Viva Las Vegas! Giant trees from another planet!

We're currently in Palo Alto, resting up before our jaunt to San Franciso tomorrow (and Napa Valley as well). We've also been without internet access so I apologize for the delay, but regardless...

So, Las Vegas. What can I say? It was absolutely scorching (I've never felt breeze that felt like it burned my face off) - I think it was around 110 degrees for most of the day. But we decided to live it up and stayed at a Junior Suite at the Signature at MGM Grand. Dude, talk about a swanky room! We had a kitchenette, seating area, jacuzzi and shower...the works! We both figured if we were going to stay in Las Vegas, we'd stay in style.

What was also nice was that there was a walkway between the Signature hotel and the MGM Grand where we were going to see the Cirque du Soliel show 'Ka.' So, yeah, we spent the majority of Las Vegas inside getting the full, artificial experience.

We kind of missed dinner as it was nearing time for the show when we arrived and unpacked (a long and winding drive from the Grand Canyon without much to look at) and had to eat some gross, mall-style Chinese food. The only consolation was that we decided to each spend $5 on the 25cent slot machines to whittle away the time before the start of the show and I won a nice $75. All I did was just hit the "pull" button over and over - it was neat to watch the things spin but I wasn't expecting much, just a 30min diversion. Very nice! (as Borat would say)

"Ka" was amazing. There was the giant stage on this huge, hydraulic arm that spun, twirled, and tilted it as the actors and acrobats lunged, raced, and climbed all over as it moved. There was actually a story to this performance as well, which was a nice change from just tons of high-flying maneuvers (of which there were many). But we were totally wiped and by the end, we could not wait to hit the sack and sleep for several hours.

We completed our casino experience by having the buffet in the morning before heading out to California. Not too shabby for mountains of food! It was a nice break from a steady diet of PB&J and pretzels. A good start for our long and arduous drive to California and Sequoia National Park.

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The drive through the desert was long and boring. Seriously, we had had enough. It was impressive the first time around but, as Rebecca most elegantly put it, "If you've seen one mesa, you've seen 'em all."

The sand, scrub, and giant cliffs became almost monotonous and the heat was punishing (107 most of the time, sometimes dipping to a cool 98). There's so much sun out there, it's crazy! I'm working up a helluva trucker tan. Sans wife-beater and mullet.

When we hit Sequoia, it had changed drastically to forest and lush green - a very welcome change. The Mojave Desert just wasn't doing it for us anymore. But what worried us was the idea of camping in this sweltering heat. We also found out that many of the campsites were full. Suckage.

But we soldiered on and the temperatures dipped dramatically as we climbed higher and higher along treacherous roads and fantastic vistas. As we hit the Giant Forest and started to see our first giant Sequoias, it was a chilly 64 degrees out and any idea of being hot flew out the window! We had visited a few campsites, only to find them either full or unsuitable and almost went to a lodge as it was nearing dark.

Balking at the $250/night price, we went on to our last stop (Dorst Creek) and luckily snagged a campsite just as the ranger was leaving for the evening. What we hadn't counted on was a warning that bear activity was high there - two were seen in the area that had been acclimated to humans (and their food). Yes, I am a boy of civilization and the idea of bears chewing on my head left me nervous. Who knows? Perhaps they are fond of Chinese food? I didn't want to find out. But Rebecca was more adamant (and a good deal braver than me) and we decided to set up camp at dusk, just when it was ripe time for a bear to come and maul me. You know, for fun.

We had to stash everything that smelled strongly into a bear-proof storage box (one came with every site). I wondered if that meant shoving me in there either as I had definitely smelled better before but I decided not to bring it up. After a lovely dinner of PB&J yet again (we didn't want to set up the stove in the dark), we went to sleep where I stayed awake, terrified at every sound. And just so you know, I distinctly heard two screams late that evening. From what? God knows. But that kept me up for a good long while before I nodded off.

As you can see, nothing happened to us as I am typing this with both hands and an intact cabeza. But it could have! Anyway, I survived a night in bear-country and now I feel unstoppable!

Our morning was also pretty kick-ass as we saw three stag-deers walking around everyone's campsite and getting into their stuff. I got some nice pictures as they seemed to not care about people and we packed and headed off to Monterey and the 17 Mile drive.

Now, Sequoias are the worlds largest tree, I'm led to believe. By volume I think. They're certainly gigantic (40ft in diameter? Goddamn!) and very, very tall. They also have a weird, spongy bark that I wasn't expecting. I've seen the giant redwoods as well and I remember them being much taller, but not quite as thick around? We'll see. I think we'll be hitting that in two days time.

Anyway, I'm beat and it's going to be another early day. So stuff about Monterey, San Jose, and fat squirrels later on. And San Francisco, hopefully!

--Eric


Sequoia's are Effing Huge!