Viva Las Vegas

Today held an interesting drive from Visalia, CA to Vegas.  A fairly barren drive and then mass chaos on the roads, both ways.  Many people were leaving Las Vegas, but many were headed that way as well.

We normally travel in the April/May time frame, but due to school breaks for Nick and I we've traveled more in prime travel time.  As we left Yosemite there was a line of cars that probably had a two hour wait to get in to Yosemite.  Sequoia National Park was probably a 45 min line to get in when we went and endless lines everywhere as parking was non-existent and we had to take several shuttles to get around.  And today we got to our hotel and there was an hour line to check-in, a convention was taking place and every last one of the attendees got here before we did. lol.  Needless to say, everyone and their brother is on the road right now.

When we travel, we stretch a dime into a dollar.  Nick does quite a bit of research on all the hotels we stay at - they're cheap, but have good reviews.  Low amenities, but clean.  We pack a cooler or eat from cheap stands.  Whatever it takes to go on vacation.  :)  Interestingly, the most expensive place we stayed on this trip was the tent/cabin in Yosemite.  I'm writing this from the Paris hotel and it was cheaper than the tent/cabin with a double bed, covered by a tarp with a single light bulb... I guess all that electricity they were paying for with that single light bulb was really setting them back. :)

Anyway - Las Vegas... it's where the normal meets the abnormal.  There are so many everyday, normal people here and so many wild and crazy people here.  Every time in Vegas I'm interested in people's story.  Why do they come here to work?  Is it like Los Angeles where everyone is a waitress trying to be an actress?  Are they from here?  Anyway... it's always a  mysterious place to me when I'm here.  Past that... this town... hmmm... Always interesting for a few minutes, never hurts our feelings to see it in the rear view mirror.

That's a chicken bull people can ride sitting behind Nick.  It seemed amusing at the time.  :D

Well... you know... from somewhere on the strip.

Ceiling in the Venetian

Gondola rides - this one is from inside of the hotel

Mosaic of a Pepsi Bottle

White Castle, Walgreens, Denny's all in one spot... now that's just American right there.

Just two crazy kids

lol. 

The chair is a Italian bust/head

Recreation of Bernini's sculpture in Pizza Nova which we had the privilege of seeing for real during our time in Rome

Another view.  Didn't remember the falcon on the woman's arm, kind of cool.

Craziness of the strip - view of our hotel

We're Not Laughing Any More

We're staying in Visalia, CA at a lovely 50'sesque hotel.  Most of what I have seen of the town has that 50's vibe to it.  We got her last night and quickly made ourselves at home.  There was a big wedding at the hotel and some of the guests decided to stay and unfortunately, I almost lost my ever-lovin'-mind.  Our neighbors weren't partying too hard, but the walls were thin and there were people coming and going all night.  After a polite conversation at 12:30am and a not so polite front desk call at 2:30am, the part finally died down.  Unfortunately, I wasn't died down, so somewhere around 3:30am, Nick and I finally passed out.  Needless to say, I didn't do much laughing last night!  And, needless to say, we got a bit of a late start today.  Also, as I write this... there are fireworks going off... who knows... might be a long night again.  :D

We hit Sequoia National Park and despite the 4 billion people that had descended on the park, it didn't disappoint.  I have always wanted to see the redwoods in Northern California.  While those are taller, the sequoias are still very tall and much wider.  Some of these trees are estimated to be 3,000 years old.  What was happening 3,000 years ago?  The Zhou Dynasty was in its first year of rule... there was no city of Rome... Babylon was in decline...  yes... I looked all those up.  Anyway... they're some old trees.

View from room

Shot of drive through the park

Looking up, baby!

Pictures from our Big Trees Trail hike in the park 

I don't want to brag, but I lifted this tree all by myself.  ;)

 

Panorama view.  The fallen tree to the left is over a path and has a hole cut in it that people can walk through.  The tree in the middle is ginormous. 

Fallen giant

A new resident for the tree!

Still a tree hugger... but these trees are harder to hug

Beautiful views of a reservoir area on the way to the park.

And another.

Adios Muchachos!

Why Stay at Home and Bicker with Your Family...

Nick quipped as we walked through the park, "Why stay at home and bicker with your family when you can come to a national park and bicker with your family."  Needless to say, there were lots of families and lots of kids and a goodly amount of bickering.  :)  Nick heard several father's saying to kids more than once, "Get up!  You're fine!  Get moving."  Sometimes it wasn't in English, but we still knew what it meant.

We stayed in the park for two nights in tent/cabins.  They're a hybrid that basically is a tarp nailed to a frame.  You know the kind of thing that a bear could rip through, but could trap a human.  You know... those type of things.  It had one light.  No air.  No plugins. But it did have a safe. lol.   So... here's a bit of the journey the past few days.

06/30
After the adventures from the previous post Nick was still a bit wore down from being sick and laid in the 3000 degree tent trying to rest.  Yosemite had a theater area outside where I listened to a park ranger tell horror stories of people who died or had been rescued from various predicaments in the park.  Water is the number one killer.  The rocks are slick and the water can look peaceful in one spot but have a current that takes you quickly to rapids.

06/30
10:30pm - I headed to the hot box and tried to sleep.

11:00pm - a boy gets trapped in one of the few single stall bathrooms, which happens to be right outside our tent.  As he stands on the back of the toilet, Nick and I try to coach him through the locks in the bathroom from our tent while his uncle gets a maintenance guy.  

11:30pm - the maintenance guy arrives and inserts approximately 300 keys into the lock, but none of them work. Nick and I can't quit laughing.

12:00pm - the maintenance guy asks the kid if he's tried turning the handle (which of course he had roughly 4000 times by now).  We can't quit laughing.

12:30pm - boy is freed from the restroom.

12:35pm - man in tent 2 feet behind us won't stop talking as loud as possible.  We can't quit laughing.

07/01
3:00am - wake up freezing

6:00am - new maintenance man returns to bathroom to try and fix the lock.  Swears profusely every time he tries something.  Over here him from our cabin saying "there's another new problem!"  More swearing and drilling.  Nick and I are laughing hysterically.  You know that laughing you do when it's inappropriate, but you can't get it under control.

6:30am - man in tent two feet behind us recounts his weird dream to his silent, maybe imaginary roommate.  Can't. Quit. Laughing.

7:30am - Hit the canteen for breakfast, chased the bus down to take us to our hike.

8:30am - arrive at trail head for an epic painful beautiful waterfall hike.  There are some things you can only see if you work for them AND pay for them.  They're painful and they're not for everyone.

Start of our hike. Merced River.

Look at those boulders.  Humans come up about 1/2 way.

Headed up!

Climbing the steps to Vernal Falls.  It was killer.

 

See the mist.  It was like hiking in rain.

Lots of rainbows along the way!

Vernal Falls - 1st one.  Eerie seeing the water go over the side.  I couldn't watch for long.  Made my stomach queezy.

On to the 2nd Falls - Nevada Falls

Rocking the knee brace and the walking polls!

Top of Nevada Falls.  Again... couldn't watch too long... look how tiny those people are!!!!

Nick looks like he's suppose to be here.  I look like my skin should never see the light of day.

Headed back down John Muir trail.  Looking back on Nevada Falls.

After we got cleaned up and had supper, headed back up to the Tunnel overlook.  Beautiful view of the valley at sunset.  El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridal Falls visible.

Tent we stayed in.  Bear box where all food and toiletries have to be kept.

07/02 - Headed out of Yosemite

Final stop at Glacier Point on the way out today.  Half Dome is the star in this picture.