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Saturday, May 29, 2010
Las Vegas
Cont. From previous post:
All time fave, the Bellagio. Our last stop was Bally's before heading back to our hotel. And of course we decided to play our last slots of the night. I sat down at video poker and won $13! I decided to cash out and funnily enough, $13 was the amount I won the last time I was in Vegas. I know, high roller right here. Katie and I split our winnings because we are starting to become the same person anyway. Haha. We'll post pics soon.
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All time fave, the Bellagio. Our last stop was Bally's before heading back to our hotel. And of course we decided to play our last slots of the night. I sat down at video poker and won $13! I decided to cash out and funnily enough, $13 was the amount I won the last time I was in Vegas. I know, high roller right here. Katie and I split our winnings because we are starting to become the same person anyway. Haha. We'll post pics soon.
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We made it to California! But first I'll update you on our journey through New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. Back in Santa Fe on Thursday morning, we left at 6am, making our stay with Dan in Santa Fe a full 48 hours. That was the longest time we've stayed in one place besides Branson, MO.
So we set off toward Arizona on I-40 and made our first stop at the Grand Canyon. Katie and I both thought that it felt like a different country because of all of the different languages we heard. The canyon was beautiful and large beyond comparison. I decided that next time I do the canyon I'm going to be much more hard core (going to hike on the Kaibab Trail, camp in Phantom Ranch, float the Colorado River, and ride mules up the north rim) and I'm going to do it all as a shout-out to my dad, who did all of those things the year I was born.
But we had Las Vegas to get to so we did the brief touristy Grand Canyon trip.
After getting back on 40, we headed toward Nevada. As we were leaving Arizona, we got stuck in our first traffic jam, which we guessed was caused by the police checkpoint most likely established as a result of Arizona's new immigration law.
Finally we crossed over the Hoover Dam, our second epic site of the day. And we finally made it to Vegas. We finally found a room at the Tuscany for 70 dollars. A steal. I showed Katie my old stomping grounds from spring break 2008, which included the Luxor, Excalibur, New York, City Center, Paris, and my all time fave, th
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So we set off toward Arizona on I-40 and made our first stop at the Grand Canyon. Katie and I both thought that it felt like a different country because of all of the different languages we heard. The canyon was beautiful and large beyond comparison. I decided that next time I do the canyon I'm going to be much more hard core (going to hike on the Kaibab Trail, camp in Phantom Ranch, float the Colorado River, and ride mules up the north rim) and I'm going to do it all as a shout-out to my dad, who did all of those things the year I was born.
But we had Las Vegas to get to so we did the brief touristy Grand Canyon trip.
After getting back on 40, we headed toward Nevada. As we were leaving Arizona, we got stuck in our first traffic jam, which we guessed was caused by the police checkpoint most likely established as a result of Arizona's new immigration law.
Finally we crossed over the Hoover Dam, our second epic site of the day. And we finally made it to Vegas. We finally found a room at the Tuscany for 70 dollars. A steal. I showed Katie my old stomping grounds from spring break 2008, which included the Luxor, Excalibur, New York, City Center, Paris, and my all time fave, th
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Welcome to Cali!
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Friday, May 28, 2010
Welcome to Nevada!
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Boooooo traffic :(
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Welcome to Arizona!
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6am departure...New Mexico does have a welcome sign on I-40!!
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Thursday, May 27, 2010
Day 13: Cliff Dwellings
Today we decided to sleep in again and then go see some cliff dwellings. We drove about an hour northwest of Santa Fe toward Los Alamos and then entered Bandelier National Monument Park, home of the cliff dwellings of the Pueblo Indians. We learned that the national park was once home to two volcanoes that erupted millions of years ago, leaving the caldera that we walked through today. We hiked up to the canyon walls and climbed lots of wooden ladders, peering into the caves where the Pueblo people once lived. We also saw some cool petroglyphs. We then hiked another mile and reached the super duper cave dwelling, which we had to climb a series of rickety wooden ladders 140 ft up the cliff to reach. This was a ceremonial cave built for religious purposes, which was named the Alcove House. The cliff dwellings were pretty amazing to see and reminded me a little of Machu Picchu (a completely different set of ruins, but they still gave me an incredible amount of awe and respect for the people who lived, breathed, and died there).
And thus ends our stay in Santa Fe...tomorrow we'll have a long day of driving, big surprise. More updates from the Grand Canyon and Vegas to come!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Hiking on Sangre de Cristos Mountain outside Santa Fe
Shorts and hiking in the snow. Good combo, Katie!
Unwelcome Welcome
We were unwelcomed again into New Mexico, but we decided to turn around and get our Texas state sign. So here is the long-awaited Welcome to Texas and now we're saying Adios to Texas and Hola to New Mexico!!!
Day #12: Santa Fe
As I was driving west at about 2am this morning, the heat lightning was lighting up the night sky, creating an erie setting for our entrance to Roswell, NM. At one point, I saw what looked like a motorcycle headlight coming towards us on the edge of the horizon. Because of the hills, the light would come and go and then, it just disappeared. Who would be driving a motorcycle at 2am? It must have been an alien life form on a spaceship. That's my ultimate conclusion. And Katie concurs with the eeriness of Roswell. The night was not complete until we made a stop at a 24 hour Walmart and I bought an alien key chain.
Today we met up with my old Mizzou friend, Dan, in Santa Fe and slept away the morning. We checked out some of the many art galleries on Canyon Road and bartered for turqoise jewelry downtown. I was excited when I saw that Dan lives in an adobe house. Adobe is every where and Dan informed us that there is a city-wide ordinance requiring every building to be made of adobe.
In the late afternoon, we headed up to Sangre de Cristo mountain and did some hiking, which was a great way to work off the Mexican food we had for lunch and also get a beautiful view of Santa Fe and Albuquerque in the distance.
Thanks, Dan, for hosting us in Santa Fe and grilling dinner for us! We've had a great time! Hasta luego for now!
I-10 is a great road!
Right now, we're about halfway to Santa Fe and going strong! Next stop or at least highlight is Roswell sometime in the wee morning hours :)
All eyes are on the lookout for coffee/hot chocolate!
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