June 1, 1998

The drive up to Portland was beautiful. The tans are already well on their way. While riding up we had been passed by some trucks and had agreed to find a Zipper to ride on at some time during our vacation. The Zipper is only the best thrill ride for the buck on the midway. Well, providence was with us for as we drove into Portland we saw a Carnival right down on the waterfront. That's right, with a Zipper too! Our day in Portland was full as we managed to visit with three old friends, visited Powells the world's biggest bookstore (or so it seemed), checked out a city overlook and stopped by Mulnomahan Falls on our way out of town.

Our day in Seattle began in bailing our car out of tow (apparently parking on a corner and out-of-state plates is a lethal combo. Who knew?) The remainder of our time was spent roaring around town in John's beast, running errands and taking in the city.

We are now on the road to Yellowstone. Hopefully in Chicago we will have some pictures ready for upload.

 June 7, 1998

Hi everyone. Yellowstone was really something! We saw geysers, mudpools, thermal pools, canyons, moose, bison, deer...We drove in late Wednesday night (June 3) into a snowstorm. Needless to say, we didn't camp that night. The next morning was snowing too, but we set out anyway and drove through the park, stopping at sights along the way, and for the occasional moose to cross the road. The next day we took a hike along the perimeter of Yellowstone's "Grand Canyon" which was truly breathtaking. (sorry, no adequate adjective to describe this kind of beauty.)

At the end of the day, we took a short drive over to Grand Teton National Park. I'm glad we got there in the light of day because it was a gorgeous day and that Teton mountain range was an awesome sight. We wandered around, picked a campground for the next couple days, and took a bunch of pictures. The next day we woke up early to go fishing on Jackson lake with a view of those awesome mountains and wouldn't you know it, it was raining. We decided to do it anyway, rented a canoe, toughed it out for almost 2 hours before we gave up. By that time it was pouring and freezing and we really felt we needed some TLC so we drove to the nearest village (Jackson Hole) and parked ourselves in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar for the afternoon to write postcards and relax with a few beers. It poured some more so instead of going back to our wet campsite, we went to the movies to see The Truman Show. Good flic.

Anyway, this morning we woke up and although it was rainy, we set out on a hike around the lake which was invigorating, rain and all. Now we're on the road again heading towards Badlands National Park in South Dakota. It's about 10 pm, Eric's driving, and I'm killing time. We're in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming where the speed limit is 7 5. Hopefully we won't get a ticket today. We've already gotten some type of ticket in almost every state, including a speeding ticket in Washington, but mostly parking. Otherwise, having a really great time. Better go before I start revealing more than I'd like to.

Prior to hitting Badlands we took a quick sidetrip to Devil's Tower, the monument made famous by Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was a nice little drive over misty rolling hills. When we caught sight of it it looked quite ominous. This totally bizarre looking stub jutting up in the middle of nowhere shrouded in this mist. We got inside the park and in driving up to the base of the thing passed a ton of elderly people walking up the road, for miles! It was the weirdest thing. We theorized that there is a geriatric myth circulating through the convalescent pipeline that Devils Tower is a modern fountain of youth with rejuvinative powers. The number of octogenarian fast walkers in Eastern Wyoming is evidence enough for me.

June 9, 1998

Badlands was really cool but we couldn't camp there because it was raining quite a bit and the clay was extremely sticky and muddy. We were surrounded by miles and miles of prairie land and amazing, colorful rock formations. We did explore a bit and took a bunch of pictures which we will hopefully get e-mailed to us soon so we can share with you. Yesterday was a big driving day. We drove all the way to Minneapolis and today we spent the afternoon there. Pretty unattractive city actually, but then not everything will be a beautiful sight. As always we had a great time, despite the fact that the people didn't seem happy and we probably seemed obnoxious to them, exuding so much happiness as we do. They were probably happy when we left. Another observation: everyone smoked. Maybe because it's so darn cold in the winter. And yet another one: all the buildings are attached by high walkways so that people don't have to go outside in the winter.

This evening we're driving again and probably stopping somewhere near Madison, Wisconsin. Now Eric's going to dictate to me so you can get his point of view:

"You forgot to tell them about yesterday, before we got to Badlands. You were sleeping and I was driving and I kept seeing signs for Wall Drug at one-mile intervals for no less than 52 miles. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued, so I woke you up and we pulled over to see what all the commotion was about. Turns out the 'drug store' spanned a whole city block and offered everything from free glasses of iced water to genuine fox pelts. Browsing the store was a representative cross-section of America who were purchasing the tacky wears contained therein." (blah blah blah. Thank you Eric.)

Now we're just messing around with this so we'll sign off for now....

June 14, 1998

En route to Nashville. It has been a full week. Let's bring you up to Speed, so to speak. We rolled into Madison WI. around 8:30. Securing a hotel room proved to be quite a challenge. It took us about six tries before we could find a place to stay. We had seen tons of bikers on Harleys and knew this had something to do with it. Turns out the 95th Anniversary of Harley Davidson was in Milwaukee (Harley HQ) and hotels were sold out for a 120 mile radius. The next day we strolled around the campus area of Madison. It was a nice place, the area we checked out being typical college town fare. A press release the day we were there reported that Madison was voted the most desirable place to live in the Midwest.

We drove on to Milwaukee, with an escort of Harley hogs all the way. Drove a loop about the city and found some camping about 10 miles to the North, which we learned was quite a blessing as there were even farms opening up their pasture to the Harley riders for camping. The pouring rain that began around 2am that night was not a blessing however. The next day was rainy on and off as we saw our way around Milwaukee. We were surprised at how agreeable we found it. The downtown area is pretty attractive with lots of character and cultural centers. Not so much the dingy, industrial complex we imagined it to be (factoid: while famous for its beer production, Milwaukee's largest export is X-ray apparatus and tubes {bear in mind that the factoids are by nature relatively mundane items}). We walked downtown, I purchased a dumb tourist hat (which will be seen propped on my mop in future pics, keep your opinions to yourselves please). We then moved on to the Miller Brewery tour. Now the brewery is located in an area called Miller Valley, thus is the grip this company has upon the local economy. We looked for its brother, X-ray Valley or Cathode Valley but no luck. Now the brewery is flowing over with bikers. Who better to tour a brewery and swill suds with but a bunch of bikers? They proved to be a congenial crowd, often sparking up conversation with us which inevitably led to the question, "Where did you ride in from?". We were actually passing as bikers!! Personally I think it was my beard but Arleen disagrees, thinking it her tight leather pants and tattoo on her left breast. When we revealed ourselves to be just boring old, car driving citizens they were agreeable and didn't hold our domesticity against us. I now have the lingo down. "I got me a chromed out fatboy, with leather sidebags. Arleen rides in the sidecar."

On to Sweet Home Chicago. We failed to get directions to my friend Kevin's pad (let's re-phrase that: I failed to get them.), so we just drove around a bit and hopped off at an exit. I grabbed a map and remarkably enough we were literally two blocks from Kevin's house. We placed this in the dumb luck category and not the Allanis Morrisette, "isn't it ironic" category. We grabbed a hotel room and slept hard. The next day we met up with Kevin as well as other friends of mine from college who were in to see Kevin's graduation (translation: excuse to come to the windy city and party their asses off). Our first day was spent strolling about by ourselves and then meeting up with the gang for beer, Chicago style pizza, beer and beer. This was to be a big night. The Bulls were at home, perched to win the championship and on top of this the rumor that a victory would mean that this could be Michael Jordan's last night to play in Chicago. So you couple the impending sixth championship in ten years and the retirement of the best player to ever play the game and you can imagine the anticipation. Riots were expected and we positioned ourselves in the eye of the hurricane, in a little sports bar haven on Rush St. The game was a good one, tight, back and forth and ultimately won by Utah by two. When we marched out to the street we were greeted by dozens of cops on horses, on foot and all sporting the fall full riot ensemble. There was even one perched upon a rooftop across from us whom I like to think was armed with a walkie talkie and nothing more ominous. This was our first brush with a historical moment. It could have been a riot (both literally and figuratively) or it could have turned into a nightmare. We will never know. The next day we checked out the free zoo at Lincoln Park (which houses a boisterous little black gibbon that now resides in the hearts of those who were present). We walked to the beach (who knew, Chicago, a beach?) drove back to Daniele's (Kevin's girlfriend). Up we went into the sky in her high-rise apartment building. Farther up we went for swimming and sunbathing atop the building which rumor has it is the highest outdoor pool in Chicagoland proper. From this lofty perch we had a remarkable panoramic view of the city, lake and all it's beauties. Dinner, followed by drinks and drunken behavior on the streets (sorry Pat, no story, some things don't translate from the moment), culminating in late night munchies at "The Weiner Circle" purveyors of Chicago's famous delicacy (no, not crack silly). Now this place... I really don't feel I can do the experience justice but I will take a swing. It's probably about 1:30 when we roll up to the stand. Now this is more or less a stand, about the size of the old Taco Bells when they were still shaped like missions and actually sported a bell, some benches outside, seating for 20 or so. There's probably twenty people lined up ouside and the benches are full. Inside is absolute chaos, it's like the ER of the fast food world. This place makes Lee's Deli feel like a sedate Sunday brunch. There are like seven or eight employees crammed in this elevated box no larger than a boxcar and each appeared to be on the verge of a major coronary or grand mal seizure (I know I was!). Inside the cashiers are screaming at the top of their lungs both at the customers and the other employees. Add to this some smart guy off the street (enlarged cranium, sloped forehead, first in family to walk upright) who added to the cacophony by screaming his order to the employees. I thought I would cry once I got out of there. Picture me at the counter, traveler's check in hand with no pen with which to sign it, fumbling for a pen fearing that the next thing I see will be a onion and relish slathered polish being crammed in my face. But that's not all, add to the equation an entire busload of drunk girls from St. Louis celebrating a bachelorette party. The bachelorette provided entertainment to many and irritation to as many others. A high point was her slurred rendition of Meet Me in St. Louis into her Beer Microphone. A low would be her later barking "The Bulls Suck, I Hope They Lose" into the same mike. Her friends herded her back on the bus and let me tell you, they left no broken hearts in their wake at the Weiner's Circle. Today we rose and quickly took in Chicago's Art Institute, home of numerous international treasures from American Gothic to Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. What to say about Chicago? We were only here for three days and did a pretty good job of maximizing our time but we obviously only scratched the surface. A truly beautiful city.

Currently we're on the road to Nashville. What a drive it's been. We grabbed some burritos on the way out of town and we fitted Arleen with the complementary poncho we got from the Miller Brewing Co. to keep the savory juices off of her white shirt. The mechanics of this was quite humorous, a'la Three Stooges, resulting in Arleen's head poking out of the armhole of the thing. My mirth at her expense resulted in my wearing a bit of my burrito on my shirt and shorts. Now isn't THAT ironic? We drove on and ran into severe thunderstorms which escalated into a hailshower. We're talking super hail, hail on steroids, hail the size of miniature golf balls (not miniature golf balls, they're the same size as normal golf balls but miniature, golf balls... you get the picture.) Nearly everyone was pulling off to the side of the road, all the bikers for sure. We powered on and beat the storm. There were other storms, the most impressive for me being the major lightening storm we drove through between Louisville and Nashville. You gotta understand, I'm from California where the greatest threat are those little tremors all the tourists are so freaked about. Nothing to compare to thousands of volts of electricity streaking through the sky as it pours down sheets of rain. My closest experience with this was the constant threat of radiation poisoning my mom always warned I would get from the TV. But really, it was very cool, at least it looked cool every time I peeked out from under my blankey. So now we're in Nashville with Arleen's friends Lori and Mark and are setting out for Memphis today. Stay tuned for reports on Graceland. Thank you, thank you very much.

June 28, 1998

En route to The Big Easy. A little catch up. Our stay in Nashville was a good one, catching up with old friends and taking in all that Nashville and neighboring Memphis have to offer. Nashville was great. A pretty city with tons of charm and a remarkable music scene. We took a walking tour of Nashville which was idiot proofed (which, incidentally, was exactly what we needed) in the form of a blue line painted on the sidewalk which snaked us through historic downtown Nashville. Highlights would be Tootsie's Orchid Lounge which was a postage stamp sized bar with life music and one beer, coors lite in bottles. The pictures wallpapering the walls and ceilings revealed this to be a quite legendary hole in the wall having hosted a who's who of country music. Another would be Hatch Show Print the print shop responsible for many of the oldest Rock and Roll, Country and R&B posters.

Memphis shared all of the charm of Nashville on a smaller scale. Our first stop of course was Graceland, home of the king (no, not Carl Perkins!). Again, our tour was idiot proofed, this time in the form of a self guided walkman tour. The house was basically as all the pictures lead you to believe, the decor a little tacky and dated but not nearly as large as I would have imagined and even having some rooms in which I rather admired the decor. An impressive display of E's gold and platinum awards for RCA covered the entire back wall of the racquetball court. What would have been even more impressive would to have been able to see E, circa say 1975 playing on that racquetball court.

Other stops in Memphis were legendary Sun Studios, where E as well as Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis started their careers, and Beale St. which hosts a number of blues clubs including BB King's club.

From Nashville we drove on to Atlanta. Grabbed some comfort food at Chili's and drew a bubble bath before retiring, dog tired (thanks Joy and Dave, you will be very happy with your new Jacuzzi). Got up to meet some friends before moving on to Florida.

We pulled into Esther and Brian's at around 1am. The next week was spent sleeping in, enjoying family, beaches, food, drink, etc... Eric was made to feel comfortable by the family and Arleen made to feel uncomfortable as old stories and photographs were brought out. It was both a relaxing week and one of great activity. One day spent boating around the Jupiter area, an incredible cuban dinner for Father's Day c/o Arleen's Mami. A day trip to Key Largo for more beach bummin', boat drink sippin' and skinny dippin' (not really but is wraps the triple rhyme nicely don't you think?) Actually it was rounded out with all of us renting some Waverunners, which were a blast, but could have been faster of course. A couple of trips to Miami, one for the day to hang on the beach and shop a bit another for dinner with the entire family at one of Guillermo's favorite Spanish restaraunts. We drank, Guillermo sang tender Bolero's and then he attempted to make a Paella Pinata out of Eric. Our final blowout was spent in Ft. Lauderdale. First stop was at Mai Kai, a Polynesian restaraunt/bar which has to be experienced to be appreciated. This place is damn near pitch dark with the full tilt tiki bar vibe going. Water streaming down the windows on one wall, flaming tiki torches on another. The servers wore grass skirts, leis and little else. The drink du jour (every jour) is the choice of a rum barrel or a vodka barrel. This is the drink equivalent of the clown car. After a few sips I regretted my choice of rum; after the first barrel, the alcohol type was of little consequence. Our next stop was The Parrot for more beer and friends. The hot new tip is to throw away that tired old salt and lemon chaser with your tequila shots and replace it with Tabasco sauce. I advise any Tequila drinkers out there to give it a try (lick a spot of tabasco off your hand first). Thanks for the tip Mark!

Needless to say we awoke the next morning in severe state of dehydration (and no, Arleen has still yet to see Eric throw up, altough he did wake up with eight bucks stuffed in his underwear). We said our goodbyes and headed towards New Orleans. Light rains chased us way down yonder into Chatahoochee, where we bedded down for the night. I can honestly say I've never been so hot inside a tent in my life. As the rain chased us to this hothole, the skeeters soon chased us into our muggy tent (from being packed away wet in Milwaukee). Arleen was sleeping like a baby within half an hour while Eric listened to a great local jazz station and watched the sweat pool in his belly button. There was a pretty comfortable stretch in the night, say from 4-5:30 am, so I am quite happy to now be in our rolling air conditioned home. We are now entering New Orleans so I obviously have better things to do than this.

Meanwhile back at the ranch... We are currently enjoying our apartment in the French Quarter that roommate Kurt set us up with. We owe you big time Kurt. We are in a fully furnished and air conditioned apartment with a balcony. The Quarter calls...

July 6, 1998

Happy Birthday America......What a week it was. Rolling into New Orleans, we had no idea what we were in for. As referenced before, roommate Kurt, having lived in New Orleans, set us up with accomodations. Coming in we had no idea what this might mean. Well, Kurt's former boss Harold treated us like no less than Kings (or Queens as it may be). We had the pleasure of staying in a beautiful fully equipped apartment with a balcony right in the Quarter, absolutely free! An indication of the flood of hospitality ahead of us. The next few days were spent in a flurry of eating, window shopping, drinking and more eating. The amount of incredible, and incredibly reasonable, food at one's disposal has you planning your entire day around your meals. Throw in the jazz/blues/dixieland sounds and the right to carry your drinks in the street and even from bar to bar and you get the one of a kind little slice of heaven on earth that is 'Nawlins. So yes, the food was amazing- the standout meal being at an Italian-Creole place but what we will always carry with us about New Orleans is the hospitality of the people we met there. Harold, who accomodated us, entertained us and taught us that Tom Petty is right, "if you never slow down you never grow old". I've seen the fountain of youth - it's a place called The Plant Gallery in the French Quarter but watch out: it's guarded by a ferocious dog named Spike (and they don't call him that because of his hair---down boy, down!). Then there's Bob, who took us for drinks and a short history tour. A beautiful, decent man upholding the often forgotten tradition of the Southern gentleman. Add to that all of the citizens that offered directions when we were lost, the bartenders who redirected us to local eateries and you get a little idea why we felt as if we'd entered a fantasy land. At one point it seemed to us that the entire city was in conspiracy to show us a perfect time. Mission accomplished. Our final evening was spent dining at Harold's with some of his friends/family/employees. Dinner was incredible (his housekeeper cooks a feast and leaves it for him once a week, have you ever heard of such a thing?). Other activities in New Orleans included a visit to tour a plantation, a self-guided walking tour of the Garden district (where the other half lives), some lounging and frisbee in City Park (which houses the largest live oak sanctuary in the U.S.) as well as lounging/luxurating in our air conditioned apartment ('cause it's way hot in Louisiana). When we left Thursday morning it was with reluctance and sadness. Harold seemed more than willing to hop us from apartment to apartment as long as we wanted to stay. It's nice to know that we will always have friends in New Orleans.

On to San Antonio. Eric felt it was uneventful, but I thought it was charming and real, and a lot like I expected Texas would be. (especially the beefy cops.) The atmosphere in the small downtown area was lively yet casual, as tourists like ourselves purused the riverwalk. We found what we were looking for at the riverwalk: Mexican eats, friendly people, cocktails (and a chance to try the aforementioned tequila and Tabasco trick), and most importantly, air-conditioning. We're easy, all we need is a nice, cold room...and that's all we need. (except maybe someone to love us and feed us and give us good directions but that's all we need and nothing else.) The next morning we checked out all the historical must-see's like the Alamo (the historical structure symbolizing Texan bravery during the acquisition of Texas) and La Villita (the small village), and then headed on to Austin. In Austin, we hit the tourist information center first thing. (hey, we're getting the hang of this, she realizes, 5 weeks into the trip.) Here we got a guide to the clubs, bars and activities for the weekend. Our prime objective was to catch some live music as Austin is one of the premier music scenes in the U.S. Once lodging was arranged (you notice there haven't been many camping stories lately?) we parked down on 6th street, in the heart of Austin's scene. It was early yet, and things were still mellow, but we found exactly what we were looking for. Great happy hours and free live music. As we hopped from bar to bar throughout the night, (i.e barhopping), the streets filled up and the crowd become more and more vibrant. In fact, by the time we left at around midnight, 6th street had been closed to traffic and the block party thang was going. Seems the party was just peaking, and us early birds had parked our car in the thick of it. We managed to get out with our tails between our legs, looking in the rearview mirror as the young college kids raged on into the night. Now Eric....

So what to do on the 4th of July. Ordinarily I would be entertaining my friends at my dad's house (the bunch of drunks!). It didn't take us long to decide what to do with ourselves as we were lucky enough to be in the proximity of Luckenbach, Texas where Willie Nelson holds his annual 4th of July Picnic. The music was to last for twelve straight hours and was packed with mostly Country artists we'd never heard of. Famous participants included Willie, Leon Russell and Emmylou Harris. We decided to show up a little late as 1) we were quite hung over and 2) 12 hours of Country music, are you kidding me?! So we took a leisurely drive through Texas' beautiful hill country to Luckenbach, "Where everybody's somebody". Now this place Luckenbach is like population 40 or something. To get there you take this little road, Luckenbach Road appropriately enough. So we're back in Luckenbach Texas getting back to the basics of love. While we were unfamiliar with most of the music played it was of little consequence. In addition to the great music we were treated to the prettiest sunset of our trip, accompanied by the sweet strains of Emmylou Harris singing Love Hurts. The music was great, the crowd was fun- a good time was had by all.

Now we're at Eric's Aunt Opal's in Ponca City, Oklahoma, about 20 miles from Kansas. It's 99 degrees today. We just got back from lunch at Perkins and we're spending a quiet day in Aunt Opal's air-conditioned home. Eric's asleep on the couch, Aunt Opal's reading the paper and watching Oprah (88 yrs. old and such a sweet, lucid thing), and I'm catching up on some reading and writing. We got in last night and stayed up late chatting with Opal, her son Bob and daughter-in-law Levita. Real nice folks. Tomorrow we're leaving for New Mexico. See ya'll.

July 8, 1998

"Hitchhikers may be escaped inmates." The best road sign I've seen thus far. This one near Oklahoma City, on our way to New Mexico. We reached Santa Fe, New Mexico early last night, ate some local chow (ostrich burgers!) and walked around a bit. This may be the most beautiful state we've seen so far. This morning we set out early and toured Northern New Mexico. The drive was tres picturesque. We took the High Road to Taos, going through Hispanic villages ( "pueblos"), Indian reservations, ski towns, and national forests. Bandelier National Monument was the highlight. We wandered through Mexican ruins and cave dwellings, hiked to a hot spring and took a relaxing soak---at which point it started raining so we sloshed through the mud back to our car. Which is where we are right now on our way through Southwest New Mexico to Phoenix.  

July 10, 1998

We're currently en route from the South end of the Grand Canyon to the North end. Arleen is driving, Eric is naked; both like it this way. After New Mexico the drive into Arizona was spectacular- the first mountain climbing trial for our car. She did just fine. Phoenix was hot - the high yesterday was 116. Arleen got a little thrill seeing that we were in Maricopa County:

(You tell him I think he's a dang fool Ed. You tell him I said so, HI McDonnough, and if he wants to discuss it he knows where to find me in the Maracopa County Maximum Correctional facility for men, State Farm Road #31 Tempe Arizona, I'll be waitin, I'll be waitin!) - Raising Arizona

We had some time to kill before our hosts Julie and Chris got off work (since we had forgotten that Arizona doesn't observe daylight savings time). A trip to Costco to replace my deceased backpack (nine years of service) and it was time to meet Chris. Dinner, Croquet, some Jaegermeister shots - you know a typical day in the life of those living in fantasyland such as us. The next day we drove up to Sedona. Neither words nor feeble snapshots will be able to explain this place. Quite simply the most beautiful place either of us have ever seen. It's a Valley enclosed by mammoth varigated rock formations, 300 million years in the making. Sedona is a new age haven, believed to be the point of numerous critical vortexes, places where the rhythms of the earth are strongest, and thus the ideal place for one wanting to meditate themselves into synch with the "Mothers Heartbeat". An added treat was Slide Park, just outside of Sedona, which is a big natural water park complete with a river waterslide and plenty of places to lay out and jump in the water. There was even a place under a bridge where we had the thrill to take about a five story jump into the water. We urge everyone to take a trip to Sedona. Next we drove on to the South rim of the Grand Canyon, through Flagstaff (very-very cool city). Now we were all geared up for camping, having picked up essentials in Flagstaff (ice, beer, sangria) and wouldn't you know it our traveling partner Mr. raincloud (that's not what we call him incidentally) pissed on our parade. We made it into the park for a rain and lightning shrouded Grand Canyon, then we dragged our soggy asses into our overpriced hotel room for the night (I don't sound bitter do I?). Today has made up for it. It's a beautiful day and we have been blessed with great unobstructed views of the Canyon. Again, a sight impossible to convey. Awesome is the easy description. Not as beautiful as Sedona but the enormity of it knocks the breath out of you. So now we're on what could easily be one of the best drives in the U.S., surrounded by red cliffs and mesas made all the more dramatic by the crisp blue sky. Throw in some lightning storms and deluge-like rainfall for dramatic effect. Unless we are in the middle of such a deluge tonight we plan on camping just outside the park in Kaibab forest where free camping is permitted 1/4 mile away from the highway.

July 12, 1998

Our day at The Grand Canyon took a remarkable turn as the visit to the North Rim was amazing. First we took in a vista before descending into the canyon itself, a two hour hike down into the canyon, where there are plenty of opportunities to crawl out on the edge and ponder the insignificance of oneself (or hock a loogie). The walk back up was arduous but refreshing as so many hotel nights had sent us into atrophy. Next a short drive to watch the sun set. We managed to secure a great private little spot on a jutting boulder with a tremendous view. A hop away was a high boulder at the end of the walkway that you could climb atop and get a full panoramic view of the Canyon. We're talking intense. It's calm as can be and you can barely stand up and take the view in , it's so dizzying. Our legs were shaking when we got down. We watched the sun set, bid the canyon goodbye and headed back to our campground. We were directed to a great campground just outside the park in Kabib forest that skirted a great valley, our tent being literally on the edge of this vista. Blessed with a moon we could cook by we put a dent in our long ignored camping grub (freeze dried Thai chicken - yum, and pesto linguini - double yum, Reisling, Jack Daniels, etc...)

The next morning we started a hike that originated from our campsite, made it about half a mile and said the hell with that noise. Hiking in the sunlight at 100+ in Arizona is just plain stupid. The drive to Zion N.P was a short one. We stopped under a small shady tree to enjoy our sandwiches and take in the view. Most of Zion is dominated by great rock formations taken in from the valley floor. There is a tunnel through one of these rocks that could be the longest damn tunnel I've ever been in. As luck had it there was a river flowing through the valley the other side of the tunnel which was just what we needed as it was a hot, dry day. An hour or so of soaking, splashing, stone skipping and general childish behaviour and then we headed off for a short hike. Our hike was low impact but satisfying taking us to three different pools shrouded in a little alcove. A fun park, perfectly manageable in a day.

The drive to Las Vegas was prettier than I had imagined, having heard more about the drive from Los Angeles. An officer flashed his lights at me as I blew by at 85mph but didn't bother to turn around and pursue. Driving the strip for the first time was a thrill. We're staying at the Mirage, home of Sigfried and Roy. A short walk down to the low rent end of the strip (Westward Ho baby!) to play some blackjack, and then hours later at 2:30 the obligatory midnight prime rib dinner. Currently we're about $100 up. We'll see if the city sucks it out of me before we go. Arleen is down by the pool with the waterfall having a morning cocktail which is where I'm going to be in about five minutes...

 July 15, 1998

Homeward bound on the PCH. We pissed forty more bucks away in Las Vegas before hitting the road for Los Angeles. The heat in Las Vegas was unbearable being 115 and we were glad to leave it behind us. I found myself a little tense driving in Los Angeles. Having driven all over the country in highly congested areas I have to say that L.A. is the least pleasureable place to drive. In L.A. we caught up with Arleen's high school friends Camille and Steven and stayed at Steven's. The next morning we drove down to Venice beach for a snack and a jump in the water. This turned into a couple hour stay and boogie boarding (at this point I am attempting to ilk every cheap thrill from our vacation that I can). From L.A. we drove to Santa Barbara where we stopped for lunch/dinner, browsed a farmers market and then moved on to San Luis Obispo. Our final vacation night was spent going to the movies (Out of Sight) and checking into a hotel.

So as we're hurtling homeward I can't help but reflect. Behind us and with us always is the best time of our lives. We have seen a good chunk of our nation, some of our most treasured natural and urban attractions. We have attempted to share here in word and picture some of this with you but there is much that is impossible to convey. Some of these things are: our wonder and appreciation of the varied natural beauty between our shores, the flood of gracious hospitality to which we were privy, that in travelling together we've learned more about our country, ourselves and each other. We like to think that we've grown but it's really no matter when you've had the times that we've had.

It's been fun sharing our trip with you.