h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I intended to write up a journal entry on the h2g2 meet, which I hugely enjoyed. I never got around to it.

I intended to write some more code for improving the Aviators site. I never got around to it.

I intended to pack for my two-week holiday in the States. I never got around to it.

All in all, an unproductive weekend. I've been feeling rather down recently. All my family are currently in Canada, at my brother's wedding. I wasn't invited. Long story.

Tomorrow, I'm catching the 5.31 train to Dublin Heuston, and then the bus to the airport. Flying to Las Vegas via JFK. Staying one night there on my own, then meeting my parents and granny, who'll be flying down from Ontario.

A day and a night in Vegas, then on to the Grand Canyon before heading on to Colorado Springs, where my great-uncle (granny's brother) has a holiday house.

I should be looking forward to this. I should have been eagerly doing preparation and necessary research. I should have packed.

I feel like going to bed for a week instead.

I am now going to turn off this laptop, stick it into its bag, carry it home* and pack for the States. Then set an alarm and go to bed.

This mood, in me, rarely lasts more than half an hour. I'm a cheerful soul. I've had it now for three days or more. Perhaps the Canyon will shake it out of me. Or a proper night's sleep, not that I'm likely to have that any time soon.

TRiG.

* Yes, I use my own laptop in work, which is annoying. The boss should have one for me by the time I get back.

I'm sorry to hear you're so down.

I'm glad I didn't send a reminder about bthe Aviators' homepage.

I'm happy I met you in London.

I really hope you'll enjoy your holidays after all.

TRiG!

It was wonderful to meet you in London.. and hope we will have the opportunity to meet up again *hic*

Enjoy your holiday. Just mind those Canyon trails, my brother said they are 'rather steep'


Look forward to reading your journal when you get back!


lil xx

Have a great time, TRiG - sorry I missed you

I've never been in a hotel with a casino in it before.

Am wrecked. Shall shower and sleep.

TRiG.

casino

How are you now?

Casino hotels are cheap, because they expect you to spend money on gambling.

So ... trip report.

A friend helped me get ready, and stayed overnight. He cycled down to the station with me as I walked, and saw me off. It was good to have him there, because I was in an odd state of mind and needed company to keep me sane.

I had a five-hour transfer time in New York JFK. I amused myself by riding the free train which cycles the terminals. It wasn't running quite as normal, because of works on the line.

Las Vegas was ... Las Vegas.

We stayed in the Stratosphere, the hotel with the very high tower. The entire ground floor is the casino. You have to walk through it to get anywhere. The second floor is a shopping arcade. (Lifts don't stop on the second floor, so you have to walk through the casino to get from your room to the arcade.)

From the tower, you can look down over the city. The immediate thought is how ugly the place is. (The last time I was looking down over a city I was on the dome of St Peter's. Rome is a little more photogenic than Vegas.)

We saw Phantom of the Opera in the Venetian hotel, in a theatre specially built for the show. There are some very impressive special effects. It was quite good fun. The building itself is fairly impressive to look at too, but the casino and the shopping arcades are horrible. They fill the air with some perfume which irritates the eyes and makes the tongue sting.

We watched the dancing fountains at the Bellagio.

And that was enough. We've seen Las Vegas. None of us have any desire to go back.

So we picked up our hire car and drove. There is a remarkable amount of empty space in this country.

The Grand Canyon was ... the Grand Canyon.

What else can be said? Amazing, awe-inspiring, thrilling, overwhelming. All these and more.

From the gate (South) we did not drive directly to our accommodation at Maswik Lodge. We went to the Canyon, at Mather Point. My mother actually wept when she saw it. And then the sun set. The rocks went on fire.

Yes, there were crowds around, but the place was not overwhelmed by them. It couldn't be.

The next day we all rose at 5 to watch the sun rise. It didn't. Not as far as we could tell, anyway. Too much fog. So we went back to bed. And I, for one, barely got up again. I had a vomiting bug. Vomiting on an empty stomach is a painful experience, so I drank as much herbal tea that day as I'd usually have in a couple of months.

The others left me alone and went to a talk on birds. Then my parents went for a stroll down the Bright Angel trail while granny went to a talk on geology.

They dragged me out to watch the sun set at Yavapi Point, but that didn't happen either. And I really was quite weak.

The next day my parents and I went out to watch the sun rise again (no show), then I went back to bed while they took the bus to the South Kaibab trailhead. I thought I'd best avoid a long walk the day after being sick.

Granny and I packed up the car to leave, checked out of Maswik Lodge, and took the bus to Hermit's Rest. It was popular. We had to wait for the third bus. We looked around the gift shop there, then walked back along the rim. We got as far as The Abyss before the threatening thunderstorm drove us back to the bus. Eastbound busses don't stop at The Abyss, so we had to go back to Hermit's Rest and around.

Back at the car we found a note: my parents were in the Maswik Cafe. When we found them they were gleeful. At the bus stop they had met two men and their sons who were planning to walk down the South Kaibab trail and back up the Bright Angel. Going down and up in one day is not recommended (indeed, it is very strongly discouraged), but my parents did it anyway. My mother said it was much easier than the Sheefy-Mweelrea walk she and I had done a while ago. People can and do die in the Canyon, even very fit people, but it's the heat that does it. This was a cool day, so they got away with it.

Our destination was Colorado Springs, so where to now? After we'd eaten, my dad went to the receptionist to ask if she could recommend any hotels en route. It was getting late at this stage, and there was a place free in Maswik Lodge, so we ended up staying an extra night. We went up to Yavapi Point again for the sun set, and got a reasonable show.

The next morning my mother and I walked down the South Kaibab trail (which has better views than Bright Angel) as far as Ceder Ridge, so I could get the sense of being inside the Canyon.

We then left, fairly leisurely, stopping en route at various view points we'd not seen before, as we were leaving by the east gate. At Grand View there's another trail to the Canyon floor. It's not maintained as well as the others, and not many walk it, but the upper stretches of it was crowded. We all, including granny, went down a little way. And we had a good poke around the Desert View Watchtower.

The gift shop there was selling a collection of photos by Wally Pacholka. It took me a while to remember where I recognsed the name from, and then it came to me: he took the APOD photo A True Image from False Kiva. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080929.html

We found out what kivas are later, though I am yet to look up False Kiva.

After driving for an amazing amount of time through Indian Reservations (and yes, in this part of the States, Indian is the accepted term) we stopped at yet another casino hotel, this time on Indian land. It was operated by the Ute Mountain Utes. Unlike the Las Vegas hotels, the casino is off to the side. You don't have to walk through it. And there was no arcade.

We were not far, here, from Mesa Verde, the archeological site of amazing cliff dwellings, abandoned before European settlers arrived. We toured Spruce Tree House, Tower House, and Balcony House and walked the Petroglyph Trail. It was a fascinating day, full of mystery.

We were back in Ute Mountain Hotel and Casino that night, and the next day drove to Durango, from where my dad and I took the train up the river valley to Silverton. Granny and mammy did some shopping and then drove up to meet us. I like trains, and this was fun. We were sat beside two locals, who take the train as a day out occasionally (they have a season ticket). They were interesting people: volunteers. They volunteer as a "contact family" for students far away from home. They also volunteer at Mesa Verde, and knew one of our tour guides.

They told us about an English archaeolgist who'd visited Mesa Verde. They'd been a little apologetic about the age of the ruins: in European terms, they are far from ancient. But she said they owed no apology: Mesa Verde is the only place in the world where a Stone Age settlement is so perfectly preserved.

We drove from Mesa Verde to P. Springs (I forget the name: it was just a stop-off) and from there to Woodland Park, just outside Colorado Springs, where my granny's brother and wife live for some of the year (their main residence is in Ohio).

***

It's been a very strange holiday: with family, driving, looking for a hotel in the evening, and seeing a lot of very different things, but it's been good.

The Grand Canyon, at least, I will visit again. There's a lot of stunning scenery in this part of the world. I don't think I'll be staying here with these relatives again, though. I'm constantly having to bite my tongue. Their politics are repugnant.

TRiG.

Home. Shall write up proper report later.

TRiG.