The Grand Canyon - Miscellaneous Topics

OK, one more novelette - on the Grand Canyon. It's not a travel guide. It addresses all sorts of misconceptions about what is and is not the Grand Canyon. Along the way, I threw in some other stuff: traveling in the area; Colorado River trips; record times for running across the canyon. Here it is.

Supai and Havasu Falls - A Travel Guide

Wow!  I completely forgot I even had this blog. I figure it's a convenient place to store some travel stuff I've worked on. The first item is a guide to Supai, the Havasupai village around which Havasu Falls, Mooney Falls, and others are located. It's become very famous in the last five years or so, but many people still don't know just how much advanced planning is required to even be allowed to enter the area. Here it is.

Idiot Survives Thousand Foot Bungy

Las Vegas may be temporarily sans bungy, but I don't care! There was a one time chance to bungy jump at Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. Some bungy jumps are 100 feet or so. In Las Vegas, the bungy tower was 170 feet above the ground. AJ Hackett has its highest jump in New Zealand, at a towering 440 feet. The Bloukrans River Bridge in South Africa is 710 feet above the ground. Well, that's nothing. The Royal Gorge Bridge is 1,050 feet above the ground.

This was the chance of a life time, as it were - and I did it! Click here for the details, or Click here for a really grainy image of the jump.

Choppers!

I'm just back from two glorious weeks in Las Vegas. You can read about most of it on my web site, but what you won't find there are pictures from Las Vegas BikeFest 2005. Thirty thousand motorcycle fans converged on the city to do whatever it is that bikers do. In addition to such high tone events as the Artificial Beauty Contest and jello wrestling, there were a lot of custom bikes. Here are some of them.

It's Alive!

The winner of the Ben & Jerry's Raise a Flavor From the Graveyard contest is...Wavy Gravy - caramel and cashew brazil nut ice cream with chocolate hazelnut fudge swirls and roasted almonds. If you don't know who he is, ask your parents.

Yes, ice cream fans, you should rush right out to your nearest B & J's scoop shop to sample this flavor while it's still around.

Define "Normal"

My nephew and his wife drove to town to visit my mother. I drove in as well and tagged along. As usual, we ate at the local crab joint. Now, my mother likes to reminisce, and everything is fair game. As we drove to lunch, the topic turned to my former loves. Just what I wanted to talk about (where's that damn irony button?).

Mother: "Tell [nephew & niece] about the one from school."
Me: "Well let's see. [A] was older, not quite divorced, bisexual, an alcoholic, a druggie... kind of a cross between a motorcycle mama and a hippie. Just what every mother wants for her son."
Mother: "Not that one, the one after that."
Me: "Oh, you mean [B]! Well, after [A] they got a little weird..."

Raise a Flavor From the Graveyard

Mark your calendars. On August 22, Ben & Jerry's will announce the winner of the vote to determine what ice cream flavor should be temporarily resurrected from the grave. They've already announced runners up 10 through 3 (chocolate peanut butter cookie dough). Could it be peanut butter chocolate chunk, Urban Jumble , or The Full VerMonty?

See Raise a Flavor From the Graveyard.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you

I checked out Amazon.com this morning, and there it was on the customized home page under Listmania - Books that inspired me to quit my job and travel. I know that Amazon logs previous choices to determine what to put on the page, but how in the hell did they know that I had indeed quit my job 8 months ago to travel?

OK, OK, I'm sure it was just a coincidence, based on my searching for travel books. Still....excuse me while I go see if my front door is locked.

Bye Bye Bungy

I just found out that A.J. Hackett has shut down its bungy jumping operation in Las Vegas. That's un-American! I was planning to take my third jump next month - and my fourth as well, since the fourth one is free.

First it was the Wet 'n' Wild water park, now this. What's next?


*** Update. It's only temporary. A. J. Hackett is relocating in 2006. Yay!

Exotic Cars at Caesars Palace

I've spent a lot of the last 9 months traveling, and have placed a few trip reports on my web site. However, some of the stuff just gets too specific for such reports. For example, in Las Vegas I visited the exotic car dealership at Caesars Palace. Got some spare change?

Two overviews of the first floor, taken from the balcony:




Close-ups. Sometimes, because of the angle, the cars almost look like toys. They're not!


















Well, OK, these two pictures ARE of a toy: