Hoober Dam

The first stop after leaving Las Vegas is an easy choice, the Hoover Dam. You've just got to stop here. If this place was good enough for the Clark Griswold and his family, it's good enough for me. We didn't stop for long though. Just snapped some pictures and then were back on the open road heading towards the Grand Canyon.

Our destination was a remote, almost secretive place deep in the canyon that I had only been told about by other travelers (Billy, my cousin, and Mimi from Big Sur). They told me of beautiful blue water waterfalls deep in the canyon. Beauty amongst the desert, a real life mirage that looks too good to be true, but for once is real, and we were headed there. We found the dot on the Atlas and aimed for it. A few hours after leaving Las Vegas we stopped to get gas, and use the phone so we could call and make camping reservations. Yes, this is something we should have done before driving almost all the way to it. The phone conversation went something like this:

Me-"We'd like to camp at your reservation"
Worker- "We're booked solid for the rest of the year, sorry."
Me- "No, No, I just want to hike down to the waterfalls and put up a tent."
Worker- "Sorry we don't have any vacancies. We open up reservations on January 7th and we sell out the entire year by January 14th. So try again next year."
Me- "Wow. That's interesting, but I don't need a room, we have our own tent."
Worker- "Sir there is no room."
Me- "There is no room in the desert for a two person tent?"
Worker- 'I'm sorry, have a good day, goodbye."

Tobi and I were in shock. To add insult to injury some Germans were at the gas station with us and told us how the waterfalls were the most amazing things they ever saw. They would have payed anything to see them again, done anything, and they will never forget them. Of course they booked their stay a year in advance. Tobi and I had known each other for 22 hours and weren't able to plan a year in advance, so we did the what we thought would be the next best thing.

It was getting later in the day, and we were near the "only road into the Grand Canyon", Diamond Creek Road, so we thought it was worth a try. We'd camp there, discuss our options, and then get started again the next morning. It seemed like the safe option. That was until the Ranger told us that it's easy for cars to get stranded on Diamond Creek road. She warned us of popped tires, broken gas tanks, rocks, flooded road ways, bumps, etc... They took a look at our rental and said, "I wouldn't take the chance, but I can't stop you." and she was right. We couldn't be stopped.

We pressed on, with your Dodge Caliber, and hoped for the best. They told us the road was 5 miles long, a small miscommunication I guess because it was 18 miles long. 18 miles of unpaved desert ground that reminded me of my driving experience on Fraser Island in Australia. The majority of which were done with a fear of becoming stranded in the middle of nowhere fresh on our minds. The scenery was spectacular though. Every turn showed a new view of the canyon until we were actually in it. Small streams along the side of the car turned into the mighty Colorado, and we only decided to hike about the last mile of the road to our campsite.

We camped right on the Colorado. Read books before the sunset on cliffs in the Grand Canyon. Went to sleep under the brightest moon I can ever remember with sounds of rushing water nearby. We were both very please with our decision to stop here. Who else has driven a car in the Grand Canyon? You? I doubt it.

However, the BIG decision still hung over our heads. What to do about going to see the waterfalls. Should we try and go anyway? If they turn us away it will be a wasted day because it's so far away from anything else. Should we skip it and possibly miss out on the greatest beauty in the world without even trying? It didn't look good, but we talked and thought we'd figure it out in the morning, bright and early.

First Step Towards the Unknown

I had nearly stepped off the edge of no return. Nearly succumb to the powers that be. I had Nearly given in, resided to the outcome that seeing the Grand Canyon by tour bus just like everyone else would somehow be the anticlimax to my partial-world-tour. Until at the last moment I was saved. Saved by the Swiss. Tobi and I hit it off from minute one, and by minute two we had already rented a car for a week together. This was a meeting that was destined. Be it by God or what, I do think that him sitting near me, with his over sized Atlas, as I walked up to the desk to sign away my dream of hiking and camping the Grand Canyon was just too big of a coincidence to see it as one. I went from calling my parents and telling them I'd be home in two days, to the possibility of doing anything my heart desires for the next week. It was an overwhelming swing of emotion.

After renting the car with Tobi we drove it to the Bellagio and watched the worlds largest fountain show. As I stood there, with a new feeling of adventure, watching the fountains burst into the air in amazing unison at astounding heights all to the sounds of "God Bless America" I had a moment of clarity. I moment I realized I was lucky. No matter what happened after that, I felt like I had it all at that moment. Anything was possible, and I was set to take advantage of all the possibilities that laid before me. Thanks to Tobi, this semi-world-tour was destined to have nothing short of the rightful climax it deserved.

Vegas Baby Vegas

As we all do, I love to travel. If you have been reading this blog at all, you already know that about me, but one thing you might not know is that visiting cities can get a little repetitive when you travel extensively. Take my advice, it never gets bad, each city brings its own tastes, smells, sights, and people that make it special and stand out from the rest, however, after you've been to so many cities you don't "look forward" to them as much. It's just natural because they all offer "similar" sights. Before heading to China it had been maybe 8 years since I had gone to a zoo, so I jumped at the chance to go to a zoo in China. Now I've been to 4 zoos in less than 3 months. It's because you hear the same thing when you get to a city: "We have nice places to eat, great museums, beautiful parks, and did I mention the zoo?" Now like I said before, if you are there, you must do these things because even though they sound similar to what you've done recently, something will make it stand out. Every zoo, restaurant, museum, and park are not the same, and I can't stress to you enough, that in the moment it does all seems new and exciting, but before you are in the moment it sounds old, like you've already done it, and uninteresting.

When you travel outside of cities to natural wonders you are naturally excited because you know you've never seen this mountain, or that waterfall before, this desert, or that crater, skied here, hiked there, swam here or snorkeled there. Those things always sound interesting and exciting because you already envision them as singular events that can "only" happen in those particular places and nowhere else. But when I tell you about a museum, park or zoo after a while you think you can see them anywhere.

This is how I felt about cities after Seoul, Shenghi, Beging, Sydney, Hong Kong, Despensar, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and LA in just a few months. But there are always exceptions to the rule, and to that I give you...Las Vegas. I don't remember another city I looked forward to visiting as much as Vegas. Foreigners I met seem to look forward to visiting San Francisco like it is some beacon of American idealism and utopia. I however, looked forward to Las Vegas. I'm not sure why exactly. Of course it could be my propensity for gambling, but I really thought about Vegas as a big city unlike any other city in America, and I wanted to see what it was like.

Vegas, Vegas, Vegas...Where do I start? The stretch limo ride? The Hawaiian Tropics Swimsuit competition? The clubs? The cool people I met? The staying up all night in the hot tub? The thousand dollars I won? The hooker that was killed? Okay so not all of those things really happened, I was a HUGE loser when it came to gambling this visit, and the hooker wasn't "killed" she was...well, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Ha.

Vegas was so much grander than I even thought it would be. I mean how do you explain the picture of me with a huge green bird on my shoulder? Vegas... It is amazing what money can do. Everywhere there is music, fountains, lights, wedding chapels, cars, buildings, and they all seemed to be tricked out by some crazy visionary who a long time ago had the belief that "if we make everything Extremely Tacky but Huge and Overdone, someday when it gets big enough the city will all come together and work" he was right.

The casinos are ridiculous. I'm not sure you can really describe them, there are too many and they have too many things in them. I took a water slide through a shark tank at one, and watched a lion feeding at another. These places are larger than life. They are confusing, five steps after walking in you can't find your way out. There are so many lights, and bells you think people have to be winning, you're wrong. The buffets are really good. However, unlike in Sydney, luck was not on my side during this trip to Vegas. I think I lost everything I played actually. But I still played everything I wanted. Since I had no "wining" highlights I would have to say that my losing highlight was when I played hold'em at the meca of hold'em, Binion's. Some obese woman sitting behind a stack of chips that nearly blocked out her gut called me with 9 high. I had 8 high. She said something was telling her to call. I said it was too bad something didn't tell her to go on a diet, honestly it looked like she only sat at that table for the year, with her only breaks being to the hotel buffet. Either way, it was a small thrill to be all in and called on a bluff.

What next? I stayed out almost every night until early in the morning. I have now seen the sun rise in Las Vegas and that is a good feeling. While seeing the sun rise on a normal night out might make you think maybe you've been out too long, in Vegas you feel like you're doing something right. I met a ton of cool people from all around the world; Swiss, German, Irish, French, English, Spanish, Canadian (should that make the list?), and probably more but I don't remember now. My favorite was when I met 2 girls from Jersey! Not "Dirty Jersey" that's "New" Jersey. They were from the real "Jersey", old Jersey which floats in the English Channel between France and England. Who would have thunk it? They were cool too, but I told them they had to work on their accents if they were going around telling people they were from Jersey. They didn't get the joke either.

I tried to see as much as I could in Vegas, on a budget that is, but I think I did alright. When you walk around everything seems so cheap; a steak dinner for 5 dollars, glasses for 2 dollars, a shirt for a dollar, drinks for 50 cents, a quarter for a dime, I don't know how they get away with it. Well, that's not true, it's the gambling, I know, but damn, everything else seems to cost nothing. I've been to China, and a number of Asian markets where things are supposed to be really cheap, but I think Vegas might have them all beat. Vegas had everything, and for almost nothing.

I spent almost a full week in Vegas, that's about half a week longer than I was expecting to stay, but I couldn't find anyone who wanted to hike and camp the Grand Canyon with me. So I waited...gambled and waited, drank and waited, laid in the sun and waited until I finally thought I could wait no longer. If I kept waiting in Vegas I would run out of money in no time. I was about to bite the bullet and just take the standard bus tour of the Grand Canyon that everyone else takes. I even began to tell myself that this would be good. 15 hours for $115 only about 4 hours that are actually at the Canyon, but I was gonna do it because I had to get there. The Grand Canyon was my number one destination on this trip. I couldn't get to Vegas and then not get there, I had to go while I still had money. I wanted to find someone to rent a car with, hike with, camp with, but after 6 days of asking everyone I ran into it didn't look like that was going to happen.

Again, I was saved at the last moment. I was sitting in the sun waiting for the guy at the counter to come back so I could sign up for the bus tour. I was ready to give in. Then I saw a guy looking at an Atlas. I thought about it, wondered my chances, then asked him, "where ya headed?" His response was, "I'm looking to hike and camp the Grand Canyon." Toby from Switzerland became my new best friend :)

Check out the pictures: