Thursday, July 7, 2011

Solo Road Trip Day 7: Random Musings

On Tuesday, I got up early and went to Devil's Postpile in Mammoth. A fact which I forgot to mention in my Day 5 post :) I was really tired...  It was truly a long, long day but got some great photos at Devil's Postpile and the drive to Hurricane. I will definitely be posting a map with my route because I think I'll actually surprise myself! I believe Enrique has tracked us at around 1300 miles or so. Not bad, eh?

So, Hurricane, Utah, is where I stayed on Tuesday night and wrote my very long post. I wanted to call it Slurricane from here on out, however I learned on the radio yesterday that it's actually "Her-uh-kin" and not "Hurr-uh-KANE" like it should be. Yes, should be. Why change the pronunciation of an actual noun? Why, Utah, why? Is it because you like to be different with your dry counties and plural marriages? Don't get me wrong, I love me some Big Love but come on now, it's HurriCANE, as in large, destructive storms that usually form in the Gulf of Mexico area. Thanks.

As I posted earlier today, the highlight of my trip so far was the Neon Museum. I had the best tour guide, Justin, the birthday boy. He was so funny & knowledgable. It was such a great experience, despite the heat. I wanted to go to Fremont Street to shoot the old signs but I just couldn't bring myself to get out of my air conditioned car so I plan on coming back later this year. If I take photos of the ones actually ON buildings, I can post them on my photo blog and actually promote them as my own photos. That'd be cool. I will respect the Neon Museum's request to not use my photos from today commercially. I'd hate to make them upset - they're just so awesome.

A sidenote on money - if you want to take a cheap vacation, go to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico in October. A road trip is not the way to go. I've done very little and spent very much. It's amazing. I've barely even eaten! I tried to snack on fruits & veggies in the long car rides but man that gets old. Good thing I had my buffalo & beef jerky to eat. I felt quite barbaric ripping off pieces of dried meat. Manly, really.

[insert majorly annoyed comment here: I just wrote another 3 paragraphs and Blogger didn't save them. I think it's because I'm staying on floor 13 of my hotel. What hotel HAS a floor 13?? Oh that'd be mine. ARGH.]

Yeah so anyway, I owe you and myself a lot of photos. Devil's Postpile, most of the drive from Mammoth to Slurricane (yep, the name sticks), (shish)Kaibob National Forest, more of Inyo National Forest, the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and the drive back to Vegas.

A quick open letter to Las Vegas: What is WITH the thunder storms and HUGE raindrops? Stoppit. It's July for pete's sake.

I do have a few road trip tips for you: Make sure your iPod is filllllllled with music, Pandora will not save you from highway boredom when most of the way there's no signal. Bring better food - seriously. Road trippin' makes you hungry. Whilst driving long distances that are primarily straight, download your photos from your CF card to your external hard drive. (Note to all Highway Patrolmen/State Troopers: I'd never do this.) You can sleep in any National Forest - for free. I wish I had done this at least once. I was all prepared with my twin blow up mattress and everything. Oh well. I did take a nice nap in (shish)Kaibob National Forest on the drive down the mountain from the Grand Canyon. Photo of my napping spot to come.

There won't be much photo activity over the next couple of days except the occasional phone photo - I'll be poolside. I'll try to post the other photos soon though! I hope to get a map too - I gots to track this route - I'll be impressed with myself.


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