The prodigals return - GAR Day #17

Magnet #100 - I Heart NY

So, after a long drive from Montana back down to Salt Lake, we were to fly home to New York (and North Carolina) today, the end of a superlong trip.

After 17 days on the road, I was planning to take Monday off, just to recuperate from the trip. I probably would have just gotten into bed, and not left it until Tuesday morning. Oiy - I'm tired just thinking about it.

It was a lovely trip, and superfun trying to find magnets in my collection for joy magnetism to take the original Great American Roadtrip. And, I managed, too - with only a slight cheat here and there. Thanks for coming along with me!

Ironically, this magnet was the only one that I went out and specifically bought for this GAR series. Despite living here for 13 years, I didn't have a real I Heart NY magnet.

Anyway, this is doubly fitting, since I just saw Sex and the City on Saturday, and New York was truly a fifth major character in the film. Well, you know, what I saw of it through the tears and tears and tears. I'm not normally a big movie sobber, but I seriously was Sobby McSobberson for this flick. And, believe you me, I wasn't even a huge SatC fan to begin with!

But, whether you thought it was awesome or not, it seems that most women seem to be having the same reaction to this movie - which is, leaving the movie theatre, desperate to call and reconnect with every single close girlfriend you've had over the years.

Luckily, I just spent the last 17 days with two of them - thinking about it, it probably would have been great fun to end the trip with a midnight showing somewhere in Montana. If anything, had the trip gone insane and we with it, SatC would have sorted us right back out again.

GAR Track of the Day: New York, New York

People all over the world...or just UT today, I guess - GAR Day #14

Magnet #97 - Salt Lake City, UT

So today we were to drive from Arches over to Salt Lake City, for a quick pit stop on our way into Idaho for the night.

As usual, I had a million things on the docket for this town - main street, Mormon Tabernacle, etc., etc. I've never been to SLC, but I was so planning on doing the most comprehensive drive-by, ever. That's one of my specialties - drive-by tours...I mean, it was a few years before I actually stopped the car to see the Liberty Bell - and even then, it was only because they moved it from that glass-encased building you could see from the roadside, into its own facility. Look. It sounds Clark Griswoldy, but sometimes, that's all you have time for.

One thing I was looking forward to visiting on this day (and definitely will at some point) is the Golden Spike National Historic Site - Promontory Summit - where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads met, making the transcontinental railroad dream a reality. I mean, dudes! They re-enact the final spike being driven into the ground! How freakin' awesome! What? We've already discussed my love of trains.

GAR Track of the Day: Love Train. (Or, what Sarah Larson's no longer on. Yes, I'm still celebrating the George Clooney/Sarah Larson break-up. I might declare it a weeklong holiday, in fact.)

Well, it's no 40 days or nights - GAR Day #13

Magnet #96 - Zion National Park

...but today we were desert-bound - finishing up Zion, and then taking the scenic route to Arches.

And by scenic, I seriously was planning on us getting up superearly (like see the break of dawn over Monument Valley early), heading to Monument Valley, Four Corners, the Trail of the Ancients, Canyonlands, and finishing up with sunset at Arches National Park. Yes. All in one day. What?

And before you wonder whether or not we're big hikers, the answer is...two of us might be, and two of us could be. I'd like to think that we'd have been rambling all around these parks and trails. The reality is, I probably would have been sitting in the car, trying to convince the roadtrippers that we could just do the scenic drive...with strategic stops at the gift shops. (I mean, that's how we did Zion, last time around.)

Truth be told, I think this day was one of the ones I was a little wary of. It's the part where they caution you to carry one gallon of water per passenger, just in case your car breaks down. Holy moly! Really? And, like what if we'd gotten stranded out in the boondocks of nowhere, and had to walk somewhere, and tie our shirts around our heads and what if we got stuck out in the cold desert night and had to figure out how to make a fire! I mean, I know I learned a lot from watching TV, but honestly? Making a fire would be iffy for me. So yeah, I'm kinda happy I'm typing this post from my air conditioned desk.

I'm dedicating this particular blogpost to the fabulous NPS ranger at the Teddy Roosevelt Birthplace national park. The TR birthplace is right around the corner from work, and I wandered in to see if they had any NPS paraphernalia, and this guy took about half an hour to walk through my little GAR itinerary. He even tried to talk sense into me that this day wasn't going to work, and that we needed to split the day in two.

Three weeks later, my friends and I went to visit the birthplace, and he remembered me, and handed me a Canyonlands map. This ranger's probably one of the few reasons I regret not going...or, at least why I'm avoiding going to the birthplace again (so I don't have to tell the guy, who was very intrigued by this weird not-quite-cross-country trip, that we didn't actually go).

GAR Track of the Day: Desert Rose


eta:
I just wanted to add a bit of happy news on this momentous day. George Clooney and THATwoman Sarah Larson have broken up.

Good.

Wild, wild horses - GAR Day #12

Magnet #95 - Bryce Canyon National Park

So today, very early, we were to check out of the Wynn, and continue our Great American Roadtrip through to Bryce Canyon National Park.

This national park is just the most awesome park to ever park - it's like almost 60 square miles of gorgeous canyons and nooks and crannies, and towering formations called hoodoos, that formed horseshoe-like amphitheatres and other natural wonders.

I visited with my sisters a few years ago, and we ended up doing the half-day horseback ride through the canyons. Amazing. Seriously. Also, seriously painful. I had a horse growing up, so of course, I used this to parlay myself into a real horse, while the two younger sisters ended up on donkeys. Not sure it was the best idea I've ever had, but I sure enjoy lording it over the other two.

We were only allowed to have our cameras out at certain points during our trip - but they should have taken away the cameras, like when the Warner Bros tour guides locked our cams in our little golf cart. That probably would have helped - at least my cowpoke, anyway - he was the one who had to go back and retrieve my disposable both times I dropped it.

And, as we wended our way down the canyon, we had to ride single-file on the trail. What they told us, as we were literally hugging the canyon walls, was that they train the animals to walk - on the outside of the trail. Closest to the edge. The edge of a million feet with no safety net or guard rail. So. Freakin'. Scary. I mean, you look over your knees, and you don't see your foot, your stirrup, or the horses' hooves. You see canyon. Far. Far. Below.

So, while you're desperately clutching the horse's girth with both your knees, you're locking them up, and in a constant state of pressure. After a while, that pressure starts to take its toll. You begin to lose feeling below the waist, and then when you have that one bathroom break in the middle, you're limping to the restroom. Assuming you can even get down. I have never - ever - been in that much pain in my entire life. Whoa. And then, when we got back to the corral, middle sis was pretty much the most ashen I've ever seen a Filipino girl look. Heh.

On the other hand - I have to say, that canyon ride was one of the most exhilarating things I've ever done, so it was well worth the pain and the scariness. Surrounded by all the natural beauty - unhindered by concrete and tons of people - Bryce makes you realize that humans really are just a speck on this planet.

GAR Track of the Day: Wild Horses

Joy and sisterhood in Las Vegas

Magnet #75 - Las Vegas
Pictured left to right: baby sister, me, middle sister

So, a few years ago, for my baby sister's 21st birthday, middle sister and I decided to take her to Vegas. She was finally of legal age to drink and debauch!

It wasn't til we got there that we found out that she doesn't like to really do either.

So what do three of-age girls do in Vegas?

Gamble. That's when we realized we weren't so much table gamblers. Still aren't. But we do like to play the slots. And, man, did we play them. At almost every casino along the strip. Middle sister has a history of winning a couple hundred...so any kitty we managed to accumulate went to the next thing on this list:

Eat. Buffets. At Excalibur. At the Bellagio. I'm sure I'm forgetting somewhere else. Plus, we also used our casino winnings to eat at the nicer restaurants...nothing more decadent than blowing money you didn't earn on a 5-star meal.

Pamper ourselves. Yeah. No spas here. But, we did opt to stay in the Bellagio for two nights. And, there's nothing like being on the casino floor, needing to use the restroom, going to one and seeing the line...and then saying to yourself - Wait a minute!!! I'm a guest! - and running upstairs with your keycard. Awesome. Plus, props to the Bellagio for making us feel like we were superduperwealthy...even though we totally aren't.

Sightsee. I know, feels like all there is to do in Vegas is get drunk and gamble. But, honestly? We managed to do quite a bit of sightseeing. In town, we went to most of the major casino shows (the freakish animatronics at Caesar's, the weird pirate show at Treasure Island, the tigers exhibit at MGM?), and we of course did M&M World, and that weird gaming complex (baby sister climbed the rock wall like a little spider monkey). We even had time for a little art - there was a Fabergé Egg exhibit at the Bellagio art gallery. I know! It's like Julia's art gallery in Ocean's 11!

Roadtrip. We went to Hoover Dam and did the tour. We went to Lake Mead (pictured here), and just roamed around. Then, we also did a side trip out to Utah, to assuage the outdoorsiness of baby sister. Bryce Canyon and Zion, and a couple of state parks...lots of early mornings and late nights.

Ride horses. Well, ok, technically, that was in Utah, at Bryce Canyon National Park. And even more technically, only two of the three of us actually liked it. Baby sister loved it, I liked it (even though I've never been in so much pain in my life), and middle sister nearly passed out. (Yep, there's a magnet for that story later on.)

There are definitely more silly stories...but there's more silly magnets. Wait til you hear about Napi the moose.