TravelStream™ news feed for member mbberg on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/mbberg en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:50:54 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mbberg/1/1216122300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mbberg/1/1216122300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/mbberg/1/1216122300/tpod.html Wed, 13 Aug 2008 07:50:54 -0400 Westward We Go

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Hollywood, California, United States

We arrived in Long Beach on time. In fact we were a little early, so we had lunch at the airport then picked up our rental car. We were supposed to get a 4 door sedan, but we were "upgraded" to a mini-van. Driving a mini-van would ruin my image if I were at home, but I will never see these people again so I can live with it.

At this point I would like to send a BIG THANK YOU, to Bonnie. I am a man and real men don't need directions. Unless they are driving in LA, in which case they need all the help they can get. However, in listening to Bonnie about LA traffic, and at her encouragement, I got off my wallet and bought at GPS. It may have been the best money I spent on this trip. The difference between traffic here and in DC is fairly simple. There is just as much of it, but here it seems to keep moving. In DC you go then you stop. Here there is always something in motion, like motorcycles driving between cars, people passing on the right, or on the highway a never ending stream of lane changes. The GPS allows me to focus on traffic, and not on reading signs. Sarah has even named the GPS. Miranda Magellan.

Thank You Miranda, and Bonnie!!!

So after experiencing our first round of driving in LA traffic we arrived at the hotel. We were able to check in early. There is nothing much to say about the hotel. It is nice, clean, centrally located, and safe. That is all I wanted in a hotel, since we are not hanging out here much.

We dropped off our stuff and decided to head to Hollywood. We braved the side roads, listened to Miranda tell us where to go, and amazingly enough, ended up at the Chinese Grauman Theater.

http://www.seeing-stars.com/immortalized/ChineseTheatreForecourt.shtml



Once there we walked along the sidewalk and saw the stars on the ground. As luck would have it we came upon one of the great female actress stars, among others, of our time:



That's my opinion anyway.

In the forecourt we saw the foot prints of John Wayne, Johnny Depp, Will Smith, Peter Sellars, Rosiland Russell, Bette Davis, Julie Andrews, and many many more. The court was full of all kinds of people. There were tourists, street actors, vendors, wannabe Hollywood girls with big sunglasses, and just about every other thing you can imagine.



The picture below is us with the Hollywood sign behind us:




This is Sarah with a Silver Mime:




All in all it was a cool day. Since I was a little kid watching Adam-12 and Dragnet, I have always wanted to come to LA. It took me 45 years, but I am here. What is better I am getting to experience it with Pat and Sarah.

Type to you later,

Mike, Pat, and Sarah.
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Sterling, Virginia, United States

After:

flying nearly 4000 miles
driving over 1500 miles
taking over 800 pictures
having hundreds of memories
eating 48 meals out
writing 21 blogs
visiting more than a dozen cities
staying in 5 different hotels
looking at one Master card bill
vacation is over.

We all had our own way of knowing it was over. Pat marked vacation as being over when she had to clean the cat box. For Sarah it was going to the orthodontist. For me it was turning on my work computer and having nearly 400 emails waiting for me.

I have to remind myself that it is these mundane things that makes vacations special. Without work there would be no vacation. More importantly work is what makes vacation special. The two things go together like PB&J. Unfortunately, there is alot more peanut butter than there is jelly. You can't be on vacation all the time, but it would be nice to be on vacation more. Maybe some day.

Just as we all knew it was over in a different way we all had our own favorite things. I polled everyone for their top 3 so in case you were wondering here they are:

Sarah:
1) San Diego Zoo
2) Tiger Splash
3) Slide Rock

Pat:
1) San Diego Zoo
2) Pink Jeep Tour
3) Griffith Observatory

Mike:
1) Sedona
2) Grand Canyon
3) Hollywood

I could have predicted Sarah's top 3. Anything to do with animals or water and she is there. Pat surprised me with the Pink Jeep Tour coming out #2. Never thought she would enjoy a bouncy jeep ride down 45 degree inclines as much as she did. I surprised myself with the Sedona thing. I would never had guessed it would have come out number 1. It is the only place I have ever been where no matter which direction you look you see something so naturally beautiful. Sedona is where God played with dirt and made mud castles.

This is my last entry. It has been a long time since I have had an opportunity to write for anything other than work. Work writing takes all the creativity of an amoeba. I hope you have enjoyed reading this at least half as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

I know many of you wanted to see more pictures. Pat and I have spent the last 3 days uploading around 800 pictures to the below website. Just click on the West coast folder and there are 18 sub folders listed by location. If you want a specific picture sent to you just send me an email with which folder it is in and the photo number. I will be happy to send it to you. You can also use Shutterfly to print pictures. They use Target I believe, and it is cheap.

http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view.sfly?fid=500aea84806f23246d9889752d9a603c

Thanks for following along,
Mike, Pat, and Sarah
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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

We left the Hoover Dam and a half hour later we were in Las Vegas. We were staying at New York New York which is located at the south end of the strip, across the street from MGM Grand, the Tropicana and the Excalibur. New York New York from the outside resembles the New York City skyline with a roller coaster running through it. After all we are in Vegas.



To get to the registration desk you must first pass through a sea of slot machines. Sarah's statement about this was, "Wow!" Of course the slot machines are right next to the registration desk, so hearing the clerk was a challenge. Once we got to our room, which had a wonderful view of the roller coaster, we went for a swim. The cool thing about that, besides the water, was when you floated on your back and looked up it was like floating on a street in New York City.

We then went to exploring a few the hotels adjacent to ours. The MGM Grand was a very nice hotel with real lions in the casino. There were two guys just sitting in the glass cage with the sleeping lions, who must be slightly more intelligent than the ones in Out of Africa, because they were not running around trying to get the lions agitated. In fact it looked as if they might fall asleep.

After that, it was over to the Excalibur hotel which is on the other side of the street. The Excalibur was a bit more themed than the MGM Grand, but it also appeared to be older looking. By the time we were done looking at these two hotels Sarah was tired so we went back to the room.

The next day we toured several of the other hotels which consisted of over the top lavishness like the Venetian, to glorified hotels like the Tropicana. I am not going to waste a bunch of time describing all of them, because it is just something you need to see to draw your own opinion. Besides, I'd rather make fun of people...

Pat and Sarah watch a show on Saturday nights called What Not to Wear. I have sat through enough episodes to get the general principal behind it. Some earthy, schleppy person who make obviously poor fashion choices is recommended by their alleged friend to be made fun of on national TV. In exchange, the schleppy person receives guidance from two self appointed know-it-alls (Clinton and Stacey) and is given 5 grand to spend on a new wardrobe. The person receives the money, buys clothing , claims to be reformed, then after the know-it-alls return to New York, the schleppy person probably returns to their previous bad fashion habits, sells the new wardrobe on EBay, and makes $2500 for their trouble.

By now you are asking what does this have to do with Las Vegas. Bear with me. I am getting there. I am no fashion expert, but I have found a way to cut out the alleged friend to find the poorly dressed person. Just hang out in Vegas. Here is a list of fashion issues I observed:

50 plus year old man, jogging pants, white socks and thong sandals.

70-ish man in dark purple shirt and lighter purple polyester pants with patent leather shoes, a handle bar mustache and a bad toupee.

Obesity and spandex.

Obesity, daisy duke shorts, and large snake tattoos.
Leisure suits.

Mini-skirts on women over 60.

Muscle shirts on men with bodies like mine or even worse.

Orange hair and green mohawks.

You get the idea. I could not believe these people went out in public dressed like this.

Another aspect of Vegas I had not fully considered is the fact that sex sells and Sarah is 12. This problem manifested itself in a couple of ways. On our last night of vacation, at Sarah's request, we went to Margaritaville, Las Vegas. Having been to the one in Myrtle Beach we thought we knew what to expect. But it is Vegas and everything is PG-13 at a minimum. Dinner went as normal. 6pm rolled around and the people on stilts came out. Still normal. The volcano began to erupt. Still nothing new. Then things progressed in an unexpected direction. A young lady, who was more than capable of wearing Daisy Dukes and a bikini top without offending Clinton and Stacy, came out dancing around the room. She then sauntered up the volcano; danced some more, slid down a slide into a giant Margarita pitcher located next to the bar. She stirred the Margarita by dancing around in it, got out and danced some more on the bar. I am not sure how much of this registered with Sarah, but I was slightly uncomfortable. This is not the worst part of the evening.



We then went to Treasure Island where they have an outdoor "Pirate" show in front of the hotel. The show is actually a 20 minute dance review in which some poor male pirate is captured by a dozen scantily clad female pirates. The plot continues with him wanting to be rescued by his fellow male pirates. Please. The only male in Las Vegas I could think of, who would want to be rescued from this group of "pirates", was Elton John who is currently playing at Cesar's Palace. Anyway, after the male pirate ship is sunk they swim to the girl pirate ship where some interesting dancing occurs. Eventually all the men are kicked off the ship, left with nothing, and the girls sail away. Fill in your own metaphor here. This was still not the worst part.



Sandra Bullock fact insertion - Treasure Island and its ships were used in Miss Congeniality 2. Unfortunately, Sandra did not dress like a siren in that movie.

We then went to see the Freemont Street Experience. It is hard to describe, but imagine more than 3 city blocks, covered with a canopy of millions of LED lights. Now turn up "American Pie" by Don Mclean, and combine the music with generational pictures. It makes for a pretty remarkable 5 minute show.


Now for the worst part. Brilliant me decided that since it was dark it would be cool to drive down Las Vegas Blvd. and look at all the hotels lit up. This next story needs a little set up. At the beach they have planes flying over dragging advertising signs behind them for Dominos pizza, restaurants and other beachy things. In Vegas they use a line of trucks with billboards on the back driving up and down Las Vegas Blvd. The billboards advertise Vegas acts, shows, and women who will come to your hotel room.

I, of course, end up next to a line of these trucks stuck at a light. Sarah, of course, asks what these trucks mean. I, of course, remain silent deciding this is a maternal teaching moment . Pat proceeds to explain this is a way for men to get a date. Sarah proceeds to read the whole billboard out loud and then goes into a routine that I just can't remember well enough to type. Pat was laughing so hard she was nearly crying. I giggled then tried to figure out who I could beat up. There were no targets of opportunity in this normally target rich environment.

We got back to our room with no other sexually laced incidents. Thank God. We packed up and flew out the next morning via Southwest Airline. I have only a couple of observations about this. We were checked in by Mike Carr who has been featured on the A&E show "Airline". He was nice and complemented Sarah on how tall she was. Finally, after traveling all over LA, San Diego, Sedona, and Las Vegas we meet someone who has been on TV.

I did not mind flying Southwest, with the exception of their hybrid kindergarten/cows going to slaughter boarding system. Lining up in numerical order, and standing around is stupid and serves no purpose.

I will type a final blog this weekend and direct you to a place where you can look at all of our pictures if you wish to.

Until then,
Mike, Pat and Sarah
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Boulder City, Nevada, United States

In an earlier blog I lamented about LA roads and traffic. Well it seems only fair that I spend a few blog minutes talking about Arizona roads and traffic. Before you read the next paragraph I want you to understand that I have really come to love the state of Arizona. The people, the varied scenery, and the varied weather make it a state that is easy to fall in love with quickly.

Based on the fact that I drove on 4 of their major interstates, (I-8, I-17, I-10, and 1-40), and several of their major state roads, (AZ-93, AZ-89, AZ-89A, AZ-85, AZ-179 and AZ-64), logging in the neighborhood of 1000 miles Arizona roads, I now consider myself a self appointed expert on Arizona driving.

First of all, I applaud their speed limits. They are reasonable at 65 to 75 mph depending on the roadway. They also appear to be more of a suggestion than a limit. I am usually a letter of the law kind of guy when it comes to highway speed limits, but I was able to overcome and adapt. Difficult though it was. That is the good, now for the "I don't get it."

There is apparently some kind of state law that requires the closing of one lane of the highway/roadway approximately every 15 to 20 miles for "road work". That is fine if there is someone working on the road. However, most of these sites were unmanned without any equipment in the area. The roads do not seem to appear to have anything wrong with them. It's like road closures are kind of state hobby or something.
They also like to close very large sections of the road and doing a little work everywhere. This was most prevalent in Sedona. The entire area from Oak Creek to Sedona was under construction. Yet they were only working on one section in Uptown Sedona. It seemed to me that everyone would be better served by closing smaller sections, completing the work, and moving on to the next section.

Here in the Metro DC area we have our fair share of, "What rocket scientist thought of this?" traffic disruptions. In fact we have far more. I think the construction site disruptions in Arizona are more glaring because unlike DC, their traffic actually moves. Ours just kind of sits still, crawls a few feet, and sits some more. They also seem to complete projects, which is a foreign concept around here. Enough about road travel and on to our trip.

Our last stop in Arizona was also our first stop in Nevada. The Hoover Dam. It is another place that I just had to see. I have watched several A & E/History/Discovery Channel specials on the project. It is a sight to behold. A giant slab of concrete (some of which is still curing) holding back Lake Mead. 110 men died creating this modern marvel. I can't think of it or look at it without also thinking of the bravery and determination it took to build it. Even after seeing I still can't wrap my mind around it.

Speaking of things that can be difficult to wrap your mind around, the dam is located partially in Arizona, and partially in Nevada. So as you cross over the dam you change time zones. You go from Mountain Time in Arizona to Pacific Time in Nevada. So depending on where you stand on the dam you could be it could be 9am on the left side of your body, and 10am on your right side. Unless of course it is summer in which case the times are the same since Arizona does not recognize Day Light Savings Time. Just a fun fact I thought I would throw out for everyone. I love you Melissa.

The pictures of the dam are above. Note the crystal clear blue/green color of the Colorado River at this point where it leaves the dam. It is a much muddier brown 150 or so miles downstream in the Grand Canyon. I have included a picture of the Colorado in the Canyon so you see the difference.



Next Blog: Sin City!!!
Mike, Pat, and Sarah.
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Grand Canyon, Arizona, United States

We checked into our hotel last night. We knew there was not air conditioning in the room. Most of the rooms (that we can afford) do not have air conditioning. That is ok because at night it gets down to the low 50's with most day time highs on the rim of mid 80's. Unfortunately the maids do not leave any windows open, so it took several hours for the room to cool off.

What is worse, we have the room that is 5 feet from the world's noisiest ice machine. There are no other rooms available on the rim so we are stuck. It is the only bad hotel experience we have had so I guess we should count our blessings. We cannot recommend the Yavapai Lodge as a place to stay at the canyon. Book more than 6 months out and try to get the Bright Angel Lodge. We will stay off the rim in town before we would stay here again.

Enough complaing about trival things like sleep. There is a huge hole in the ground to explore and explore we did. This morning was spent on a bus tour (with stops) out to the east side of the canyon. It was interesting and we learned a few things about the plants, wildlife and history of the area. The scenery was outstanding. Pictures just do not do it justice. Here are some anyway.

We then spent the afternoon walking the rim around the lodges. We saw a Navajo Indian chant and dance. We saw California Condors soaring overhead. We watched a thunder storm roll down the Colorado River. We watched the canyon change colors a dozen times. It is obvious why this is one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Words are not available to me to describe the Grand Canyon, and anything I would try to say would be an injustice. That is two places that left ME speechless. Go figure, me at a loss for words. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here you go:





We observed stupid people take stupid risks with themselves and worse, with their children, on the edge of the canyon. I am not sure why I am surprised at the depths of human stupidity, but some of the things I saw actually did surprise me. Parents holding kids on the wall as they lean over the edge and encouraging the kid to lean farther was one example of why I don't like crowds. I did not think the National Park Service would condone me holding some of the adults by their ankles over the side so I didn't. There is always someone around to piss me off.

Tomorrow we leave for Las Vegas after a stop at the Hoover Dam.

Type to you from Sin City, because not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Mike, Pat, and Sarah
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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States

We sadly had to leave Sedona this morning. It is undoubtedly one of the prettiest places on earth. No matter which direction you turn you see something that makes you stop and stare. Even though the rocks stay the same they always look different in the various lights and clouds. I have always enjoyed watching the ocean early in the morning. Before last week I never would have thought I would enjoy looking at rocks as much as I do the ocean, but I do.

The good news is we headed for one of the 7 wonders of the world. The only place I could think of that could follow Sedona without being disappointing is the Grand Canyon. On the way to visiting the world's most famous hole in the ground in the we stopped at Sunset Crater, a less famous hole in the ground but definately worth the side trip. It is a former volcano located in north of Flagstaff, Arizona. The park looks like something you would see in Hawaii. Soft powdery lava cinders, and sharp craggily lava stone. We spent a couple of hours there looking at the beauty of lava 900 years after the destruction of it caused. In some ways you felt as if you stepped back in time.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Crater

We then continued north and ate lunch at the only place you can eat lunch on Route 89 north of Flagstaff - a little town called Cameron. It is on a trading post built in 1915. Let's say we weren't expecting much. Let's also say we were wrong. If you are ever offered Navajo fry bread do not turn it down. I am sure the cholesterol level was high, but the taste makes it worth it.

http://www.camerontradingpost.com/

We left Cameron and about a half hour later we entered the Grand Canyon National Park. On the entire drive we were teased with glimpses of the world's prettiest hole in the ground. A few miles after entering the canyon from the east you come to the Watch Tower Lookout. We had to stop to get our first good view of the canyon.
The first time you walk to the rail of an overlook at the canyon you are overwhelmed. The sheer size, width, and depth are indescribable. The colors vary more than your realize at first. As you watch various parts of the canyon you begin to realize the colors change because of the clouds or the angle of the sun.



More stories from the Canyon tomorrow,

Mike, Pat, and Sarah
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Sedona, Arizona, United States

We found God's slip and slide. It is located just north of Sedona, in a park run by the State of Arizona, and goes by the name of Slide Rock. It is the swimming hole we all imagined when we were kids. Mix together strong current, smooth rocks, and a little algae and you have a recipe for fun for all ages. If you are young enough and skinny enough you can fly down the rocks. If you are old you get banged off the rocks a little bit either when using the slide, or when trying to walk on algae covered rocks. The aches were nothing that a couple of Motrin couldn't handle.



Many of us have seen Slide Rock on TV or at the movies, and did not realize it. Jimmy Stewart filmed parts of "Broken Arrow" in this valley, "Drum Beat" with Alan Ladd also used the location, and of course the greatest cowboy of them all John Wayne made parts of the classic "Angel and the Badman" in the area of Slide Rock. I made a comment as we were walking out that John Wayne filmed "Angel and the Badman" here to which Sarah replied, "John Wayne probably peed here too." I wish I knew where she gets this stuff.



As we were leaving, a rare rain storm began rolling in from over Snoopy Rock. That was about noon. At around 3pm the rain finally got here. It rumbled and bumbled for well over 3 hours before it rained. The clouds were overhead, but it took that long for the rain to come. I am no meteorologist, if I were wrong that much I would get fired, but my guess is it took so long for the rain to hit the ground because it is so dry here. It has stormed twice in the past 24 hours so we should consider ourselves blessed to have been here during what the locals refer to as Monsoon Season. I did not make that up, our Pink Jeep driver Caroline called it that, someone downtown used the term and so did a local weatherman.



Caroline also told us about Prickly Pear Cactus. That is the pear shaped flower you see on some cactus. They harvest the flower and use it in candy, syrup, and most importantly Margaritas. We went in search of the candy and Margaritas this afternoon. We found the candy in a store. It was made into a Chuckles like candy and it was pretty good. It is sweet so you can't eat many of them. You will be happy to know I found the Margaritas at a Mexican restaurant called Oaxaca. You will also be happy to know the concoction works. Arizona and California pour a much more generous portion of Tequila in their drinks. If I am driving, one is definitely enough.


It is time to pack up and head a couple hours north to the Grand Canyon. If the scenery here is this good I can only imagine what tomorrow will be like. We may not have internet access from up there.

If we don't you will next here from us in Las Vegas.

If we do have access we will type to you tomorrow,
Mike, Pat, and Sarah
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Cottonwood, Arizona, United States

Today we drove a half hour east of here to Camp Verde, Arizona to an animal park called Out of Africa. The premise of this place is that they have set up a 110 acre facility similar to African terrain. That works if you can imagine the African terrain with 10 foot chain link fences everywhere. They have a decent collection of animals. The standard fan favorites were all there; lions, tigers, giraffes, zebras, gazelles, and of course slithery reptiles.

They also had a pair of brown bears and a pair of grizzly bears. Neither is native to Africa, or this part of Arizona for that matter. All four bears are rescue animals from bad situations so I guess that is why they have them. Although bears are one of my personal favorites, they just did not seem to fit in with what the park was about.
The bears along with chain link fence, and the fact that the animal trainers doubled has the tram drivers combine to give the place a feel of one of those old time road side attractions. That is down the side. Now for the upside.

You are close enough to the animals that if you are dumb enough you can reach across the two sets of fence and touch the tigers or bears. I know there are lawyers around here since this place is built next to the Yavapai County courthouse. I guess they are just not as paranoid down here as they are back home. In fact, as one parent found out, kids can get close enough to be sprayed by a tiger. It is a good lesson for why parents should keep an eye on their kids and not let them run wild.



The big draw ticket here is a show called Tiger Splash. We have never seen anything like it before, and I doubt we will again. Here is the deal. You sit down in Tiger Splash Arena. In front of you is a chain link fenced area with an in-ground swimming pool, some green grass, and 4 very large tigers. Enter 6 humans. All have issues or they would not be locked in the fenced area with 4 tigers.



Three of the 6 humans are introduced as "prey". I guess those 3 lost a bet back stage, or Yavapai County District Court, conveniently located next door, has a very interesting work release program. The "prey" then gets the tigers interested in them to the point that they are being chased. Just before the tiger catches the prey, the prey jumps into the pool which is supposed to be safe. Of course the tiger can jump in also, but it appeared the tigers were less aggressive in the pool.

After the tigers get bored with chasing humans, the humans then get balloons on sticks to further entice the tigers to chase them. This works about the same way. Just before the tiger catches them they jump into the pool. The tiger gets the balloon and not the human. Of course getting the balloon back away from the tiger causes more interaction which at times can get a little tense, but they make it work.


After the show is over with all humans and human body parts accounted for, the place is nice enough to let the patrons feed the tigers-for a small fee. We of course felt compelled to let Sarah feed the tiger so she got to feed one named Harvest.



We then saw some other minor shows and went on Safari where Sarah got to feed a giraffe. She thought this was cool. I just thought it was gross.

All in all it was a good day. There were the usual encounters with 2 legged dumb animals like the one who had her ringing cell phone in her bra during a show and would not turn it off, or the lady who pushed Sarah's hand out of the way when she was trying to feed the giraffe. I wanted to put the sign for the restroom on the tiger cage for them, but that was probably going a bit far. Fortunately, I will not have to deal with them on my island.
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Sedona, Arizona, United States

Pink is not my color. It is certainly not Sarah or Pat's favorite color. But, when you ride in a pink jeep up the side of a mountain with up to 45 degree inclines and ascend some 2000 feet into some of the prettiest country you will ever see, it will become anybody's favorite color. That was our big adventure this afternoon. Here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what we did.

"Sweet" Caroline was our driver. She was kicked out of Kansas after almost running a tractor into a pond. She moved out here and took up driving pink jeeps. She said it was safer. I am not sure who it is safer for. The woman has a sadistic side. She was a great guide and very knowledgeable with a nice sense of humor about the whole thing. She knows how to drive the jeep which is proven by the pictures and the fact that we all returned safely with all of our body parts intact.



Prior to having our inside organs rearranged by Caroline in her pink jeep we explored, on foot, some of the mountains in the area. Sarah and I hiked up to the top of Courthouse Butte. I am not normally scared of heights, but when I got near the edge to take this picture of our hotel, I felt some butterflies in my stomach.



Sarah on the other hand, knows no fear. She is 12 which of course makes her 10 foot tall and bullet proof. I have to constantly remind her to take it easy. I also have to try to keep up with her. That is hard enough at normal altitudes let alone this 4500 foot altitude that they say takes a day or two to get used to.

I have been trying all day to think of words to describe the views here. I come up with outstanding, marvelous, breath taking, awe inspiring, and a bunch of other over used adjectives. They all fall woefully short. No matter which direction you turn you are struck with views that make you stop doing whatever you are doing and stare. I have found that I have to truly focus on driving so as to not become another statistic. A better writer than me might be able to do it justice, (like Melissa), but I am not that writer.

I am attaching a bunch of pictures to this blog. They do not do nature justice either, but they are worth well more than 1000 words.

Tomorrow we are heading to Africa. No we are not leaving Arizona. Guess you will have to read tomorrow to see what we are talking about.

Mike, Pat and Sarah.
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Sedona, Arizona, United States

We left San Diego this morning just before 9am and arrived here in Sedona about 7 1/2 hours later. Overall it was not a bad drive, and the scenery in southern California and later north of Phoenix was certainly breath taking. Along the way we were stopped by the Border Patrol at a check point, saw a windmill farm, drove up and down some of the steepest grades we have ever experienced, and viewed some of God's greatest natural creations.

The drive was a bit different than I am used to. As you are all aware I am keenly in tune with the speed limit. I always know what it is. Generally speaking the speed limit varies from 70 to 75. Let's say I was going at a speed that has at least one 8 in it and leave it at that. I was passed as if I were standing still on a regular basis. I understand why. There is no traffic and the highway is dead straight. At one point Sarah asked, "Are we going to make any turns?"

Thanks to Miranda we arrived in Sedona with no directional difficulties. What Miranda, and the internet never told me was that the one and only main street through Oak Creek and Sedona is undergoing a 3 year construction project that is currently in phase 2. Welcome to Sedona Airzona and our famous Red Rock Canyon views. You will have plenty of time to look at them as you sit in traffic.

As it turns out we arrived at the worst time of day. Apparently the biggest mess occurs between 4 and 5 every day. And as traffic jams go it really wasn't that bad. The construction just kind of caught us by surprise. It is definitely hurting the local businesses. The restraunts were empty at dinner time.

Note to Melissa and anyone else who's hair frizzes in the humidity: Pat and her hair love the Southwest. Whether it was the beach in Santa Monica, the San Diego Zoo, or here in Sedona her hair does not do a Rosann Rosanna Danna impression. She said this is the first vacation she has ever been on when she wasn't constantly reining her hair in.

We have attached some pictures from along the away and as we entered Sedona. I will do a better job explaining what you are seeing tomorrow once we have learned it better ourselves. Pat says she would have photographed the cool "Quick Draw McDraw" type cactus plants seen from the highway, but the shutter speed of our camera does not allow for speeds with an 8 in them.

Mike, Pat, and Sarah
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