Ely Nevada

Not just any town can have Wayne Newton AND Pat Nixon represented
on its Walk of Fame...

Home?

This will be our home away from home for the next few days..
While the remediation folks are tearing up our house, we're
staying at a local hotel. It's not home, but it's comfortable
enough.

Headed Home

Two days in Vegas is fun, but anything more than that is a
bit much for the senses. Add to the fact that it would get to
be 107 degrees, we were ready to head to the relatively
cooler Grand Junction. Our stay at Excalibur was nice as
we expected but we basically just slept there so we didn't
use much of the facilities.


A place we drove by while we were driving around town was
The Cleveland Clinic's Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. I'm
not sure if I like the architectural style or not, but it's
certainly different.


Before stopping for lunch at In-N-Out Burger (which is basically a
mandatory stop!) we went to a Trader Joe's grocery. We stop at one
any time we're in an area there is one and sadly, this is the closest
(or Albuquerque) one to our house. There aren't any in Colorado and
I've heard that the reason is because Colorado won't serve beer or
wine in groceries on Sundays and besides all of the other groceries,
beer and wine are big sellers at Trader Joe's. However, I was able
to find my favorite New Mexico Pinion Coffee and stocked up on it.
Lynn also bought some yummy hummus.


Just north of Las Vegas, on the way home, we passed through a tiny
part of Arizona. This section is totally cut off from the rest of the state
by the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. Interstate 15 cuts
through this section, called the Arizona Strip and also climbs onto
the Colorado Plateau here at the Virgin River Canyon. All very
pretty and interesting to know that the Colorado Plateau stretches
all the way from here to just east of Grand Junction...500 miles
away!

Day 2 in Vegas

We liked the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino a lot. It was
a lot like New York New York, but of course with a California
twist. The casino was pretty nice too, but they frown upon
taking photos there.


The best thing we liked about the Mirage was the pool. It
was pretty huge and in a natural-type setting.


We visited Circus Circus, and though it was ok, it did seem a bit
dated. However, we did catch a trapeze show there.


One thing that was pretty neat at Circus Circus was an indoor
amusement park called Adventuredome. We didn't ride any
rides, but because the dome itself is pink and there was lots
of rock like formations under the dome, it made us feel like
we were in the movie, Total Recall, which was set on Mars.


After having a really great Buffet at the Spice Market in Planet
Hollywood for dinner, we crossed the street to the Belagio, where
we watched the fountains. This is probably our favorite thing in
Las Vegas and I could watch it for hours!

Colorful Las Vegas

Our goal for our visit to Vegas is to see things we haven't seen
before. Last August, we did a good job of seeing the south end
of the Strip (South Las Vegas Blvd.) but didn't really see much on
the central and north ends of the strip. We started out at The
Venetian, where we saw these interesting looking umbrellas
decorating part of their shopping area.


I felt the Gondolas at the Venetian were a bit cheesy, but they seemed
to be popular.


We were really impressed by The Wynn. It's named after Vegas hotel
impresario Steve Wynn, who seems to own half of Vegas.


The Wynn is just impressive on the inside as it is on the outside.
These flowers and trees separated the hotel area from the casino.


All around the hotel lobby were these fantastic tile floors.


They had strange umbrella-type decorations in their bar, similar to
those in the Venetian...but these moved up and down.


Downtown Las Vegas definitely isn't the Strip. Way before the Strip
existed, this WAS Las Vegas. This is where you could get the cheap
buffets, cheap shrimp cocktails and see lots of neon. You can still
see lots of neon here, but they've covered the street with a cool
computer-screen type of display, stretching the entire length of
Fremont Street. While we were there, they played a pretty neat
display/concert-type display from the rock group, Queen.


It seemed that there were a lot more Elvis's around this year as well
as several Michael Jacksons and an Austin Powers.


Lots of neon though.








And what is Las Vegas without showgirls!

Hotel So

This week, I've been staying at a very cool hotel. The Hotel So.
It's modern, clean and for the most part, the staff is friendly.
It has a nice little bar/restaurant, free wireless internet and
is located in a really convenient location, right in the middle
of downtown. It's also very eco-friendly.


The rooms are really nice too, with all modern ammenities.
However, they are tiny tiny tiny. Small for one person, they
would be way too small for two people. However, it's pretty
economical and since I'm not staying in my room that much
except for sleeping, it works out fine. If I have to stay in
Christchurch by myself again, I'll probably stay here, but if
I'm staying with Lynn, we'll probably choose something more
roomy, like the Crowne Plaza or the Camelot.

A Sunny Spring Day

Late in the afternoon yesterday, I found out that I
would again be delayed and the soonest I will be
leaving Christchurch is October 4th (October 3rd in
the States). Oh darn. Another day in Christchurch
AND getting paid for it? A good deal I'd say. I also
received a note under my hotel room door that told
me that this morning, I would be moving to a different
hotel. I dumpier, not so nice place you might say?
No, actually an upgrade to the Crowne
Plaza on Victoria Park. The hotel I had been staying
at, the Grand Chancellor, was nice, but this new hotel
is even nicer, and I get a great view of Victoria Park
and am only two blocks from the Library (yes, that's
important to me). Plus, I still continue to have it paid
for by the company! Apparently many of us had to
move from our old hotel because people are starting
to back up, arriving in Christchurch. I guess they
felt that we have been here so long, they would upgrade
us instead of the new arrivals. Works for me! The
Crowne Plaza is also where several of my
friends are staying, including my good friend Susie.
We went to lunch today at the Cafe Torenhof. It's a
Belgian Beer cafe and one of Susie's favorite places
to eat in Christchurch. I had never heard of it before
but it was located close to the hotel and it's definitely
a place I want to take Lynn the next time we are here
together. Belgian beer is some of the best in the world,
and this didn't disappoint. Really good stuff. Also,
mayonnaise for our French Fries! Definitely a plus!

I'm in New Zealand

After a very long trip, I'm in New Zealand. More precisely, I'm in
Christchurch. This is my 8th trip flying from the States to New
Zealand and I'm getting ready for my 10th season on the Ice.
Lynn won't be with me this season as she's taking the season off,
staying in Grand Junction. However, I'm sure I'll be very busy and
it will go quickly. As usual, it seems, it's very rainy and cool in
Christchurch. I'm sure that the weather here won't affect the
first flight going out tomorrow, but weather on the Ice might.
I've checked into the Hotel Grand Chancellor. It's a very nice
place and I have lots of room, my own bathroom and television.
Things you definitely can't take for granted in some of the hotels
that are offered when we stay in Christchurch. I went to Countdown
this afternoon and picked up some goodies that I'll want on the
Ice and managed to keep it down to a reasonable price since
everything is very expensive. Blame the stock market on the bad
dollar exchange. When the stock market does well, the dollar does
poorly on the international (and NZ market) Tomorrow is
ECW (Extreme Cold Weather) clothing issue day. It should go
smoothly.

Vegas Baby!

One can do Las Vegas cheaply...well, at least more economically.
We've had a great time seeing the sights, but boy are our legs
and feet tired. Vegas is definitely not a place for the weak of
heart or stamina. We're staying in the Excalibur, which is not
the fanciest of hotels/casinos but it's very nice and family
friendly (not sure if that's good or bad).


It amazes me how much electricity and water is used in this
place. A lot of the water is recycled and used over and over
again but the power usage has to be phenomenal! I really
do like all the bright lights though and it's something that
everyone should see at least once in their lives. Plus, now
we've seen BOTH Eiffel Towers!


We both have our favorite things about Las Vegas. Lynn
likes Caesar's Palace the best and I like the Bellagio. I think
we both agree though that the coolest thing is the fountain
at the Bellagio that plays in conjunction with music every
15 minutes. Very moving.

Crossing The Desert

Of course this photo is staged. If it wasn't, someone else would
be writing this blog entry as Lynn and I would be too busy
counting our money!


Our hotel, the Red Lion Hotel and Casino in Elko was awesome!
Really really nice and although we aren't gamblers, it was fun to
have a casino in our hotel. It also had a Starbucks right inside
the casino (we did take advantage of this). I guess they want their
gamblers to stay wide awake so they can gamble longer.


Elko is a nice town. We're not looking for a different place to live,
but if we were, Elko seems like it would be a good place to live.
We stopped at the Visitor's Center which is actually an old ranch
house built in the 1800's that was moved into Elko and now
besides serving as the visitor's center, also doubles as a small
museum to the family. Very interesting.


As we crossed through the last 2 hours of desert and mountains
of northeast Nevada, we came to the towns of West Wendover
Nevada and Wendover Utah. This big sign of "Wendover Will"
greeted us as we entered West Wendover.


These towns struck me as being rather odd. Pretty much the only
reason West Wendover exists if for gambling. I could not see a
single house in the town. Only casinos and other service related
businesses. Crossing into Wendover Utah there doesn't seem to
be a lot there either except Lynn said she did see a few houses and
there is a school, firehouse, etc. I'm guessing Wendover was a tiny
place until they decided to build West Wendover to lure gamblers
from Salt Lake City.


After leaving Wendover, we began the crossing the the Great Salt
Lake Desert. Almost immediately we came to the Bonneville Salt
Flats. What a cool place! Definitely middle of nowhere, it's also
a destination in it's own right. Bonneville is a huge flat expanse
of...Salt! For miles and miles. It looks just like the Ice sheet at
McMurdo in it's stark whiteness. It's also a place where every year
land speed records are set by very fast cars. It was fascinating.


In about an hour, we came to the Great Salt Lake. We'd been to
Salt Lake City before, but never had a really good view of the lake.
it reminded me of an odd combination of a Great Lake and an Ocean,
although it's actually 3-5 times saltier than the ocean. We did see
a sailboat out in the distance, but I read later that there are no
fish since it is way too salty.


We like Salt Lake City. It's a city that has great parks,
transportation, friendly people etc. etc. If...we wanted to
live in a big city. We took a drive through downtown since
it had been almost 10 years since we've been here.


We missed our turn off of I-15 to shortcut it to I-70 and as
a result drove though one of the most beautiful interstate
drives in the country. The San Rafael Swell, west of the town
of Green River, is truly amazing. Huge red rock formations,
great vistas and just plain interesting scenery. We plan to
go back and explore the area further.

Colorado-Oakland-Reno

It seems that we can never stop traveling. This morning, we flew
out of Grand Junction's friendly little airport and after a stop in
Salt Lake City, found ourselves in Oakland, California. We had
to fly to Oakland so that we could pick up the Truckasaurus.
Truckasaurus is Lynn's sister Lenlee's Toyota 4Runner that we'll
be borrowing for the next 6 weeks. It also means a very long
drive for the next few days, as we slowly make our way east to
Indiana to visit my Mom.


This drive is an adventure for both of us as we have never driven
the stretch between San Francisco and Colorado. After leaving
Mill Valley, we made the obligatory stop at In-N-Out Burger and
feasted. I mean, who can't stop at In-N-Out Burger if given the
chance? Crossing the Sierras wasn't a problem since it's July, but
I wouldn't want to drive this route in the winter since it gets literally
feet of snow at a time! We stopped at Donner Pass which is famous
in history for the struggles (and not-so-tasty food choices) of the
participants on their way west.


The Sierras are beautiful though and although we couldn't spend
much time here on this trip we vowed to return someday. Lots of
really pretty mountains, lakes and vistas...with clean running rivers.
Similar to the mountains of Colorado...but different.


Once we crossed the Sierras we found ourselves in Nevada.
Neither of us had been to Nevada before so it was something
different. We stopped at a CVS drugstore in Reno (it was huge!)
and they actually had 20 slot machines in the store! Probably
not uncommon for Nevada, but certainly different than what we
are used to. We drove a bit longer than we wanted to but we had
reservations at the Red Lion Hotel and Casino in Elko, Nevada
and we pulled in about 9:00. It was a really nice hotel. When
we checked in, they gave us a coupon book for free stuff and
after we ate dinner, played $5 worth of free slots and ended up
losing $10 more. They wouldn't make a lot of money off us,
but when in Rome...or I guess in this case, Elko...

A Visit To Otavalo

After an "interesting" ride north on
the Pan American Highway in a taxi in
which we were pretty much cargo, we
arrived in the small Indigenous city
of Otavalo. It´s about a two hour
drive north of Quito. It´s famous for
the Craft Market held every Saturday
and we did our part to contribute to
the local economy! I´ll have lots of
great photos to share in a few weeks
when we have more reliable internet
connection but we´ll be spending the
next 7 nights at the Hostal Dona Esther
in Otavalo before we leave on the 25th
for the city of Cuenca, farther south
in Ecuador.