're sold out for tonight" Maaaan. We go to Mc Donalds across the road to use their Internet, hopefully find a place to stay. Checked out a couple of places but I thought we should try book a room at the same place, just because. Well what do ya know, they sure aren't sold out, lying mofo. So back to the line, its bigger than last time but its regular line volume so its OK.
Found our room in the casino maze, so now we're going to see what the deal is with the tattoo expo. Its at the MGM Mirage but brain fart took us to the MGM Grand, which is a whole separate place. Woops. Attempt two MGM Mirage: The sign says that the parking is down here, this must be it, we find a park and make our way in. Treasure Island? ... MOTHERFUDGER! Conveniently it has a tram to the Mirage so its not so bad anymore. Another maze through slot machines to get to the expo, but we made it. Got our tickets and went in, pretty cool, heaps of tattooers doin work. Exotic animal show going on up front. I almost got a new tattoo but decided last minute it probably wasn't a good idea. Could have been the best tattoo of my life, could have been the worst, we'll never know.
Finish up there and go find dinner, we see a sign for somewhere familiar and start making our way there. It's somewhere in this casino, hiding away through a sea of game tables and pokies, now there's a surprise. Cant be bothered finding it so we grab subway and be done with it. We watch the volcano at the front of the Mirage go off, with a cool fire and water show. Then we checked out The Venetian, holey moley! No wonder this place never stops the ceiling is painted blue sky and clouds, blue water canals and singing gondolas help to keep up the illusion. The temperature has a pleasant outdoor feel compared to actual outside which is stinkin hot, you would never know what time it is outside.
Make our way back to the car then back to the hotel. The room is nice with two double beds, starfish tonight! Internet usage is $10 a day, so we're going to steal Mc Donalds wifi when necessary. We can see the pool from here but nothings going on at the moment. First room with an iPod Dock and the air Conditioning is the quietest we've had the whole trip.
Tomorrow day we rest up so we can explore tomorrow night!
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Friday, 30 September 2011
Day 26. Moab to the Grand Canyon
No sleep again last night. This must be the most uncomfortable bed in the history of creation, i mean, i fall asleep at the movies for Christ sakes. Maybe, just maybe, the anticipation of getting our laundry on tomorrow morning, is just too much excitement for me, we'll never know. Were both tired so we sluggishly pack our gear and hit the road en route to the laundromat.
So here we are at the laundromat, the guy is super nice $1.50 to wash and 75 cents to dry, if that's not a bargain i don't know what is! So anyway we're hanging out marks reading a National Geographic and I'm putting the photos from the memory cards onto the computer, but where's the small camera? Well I didn't see it this morning ... or did i? Mark didn't see it this morning ... or did he? We tear the car apart with no love. Mark goes back to the log hut to see if we left it on the bed, but they've already cleared the room and said they didn't find it ... or did they? If I didn't see it, and Mark didn't see it, it had to be the hostel man *insert suspense music here* Turns out it was wedged in the side compartment in the car, woopsies. Crisis averted, back to the washing.
On the road again we plan to stay a a weeny bit shy of the Grand Canyon, but that doesn't happen, the town we planned to stay in doesn't have accommodation so we carry on. We make it to the Canyon, it really is quite Grand. I was expecting an angel band to float down from the sky when I first laid eyes on this enormous hole in the ground, but sadly that didn't happen. This is an extreme tourist destination so there's Asians all up in our grills and the toilets are hideous. But what a stunning place. There's a lot of view stops along the canyon rim so we stop a couple of times for photos, stalking pumas, deer and general farting around. There are tree fires along a decent section of the road, so smoke everywhere. We met a guy that was moving from New York to Las Vegas. We invited ourselves to stay at his house tomorrow night (i think he thought we were joking) but he hasn't got a place yet, he did say we could stay in his tent though. With weekend accommodation triple the price in Las Vegas we just might have to take him up on his offer.
Now's about the time of the day when we need to find somewhere to stay, woop ee. Everywhere we see looks expensive. I can tell this by my handy 2 second scan, Porter trolleys = expensive, Statues of wild animals out front = expensive, Self opening doors = expensive, staff have waistcoats on = Forged-abowt-it! A couple of call-ins confirms my economic predictions, so we carry on. Found a Super8 in Williams, no communal showers and toilets for us today, high rollers!
So here we are at the laundromat, the guy is super nice $1.50 to wash and 75 cents to dry, if that's not a bargain i don't know what is! So anyway we're hanging out marks reading a National Geographic and I'm putting the photos from the memory cards onto the computer, but where's the small camera? Well I didn't see it this morning ... or did i? Mark didn't see it this morning ... or did he? We tear the car apart with no love. Mark goes back to the log hut to see if we left it on the bed, but they've already cleared the room and said they didn't find it ... or did they? If I didn't see it, and Mark didn't see it, it had to be the hostel man *insert suspense music here* Turns out it was wedged in the side compartment in the car, woopsies. Crisis averted, back to the washing.
On the road again we plan to stay a a weeny bit shy of the Grand Canyon, but that doesn't happen, the town we planned to stay in doesn't have accommodation so we carry on. We make it to the Canyon, it really is quite Grand. I was expecting an angel band to float down from the sky when I first laid eyes on this enormous hole in the ground, but sadly that didn't happen. This is an extreme tourist destination so there's Asians all up in our grills and the toilets are hideous. But what a stunning place. There's a lot of view stops along the canyon rim so we stop a couple of times for photos, stalking pumas, deer and general farting around. There are tree fires along a decent section of the road, so smoke everywhere. We met a guy that was moving from New York to Las Vegas. We invited ourselves to stay at his house tomorrow night (i think he thought we were joking) but he hasn't got a place yet, he did say we could stay in his tent though. With weekend accommodation triple the price in Las Vegas we just might have to take him up on his offer.
Now's about the time of the day when we need to find somewhere to stay, woop ee. Everywhere we see looks expensive. I can tell this by my handy 2 second scan, Porter trolleys = expensive, Statues of wild animals out front = expensive, Self opening doors = expensive, staff have waistcoats on = Forged-abowt-it! A couple of call-ins confirms my economic predictions, so we carry on. Found a Super8 in Williams, no communal showers and toilets for us today, high rollers!
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Day 25. Moab Still
Raft trip this morning, looking forward to just relaxing, on account of I am sore every single where. We had a stink sleep last night, which is so far off from the all time worlds best sleep,I had predicted for last night.
Head to the raft headquarters for our half day Colorado river trip. We're with a bunch of oldies but its all good, we're looking for a mellow day anyways.
Today is cheesy matching tourist day, Horray! I was hoping to celebrate this special day by wearing matching American flag shirts, but we haven't seen any and even if we did I'm pretty sure we wouldn't want to pay for them. If it has to be American flag bandanas, then so be it. We're going to rock matching bandanas so hard, Brett Michael's hair extensions will be jealous.
On the bus ride out to the raft put in point, the guide points out a little spring, flowing fresh drinkable water. Well this is information that could have come in handy YESTERDAY! Because this beautiful spring, right on the side of the road, was at the exact point where we almost gave up on life, just yesterday afternoon. Anyway the raft trip was cool, the exact opposite of 'The River Wild' super calm, teeny weeny little rapids, a few splashes here and there but nothing life threatening. Cool guides with heaps of information and some of the funniest, hilarious only because they're lame, jokes I've heard in a long time.
Back to the hut to get out of the scorching sun for a while then off to do some sight seeing. You could spend months here and still not see half of it, but for now we're just going to look at some big rocks. Everywhere you look there's something awesome to see, god damn theres a lot of rocks here. Rocks and dust, sounds boring yes, surprisingly not that boring.
I've seen a billboard advertising 18 ounce Margaritas, so tonight, we hunt this place down. I say hunt it down, but its not that hard. There aren't many streets here in Moab, but I'll just throw it in there to make it sound intense. Found it, yussss. Had some dinner and a couple of drinks, they don't have pudding so we are directed to a cup cake shop just down the road. These cup cakes are freaking delicious. I would say that they are better than the 'Carlos Bakery' ones, and then I would even go so far as to say they were better than the Disneyland one. I was pretty confident at the time, that i had hit my cup cake, life time high, and it was only down from there. How wrong was I, and for that I am glad.
Head to the raft headquarters for our half day Colorado river trip. We're with a bunch of oldies but its all good, we're looking for a mellow day anyways.
Today is cheesy matching tourist day, Horray! I was hoping to celebrate this special day by wearing matching American flag shirts, but we haven't seen any and even if we did I'm pretty sure we wouldn't want to pay for them. If it has to be American flag bandanas, then so be it. We're going to rock matching bandanas so hard, Brett Michael's hair extensions will be jealous.
On the bus ride out to the raft put in point, the guide points out a little spring, flowing fresh drinkable water. Well this is information that could have come in handy YESTERDAY! Because this beautiful spring, right on the side of the road, was at the exact point where we almost gave up on life, just yesterday afternoon. Anyway the raft trip was cool, the exact opposite of 'The River Wild' super calm, teeny weeny little rapids, a few splashes here and there but nothing life threatening. Cool guides with heaps of information and some of the funniest, hilarious only because they're lame, jokes I've heard in a long time.
Back to the hut to get out of the scorching sun for a while then off to do some sight seeing. You could spend months here and still not see half of it, but for now we're just going to look at some big rocks. Everywhere you look there's something awesome to see, god damn theres a lot of rocks here. Rocks and dust, sounds boring yes, surprisingly not that boring.
I've seen a billboard advertising 18 ounce Margaritas, so tonight, we hunt this place down. I say hunt it down, but its not that hard. There aren't many streets here in Moab, but I'll just throw it in there to make it sound intense. Found it, yussss. Had some dinner and a couple of drinks, they don't have pudding so we are directed to a cup cake shop just down the road. These cup cakes are freaking delicious. I would say that they are better than the 'Carlos Bakery' ones, and then I would even go so far as to say they were better than the Disneyland one. I was pretty confident at the time, that i had hit my cup cake, life time high, and it was only down from there. How wrong was I, and for that I am glad.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Day 24. Ride Moab
Up early this morning, we have a big ride today so we're running premium breakfast fuel. Mc Donalds. But we do get the yoghurt and cereal so you can stop judging us.
Make our way to the bike shop to pick up our bikes for the day and catch the shuttle. Hoo-freakin-ray the slag from yesterday is our staff member for the morning. She takes us out to the bikes and gives us the spiel. 'In your saddle bag there are tyre leavers, these are used to get the bead off the rim' oh shit, lucky you told us that, not like Marks' been riding for 20 odd years. But i guess its standard practice. Not sure if its standard to tell people that the pro pedal locks out the back shock completely, so you must never turn the switch ... She goes on to tell Mark that he's the first rider of a brand spanker and if it comes back with a dent/scratch we will be charged accordingly. Because god help if a mountain bike ever got a scratch on it. But Its OK he'll bead the breaks in for you, you're welcome. Way to ruin our ride before we even left the shop lady.
Shuttle ride takes a bit over an hour, way the hell over there. The other guys in the shuttle are asking the driver what the track is like, he's pretty much saying on a difficulty scale he would give it a 9 out of 10. Aww crap, it will be alright I'll just have to handle.
Its a scorcher of a day, 36 degrees in fact. No shade anywhere, Mark is the pack man carrying a ridiculous heavy bag. Starts off cool, took a bit of getting used to riding on the rocks but its all good. Had a few scenic picture and drink stops. The heat is getting a bit much for me and my bike is THE loudest heap. Creaky pedals and out of line derailier make the chain go all over the show (i have a silent bike at home, because i have the best bike mechanic) this noise is splendid when you're spending 5 hours pretty much riding down steps. I'm getting angry. Near the end of the ride there's a lot of un rideable rock drops, this shit is exhausting. Mark hasn't had much water because hes been making sure theres enough for me. He's very dehydrated and not a happy camper. Finish up at the Colorado river, just a wee 5 mile road ride home, hope we make it. Got back had a sit down and drowned our sorrows in a giant powerade.
Back at the log cabin again tonight. Had lunch/dinner at the pub, very nice. Booked ourselves a half day raft trip for tomorrow. Hope its nothing like the river wild he he
Make our way to the bike shop to pick up our bikes for the day and catch the shuttle. Hoo-freakin-ray the slag from yesterday is our staff member for the morning. She takes us out to the bikes and gives us the spiel. 'In your saddle bag there are tyre leavers, these are used to get the bead off the rim' oh shit, lucky you told us that, not like Marks' been riding for 20 odd years. But i guess its standard practice. Not sure if its standard to tell people that the pro pedal locks out the back shock completely, so you must never turn the switch ... She goes on to tell Mark that he's the first rider of a brand spanker and if it comes back with a dent/scratch we will be charged accordingly. Because god help if a mountain bike ever got a scratch on it. But Its OK he'll bead the breaks in for you, you're welcome. Way to ruin our ride before we even left the shop lady.
Shuttle ride takes a bit over an hour, way the hell over there. The other guys in the shuttle are asking the driver what the track is like, he's pretty much saying on a difficulty scale he would give it a 9 out of 10. Aww crap, it will be alright I'll just have to handle.
Its a scorcher of a day, 36 degrees in fact. No shade anywhere, Mark is the pack man carrying a ridiculous heavy bag. Starts off cool, took a bit of getting used to riding on the rocks but its all good. Had a few scenic picture and drink stops. The heat is getting a bit much for me and my bike is THE loudest heap. Creaky pedals and out of line derailier make the chain go all over the show (i have a silent bike at home, because i have the best bike mechanic) this noise is splendid when you're spending 5 hours pretty much riding down steps. I'm getting angry. Near the end of the ride there's a lot of un rideable rock drops, this shit is exhausting. Mark hasn't had much water because hes been making sure theres enough for me. He's very dehydrated and not a happy camper. Finish up at the Colorado river, just a wee 5 mile road ride home, hope we make it. Got back had a sit down and drowned our sorrows in a giant powerade.
Back at the log cabin again tonight. Had lunch/dinner at the pub, very nice. Booked ourselves a half day raft trip for tomorrow. Hope its nothing like the river wild he he
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Day 23. Coloradoto Moab
I was tired last night, didn't put really any love into what i was writing so i will add on some small extras, more for personal record than for your entertainment. I do realise the soap is all very boring to you. So bear with me.
Last nights motel: First to have complimentary muesli on our pillows on arrival (in packets, not just randomly sprinkled, in case you were wondering). First motel with complimentary toothpaste, which I will have you know cleans plaque 5x better than regular toothpaste paste, how about that!
Every petrol station we go into I've been seeing these giant 20 ounce cans of vodka pre mixes. I've been wanting one since the first day we saw them, mainly because they are 12%ers, tonight is the night! I'm sure it's going to taste like crap, but there's pretty pictures on them so I'm compelled. Yip it tastes like crap, ah well i tried.
Today: On our way to Moab, just a short 4 hour drive. Stoped at the pretty lake to have a play, Mark skimmed some rocks, I biffed some in the same general direction. Restroom stop at the petrol station we decide to grab a hot dog just to eat while were driving. I wonder why she put cutlery in the bag? Oooh so when i asked for a hot dog, it really meant a sausage with lasagna on top drowning a bun. Good to know.
Came into Moab found the bike shop 'poison spider' Mark saw in the Internet, sorted ourselves out some bikes for tomorrow. We're still in the throws of booking our shuttle up a giant hill, for a 24 mile ride. Real time update: Sorted that out with the help of Chris, he was a super cool dude. The lady .... what a slag.
We're staying in #10 log cabin at the hostel tonight. First place to have, wait for it, DOUBLE BUNK BEDS, oh yes my friends bunk beds. They match up perfectly, so much room to do activities. Also Pantene haircare, it just keeps getting better. No TV so we brought some magazines for entertainment. My 'Special Double Feature' People Magazine is highly disappointing with a single story on Toddlers and Tiaras the other 100 odd pages filled up with pictures and 'you should get botox', but if you do here's 10 pages of side affects you can get. Its a double feature for pete sakes, you would think that there would be at least two stories wouldn't you. Booo!
As I'm writing this in our little log cabin, Marks' outside having a very painful sounding conversation with a man from Switzerland. He cant understand a word Mark says. I just witnessed a legit, 3x repeater. Rotorua, huh, Ro-to-rua, huh, Rooh-tooh-rhua. Im just going to hide here i think. Hes gonna be maaad at me ha ha.
Went out again to sort shit out, stoped in at the pub on the way home. Tipsy off two wines what a champ. Mentally prepare ourselves up for a sore bum tomorrow (I'm talking about the bike ride sickos!)
Last nights motel: First to have complimentary muesli on our pillows on arrival (in packets, not just randomly sprinkled, in case you were wondering). First motel with complimentary toothpaste, which I will have you know cleans plaque 5x better than regular toothpaste paste, how about that!
Every petrol station we go into I've been seeing these giant 20 ounce cans of vodka pre mixes. I've been wanting one since the first day we saw them, mainly because they are 12%ers, tonight is the night! I'm sure it's going to taste like crap, but there's pretty pictures on them so I'm compelled. Yip it tastes like crap, ah well i tried.
Today: On our way to Moab, just a short 4 hour drive. Stoped at the pretty lake to have a play, Mark skimmed some rocks, I biffed some in the same general direction. Restroom stop at the petrol station we decide to grab a hot dog just to eat while were driving. I wonder why she put cutlery in the bag? Oooh so when i asked for a hot dog, it really meant a sausage with lasagna on top drowning a bun. Good to know.
Came into Moab found the bike shop 'poison spider' Mark saw in the Internet, sorted ourselves out some bikes for tomorrow. We're still in the throws of booking our shuttle up a giant hill, for a 24 mile ride. Real time update: Sorted that out with the help of Chris, he was a super cool dude. The lady .... what a slag.
We're staying in #10 log cabin at the hostel tonight. First place to have, wait for it, DOUBLE BUNK BEDS, oh yes my friends bunk beds. They match up perfectly, so much room to do activities. Also Pantene haircare, it just keeps getting better. No TV so we brought some magazines for entertainment. My 'Special Double Feature' People Magazine is highly disappointing with a single story on Toddlers and Tiaras the other 100 odd pages filled up with pictures and 'you should get botox', but if you do here's 10 pages of side affects you can get. Its a double feature for pete sakes, you would think that there would be at least two stories wouldn't you. Booo!
As I'm writing this in our little log cabin, Marks' outside having a very painful sounding conversation with a man from Switzerland. He cant understand a word Mark says. I just witnessed a legit, 3x repeater. Rotorua, huh, Ro-to-rua, huh, Rooh-tooh-rhua. Im just going to hide here i think. Hes gonna be maaad at me ha ha.
Went out again to sort shit out, stoped in at the pub on the way home. Tipsy off two wines what a champ. Mentally prepare ourselves up for a sore bum tomorrow (I'm talking about the bike ride sickos!)
Monday, 26 September 2011
Day 22. Cheyenne to Gunnison, Colarado
I forgot to say yesterday that we went to see Mt Rushmore. Pretty cool for just a big rock with faces on it. I may need to seek professional medical help when we get home because im having issues with droping anything that will fit, down the side of the seat never to be found again, including the money we needed for a toll road woopsies he he
Today were on our way to Crested Butte hopefully do a bit of mountain biking. Colarado is very pretty, a lovley scenic drive. Not too much going on at Crested Butte, the information centre didnt even have any trail maps and the lifts arent going, so were a bit unfit to be sloging our asses up that giant hill. We're going to wait till we get to Moab for the biking. But damn this place is pretty i bet it goes off in winter!
Drive back to Gunnison, foud somewhere to stay and now were just relaxing which is nice. Mark is geting sick so im sure that means im next booooo!
Today were on our way to Crested Butte hopefully do a bit of mountain biking. Colarado is very pretty, a lovley scenic drive. Not too much going on at Crested Butte, the information centre didnt even have any trail maps and the lifts arent going, so were a bit unfit to be sloging our asses up that giant hill. We're going to wait till we get to Moab for the biking. But damn this place is pretty i bet it goes off in winter!
Drive back to Gunnison, foud somewhere to stay and now were just relaxing which is nice. Mark is geting sick so im sure that means im next booooo!
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Day 21. South Dakota to Cheyenne, Wyoming
For a change today we thought we would just drive all day, havent done that yet. We are on our way to Crested Bute (i dont know how to spell it, it's late) to do a we bit of mountain biking.
The billboard said we could see and feed some Prearie Dogs at the next exit. Sounds like a plan billboard. We pulled up to the shop that claimed we could do this. There's a feild right infront of where we parked and theres heaps of them, just kickn it maxin, relaxin eating some grass. Man alive these things are so freakin cute its rediculous! I wonder what they taste like? ... I was just checking if you were still awake. I dont want to eat one, they are very small he he.
Every billboard we pass is going on about something called 'Wall Drug'. Is it a Shop? A place? Some type of sandwich? Do we need to buy a pipe? A element and spoons? I have no idea why, but i'm sure we will spontaneously combust if we don't go there. Suckered in by the 500 billboards, not surprising.
Turns out 'Wall' was the name of the little country town and I have no idea where the drug part comes into it, but we had ourselves a casual stroll anyways. A lady accidentally (i think) punched Mark while turning round, didn't even say sorry. I tried on a western shirt but decided against purchase, although it made me feel as flash as Michael Jackson, reastically I would never wear it.
On our way over to New York they kept taking hours away from us, but yesterday and today we got a couple back, not overly exciting it just means we were driving longer.
Decided we would stay in Cheyenne. Found a Motel6 then went to the Ausie Steakhouse for dinner. Marks steak attempt number two, success! Now for sleep so we can do it all again tomorow.
The billboard said we could see and feed some Prearie Dogs at the next exit. Sounds like a plan billboard. We pulled up to the shop that claimed we could do this. There's a feild right infront of where we parked and theres heaps of them, just kickn it maxin, relaxin eating some grass. Man alive these things are so freakin cute its rediculous! I wonder what they taste like? ... I was just checking if you were still awake. I dont want to eat one, they are very small he he.
Every billboard we pass is going on about something called 'Wall Drug'. Is it a Shop? A place? Some type of sandwich? Do we need to buy a pipe? A element and spoons? I have no idea why, but i'm sure we will spontaneously combust if we don't go there. Suckered in by the 500 billboards, not surprising.
Turns out 'Wall' was the name of the little country town and I have no idea where the drug part comes into it, but we had ourselves a casual stroll anyways. A lady accidentally (i think) punched Mark while turning round, didn't even say sorry. I tried on a western shirt but decided against purchase, although it made me feel as flash as Michael Jackson, reastically I would never wear it.
On our way over to New York they kept taking hours away from us, but yesterday and today we got a couple back, not overly exciting it just means we were driving longer.
Decided we would stay in Cheyenne. Found a Motel6 then went to the Ausie Steakhouse for dinner. Marks steak attempt number two, success! Now for sleep so we can do it all again tomorow.
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