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Loosest Slots in Vegas

April 26th, 2006

The rest of our time in Vegas was fun, with lots of contrasting adventures. Sunday was mostly a day of relaxing and for Aaron to take care of some last-minute business, and then we headed off to see the Hoover Dam. We went via Lake Mead National Recreation Area, where we saw, um, the lake, which was created by the dam and was very blue. It was also very windy out there, so we didn’t explore too much. When we reached the highway to the dam at the end of the park, we saw a huge line-up of cars, trucks, and RVs headed for the dam, and our host had warned me that if that was the case it would take much too long to drive the four miles to the dam and we were better off just trying again later. Seemed like sound advice to us, so we were back at their house about an hour after we left. That night our hosts took us out to dinner at the Elephant Grill (or Elephant Bar?), a place with a strange combination of dishes on their menu, including this wedge of iceberg lettuce covered in a weird dressing that had bacon and chopped-up hard-boiled eggs on it. There was a picture that I can’t imagine would ever entice anyone to order it. So we didn’t, and instead enjoyed a stir fry with tofu (Aaron) and a burger (me) and shared salad and fries, and enjoyed the free refills on soda, which seem to be a totally western (but not Californian) thing, since I’m enjoying lots of them in Denver, too.

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Pictures, Slowly but Surely

April 25th, 2006

Yosemite and Vegas pictures are up… more to come soon.

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That Banner Did Wave

April 23rd, 2006

When my brother, Aaron, and I made plans to meet in Vegas, it had very little to do with the destination–I’d bet the city was pretty low on both of our lists of places to visit. But he could find a flight there from NY for a decent price, and it seemed a reasonable amount of ground to cover–Vegas to Denver–in a week. A friend’s parents’ offer to put us up sweetened the deal–there’s certainly something to be said for staying with parents who don’t have a regular opportunity to dote on “children.” They take you out to dinner and/or cook for you, offer local travel advice, and send you off with lots of useful things like paper towels and plastic forks and knives.

Our hosts in Vegas (Henderson, to be more exact) had asked what we were interested in seeing in town, and Aaron had requested the “non-touristy” stuff. Seems Vegas has very little of that to offer, and they were convinced that once he saw the Strip he’d be curious to explore more.

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The Long Haul

April 15th, 2006

In the last week I managed to work an insane amount of hours finishing up a big project, went to a show, a happy hour, a drag-show birthday party, a performance by a transsexual who can sing anything (Johnny Cash to Journey and everything in between), brunches, lunches, and more. I also drove ten hours from San Francisco to Las Vegas! When I finally arrived at a friend’s parents’ house, it was a huge relief–until I had to get up the next morning and get right back to work! But I’ve just sent off all of the work files, and a couple of other business-related emails, and will be picking my brother up at the airport this evening! I never thought I’d make it to this point–done with work and ready for Aaron to come–but the long haul is over, and I am so, so, glad.

Next week, we’re headed through southern Utah to Denver–the first real leg of the road trip–and I’m so excited to have him along for the ride.

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The Snow Makes It

April 5th, 2006

Mia and I took a quick visit to Yosemite this past weekend, not knowing what to expect for trail conditions or weather, especially since it rained cats and dogs most of the way there. We woke up Saturday morning to the most blue sky I’ve seen in weeks (the Bay Area just completed its wettest March ever) and enjoyed a short but stunningly scenic day in the park, stopping for all the obligatory photo ops and taking a hike that got progressively more and more snowy until we decided we’d better turn around. In my view, everything looks better with snow on it, and after we’d been in the park about 10 minutes and I’d exclaimed about the snow about 10 times, I promised I’d keep it to myself. Inside, I continued to rave about how lucky we were to see the park in the snow. I wish we could’ve stayed longer, and that the road to Glacier Point had been open, but so happy to finally have some adult memories of the park, and to have Mia to share them with. Pictures soonish, but work and other social obligations (lunches with old co-workers, happy hour with former book club members, a long night out for the NCAA finals, a final haircut from the best stylist in the world, birthday party for an old friend) are definitely taking priority this week.

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Work and Fun

March 28th, 2006

I have a lot of work to do while I’m in the Bay Area, but luckily I’m managing to squeeze in plenty of fun, too, in the form of such treats and acitivities as a tasty mediterranean dinner, Italian movie, burrito, book release party, Italian dinner, workday lunch in downtown Oakland, happy hour with old co-workers, live music at a sushi restaurant in Albany, burrito, movie at “home,” yoga, brunch, Ellis Marsalis in concert, brunch at a Thai temple in Berkeley, a rather lush Sunday evening with a lengthy unofficial happy hour and too much food, Indian dinner, Super Scrabble, mediterranean lunch, and much more to come.

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Phase One

March 20th, 2006

Despite my moments of panic about getting everything done in time, I did just that, and everything came full circle–I was hung over the day I moved into my apartment, and hung over on my last day there as well, thanks to a night on the town for St. Patrick’s Day with my roommate and her friends (yes, I did try the green beer, for the first and last time). Sunday morning I felt much better, and after an early-morning breakfast send-off with my friend Jen at Hill Street Cafe I hit the road. The ride was uneventful, and Rolo performed like a champ, even through the grapevine (the 4,000-foot pass just north of L.A. on I-5–anyone know why it’s called the grapevine?). The snow on the mountains kept me entranced (and patient) as Rolo slowly chugged up the hills. After an obligatory stop at In-N-Out for lunch, and several more bathroom and fuel stops, Rolo and I arrived at my friend Mia’s house just in time to change and head into the city for her concert–she’s part of the San Francisco Concert Chorale, and last night they performed Carmina Burana at Mission Dolores Basilica. A fantastic start to my time in the Bay Area–topped off by a burrito (grilled chicken, super, no rice) at Cancun. I have a feeling there is more good music and plenty of fabulous burritos to be enjoyed before I go.

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If You Don’t Have a Reason to Be in LA…

March 14th, 2006

I can’t believe I’m actually leaving LA in less than a week. I’m in that mode of recognizing the last of everything: Last Sunday night, last yoga class, last Tuesday… I remember the same countdown before I left for my RTW trip and it feels similar–some pangs of things that I’ll miss, some moments of “I can’t believe I’m really doing this,” and many other fleeting feelings I don’t have time to really address right now!

Last night I told my yoga teacher that I’m moving, and she was envious. If it weren’t for her husband being a filmmaker, she said, she’d love to live somewhere else. After I briefly explained my situation, one of my classmates summed it up perfectly: If you don’t have a reason to be in LA, there’s no reason to be in LA. My thoughts exactly.

I also spent almost two hours at AAA (or rather, Auto Club of Southern California) yesterday, plotting my route with one of their fabulous employees–trying to hit some scenic drives rather than just take the interstate the entire way–and getting a TripTik and TourBooks and Campbooks for practically every state I’ll be crossing. I remember Mom and Dad getting TripTiks for some of our long road trips when I was a kid, and now I have one of my very own! Very exciting. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth on this year’s membership!

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The End of an Era

March 12th, 2006

I’m feeling good about the progress I’ve made with packing and such. But I’m also realizing how little cargo room I really have in my car, and am still trying to figure out how to maximize that space and what I need to ship that I had been planning to take in the car. Over the weekend I packed up my dear old stereo that I’ve had since junior year of high school, and it became readily apparent that it wasn’t worth paying $90+ to ship it to NJ and that I also can’t afford to have half my cargo space taken up by four boxes of stereo components, so I posted it on craigslist and sold it to a guy named Lew. I’ve been pretty enthusiastic about getting rid of stuff, but this was a little more poignant. It feels weird to have gotten rid of it, but I know it was the right decision. A nomadic lifestyle doesn’t really fit with a massive stereo. I know it doesn’t fit with 13+ boxes of books, either, but that’s another story.

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Going Postal

March 7th, 2006

I’m enjoying the freelance lifestyle of not needing to set an alarm to wake up in the morning, and I usually get up by 7:30 or so. Last night I checked the hours for the nearest post office and was all prepared to be there right when they opened at 8:30, but for some reason I was still in bed at 8:48! I got a move on and took my first six boxes over to be shipped, and it wasn’t nearly as much of a hassle as I anticipated–I was able to back in to a spot right by the (automatic) front door, and pile up all the boxes on the counter over several trips before I stood in line. I was extra nice to the postal workers since I plan to be making a few more trips in the coming days! I have P.O. trips marked on my calendar for nearly every other day, which will ideally keep me on track with the packing and shipping. I also picked up some more boxes at my local Barnes & Noble, which look like they’ll hold a decent number of books without getting too heavy.

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