The Great American West Trip - Day Six
I think I woke up at around nine or ten, but no matter what time it was, I was fairly sleepy and was looking forward to the short drive to the Grand Canyon. We poked around for about an hour and then got on our way to the infamous South Rim, but planned to make a stop at the Hoover Dam in transit. While heading to the Hoover Dam, I decided to pay closer attention to the directions to the grand canyon, and discovered that the south rim was approximately 300 miles away. Now I thought back to this little girl behind the register saying that this place was ‘not far, about an hour drive,’ and realized that was a complete lie. This really depressed my mood since now we were looking at a four hour drive instead of a one hour drive which would put us at the Grand Canyon with much less time to enjoy everything, but that is the price you pay of not doing your own research.
We passed through the Hoover Dam, and took all the usual tourist pictures, but to be honest, it was much smaller than I had imagined it. Some things are always grander on television and I think that the Hoover Dam was one of those things. So after doing the tourist thing there, we crossed into Arizona and started the long drive to the Grand Canyon. For anyone that has been to Arizona, or the southwest in general, you know that the roads are looong and straight. So the average speed seems to be about 95 mph. That helped with making the trip a little shorter, but the ride still seemed like a race against the sun. We actually arrived at the Grand Canyon with about 45 minutes till sunset, which turned out to be perfect, because it was freezing out there. Being 7000 feet in altitude in December will remind you why there is snow on the ground. So we did some rapid sightseeing around the rim, and found a nice little spot to catch the sunset. The best thing about going to the GC in winter, is that the park is pretty much isolated. Me and Tiffany were able to catch yet another magnificent sunset all by ourselves. To speak on the Grand Canyon is pretty pointless because it is one of those places that is beyond words. But I will paraphrase Tiffany’s first reaction “No wonder they call this the GRAND Canyon, its better that great.” The place is stunning for its beauty, its grandeur, and for the internal reflection that automatically comes from standing in the presence of something far more ancient than yourself. This is truly somewhere that must be seen if you have the opportunity. Now seeing this place at Sunset is just a blessing. Seeing such a wonderful place at such a beautiful time is almost too much for the senses, and I am just thankful that I was privileged enough to experience it.
At some point the pure discomfort of freezing temperatures overruled the serenity of the setting sun, and it was time for us to move on. So being the gentleman that my mother always wanted me to be, I told Tiffany to wait at the Visitors Lodge while I went to get the car. I figured I could run back and she could stay and get warm. The only problem was we were like a mile away from where we parked and I forgot that I was no longer in shape. That was one of the hardest miles I have ever ran, but I made it eventually. I picked her up from the lodge and we were off again back to Las Vegas. Now seeing as how it was dark outside, the roads were flat, and everybody was speeding, I knew that the drive back was going to be a perfect opportunity for traffic police. Did I let this affect my speeding tendencies, of course not. Cresting one of the few hills in Arizona and speeding to catch up with the next group of cars, I saw him. He was behind the shrubs at the base of the hill, just like in the movies, and I knew instantly that I was about to get yet another ticket. In the time between him pulling into the road and catching up to me, I had reached the next pack of cars and tried to blend in by getting in the slow lane. This cop, went up and down this row of cars, and then settled parallel to me in the next lane. I figured if I did not look over in guilt he would assume it wasn’t me who was speeding, but somehow he knew, and the flashers went on. Tiffany was sure that I was just going to get a warning, but I explained to her that because I possessed a penis, there was going to be no such leniency. It is written somewhere in the universal law book that the female sex are the only ones eligible for warnings when speeding. This cop came up, took one look at me, and from the start was all business. He explained that he clocked me at ninety-six (yes 96) mph in a 75 mph zone, and that he would be back with my ticket, no need for any explanations. I personally have issues with this claim, because I don’t even think her car can go ninety six miles an hour without it complaining somewhat, but the cop wasn’t budging. He did give me one break by dropping my registered speed to 95 mph, which was actually a very generous gesture because it reduced my ticket price from $455 to $255. Needless, both prices suck a lot. But I’m not broke, and for the amount of speeding that I do, I would gladly play my average of 100/a year for speeding tickets to be able to continue speeding. That made me feel a little better about the ticket, but I still think I am going to try and do the traffic school option since it will be cheaper that way.
After my run in with the police, it was a nice leisurely ride to Las Vegas. Once there, we discovered that for a city that stays awake all night, all decent food places shut down at 9 PM. So we ate at some casino spot that had horrible service and mediocre, expensive food, oh well. Then we hit the strip and watched about four Bellagio fountain shows, took pictures and attempted to party at Margaritaville. We soon discovered that neither of us were Vegas people and decided to head back to the hotel and try some gambling. I think between Tiffany and I we might have spent fifteen dollars before we gave up on throwing our money away and called it a night. We had no certain agenda set for the next day so we looked at our options and decided that Death Valley seemed like a good place to try to see. Overall a good day.
We passed through the Hoover Dam, and took all the usual tourist pictures, but to be honest, it was much smaller than I had imagined it. Some things are always grander on television and I think that the Hoover Dam was one of those things. So after doing the tourist thing there, we crossed into Arizona and started the long drive to the Grand Canyon. For anyone that has been to Arizona, or the southwest in general, you know that the roads are looong and straight. So the average speed seems to be about 95 mph. That helped with making the trip a little shorter, but the ride still seemed like a race against the sun. We actually arrived at the Grand Canyon with about 45 minutes till sunset, which turned out to be perfect, because it was freezing out there. Being 7000 feet in altitude in December will remind you why there is snow on the ground. So we did some rapid sightseeing around the rim, and found a nice little spot to catch the sunset. The best thing about going to the GC in winter, is that the park is pretty much isolated. Me and Tiffany were able to catch yet another magnificent sunset all by ourselves. To speak on the Grand Canyon is pretty pointless because it is one of those places that is beyond words. But I will paraphrase Tiffany’s first reaction “No wonder they call this the GRAND Canyon, its better that great.” The place is stunning for its beauty, its grandeur, and for the internal reflection that automatically comes from standing in the presence of something far more ancient than yourself. This is truly somewhere that must be seen if you have the opportunity. Now seeing this place at Sunset is just a blessing. Seeing such a wonderful place at such a beautiful time is almost too much for the senses, and I am just thankful that I was privileged enough to experience it.
At some point the pure discomfort of freezing temperatures overruled the serenity of the setting sun, and it was time for us to move on. So being the gentleman that my mother always wanted me to be, I told Tiffany to wait at the Visitors Lodge while I went to get the car. I figured I could run back and she could stay and get warm. The only problem was we were like a mile away from where we parked and I forgot that I was no longer in shape. That was one of the hardest miles I have ever ran, but I made it eventually. I picked her up from the lodge and we were off again back to Las Vegas. Now seeing as how it was dark outside, the roads were flat, and everybody was speeding, I knew that the drive back was going to be a perfect opportunity for traffic police. Did I let this affect my speeding tendencies, of course not. Cresting one of the few hills in Arizona and speeding to catch up with the next group of cars, I saw him. He was behind the shrubs at the base of the hill, just like in the movies, and I knew instantly that I was about to get yet another ticket. In the time between him pulling into the road and catching up to me, I had reached the next pack of cars and tried to blend in by getting in the slow lane. This cop, went up and down this row of cars, and then settled parallel to me in the next lane. I figured if I did not look over in guilt he would assume it wasn’t me who was speeding, but somehow he knew, and the flashers went on. Tiffany was sure that I was just going to get a warning, but I explained to her that because I possessed a penis, there was going to be no such leniency. It is written somewhere in the universal law book that the female sex are the only ones eligible for warnings when speeding. This cop came up, took one look at me, and from the start was all business. He explained that he clocked me at ninety-six (yes 96) mph in a 75 mph zone, and that he would be back with my ticket, no need for any explanations. I personally have issues with this claim, because I don’t even think her car can go ninety six miles an hour without it complaining somewhat, but the cop wasn’t budging. He did give me one break by dropping my registered speed to 95 mph, which was actually a very generous gesture because it reduced my ticket price from $455 to $255. Needless, both prices suck a lot. But I’m not broke, and for the amount of speeding that I do, I would gladly play my average of 100/a year for speeding tickets to be able to continue speeding. That made me feel a little better about the ticket, but I still think I am going to try and do the traffic school option since it will be cheaper that way.
After my run in with the police, it was a nice leisurely ride to Las Vegas. Once there, we discovered that for a city that stays awake all night, all decent food places shut down at 9 PM. So we ate at some casino spot that had horrible service and mediocre, expensive food, oh well. Then we hit the strip and watched about four Bellagio fountain shows, took pictures and attempted to party at Margaritaville. We soon discovered that neither of us were Vegas people and decided to head back to the hotel and try some gambling. I think between Tiffany and I we might have spent fifteen dollars before we gave up on throwing our money away and called it a night. We had no certain agenda set for the next day so we looked at our options and decided that Death Valley seemed like a good place to try to see. Overall a good day.
posted by Anthony Jackson at 1:01 PM
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