utah part 2 / memorial day

The next morning we packed up, left town, and headed to the Hoover Dam. Here's a picture of the top of the dam from the Arizona side. Over to the top left, you can see where they are building a new bridge for 93 in order to reduce traffic driving over the dam.



We took the tour - here's a shot of the generators from inside.



After we were all dammed out, we headed north and eventually came upon Zion National Park area. Camping inside the park was full, but we were able to find a decent campsite not too far away. It was very sandy, but we were close to a river which was nice.



Hit the road bright and early, and several fairly uneventful hours later made it to the Arches / Moab area. It was the friday of Memorial Day weekend, so all the campsites in the area were full up. Now worries, since we had a backup plan - the little-known canyon site near the border we had visited once before. The skies were ready to break open, but we managed to get our tent up and fire going before they did. Luckily there was some extra wood left behind so we had a pretty raging fire despite the rain.



On our way back through western Colorado, we found out that Wesson was having a going away party in Eldorado Springs, so as soon as we got home, we hit the showers and headed down to his place. We went somewhat unprepared for grilling so we grabbed some pizzas later on when we left. Sunday, we saw the requisite summer blockbuster, Star Trek, which was better than I had expected. Monday the ladies ran the Bolder Boulder, then we all had a BBQ at hillside.

vegas part 3

Started the next day of at the pool and managed to get a nice burn. Went to the Venetian for lunch - I had a killer reuben that had been eluding me earlier in our journey. Walked the long way through the Caesar's mall and past their aquarium.



We were on route to the Bellagio where we saw a cool Warhol / Lichtenstein exhibit. The Bellagio was also home to some sweet Chihuly installations.





We did some gambling along our journeys then headed back to the Palace to regroup after watching the fountains.



Had a great tequila & taco dinner at the Luxor



After dinner, we saw the volcano erupting at the Mirage.



Went to play some black jack at O'Shea's which is a dump - I sat in a chair that some drunkard had just spilled beer all over. No head's up from the dealer - sweet. Called it a night after that, which was prolly a good thing - we had pretty much broken even on our gambling sojourns over the course of our stay.

vegas part 2

The next morning we slept in. You could see the Mirage from our balcony and everytime I glanced over there I swear this sign said 'Terror Factory', which would have been way cooler.



Headed down to the pool for an hour or so. We didn't stay too long since we had planned on hitting up a buffet for lunch. Paris came highly recommended, so off to Paris we went! We lunched for 2 hours or so, trying almost everything from each of the regions represented.





After lunch we walked around, gambled here & there, and checked out the aviary at the Flamingo.





That evening we headed over to New York, New York to take in a show - Zumanity, a Cirque de Soleil 'revue'. A very fun show - I'm glad we weren't in the front section as there was quite a bit of audience participation!



After the show we went over to MGM to see the lions, but it was late, so they were no where to be seen. So we did some shopping and got one of those funny yard-long margs for the long walk back to the Palace.

vegas part 1

The next morning we packed up camp and drove for a while through rural utah which was sorta scenic in that creepy what-do-people-do-out-here sort of way.



We stopped for lunch in Cedar City, and made it to into Vegas during a weird dust storm and then to our hotey (the Imperial Palace) around 4.30. Here's the view from our room - the big tent thing was some some outdoor bar/nightclub thing so all we had to do was open the sliding glass door to the porch for our daily dose of Lady GaGa.



I have never been to Vegas before so I was in full tourist mode. That night we walked to Fremont Street to check out the older part of town. Once you get off the strip, it's a bit of a hike through one of the more debauched parts of the city. We actually saw an episode of Cops being filmed. We evntually made it to old town, and had worked up quite an ape tit, so we went to the Triple 7 brew pub and had a much needed meal and round of beers.



After dinner we decided to play some slots, so I changed $40 in quarters. Of course no one told me that there are no longer machines that take actually quarters, so we wound up using them for tips and bus fare.

utah part 1

We cancelled our original graduation celebration trip to Mexico due to swine flu hysteria. So we decided to drive to Vegas and camp along the way as a last minute make-up vacation. To ensure the old subu was road-worthy, I took her in for some old-age reparations on friday. We hit the road sunday morning and drove along I-70 til we hit the middle of Utah and got into Fishlake national forest.



There is nu'in much to see past Glenwood Springs except buttes. Although we did spot an antelope and a big horn sheep.



We found a pretty sweet campsite along a creek, and scored by finding a big log to chop up into firewood.



For dinner we cooked up some freshmdae brats in some Old Chub - delicious! There wasn't a soul around since it was a sunday night and we were the middle of nowhere open range ranch country Utah, so it was odd to hear rummaging noises the next morning which we have concluded was merely a fox sniffing around.

loaner

I was just cleaning out my camera for our fear & loathing road trip, and I stumbled upon this photo from the Gener show at the Walnut last week. I guess his keyboard was on loan from the Sound Tribe boys. Oh, the woven web...

number three

Went over to steph's for dinner, then packed up and headed to the B.Side Lounge for the 3rd night of Gener. I brought the rig out tonight so I could help mike out with the taping. Basically you have to set up mics there in between the back bar and the crowd, leaving drunk people on all sides, so an extra set of mics is a good precaution for a random mishap. For example, midway through the show, not too far in front of us, some guy passed out cold and hit the floor sending beers flying everywhere. Yet another stellar performance from Gener with some real gems tossed in.



marble tulip juicy tree
birthday boy
chocolate town
help me scrape the mucus off my brain
she's your baby
dont get to close
tried and true
dont laugh I love you >
push the lil daisies
big jilm
the grobe
mutilated lips
even if you dont*
lullaby*
happy colored marbles*
so long jerry
she wanted to leave
mollusk
The party
flutes of the chi
puffy cloud
buenos tardes
gener's gone

*pianotron

My recording is now up at COTapers - enjoy!

mother's day

For mother's day we all went to the Rockies game. A nice 3-2 win over the Marlins to avoid the sweep. It was a bit overcast, which wasn't too bad so at least we were not roasting in right field. No rain until later on in the evening.



Had pizza over at Jacq & Andy's hut, and watched replays of last seconds of the saturday Nuggets since I missed it. Went over to Jen & Jeff's then piled everyone in my car at headed over to the B-side Lounge for night #2 of Gener. Another great show with only a couple of repeats from the night before.



golden eel
dont shit where you eat
Marble tulip>up on the hill
stay forever
buckingham green
flutes of the chi
voodoo lady
you were the fool
spirit walker
tried and true
friends
deaner was talkin bout
even if you dont*
lullaby*
now Im freakin out
bananas and Blow
stallion pt.3
shame maker
object
she's your baby
The Argus
ooh va la
it's gonna be alright
squelch the little weasel
she wanted to leave
Someday (a capella)

*electric piano

weenkend

Went over to steph's friday to watch the celts game - bummer on that game. My first weekend in a long time without homework, I almost didn't know what to do with myself. I wound up running some errands, and cleaning up my back porch saturday while it was nice & sunny. Later that night we grilled out before heading to the Walnut Room for the first of three Gene Ween solo shows. Cool venue, never been there before. Sold out, prolly about 200 or so folks, but not overcrowded. Gener was on point and played a bunch of tunes the regular Ween rarely plays. When we left it was pooring rain.



Your Party
Friends
Stay Forever
The Grobe
Mutilated Lips
Back To Basom
Push The Lil Daisies
Lullaby*
Even If You Don't*
Happy Colored Marbles*
Mountains and Buffalo
Spinal Meningitis
Through It All
Birthday Boy
Baby Bitch
Tried and True
Chocolate Town
Little Birdie
Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy
Don't Laugh, I Love You
El Camino
What Deaner Was Talking About
Blarney Stone

*on electric piano

You can hop on a torrent of the show at BrownTracker or a different version on COTapers.

jacq's b-day whirlwind

The rest of last weekend was cold and rainy which was conducive to the homework I had to complete. Watched the red sox game saturday (nice weekend sweep of the wanks!), and the celts double overtime loss sunday as study breaks.

This past friday we all met up at the rio for happy hour to celebrate jacq's b-day. For some reason it took me forever to get there - I hit a bunch of traffic. We had dinner there, and then moved on to bacaro for a round, and then on to Seven for some dancing replete with busting out an umbrella during 'umbrella'. Again, and overcast weekend, so working on my final paper was not a biggy. Study break saturday night over at steph's to watch the celts triumph (finally!) over the bulls.



Our final paper was a team effort, and I had submitted my portion saturday, and they came through sunday morning with their end, so I felt pretty good riding bikes down to Jill's for jacq's b-day brunch with the fam. We fully quaffed the bottomless champagne and ate heartily. After brunch, we realized the nuggets game was on, so we went down the street to the west end to watch and were eventually shunned for being 'rowdy' or some such nonsensical attribute to have at a bar. We left boldly and ended up back at the rio - full circle!

Monday morning I was a bit under the weather, but rallied later in the day to present with the team in the last class of my MBA program. I am all done!!! Fin!