Corporate America Runaway

You are invited to come on a journey and experience the cultures of the world.
Celebrate Sherry’s 16 month, 23 country voyage.

Cultural Landscapes and Portraits - Exhibition by Sherry Ott
May 16, 6:30 - 9:00PM
51 W. 14th St. #2R (btwn 5th & 6th Aves)
New York, NY 10011

Some of you may know that I made a list of things that I wanted to accomplish when I arrived back in the US last January. One of the items on this list was to have a photography exhibition highlighting my global travel and cultural experiences on my memorable journey. With help from MANY friends, I am finally going to make this happen!

If you have followed my travels on Ottsworld and live near NYC, I hope you take this opportunity to join me for this event. If you have friends or family that are interested in other cultures, photography, or simply want a fun evening out in New York meeting new people, then please pass this invite along. Everyone is welcome!

If you aren’t near NYC, but are interested in my photography, I am re-launching my Photography website on May 16th and you will be able to purchase prints online. Please check it out after the 16th!

I will be leaving NYC again soon, so I hope that I have a chance to connect with you at the exhibition in person!

Thanks for all of your support as this journey continues!

I’ve been in New York City for 5 months now; it’s time for a change.

During this time in NYC I’ve been challenged with many things; reverse culture shock, living on a tight budget, finding my ‘place’ again in the world, taking teaching classes, trying to get business ideas off the ground, finding medical insurance, and starting a freelance career in writing/photography. I’ve went through all of these challenges with one goal in mind, to get back on the road in that everlasting search for happiness. I needed to figure out my next steps that would keep me from re-entering the regular corporate working world, and get me back on the road with a small income.

I’m happy to say – I finally have a plan! Being a former project manager, my feeling is that a plan is like a drug…your miserable when you don’t have it, but when you realize your plan, it’s ecstasy!

Drum roll please….
In the beginning of June I will be moving out of my apartment, selling 80% of my possessions, and heading to the Midwest for the summer months of June/July. I will have the chance to travel to some new places, see family, and have a proper summer vacation.
In August I will come back to New York City for a couple of weeks, soak up every last bit of westernized culture and cleanliness that I can, and then take off on a worldly journey again! My first stop is Nepal where I will be doing volunteer work in villages for 3 weeks. Next stop will be in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, my new home for the next year. Starting in mid September, I have accepted an ESL teaching position with an English Language School in Vietnam. I will teach adults English on a year contract – becoming a true expat and international citizen!

My hope is to take my 30 days of vacation I receive while teaching and do more traveling around the area into SE China, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Mongolia. I will also re-visit some places such as Singapore, Bali, Borneo, Cambodia, and of course travel through Vietnam.

I will also use this time to continue freelance travel writing/photography, blogging, and working on the Briefcase-to-Backpack startup (more to come on that)! No rest for the weary!

Over the next few weeks – check back on the blog as I will go into more detail about some of this stuff – and most importantly – I will be writing about my experiences of liquidating my life in search of a dream to be free form a desk and cubicle!

Photo: Since I’m in the process of selling off all of my posessions, my friend Linda sent this photo to me as a joke!

I used to say that my cat, Palucci, had love for only one person; that person used to be me. However, when I decided to do my long term travel last year I knew I had to come up with a new home for her. This task was not as easy as one might think. Sure, she’s cute, well kept, soft, playful, loving, cuddly…but only to me; everyone else she hates. Not only hates, but uses her good looks and fuzziness to lure people in and then bite them. I keep the Neosporin on hand as blood has been drawn many times. Her feisty attitude never really bothered me, in fact I kind of liked the fact that I was the only one in the world that she loved. She protected me…from everyone. She hated men that I dated, kids, friends; except she did have a bit of a soft spot for my mom, but who doesn’t?

I had an equal amount of love for her, I had her since she was a kitten 9 years ago. After 7 years, I became allergic to her; but even then I opted to take a myriad of allergy medicine every day instead of getting rid of her.

My good friend Linda was witness to my emotional melt down two years ago; no one could take my cat while I traveled and I was completely distraught trying to figure out what to do with Palucci. I was leaving in 3 months for my journey and needed a solution. I couldn’t just leave Palucci behind; she was my family. Linda took pity on me saying “I’ll take your cat if you want; I was going to get one anyway. I wanted a nice cat, but that’s ok, it’s only for a year.” Problem solved!

I took Palucci to Linda’s home in Storrs, Connecticut a few weeks before I left the country. It was a tearful parting, but I knew she was in good hands…Linda that is. I knew that my cat only had love for one person and soon she would forget me, and start loving Linda. She’d be adorable, cuddly, talkative, playful…all for the sole attention of Linda.

Photo: Linda and Palucci
Sure enough, I was right. As I traveled the world (allergy pill free), I had updates from Linda. She and the cat were getting along amazingly well. Linda loved the cat, the cat loved Linda…a perfect match. So when I came back to the US after 16 months of traveling, I had a big decision to make yet again. Do I take my cat back?

I knew what the answer had to be…it could be nothing else than “no”. I was still deathly allergic to her, I had no idea how long I was staying in the US, nor where I was going to live; and the cat was perfectly happy. I had to give her up for ‘adoption’ to Linda. She was Linda’s cat now. However, I had lifetime visitation rights.

When I arrived in Storrs, it had been 20 months since I had seen Palucci. I wondered if her little pea brain would remember me, but mostly I wondered if she would hate me. When Linda and I walked in her door, Palucci was there, just like old times, purring and looking for attention. Yet after the normal minute of rolling around she stopped, stared, and ran away to hide. I got my answer, she definitely remembered me. In the past when she would run and hide it was because she was scared; normally associated with me moving her across the country to a new apartment. She would go find a little nook and stay there for hours until she realized that we weren’t leaving this new place.

I believe she was definitely scared when she heard my voice and smelled my scent, she ran and hid because she thought I was going to take her away again. Eventually she came out of her hiding place, and slowly checked me out more. I think the whole experience confused her. This cat that had love for one person, now had a dilemma. She would come to me and cautiously check me out and let me pet her, then she would go run to Linda. Eventually, as we sat on the couch, she came and sat between us not really able to resolve who her loyalty should go to; the past or the present.

After two days at Linda’s playing with Palucci and hanging out, I was able to steal away a few precious moments and memories. I was relieved that she didn’t treat me like other people, she didn’t bite me, she wasn’t bitchy, she didn’t hiss. Instead she fell into old habits with me, cuddling, playing, and sleeping with me. I was also able to see how much Palucci loved her new owner and home; Linda provided her more attention and love that I ever could have. I was also able to realize just how allergic I still was to Palucci as I wheezed with asthma and my eyes watered. In the end, it was clear that she (and Linda!) had been very happy with the last 20 months, and that they would continue to be going forward. I was thrilled that everything had worked out so well. I was also thrilled that Palucci remembered me; she not only remembered me, but she still had saved a little unconditional love for me – the person that gave her away. I had been wrong; she was able to love more than one person.

Fourteen days, twelve states, and approximately 4,100 miles. Coast to Coast…what a fun voyage! There were so many things that I enjoyed about the overall voyage – a chance to see the diverse cultures within my own country, to challenge some of my perceptions, and to eat copious amounts of fried food…what more can you ask for?!

I looked at the trip as if it were a movie preview; it gave me a small taste of what it was all about and I could decide if I wanted to go back and see the whole thing sometime. With just two weeks time, you aren’t really able to get in depth into any one area. The trip helped me see an area, get familiar with the activities there, and take a mental note on how I would want to spend more time in the area in the future. One of the ‘previews’ that I loved was the Grand Canyon and all of the Utah National Parks. We actually were able to see many of the sites; however, we didn’t really get to experience them. I was longing to put on my hiking boots, backpack and get dirty and sweaty; or sign up for a week long rafting trip…but there was no time for that…it was just a preview. The full movie would have to be seen at a later date.

I feel lucky that I was able to do this trip with Kathleen, it provided us a chance to reconnect since we’ve both been out of the country for a long time. It’s not often that you get to spend 14 days with a friend in a car; thank God that we got along! Granted – we did have some fights – mainly over directions at a time when our blood sugar was low; but we persevered, got on the right track and made it to a Sonic burger diverting a full blown screaming argument!

Some of the most fun we had was going into gas stations and picking out junk food for the trip; items that we hadn’t eaten since we were teenagers. But if you’ve ever been on a road trip, then you understand the need to munch. We had a never ending array of munchies and bad food consisting of HoHo’s, beef jerkey, M&Ms, fruit pies, chips, cheetos, fig newtons, chex mix and fruit loops. This may be why our complexions were all of a sudden back to looking like a pimply 14 year old by the time we arrived in California.

The most expensive part of this trip was the cost of fuel – especially since we were driving an SUV. Since rising gas prices seem to always be in the news, I decided to conduct my own research. Every time we stopped for gas, I recorded our price so that we could determine the cheapest and the most expensive state for gas:
Washington DC - $3.53/gal
Virginia - $3.21/gal
West Virginia - $3.43/gal
Kentucky - $3.25/gal
Tennessee - $3.09/gal ****Cheapest!
Oklahoma - $3.25/gal
Texas - $3.29/gal
New Mexico - $3.35/gal
Arizona - $3.25/gal
Utah - $3.47/gal
Nevada - $3.59/gal
California - $3.99/gal *****Most Expensive!

You spend a lot of time looking out of windows when you are driving hundreds of miles a day. You have a lot of time to think while looking out those windows. I used this trip to make some big life decisions; decisions that I couldn’t seem to make while I was sitting in my apartment. Somehow, sitting in the car for hours provided me a change of scenery, and a chance to map out a plan for my near future. I saw many strange sites out the window, including 23 Walmarts. I also saw signs; some funny, some bewildering, and some that I used as ‘sign therapy’. They were the signs that actually put a few things in perspective on my path to making life decisions and prompted me to act.
Sign in Tennessee: “ You can’t plow a field just turning it over in your mind.”
Sign in Utah: “If opportunity doesn’t knock, then build a door.”

The one sign that we seemed to see most frequently was the road crossing signs. You know the ones, _(fill in the blank)_ Crossing - warning you of what may be crossing your path ahead. Up until now, I was very familiar with the Deer Crossing signs; however, this cross country journey opened my eyes beyond leaping deer in our path. We saw crossing signs for all kinds of animals: elk, cows, pigs, donkeys, steers, and even tractors. The things that actually did cross our path were only deer, cows, and dogs. However we both screamed when we were driving along a desolate highway in Utah and all of a sudden a huge vulture that was on the side of the road happily munching away at road kill was startled by our car. It started to fly away with the LARGE piece of road kill in it’s claws, The road kill was too heavy for it, and it dropped to the ground next to our car as we sped past. The vulture just about dropped it on our car! Luckily it was a failed bombing attempt!

Overall the trip was great. Sure, we were able to accomplish our goal; moving Kathleen’s car to the west coast; however it was much more than that. I was able to see places I’ve only heard about, and determine where I wanted to come back to. I was able to drive again (woohoo…it was fun being back behind the wheel)! I tried new foods, and gained a few pounds and pimples. I went to states that I had never visited before. I was able to spend time with a good friend, and I was able to make new friends. Finally, I was able to put my life in perspective again. These are the things that make a trip successful.

Thanks Kathleen!

Photo: Pacific Ocean along Highway 1

Happy Cows Come from California

When I lived in California there was a commercial that ran frequently for the dairy association. It had cows in beautiful green pastures with rolling hills; the tag line was “Happy cows come from California”. I had never really given much thought to it – until we entered the rolling green hills of California.

We decided that our last day of travel should be a memorable one. As we looked at the map we had two options – taking interstate 101 up to San Francisco (about 4 hours of driving) or taking scenic and famous Highway 1 up the coastline to San Francisco (about 6 hours of driving). I’m sure you can guess what we chose. We felt that a fitting way to end the 2 week trip was to enjoy our surroundings, take our time, and simply soak it all up. Plus, surprisingly neither one of us had ever been on Hwy 1 south of Big Sur, so it was a chance for us to see something new.

As we took off from our interstate hotel and drove into the California countryside it was as if I went from a Lawrence of Arabia into the Sound of Music. There was a notable change in our surroundings as we sped towards the Pacific Ocean; there was moisture in the air! Over a week ago when we left Oklahoma and entered into Texas Kathleen said, “This is the last time we have moisture until we hit California.” From that point on we were applying Chap Stick, eye drops and nose drops as the desert landscapes sucked the moisture out of us and left us looking and feeling like raisins. As we were driving through the flat, stark desert lands, we would have gripping conversations to pass the time such as “Do you prefer tropical-humid-heat to desert-dry-heat?” Personally I think they both suck, one is terrible for my hair and the other for my sinuses – you really can’t win. However, today it was nice to simply change from one to the other – especially at this time of year. California is pleasant at this time of year - green, fragrant, and in bloom.

We drove through the rolling green hills and we were both rather speechless staring out at the picture-perfect countryside. Cows dotted the hills standing out against the vibrant green meadows. I kept thinking about the Happy Cow commercial – I felt that it was definitely ‘truth in advertising’. Hell, those cows looked so happy to be grazing in the green hillsides that I wanted to be want of them! They looked as if they didn’t have a care in the world; the warm ocean breeze blowing through their ummm….hair? They were taking their time munching on grass which I thought to be similar to humans having a wheat grass shot at Jamba Juice. Life seemed pretty good for them.

As we drove further West, pretty soon, we could go no further; we had arrived. We stopped the car and stared out at the Pacific Ocean before us. This was a powerful moment. The skies were blue, the sun shining, the temperature perfect, the ocean breeze lightly blowing; it was one of those overwhelming moments of perfection. I thought to myself ‘I can’t believe that we just drove from across the whole country’. There was something very meaningful about it; my reaction actually surprised me. I have looked at the map of the United States a million times, but it was no longer just a piece of paper, now it had meaning to me.

We saw signs for the Hearst Castle and neither of us had ever been there before so we decided to stop for one last roadside attraction. William Randolph Hearst built this amazing 90,000 sq. ft castle/house (a testament to someone with too much money) along highway 1 near San Simeon. We drove into the visitors center and it felt as if I had entered Disney Land. A huge parking lot, shuttle buses, beautifully manicured lawns; no, there wasn’t some dollar bill mascot. Unfortunately the prices were like Disneyland too - $20 for an adult ticket. Now I had a dilemma. For someone with no job you start to evaluate and make decisions on things in terms of value…such as – do I really want to see the house of a rich man for $20 or do I want to have a nice lunch on the coastal highway with a glass of wine?

Photo: Our lunch view…much better than the Hearst Tour!
Kathleen and I visited the gift shop and the museum – but passed on the tour of the house - opting for lunch instead! We hopped back in the car and drove north on highway 1 stopping to photograph some of the vistas and smell the wildflowers. We found a cute, picture-perfect place to stop for lunch. It was charming; a little restaurant and bar perched on the cliffs over the ocean. We took our time soaking up the sun and enjoying California wine (thank god as I was getting a bit tired of Bud Light) and healthy salads. We reminisced how we had survived the fried food of the South and how nice it was to be back in a state where the only salad wasn’t Iceberg lettuce and a tomato!
Click to enlarge all of the California wildflowers!

We drove into San Francisco and there it was…the wall of fog that defines San Francisco. The fog in San Francisco creeps over the hills like an eerie, slender hand grasping your shoulder, giving you chills literally. When I lived there, I was one of the strange people that loved the fog, it was different yet dependable…every day at 4PM in the summer, it came rolling in. It was so different from where I grew up in the Midwest. Driving out of the perfect California, sunny day into the grey fog bank of San Francisco seemed like a fitting way to end the trip.

We made it!

Photo: Death Valley California

View Map of our Route

500 Miles Through the Valley of Death

We bid Vegas farewell with a drive down Las Vegas Blvd. It’s not often that someone from the Midwest and the East Coast get to drive their car down Las Vegas Blvd…so we thought we better do it while we had a chance. Sure, it would have been better in a convertible with a scarf tied around my head like Jackie O…but our Jeep Cheroke and my baseball hat would have to do.

We made a big decision today; one that would cost us time and miles. A decision that made us sweat. Instead of heading straight towards San Francisco, we decided to head to a destination below sea level, Death Valley. In order to make it to Death Valley, we had to drive about 200 miles out of our way which basically meant that it would take us one day longer to get back to San Francisco. Even after 2 weeks of cross country travel, I wasn’t hating the car and driving yet, so the thought of seeing Death Valley seemed like an opportunity we should seize.

So – instead of following the mass exodus out of Vegas towards LA, we went north instead, deeper into the desert, deeper into the heat. I woke up this day with a terrible sore throat, it had bothered me for days, but today I couldn’t ignore it, I was sick. I’m sure Kathleen was really happy to be stuck with me in a car for 500 miles as I was hot, sick, grumpy, and hacking…but she had no choice!

We drove to the small town of Beatty, outside of the entrance into Death Valley and picked up supplies. It honestly felt as if we were going into this vortex for days and never going to come out. We made sure we had a full tank of gas, we bought numerous bottles of water, sandwiches, chips, M&M’s (you never know when you are going to need chocolate), and we washed our windows…we were ready to enter the Valley of Death…it sounded incredibly ominous as if I were a kid again entering a haunted house. The road was narrow and like a roller coaster – little dips that put your stomach in your throat. I imagined that the road had actually melted and that’s why it ended up all warped…hmmm…maybe I actually had a fever with my cold. Death Valley is actually a National Park, so I got out my Annual Park Pass, ready to flash it to the person taking money at the ‘gate’, but there was no gate. There wasn’t even a person. There was simply a vending kiosk that requested you to pay your fee. I was actually a bit freaked out that this park was so brutal that they didn’t even have a welcome gate and employee/ranger. For a moment I did wonder if we were driving straight into hell. We took a look at the map and plotted our course through the valley, rolled down our windows, cracked open our waters, started munching nervously on M&M’s, and entered the park.

Here are the facts; Death Valley is the lowest, driest and hottest valley in the US. It is the location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 ft below sea level. It holds the record highest temperature in Western hemisphere and world’s second highest temperature overall at 134 degrees. It certainly makes you want to put on sun screen – which of course I forgot to pack.

It was a desolate drive. You could see the heat rays coming up from the ground making everything in the distance seem a bit fuzzy. We both wondered in amazement what crazy settlers would have ever stopped here and decided to try farming. There weren’t many that did it – but there were some that tried. There was a small oasis with a campground (ewwww…who would camp here?!) an actual visitors center where rangers dished out helpful info about how to get around and reminded everyone to drink a lot of water. They pointed out some good things to go see that required a bit of off roading; once again, thank goodness we had a Jeep.

Our first off-roading stop was the Devil’s Golf Course. A short drive off the main road into what appears to be a dried up field of coral. When you looked closely – it was all salt formations. I went to go tee off, but wondered how I would ever find my ball in this sea of white! Actually – I have no idea why they called it the Devil’s Golf Course – since it obviously wasn’t a golf course…but it was definitely worth the off-roading stop.

The valley is surrounded by canyons, but since we were watching time, we skipped the canyon viewing since we had already seen the ‘grandest’ of them all. Instead we went to the salt flats….which is pretty much how it sounds. A perfectly flat part of the park that was dusted in salt, making the whole valley floor appear bright white. This was also the lowest point. Years ago this area was actually full of water, however the water dried up, and the salt remains. It’s not going anywhere anytime soon. We walked onto the flats where I felt like I was literally cooking – at least I was seasoned…salt…duh. Bad joke I know. However – my curiosity did get the better of me and I tried to find a little ‘clean’ part of the salt that I could break off and taste. I still feel like I have an iron stomach from traveling India and Africa…so a little salt off the ground couldn’t hurt me! I have to say that it didn’t really taste like salt to me…maybe it just needed a little margarita mix.

We saw all the sites we had time to do and drove a long route out of the valley. The sun was beating down on me and I wasn’t doing well. Poor Kathleen was stuck with all of the boring driving, so when we arrived back in civilization, we stopped for Dairy Queen and I took over the wheel. At this point we had to haul ass to make some mileage. Granted – I’m not the person to put in the drivers seat when you have to haul ass, so this should be a good indication of how tired Kathleen really was! We lumbered along on the hi-way and eventually took some scenic routes to try to avoid going into LA. The route took us along side Edwards Air Force Base. Of course being girls, we had no idea what they did at Edwards – but after much discussion we determined that it had some association with space shuttle landings. I know more about shoes than I do about rockets. We googled it and learned that it was the home of the US Air Force Test Pilot School. Too bad we couldn’t stay around this area for the night, we finally could have met some eligible men on this trip!

The sun was going down but we decided to continue pushing past Mojave towards Bakersville where we would stop for the night. As we were driving a lovely back road enjoying the scenery, we all of a sudden noticed a beautiful carpet of orange. Kathleen looked in one of our guide books and realized that this carpet of orange was actually poppy fields in bloom! The orange flowers basked in the sunset were an amazing site. It made the drive all that more scenic.

We finally pulled into Bakersfield around 8PM, checked into a Motel 6, picked up some Wendy’s, and some Bud Light – and celebrated our 500 mile day. Only one more day to go before we hit our destination of San Francisco. I was a bit sad that it was coming to an end, but happy we survived DeathValley!

Un-glitzy Vegas….

When Kathleen and I decided to make a one night stop in Vegas, we started reminiscing about past trips we’ve taken there. Wild times - dancing, skimpy dresses, gambling, clubbing, parties, shows, and many drinks. Las Vegas is the glitzy desert paradise, where people come to see and be seen. I just love Vegas. We discussed how we had never really done the ‘older’ Vegas. We had not visited the old relics; the casinos of old Vegas before their sad demise to dynamite and the glitzy new Vegas. We had never done cheap, gaudy vegas…the kind where you eat at a buffet, gamble at the old casinos and went to topless shows. Well, this was our chance…considering we were already on a budget, the Bellagio wasn’t really within our means on this trip; therefore, we decided to see the side of Vegas that we hadn’t really seen much of…Vegas on the cheap.

The sad part is that we were so cheap that we couldn’t even afford to stay at the cheap hotels (which aren’t very cheap any loner!). Luckily Kathleen opted to use her Hilton points to ensure that we had a bed for the night! We stayed at the Hilton on the strip. What’s that, you’ve never heard of it? That’s for good reason…because it’s banished down at the end of the strip nestled between Circus Circus and the Sahara – two old relics that are hanging on. Plus, the Hilton on the strip was really the Hilton Family Vacation Hotel. Yes, that’s right, family. There were kids in the hotel and no casino which seems rather anti-Vegas in every way possible.

After going to the pool, and having a much needed drink, we struck up a conversation with the bartender to find out just how to do Vegas on the cheap. He was full of advice for us; now we had a plan. We dressed up in our best travel clothes that we were rather sick of by now, and went out walking on the strip. It was warm….very warm…a great feeling considering we started our day in Bryce Canyon freezing in the snow! We went next door for a quick gamble at Slots-A-Fun. You have to love that name. Slots-A-Fun was a casino in front of Circus Circus that offered cheap entertainment – 1 cent slots. Woo hoo…I could play all night! I wondered if I could get free drinks while playing with my pennies. We even splurged and played the 25 cent slots…losing all of the change from our combined wallets…some things never change. We were starving and decided that if we didn’t get out of Slots-A-Fun pretty soon we be chowing down on their half pound hot dog for 99 cents. It was actually starting to smell good…scarey! Worth noting, not only did Slots-A-Fun have mystery meat for 99 cents, but they offered free donuts and coffee to its early morning gamblers!

We went across the street to the Peppermill Diner, a recommendation from our bartender. The Peppermill is an anchor on Las Vegas Blvd – oozing of neon and tackiness…so much so that you really can’t do anything but enjoy it. We sat in a huge round booth and surveyed our surroundings. The place was packed full; bachelorette parties and businessmen. I about choked on my water when out of the blue and pink neon came a cocktail waitress dressing a long black evening gown with a slit up to her…you can use your imagination. Boobs were hanging out as they always seem to do in Vegas, as she asked us for our drink orders. I looked around and had to laugh…this was a diner…just a regular 24 hour diner – what was this cocktail waitress doing here? Oh – that’s right, it’s Vegas – home of boobs, booty, and booze.

The food waitresses were dressed a bit more conservatively, yet not much. The food was your typical diner food; huge, greasy portions. We saw them bring some desserts out to various tables. I willing to bet that there was no dessert that wasn’t as big as my head and less than 2000 calories…it was insane. We passed on dessert and opted for beer instead. We wandered into the Fireside Lounge; the Peppermill’s answer to romance. As we entered into Fireside, we were assaulted by more neon, more slinky waitresses, more round velvety booths, and one giant bubbling fire pit in the middle of the room. The Fireside Lounge is also a Vegas staple. In fact, a few years ago it was voted one of the top 10 bars to make out in across America. Too bad I was with Kathleen…I’m sure she was thinking the same about me. If I thought the diner was tacky…well then, I was naive. The room was anchored by the fire pit; basically a small, bubbling hot tub with a flame coming out of the water burning eternally. Around the ‘romantic’ bubbling fire pit were lounges that you could slink into and make out with your date apparently. We had a beer and both sat there watching the ‘sites’ while not really saying a word to each other. I think we were in shock; or mesmerized by the mirrored ceilings and neon; or quite possibly the array of fake boobs that were paraded in front of us barely fitting into their plunging necklines. This wasn’t the place to be for an A cup…I think I would have quite a complex if I lived in Vegas.

We left the Fireside in order to check out the Sahara hotel and casino down the street; a place for cheap gambling and more people watching no doubt. I’m used to going to all of the upmarket hotels, casinos, and clubs while in Vegas, so the Sahara was quite a shock. Sure – it was the same loud, bright, party atmosphere as the other more upmarket hotels/casinos, but it had one thing that the others didn’t…quite a unique clientele. The Sahara wasn’t filled with the weekend parties from LA or San Diego – instead, it was filled with the less attractive, less plastic tourists and locals. I had to stop and wonder how we fit into this motley crew…definitely not plastic…the rest, I’m not sure!

We quickly gambled away our allotted money on blackjack and decided to go listen to the lounge band as at least that was free. It was as if I walked into a wedding reception in the Midwest. The band was trying hard to generate some interest and excitement, but the only people out on the dance floor were an older couple (about 60 yrs old), dressed in a suit and the woman was dressed in something that looked like it could have been a prom dress a few decades back. The lovely lady also wore a hat with some fake flowers on it – reminding me of an Easter bonnet. They danced around in a quirky fashion to the band covering U2…a very strange sight indeed. In fact, I wasn’t sure what was more disturbing – this scene or the bountiful fake boobs surrounding me. Yet – at the same time, I loved it all. This is Vegas – quirky, plastic, loud, tacky…and most of all…fun.

Photo: Arches National Park, Utah

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks…Utah Parks.

We left Monticello, Utah on yet another snowy morning. We had a late start today, which was a bit concerning since we had intended to try to do the Utah National Park trifecta today….Arches, Bryce, and Zion Parks. Granted, it was pretty poor odds that we would make it to all of them, but we decided we’d try our best to get as far as we could.

We left the snowy high elevation of Monticello and went down to Moab, home of the Arches National Park. However, our first stop was at House in a Rock – a roadside attraction that Kathleen loved so much she had to show me. The red rock dotted the landscape of Utah, sure, it’s beautiful, but who knew that it could also be a family dwelling. Near Moab, carved literally into the Canyonlands, Albert and Gladys Christianson built a completely functioning 5,000 sq. ft. home inside of a rock. They spent 12 years carving it out. Kathleen and I took the cheap, quick tour; it was definitely a hit on the quirky road side attraction list. It actually started as a diner for the miners and Albert and Gladys decided to add on – or maybe I should say ‘add in’. They drilled further into the rock and made a 3 bedroom home complete with fireplace and electricity.

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For all photos of Monument Valley - click here!

The Beehive-less state

As we traveled across the country we noted some of our favorite state mottos and nicknames.
Some were rather obvious:
Tennessee – The Volunteer State
Kentucky – The Bluegrass State
Texas – The Lone Star State
Arizona – The Grand Canyon State
California – The Golden State

Some were a bit less obvious – you had to use your imagination a bit:
Arkansas – The Natural State
Virginia – Old Dominion
New Mexico – Land of Enchantment

Then there is the one that made absolutely no sense to me at all:
Utah – The Beehive State

We saw many things in Utah worth noting. Utah has some of the most stunning landscapes I’ve ever set eyes on. It had geological rock formations that were mind boggling. As we traveled the backroads and national parks of Utah for 2 days, we personally saw many different types of wildlife such as deer, elk, turkeys, mules, and even ostriches. But not once….never ….did we see a bee, let alone a beehive. Hell, I didn’t even see anyone selling honey. We were utterly baffled as to why Utah’s state motto was ‘The Beehive State’! I personally thought the Utah motto should have been “The non-Alcoholic State”, or it could even be called “The Mormon State”…but bees…that’s absurd. I really didn’t even see any flowers!

The Grand Canyon was stunning, but Utah took my breath away. As we drove over the state line from Arizona to Utah from the south east corner, we immediately entered an area called Monument Valley. It was quite a welcome into Utah as random orange colored rock formations stood tall in the middle of flat desert land. It reminded me of Southern Thailand with huge rock formations jutting out of the water, but instead – this was the desert – something I had never really encountered before. We decided to stop pay to get a closer look. Here’s some trivia, Monument Valley has been the setting for more Western movies than any other site in the United States. The unique sandstone formations, the Navajo Indian Nation and the Four Corners Monument define this vast, open desert region. Monument Valley is not a national park, instead, it is located on a Navajo Indian reservation, however at a cost of $5 a person, the Monument Valley drive was still worth the admission! However, it is not recommended that you eat prior to taking the ‘scenic drive’ around the monuments – else you may need a barf bag. The road is not paved (not really sure what they are doing with that $5 a person – but it’s not going to roads), it’s gravel and not very well maintained. At least we had a Jeep Cheroke, however the people in the 4 door sedan didn’t fare as well – it was really slow going for them. Kathleen of course loved the dirt road as it brought back memories of 4 wheelin’ for her! I decided that the road was really only fun for the driver…not the passenger.

Photo: This is no Bee…
It was a 17 mile drive around the valley and we even spotted mountain goats, sheep, and wild horses…but for the record, no bees were found. The orangish color of the rock formations against the blue sky was beautiful – a great introduction into the beauty of Utah.

Our stop for the night was Monticello, Utah – a small town of 2,000 people at an altitude of 6000+ ft. Why Monticello? It is where Kathleen’s step-mom, Barb, lived…that’s right…time to start mooching off family members for accommodation! When we arrived there it was nice to know that we were staying put for a day. Actually sleeping in the same bed for two nights in a row sounded like heaven. I went with Kathleen and did the relative rounds – meeting her step-family all over town. The town had an amazing view of the mountains, was cozy, and it even had a large horse shoe park. Who needs baseball when you have a horse-shoe pit?

The next morning we woke up to a sight that I wasn’t expecting to see again for months…snow. Yes, snow in mid April. Good thing we had nowhere to be as it ended up snowing and blowing all day. That morning Barb’s mother came over to hold a ‘cooking class’ for Kathleen and me. We had to get up early because Vincente was teaching us how to make eggs with green chilis and homemade tortillas…yum! A good, hearty breakfast for a snowy April morning! Vincente was a breath of fresh air. At 81 yrs she had spunk and creativity like I only hope I can have when I’m her age! She showed up wearing a little apron that said Torres Tortillas.com; a hand-stitched gift from a friend. I don’t think that Vincente has ever even used a website, so it was cute to see her wearing the apron. We sat around in our pajamas watching it snow and eating fresh tortillas and green chilis…all in all, a pretty good morning! The day continued on in a lazy non site-seeing fashion with movies and card games. It was a nice break from being on the road.

Our final push to the coast remained ahead of us. After a day of rest and belly full of tortillas and chilis, we were ready to go experience the rest of the parks in Utah – on a quest to fine those famous Utah bees!

Grand Canyon or Bust….

For all snapshots of the Grand Canyon - click here!

As we drove closer to the Grand Canyon I had visions of the Brady Bunch heading out in their wood paneled station wagon for their Grand Canyon trip. The Brady’s got ‘locked up’ at a ghost town before they reached the rim of the canyon – so I was paying special attention to our navigation, steering us clear of ghost towns, to ensure that the same wouldn’t happen to Kathleen and me in our Jeep Cheroke. After all, the last thing I wanted was to end up in some jail in a ghost town being held hostage by some crazy man who thought I was stealing his gold…thank goodness we averted that disaster!

The only visions of the Grand Canyon that I really had was from that Brady Bunch episode…it was 3 parts of which one was named “Grand Canyon or Bust”…so I had to give it a nod. However, now I was going to be able to experience it for myself and I was rather excited to see it.

In fact – it was my one demand to Kathleen when we started talking about making the cross country trip. I said I would go if we could stop at the Grand Canyon as I had never seen it before. During my international travels, I became rather sick of people asking me if I had been to the Grand Canyon – I felt rather pathetic for having to say “No, I haven’t visited on of the largest landmarks in my own country.” It was as if I were saying, “I voted for George Bush…I think he’s great!” People looked at me as if I was crazy. I needed to remedy this situation!

We left from Flagstaff in the morning after I introduced Kathleen to a Midwestern restaurant staple that she had never heard of – Village Inn – home of great breakfasts and pies. As a kid it was a special treat if we went there…then again – I was also excited about Denny’s as a kid…so maybe that’s not saying much. After breakfast we treated our trustworthy car to an oil change. After a week of travel and close to 2,000 miles, it was the least we could do.

Finally, we were on the road to the Grand Canyon. I had a hard time imagining how this desolate land that we were driving through was just going to open up into a gigantic canyon. As we came closer to the park entrance you started to see the cracks in the earth…they became bigger and deeper. The Little Colorado River ran through this area outside of the park carving an impressive path through the landscape already. It was hard to believe that there was more to this. Finally we came to the park entrance. This is where my annual park pass really started to pay off…we sped through the $25 entrance fee by flashing our annual park pass, feeling as if we were veteran park go-ers already.

When it comes to the Grand Canyon – the first look is the best look. There’s nothing like it when you first see a spectacle like that – after about an hour in the park though – you start to notice the canyon less – and after a whole day there, you say…”canyon…what canyon?” Our brain adjusts I guess. My first look was magnificent. It was certainly grand…no doubt about that. We visited the South Rim of the Canyon. You learn just how vast it is when you read the brochure and it tells you that the average width of the canyon is 10 miles across to the other side. To simply drive to the other side, it would take about 5+ hours to get to the North Rim by existing roads.

We spent the day in the park taking in the views and hiking along the rim trail. The steep drop-offs were not good for the vertigo challenged, I was a bit amazed at how little railing there was. Normally at National sites they are so worried about people getting hurt that they go overboard with precautions. Yet here it was pretty simple to wander off the edge. In fact, we heard on the news they had pulled the body of a missing man out of the canyon earlier that day. I took precautions near the crumbling parts of the trail! I watched the hikers come up the trails and it was a bit torturous for me. Normally in a situation like this, I would be hiking the canyon, not simply viewing it from above with the other tourists – I would want to experience it. Yet, we did have a time limit here as we had to keep moving along on our route, which meant there was no time to hike down to the bottom, stay overnight and hike back up the next day. So – I considered this first viewing of the Grand Canyon not to be my last. I would come back one day and hike it properly – hopefully before my knees have given out!

The park was actually packed with people everywhere we went due to Spring Break vacations. This is when I started seeing the RV nation called Cruise America (an RV rental company). My first thought was – I wish I had stock in that company. The RV’s were everywhere! I fought the crowds and made it out to the rim to watch the sunset that evening. The wind had picked up and it was whistling through the Canyon with force. I braved the cold and tried to capture some of the colorful canyon light at dusk.

We stayed in the park that night at one of the lodges. Quiet, cool, clean…perfect. That night Kathleen and I enjoyed watching the exciting NCAA finals at the bar in the park lodge over some beer. We were entering Utah the next day, therefore this was our ‘last drink’ of sorts for a few days. I was happy to celebrate my first trip to the Grand Canyon. I now have an answer for people who ask whether I’ve seen the Grand Canyon or not…mission accomplished. Plus, I didn’t even get lost like Cindy and Bobby Brady!