The Traveling Callens

2007 December 16-18: Vacation in Banff Canada

2007-12-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

So we dropped kitty off at Colville, and then headed to Banff Canada at 6am on Sunday. The roads in the US were terrible, but once we got past Creston, the roads were great and I could drive 120kph (70ish). It still took us like 8 hours to get there though, but the drive was beautiful. The first day we checked into our nice hotel, the Brewster's Mountain Lodge, and then looked around at all the awesome shops they had. We then went to Whyte's Museum and saw lots of cool historical stuff from this family that had traveled all over the world and collected tons of stuff, it was really neat and inspired me to want to create a house that was really a world museum full of artifacts, so that is now my goal in life.

After eating a delicious meal at Guido's, eating Veal Valdostana for me and Veal Cordon Bleu for Christelle, we headed to the Banff hot springs. It was nice, and relaxing, but we still think Radium is the best hot springs we have been too. It was a fun first day, even though we drove for 8 hours

The next morning, we woke up around 8am, and took showers and then headed down to the continental breakfast. It was really good, they had cereals, toast, pastries, fruits, yogurt, juices and coffees. We ate a whole bunch and then set out for a long day of fun. The day before we had walked around and seen the shops but we didn't go into many. We started this morning off by visiting almost ALL of the shops. We saw so many cool things, rocks, gems, souvenirs galore, and a vast amount of other awesome stuff. The funny thing about this town is that nothing opens before 10am so we were actually early to a lot of places, which is strange when you wake up at 8am. Everything was in walking distance though so that was nice. Christelle bought a kitty knit cap, and we got me a nice waterbottle and some magnets.

After shopping, we headed to the Sulphur Mountain Gondola. The ride was really fun up the mountain and once we reached the top it was really cold and windy. We took lots of pictures, and then grabbed some hot cocoas and walked along the mountain ridge to the Sanson Peak, where they have a galactic ray station. The views were beautiful, and it was cool to see the old cabin that the meteorologist Sanson had stayed in when he was doing his high altitude research back in the early 1900s.

After taking a ton of pictures on top of the mountain we took the gondola back down and visited the Cave and Basin Museum. The caves were really warmed and smelled like delicious soup. It was the site that started the first National Park in Canada, so it had a lot of history. They also have some really rare snails that they are protecting too so it was cool to see the tiny little guys.

We then headed to the Banff Museum which was full of taxidermy. They don't condone taxidermy anymore but back in the 1890-1930 era the scientists used it to classify animals, so they still preserved them even though they don't practice those methods anymore. They have a very impressive collection of so many species. I think it is the best collection I have ever seen and is an amazing piece of history. After that we drove around town and went out to visit the Hoodoos. These rock formations that native americans used to think housed demons. The view of Mount Rundle and the icy river, as well as the Hoodoos, was the best of any place I thought.

After that we headed back to the hotel and parked the car and walked to the restaurant Melissa's MisSteak, a really great steakhouse. The food there was amazing. We started off with a calamari appetizer, warm bread, and caesar salad. Then our combo meals came. I had a the sirloin and brook trout, and Christelle had the Hunter's chicken and brook trout. The fish and lemon was some of the best I have ever had. The food was great and our server, Steph, was really awesome and even packed my peppercorn steak sauce in the to-go box! After eating we went back to the hotel and relaxed in the hot tub. We then watched the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, and some other Christmas shows before we took a last walk around town as it snowed.

The last morning we again ate a huge free breakfast and then wandered around the shops for some last minute shopping. I ended up getting a visor that says Banff on it with my last 10 dollars. We then headed back to Colville. In Radium we came across a ton of big horn sheep wandering around the roads and we were like 5 feet away from them. After that we drove to the Kingsgate border crossing. We made it across without too much hassle and that is when the bad weather started.

It began snowing so much and we saw two semi trucks flipped over in ditches. The roads around Newport and Ione were so bad that it took us 3 hours to go 80 miles. I had to drift around the uphill switchbacks of the Tiger highway, and it was really scary, good thing no head on traffic was coming. As we were going up the Tiger we saw a lady in a ditch and stopped to help, but she had already called somebody so we headed back to Colville.

After 9 hours we finally made it home to where our kitty was getting along great with Lydia and Jack. We then ate lots of spaghetti and watched Battle of the Choirs. It was a fun trip, but boy was it nice to be back in the US and done with driving. I really like Canada and want to live there. They wake up late, drive fast, eat good food, have awesome landscapes, are very environmentally aware, and are just good humored and internationally cultural people. Just the kind of life I want to live!

Christelle also made a nice blog from a different perspective and more photo descriptions that you can find at her myspace site here.

2007 July 12-16: Tour #3 - The Westside of Washington

2007-07-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

So we drove from Pullman to Seattle to visit my Mom for her birthday on the 15th. We drove on highway 26 and then met up with I-90 right before Ellensburg. We arrived at my Mom's place on Lake Angle right next to Seatac. It was a really cool place right off of the nice lake. They had 5 cats but we met only 2. Bulldozer is the big orange cat who is 15, and he was so awesome. Christelle really bonded with the other cat named Squirt. We all went to Herp's Burger and Teriyaki and had the delicious Teriyaki Chicken, Chow Mein, and Gyoza meals. Then we headed to Safeway to buy all the food for our camping trip.

We started out at my Mom's place in Seattle off of Angle Lake near Seatac, and headed over to the Olympic National Rainforest after a nice big breakfast of my Mom's delicious french toast and hashbrowns. We found a camp site at Gatton Creek Campground which only had 3 sites and 2 were full, so basically in the entire area we got the last open spot out of all the campgrounds. We walked the Rainforest trail, and various other trails and saw lots of beautiful sites. The trees were huge and the creeks were beautiful. We also found a couple slugs that were pretty.

After packing up the camping gear at Lake Quinault we headed along the coast line on 101 to see the beach. We stopped at Copalis Beach but it had formed a water barrier so we couldn't reach the beach. So we headed down the road farther and got to Ocean Shores and got out to see the beach. There was lots of people, horses, mopeds, and kites. We beach combed for awhile, then went to the Quinault Casino (even though it isn't at Quinault) and had a picnic in the parking lot. We went inside and got cleaned up and then Christelle and I went to beach comb in the less populated beach by the casino while my Mom played some slots. We saw jelly fish, broken shells, lots of dead crabs, sandpipers, and even a seal playing a few waves out. It was really fun. After we collected some neat ocean rocks we headed back to my Mom's place. We hung out and enjoyed the lake view and the park nearby. It was a fun day.

So we woke up early and my Mom made us a delicious breakfast of hashbrowns, bacon, and french toast. It was her birthday today and so we took a bunch of pictures with her before we headed out. We would have stayed longer, but it was Christelle's father Jack's birthday today as well. So we packed up the car and headed out for a 7 hour journey to make it to visit her Dad. We went the way through Leavenworth, Wenatchee, Coulee City, Davenport, and then up to Kettle Falls. The drive was very scenice and beautiful and the traffic was very light. It was a good drive even though it was long. We went from breakfast at my Mom's to dinner at her Dad's. We visited with her Dad, Mom, brothers, and her Dad's cousin Nancy, who was a hilarious addition to the dinner table. She was really outgoing so her brothers talked more then usual and it was a good birthday dinner for her Dad. The next morning we woke up early to drive home and get a kitty. This was the last day of our tour #3, and even though we had a ton of fun, we were glad to be going home.

2006 October 28 Haunted Houses

2006-10-29T17:28:00.000-08:00

So Christelle and I made a friend named Jessica in Chem 105 lab. She is a funny outgoing cowgirl that drives a huge truck. Anyways, she invited us to a fun Halloween, double haunted houses(her husband worked on some of the stuff on one) and a haunted cornmaze in Palouse, WA. We first all met up at Basillio's downtown in our costumes, and then we headed over. They all had on awesome costumes too.

When we reached the haunted houses the lines were huge, but very few people were in costumes so we were the hit show at the place. Everybody knew us, especially our scary huge clown man that scared all the kids everywhere. It was awesome. Plus we got to leave line and go do the corn maze while Cruella Deville held our place and let us back in. She was the Mayor's wife, or somebody of power, and then we hung out a bit with the mayor too, who was in an awesome skeleton costume. The cider and stuff was only $0.50 too!!! So even though it was super freezing we all had a good time.

Then we came back to Pullman and hung out at Jessica's place and ate her delicious foods, including lil' smokies and the pirate lady made the best ever crab dip, yum yum. Then we all watched Monster House, it was actually pretty good. Then we walked home (a whole block!) and passed out at about 3am, oh wait, daylight savings... then 2am I guess. So yeah, now we are sitting around sleeping in, and doing math. Yay, Yay, Yay. Oh yeah, not to mention we went to a craft fair and got some natural honey and some natural COCONUT!!!!!!!!! soap that is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! Craft fairs are the best.

2006 August 24-31 - TOOL @ The Gorge

2006-09-01T22:49:00.000-07:00

2006 08 27 - TOOL @ The Gorge
Now this was a busy day. Christelle woke up and went to work at 5am; I woke up at 7am and finalized the house. Christelle got home around 10am again and then we cleaned out the fridge into the cooler, packed up our cleaning supplies and headed over to my Dad's so I could take a shower. Then we were supposed to meet my brother Buc who was in town from Belmont, CA at a tattoo shop, but that didn't work out so we met him at a Zip's and had a nice long catching up session, then Janis came as we were leaving and then we departed.

We went back to my Dad's and ate delicious spaghetti and had ice cream afterwards while watching America's Funniest Home Videos. My sister didn't eat with us because she had already left for the TOOL concert to camp out a great spot. After eating with Dad we had to go back to the apt and turn in all of our keys, unfortunately the $600 worth of 16" tires I had in the garage had to stay, as well as Christelle's old huge wood TV on a lazy susan base. Then we headed to the Gorge running late. We stopped and got some food to take in, and then went to the show.
We got there about 30 minutes before the show started but had to wait about that long in the line to the Honey Bucket to get ready for the show. Then we got back in line and they herded us through. Christelle successfully and easily snuck her camera in, but the caps to our water bottles were confiscated for some retarded reason. Then we found the shirt booth, we waited in that during the entire opening band, then we got our awesome shirts and headed to the hill.

It was intermission at the time and I looked down among the masses and just opened my mind to the way. I ended up taking a winding meandering path to the right side of middle by about 15 degrees. At one point I stopped at a barricade of people and had to choose right or left, so I followed my instincts again and as I took the path we found my sister smiling and waving at us. It only took us about 3 minutes to find them in the huge ass crowd, it was awesome. We talked excitedly and sat on the blanket as we waited for TOOL to come on. After waiting for about an hour or so the show started, and boy was it crazy.

The entire stage was all white and there was no back drop behind them, just these weird white cubes. Instead of playing the videos on a screen they played it on the entire white stage and the weird white blocks, it looked amazing, but I would have like to see the full videos in detail, but hey, it was awesome anyways. The sound was amazing, we were up on the hill so I couldn't feel the bass as much as I would like to but it was plenty loud. A few times Adam Jones' effects and stuff got a little to piercing on the ears, but it was only a few times.

They played an awesome set list, Maynard broke the silence by saying "blah blah blah" and then instantly starting into

Stinkfist, a badass song to start out the show with, Jesus, it was even the extended version with all of Maynard’s little voice fills, then

The Pot, which was so friggin awesome, I wish I could have been up at the front to feel the bass, because that song was badass

Next was Forty Six & 2. At this point we couldn't believe the lineup they were playing; every song was just so awesome,

Next was the much anticipated Jambi, it was amazing to see these guys actually playing this stuff, so great,

On to Schism, Danny Carey's electric drum stuff was sounding so sweet, and I think it was after this or before it I am not sure, but they just did this awesome little jam between them, it was sweet.

Then Maynard broke in at the end with "wake up drunk bitches!" and the crowd roared.

Then the craziness started with Rosetta Stoned, for Maynard’s voice on this one it was a triple repeat that was fast so it garbled the words but you could make out the somniferous almond eyes or whatever that means part and it was funny, he was awesome to watch doing this part and confirmed my suspicions that it was about Justin because he went over to Justin during it and it felt like there was something there.

After that Maynard said,” some of you might remember this one from long ago" and then busted out Opiate, he had a lot of feeling while he was singing and it sounded great. They did a little part where Maynard would sing for us to repeat, which nobody was smart enough to understand while the band jammed, then they would sing one line, the band would keep playing, then they tricked us a few times before they came back into the chorus, it was awesome.

Then they did a short Merkaba with some ear piercing moments, but an awesome pulsing back lit Danny Carey looking like a heart in the sea, this led into Sober which was started quite roughly by Justin but evened out once everybody else came in and then said they were leaving.

The crowd was roaring and applauding and lighter started to get held up... then more and more people put them up. Then the ENTIRE crowd had lighters, cell phone lights, everything in the air, it was the most amazing breathtaking moment at a concert ever. It went on for a few minutes and then Maynard replied with true appreciation, "Thank You" and they started into the encore of Lateralus, which should have had that badass video they always had on a back screen, but the other visuals were unique and awesome.

Then to Vicarious which was definitely a live powerful song, and then closing with Aenima, right before though Maynard went "woohoo!" in a hilariously faggish voice, and then said "Peace Out", the lighting and stuff went with the music really well and it was an awesome way to finish it off. During the last three songs these crazy light vines rose and did crazy patterns while the super powerful green lasers blasted out over the crowd and onto the stage. There was no end to those laser beam and they lit up the sky, the smoke machines they were using were at the highest caliber like the lasers too. After they were done, they walked around the huge white stage and really soaked it all up, it was awesome they stayed out a long time talking with the people in front and throwing drum sticks and water.

It took about 1 hour just to get out of the venue and into the parking lot. Then we all went to my sister's car and chilled for an hour while the craziness of 15,000 people trying to leave a grass parking lot all at once. As we were sitting on the tailgate talking some douche bags next to us in the back of a truck were talking about us. I was the only one who actually were paying attention to them and they were like, "these idiots don't even know we are just sitting and listening to everything they say", and "well at least we got these guys to entertain us" followed by sneers, so I said,” lets go to this side of the car cause these guys are all douche-bags" and the lame people were just silent. Then we sat in the grass on the other side and had some good conversations without a bunch of jackasses listening in.

Then we departed and went back to our car. It was starting to clear out but we waited another 45 minutes for it to really clear out, then we headed out without any stress like it would have been earlier. By this time it was about 2am and we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us and would then have to get up to go to school at 8am. We stopped at Shari's in Moses Lake and had a delicious meal and then headed home. We were super tired and had to switch drivers like 5 times, but we made it home at about 6:15am, and then got about 2 hours of sleep before going to 5 hours of school. Fun night, fun night

20060331 - Last Day at the Airport

2006-03-31T22:13:00.000-08:00

We woke up and headed over to O'Sheas for some $5 blackjack, while waiting for a seat some crazy mexican became my friend unwillingly and stood around and yelled like a crazy fool while security told him to back up. Then he settled down and I got a seat. I won a bunch of hands in a row and then lost one with a 7 - 7 so I left and let Christelle play. She then got dealt a 7-7, and then a 6-7, so she lost all hers right away. So then we left and went to McDonald's and got egg mcmuffin meals. They were delicious, but gave me gut hurt. Oh well, its vacation.

Then we checked out, took a Towncar to the airport, waited in long lines and got on our flight, which was running way late. By the time we got to our next layover we had to run through the crazy Seattle terminals until we made it to the plane. Then we took the short ride back home.

Unpacked a bit and then went to my Dad's to get my car and to get mail and give him the awesome purple glass buddhas we got at the Aladdin for him. In the mail I had got my new awesome Yomega Saiber Raider and my Duncan juggling scarves that I haven't played with for like 10 years. So it was a good day, very tired and must work at 4 am the next day.

20060330 - Fifth Day at the Grand Canyon

2006-03-30T22:11:00.000-08:00

So we got in the big bus at like 6:15 cause it was running late, then we picked up a bunch more people from other hotels and then to the Nutrition Vitamin Company where they had our packets and breakfast. We even got to see how they make vitamins. Then we got into the bus and started driving. It was 300 miles away, but we stopped at the Hoover Dam about 40 minutes into it and took some photos. Then we stopped at National Geographics Grand Canyon site and ate lunch while watching Grand Canyon Imax. Then just a short ride to the canyon.

It was amazing.

Took lots of pictures and videos. Walked a whole bunch, nearly missed the bus, then went from Matthis Point to Bright Angel Falls. Checked out the view and the studios there. Then back on the bus for the long haul home. During the ride we had watched Mousetrap, Cheaper by the Dozen (which was awesome), Holes, and then Funny Farm with Chevy Chase. At the stop in Arizona for dinner we ran over to Wendy's, got the bacon cheese burger meals Biggie sized with frostys instead of sodas, and then after that long line we ran back to the bus that we almost missed again. Ate the delcious food we had been craving and then sat full to the brim and watched Funny Farm until we got back to the Flamingo, after seeing everybody else get off the bus, and then us at the end cause they had put us on the wrong one, haha. Long long 17 hour day, but very fun, good time

20060329 - Fourth Day having a free fun day

2006-03-29T22:09:00.000-08:00

Woke up with a terrible hangover and the bloodiest red eyes, but I took a crap and drank a ton of water and I was better in about 90 minutes. This morning my feet are totally blistered and sore and overall miserable, but the trip is still a blast. First we went to the Venetian and at at Panini Bella, a wonderful Panini shop and a salad. It was delicious, after that we went to the Fashion Mall and checked out the Sanrio store, they had a ton of cool Hello Kitty, Chococat, Pandapple, and more. Then we headed back to Caesar's Palace and saw the Zen shrine and some other things.

After that we went to Gameworks and played a bunch of pinball and shoot 'em up games. Upstairs from that we went to the M&M little fake factory and the 3-d movie, which had some funny parts, but bad 3-d. We bought 4 more waters for 2 dollars at a little strip mall store, then we walked back to the hotel and explored it a bit, and bought some things from its gift store.

Then we got prepared and took the Bally's shuttle over to the Rio for dinner. The Rio buffet was amazing, it had everything and was HUMONGOUS. The best part was the dessert bar, the gelatos we had were amazing, pistachio, creme brulee, and wild berry. There were little chocolate cups with custard and fresh berries in it. They were the best, I ate like 7 myself, haha.

After that we went home to get a good nights rest before the Grand Canyon shuttle picked us up at 6am the next morning.

20060328 - Third Day on the North Strip and Fremont

2006-03-28T22:06:00.000-08:00

Today was the day of the monorail, the night before I had been in a bit of pain because my freshly washed hiking sandals had made the straps a little tight so I ended up having too much friction on my tenden so it was painfully sore. So when I woke up I decided I needed a pair of flip-flops so it wouldn't rub anymore.

So we headed on over the my favorite, the Aladdin. It was 11 am and most people had stopped serving breakfast, and as we were walking we saw a sign for a place called La Salsa, and they had breakfast till 11:30 and really cheap too. The breakfast, me breakfast burrito, her avocado omelette, was great. Then we found the Crocs sandal stand we had seen the prior day. We both ended up getting a pair, and then I put them on and we headed out. It was quite a relief. Anyways, enough of the lame step by step.

After that we took the monorail all the way to the top at the Sahara. There we went on the awesome ride Speed the Ride, it goes over 70mph and was so insanely fast, even faster then the rollercoasters in the big parks like in Orlando.

After that we were definately in the rollercoaster mood so we headed on over to the Stratoshpere, which looked really close but ended up being quite a bit of a walk. Anyways, it was a cool place, they had a lot of great shops, hookah bars, and various other neat shops, we however walked by them all and headed up to the coasters on the 1154 ft. tower. In line we met a nice rich couple who had seen a Cirque De Soleil show and had a large stratosphere shaped drink, so after the rides Christelle made sure to get one for herself. There were 3 rides, the Big Shot, which is the one that launches you up the top of the needle as you can see the whole city and then you bungee back down. Then there was X Scream, which was a ride that was kinda wierd. It like falls over the edge and then you stop, just staring down, then it slowly goes back up and then you drop again, then it acts like it is done and you go back, but then it races ahead and hangs you over the edge again. More annoying then cool. The Insanity was awesome though, a little to dizzying, but awesome. It had 5 pairs of seats that were swung out over the edge and then spun fast at a 70 degree angle and it faces you so you are looking down the 1200 ft spinning, seeing IHOP and Denny's over and over again.

After those fun rides we went to Circus Circus and took pictures to recreate the Fear and Loathing spinning bar scene. It was a blast. Circus Circus was definately more for kids so we headed out. The Stardust I think was next, just a plain casino, There were a few others any between that weren't really worth mentioning much, but then there was the Fashion Mall. It looked like some MIB crazy spaceship was landing in its front area, but it had some pretty cool stores, as we were leaving we saw there was a Sanrio store there so we decided we would go tomorrow, but get back to the Aladdin for our dinner and show. So we headed back home to the Flamingo and got dressed in our nicer clothing.

The free dinner's to Lombardi's were so worth it, the food was great and we sat in the Desert Passage and people watched while we ate delicious foccacia bread and salmon and chicken dinners. After that we waited in line for V, the variety show, and met two funny older ladies. We happened to get seated in the best seats for general admission and the old ladies sat next to us. The show was hilarious, Wally Eastwood, the juggler, was awesome, very funny and super crazy talented, then there were a bunch of other good acts too, the host was hilarious and then there were some people from "The Enterainer" show. After that we headed back to the monorail and back up to the Sahara.

The monorail said to catch CAT Bus 108 under the terminal at the end, so went down there and it was all creepy and dark and we didn't see anything like a bus stop, but on the other side there was a bus bench, so we ran across the street and waited, one couple came and were trying to get to Fremont Street Experience too but they didn't know and didn't want to wait. Then a few minutes later this mom and daughter came and sat with us, then we saw the bus, but he told us it was on the otherside, at some obscure dark area with a tiny sign. So we went over there and waited, then caught the bus and headed on up.

We arrived at about 10:50pm and right as we got there caught the first movie. It was some ladies and fire one that kinda sucked. But it was still awesome on a 3 block long screen. Then we went to the Golden Nugget and saw the gold nuggets, went to Fitzgerald's, 4 Queens, and then saw the Mermaid, and they had awesome drink specials. We got a 3 foot New Orleans style Daquiri(like a slurpy, from a machine) and we drank it and looked around some more. THen at midnight we saw the next movie. It was an awesome one with flowers and beaches and had a great song that I was drunkenly dancing too, as well as all the other people in the street, which was very few compared to the Strip. It was a blast, after that we caught a cab back home as I drunkenly hollared and made a minor scene. It was fun. Then back home to the Flamingo. After buying bottles of water in the machine outside the room.

20060327 - Second Day on the South Strip

2006-03-27T22:04:00.000-08:00

This is probably the most visually stunning area of the Strip, and also the most foot work. We started out however, catching a shuttle to the Marriot Grand Chateau for our timeshare spiel. We met a very nice couple from Australia who were staying at the Aladdin and had gotten lucky and upgraded to a huge suite 3 floors from the top.

Our timeshare guy was a big fat Greek guy who talked on endlessly of his family and very little of business, which got very annoying after a while. I told him I had no money now, so then we toured the property, which was extremely fancy and really cool, but 17,000 for a 1 unit share was not something we were to interested in, anyways after 2 hours of being hassled and blabbed at we finally got out of there with our two free tickets to V and our free dinner coupons.

After that we were walking in a parking lot away from the strip trying to get to it, when some guy in a golf cart came and gave us a ride to the Aladdid (we had really wanted to start at the MGM Grand, but whatever) he was a real nice guy so I tipped him a few bucks and then we headed into the Aladdin.

This was by far my favorite place to be, one because it was middle eastern which I love, two because it had the best priced shops and coolest stuff(hookah bars, nunchukas, batons etc.), and three, because it was fairly close to our hotel.

After Aladdin we walked down the strip and went past a little strip mall with cheap luggage and water and stuff, and then past M&M Works and GameWorks, which we ended up going to later. THen on to MGM Grand.
It was a nice place pretty interesting, not too much to do there really so it was a fairly short stop. Then on over to Mandalay Bay. Mandalay Bay was pretty and fancy, but still it lacked anything interesting to do though because the wave pool and stuff was closed, which was the case with most places(pool wise).

So we headed on their free tram over to the Luxor, the one that I had highest hopes of. The outside was awesome, the theme was my favorite, but once we went inside it lost its appeal. It was still extremely beautiful and awesome, but you couldn't find your way around the place AT ALL! The maps of the place didn't show you where you were and actually pointed you to wrong directions and dead ends(which was the problem at Bally's and a few other places too) So that was pretty annoying but boy was it beautiful, they also had 3 IMAX theaters there, normal IMAX, 3-d, and interactive ride type, but they were expensive and we had a lot better things to see.

So onto the tram again, and over to the Excalibur. The castle theme was really cool but it was kinda cheesy Disneyland style almost but still cool. The buffet there was a little better then Flavors Buffet at Harrah's but it still wasn't the quality level that I expected, and I was really hungry so I would have eaten anything.
Then we went on over to New York New York, a very cool multi-shelled building depicting the skyline of New York. It was a pretty well themed one but it also had a superb ride. The ride was called The Manhattan Express and did a very unique move which I hadn't seen in my ridings. It flip you upside down on the track before going in a loop so you are basically doing a Uniracer crazy pull out of a dive thing. Hard to explain but quite unique. Other then the ride the New York New York was just scenery, but still good.

Are final destination for the night was the cream of the crop for sure. The beautiful Bellagio welcomes you to a symphonic water fountain montage, it is quite amazing and timed with the music very well. Then you head into the hotel, the first thing that hits your senses is the smell of wonderful flowers. Then you see that all around you are fresh flowers in crazy designs, complete with butterfly aviaries and water falling through the trees. The rest of the hotel was just luxurious over the top richness, but in a good way, very classy and cool. I consider it the top hotel on the strip.

Anyways, I could say so much more but I have already said a ton. But I will stop for now.

20060326 - First Day on the Central Strip

2006-03-26T21:59:00.000-08:00

The day started out with me, waking up late because my alarms didn't go off,going to work at 4am, and leaving early at 10. I went home and took a shower and then we headed to the airport, flying out on Alaska Airlines. Christelle's new luggage is large, and we packed it full and had to pay a $25 extra fee for it being over 50 lbs. but we didn't care so we paid and headed to the plane.

The plane ride was a short one to Seattle with one incident of me trying to open my rice crackers and having the bag explode all over the place, haha. The plane trip from Seattle to Las Vegas was uneventful and we arrived at about 6 pm. At the airport after we received our luggage we headed over to get a taxi. The taxi driver we had was an asshole and took the long way, but I wasn't sure if he had until it was too late, so he got a 45 cent tip, jerk. We arrived at the Flamingo and we were helped by an older gentleman who was very nice, I asked if we could have a room with a good view since we were staying so long and he sure did. We got up to our room 18146, thats the 18th floor, and found that our room was on the corner with only one set of neighbors and a watermachine outside, as well as an awesome view of Caesar's Palace, Bellagio and its fountains, and The Mirage.

We got situated and headed out to explore our surrounding block. There were a lot of people handing out these little porn cards and a lot of people trying to get you to do timeshares for free shows and stuff. We headed over to the Venetian where we actually did sign up for a timeshare presentation so we could get two tickets to V, the variety show at the Aladdin, and two free dinners at Lombardi's, a very classy restaurant. Then we proceeded to check out the place.

The Venetian was very nice, one of the best for shopping on the strip. Beautiful everything. Across the street at Treasure Island, a fairly boring casino, we saw the Sirens of TI show on the street, it was pretty racy, but funny and had some catchy songs, very crowded.

Over at The Mirage we saw the volcano go off out front and that was pretty neat, the actual casino was fairly boring as well though. Then on over to Caesar's Palace. This was probably the most spectacular architecturaly, huge 50 foot statues and all sorts of awesomeness, very beautiful.

On our side of the street there is the Flamingo, O' Sheas(one of 2 places with $5 blackjack), Imperial Palace (daquiri bar), and Harrah's, which was probably the best actual slots casino, and also where we ate at Flavors Buffet, a very mediocre buffet at best. These casinos were just allright, nothing spectacular.

Overall it was a really fun night getting to see a lot of cool stuff, we only gambled like 5 dollars because the machines in Las Vegas don't pay out very well at all.

20051223 - Border Crossing and Gambling

2005-12-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

So we ate our free breakfast buffet that came with the package, and it was amazing too, Canadians really do know how to make amazingly good food. Then we packed up the car, and then went on a walk along the beach. We met a nice little lone bird who was having a blast swimming around and stuff, it was cool. Then we got into the car and started the 8 hour trip home. At the border crossing above Oroville we were searched and they ransacked the car for like 40 minutes as we sat in the holding area bored out of our minds watching an ant on the floor, getting lost in the continuous tile work.

Then we stopped in Republic for a bathroom break, and I got a german sausage and two glass holiday bottles of coke, and Christelle, who had been driving since the border, got a eggnog double latte, and we felt much more refreshed. Then we went to the Chewelah casino for a little gambling. I had 9 quarters and a lot of 1’s that was going to spend, but on my 7th quarter in the Double Jackpot Black and White, I got a black 7, double jackpot, black 7, which is worth 200 credits, and it had been a quarter machine so I won 50 bucks. So I put 5 on a hand of blackjack, dealer had 19 so I lost, and then we left. It was great.

Then we headed on home where we returned the car and then I ordered Pizza Pipeline with the winnings I had. We got a medium white garlic sauce with mushrooms and artichokes, and a medium pesto with olives and Canadian bacon, it was so delicious and we had traveled for so long that we at it all but 2 pieces. Total driving miles from Tuesday morning to Friday night was 931.6 miles. We were exhausted and fell asleep at 11:30 pm. I had to work at 3:45 am the next day :-(

20051222 - Harrison Resort

2005-12-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

So we woke up and decided we didn’t want to do a day of this lame hot tub or public pool so we cancelled our last night at the Executive, but ate the good breakfast we had gotten for our package booking, it was amazingly good food too. Then we went over to the Harrison Hot Springs Resort, which owns that actual source of the hot springs and has been around for around 100 years, they have 5 REALLY nice hot spring fed pools that are private to the guests only, so it was worth the 30 more a night. Checked in at like 11am into a king bedroom, that was small because it was historic, but a LOT nicer then the other hotel.

We decided to go on a hike first to view the hot springs source and the beautiful redcedar woods. We hiked all around in the rain and had a blast looking at the ferns and waterfalls through the rocks when I found something interesting. There had been a huge, very old, water tower container thingy in the middle of the woods, and next to it down the steep hill was a 30 foot board that went down a ditch. Christelle took a picture and then went and walked down the trail way, but I saw an adventure. So I squatted down and got on the board, at first it wasn’t that slick but then I took of like a shot, it was nuts, I made it all the way to the end where it lips up and I put on foot on the lip to stop myself and then slid out into the dirt. I didn’t get hurt at all just my butt and leg got dirty. HERE IS THE VIDEO

Christelle then made it to the bottom of the trail around the bend and yelled over to see if I was allright because she heard a weird noise, like falling. I showed her my dirtiness and she new exactly what I had done. I told her to get the camera out and I will show her what I did. So I climbed back to the top and she started rolling. Well this time I knew what to expect so I got on the board and it immediately took off. I couldn’t hold it and slipped off a little to the left and then hit the lip with my ribcage and it flipped me over into the dirt… and it was all on video. At first I got up and wasn’t hurt, just shaken up by flipping over and the craziness of it all. Then as we were walking, me limping a little, over to a pool of water to wash my hands off in, I noticed I was bleeding quite a bit from my wedding ring finger. Some how I had lifted the nail and gotten a sharp stab underneath and my other two fingers on that hand felt like they had been smashed by a hammer. I don’t know how it happened, even after looking at the video over and over, but it wasn’t that bad of an injury anyways. But it is all on video.

Anyways, so we went back and got me cleaned up and then went to the hot spring pools, at this resort they had an adults only pool, so we just chilled in that one for hours that day. It was amazing, it was funny too because this young Asian couple was in there too always when we were and they would copy whatever we were doing as a couple, it was funny, I love Asians, haha. Then we went to a German restaurant called Black Forest, and I had schnitzel oscar and spaeztle, and Christelle had a creamy cheese chicken with spaetzle and potatoes. They were both amazing meals. We then headed back to the hotel, and back into the hot springs. The whole time we had been there it had been raining so it was nice to sit in the hot pools while it rained ice rain on your shoulders. We then went to our respective changing rooms and sat in the saunas. She met a nice Asian lady, and I met some guys my age from Seattle, it was pretty neat. Then a final video recording before going to bed and that was it for that day… the funnest day of the trip.

20051221 - A Picasso Solstice

2005-12-27T11:40:00.000-08:00

So we woke up, ate really good french toast my Mom made for us, and then headed out to Vancouver at 10:30am. We made a stop in Bellingham to check it out, we were quite impressed. The stores, forests, and people were all very nice. I then saw the sign for Western Washington University, and now I think that is where I want to go to get my B.A. Then I went online and found they have an Environmental Education B.A. So I think once I get my prereqs out of the way, I will be moving over there.

The border crossing was easy, they didn’t even look at are passports and just let us drive through after 3 questions. Then we headed up to Vancouver. The traffic there makes Seattle look like a cake walk. It was absolutely nuts, the café we were going to go to was in a ghetto shady area and wasn’t what we were looking for so we went directly to the Art Gallery to see the rare Picasso paintings and artwork they had there.

It was really neat, turns out Picasso is crazy as hell and apparently spent a lot of time with a sculptor having orgies. Good times I guess for him. My favorites were “Woman Weeping” and “Minotauromachy” very crazy paintings both of them.

So after that we just checked out the shops that were in that area and then we were tired of the chaos of the town so we decided to leave… little did we know that it would take us 2 hours just to get out of Vancouver, moving like 5 car lengths at a time, it was terrible. But then we arrived at Harrison Hot Springs. We easily found our hotel the Executive Inn and we went and checked in.

The place was pretty cheesy, nothing like we had expected. The room was standard and lame, and the hot tub they had at the facility was a nasty yellowish green. So we headed across the street to the public pool, which was indoors and only slightly better then the hot tub at the hotel.

We figured we would go have some drinks and food at the nearby PUB. So we went over there, Christelle ordered a nice full course meal, and I decided to just get shrimp appetizers and then drink. We both ordered a Wish On A Star martini, and it was so good I drank it in just a few drinks. Then I ordered a Raspberry Cosmopolitan for us both to share… needless to say I drank most of it. Then I ordered shooters: a Gladiator, a Wrecked Golf Cart, Electric Banana, and a few others that I can’t remember the names, but one was a creamy blue color and smelt of bubblegum ice cream but tasted like bananas, it was my favorite one. Anyways the bill was $70, plus I had tipped the two ladies working quite a bit as well. Oh well you only get to vacation once, eh?