Ultimate Road Trip 2007

Live from The Mondrian in Scottsdale!

2007-06-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I cannot believe that it is already the last day of our road trip! Tomorrow at this time we will be back in Gilroy, California--hard to believe how many miles we have covered. We arrived in Scottsdale yesterday around noontime, which was not that long of a drive from El Paso. The drive was pretty uneventful, except for a bit of dust remaining in the air from the previous day's winds.

We are staying at the Mondrian Hotel here in Scottsdale, which is probably the nicest hotel in which I have stayed. They also have a Mondrian in Los Angeles which is frequented by celebrities--we have not seen any here yet! Since the hotel just opened six months ago, I was able to get a really great rate for our stay. The room has a plasma TV and a stereo, but is quite small. Our favorite part of the whole place are the pools! The main pool has a bar and a jacuzzi and is where most of the people hang out. It is kind of loud because of the mood music that plays, but they also have another pool called the "Serenity" pool. The pool is surrounded by vines and has a huge waterfall. There are also misters situated around the pool that mist you with a cool spray as you are lounging.

We did not just stay in the hotel though--we got up this morning and took a trip to the Desert Botanical Garden. It was pretty darn hot, but compared to the humidity we had in Texas, was not that bad! We saw quite a bit of wildlife--including doves, lizards, and ground squirrels. It was fun to wander around the huge cacti and other native plant life.

After our trip to the garden, we decided to lounge around the pool and relax the rest of the day before our drive home tomorrow. It will be nice to finally be home, but bittersweet because the trip was so much fun and a definite bonding experience for the both of us.

Not much to say about El Paso!

2007-06-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, but we have had a very long couple of days! We left Austin two days ago and endured the long eight hour drive to El Paso. It is amazing how much the terrain changes within only a couple of hours. We were surrounded by the lush greenery and rolling hills of the Texas hill country, but by the time we reached Interstate 10 it was replaced with flatlands and high desert scrubland. Since we left Austin later in the morning, it made our drive seem twice as long! By the time we rolled into El Paso later that day, we were exhausted! The huge amount of dust in the air made it seem like we were entering the twilight zone. We checked into our hotel and went out for dinner, but collapsed as soon as we got back to the hotel. We were up early the next day to get out of there as fast as we could and make our way to Scottsdale! The picture on the left sums up why I love El Paso so much!

Bats and Waterfalls

2007-06-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

These are a day late, but here is a picture of McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, as well as a picture of the bats flying out from under the bridge. You can just barely see the silhouettes of the bats from the picture, but I am glad you can at least make them out a little!

Last Night in Austin

2007-06-05T20:27:00.001-07:00

Here is a picture of downtown Austin and the capitol building from the perspective of the Congress Street Bridge. What a beautiful evening! We were finally able to see the bats tonight! They were a little late in emerging from their roosts under the bridge, but when they did it was absolutely spectacular. I heard from a couple of people that the later in the summer it gets, the easier it is to see them flying around. We got a couple of pictures, but they are not really good enough to be able to see the bats. I am so happy that we had the opportunity before we left to see them though!

I am a bit behind in the blogging thing because the past day and a half were packed full of activities. Monday morning was spent checking out of the Holiday Inn on Town Lake, and also running along the Colorado River. I was going to use the treadmill in the hotel fitness center, but why waste the opportunity to run in the great outdoors! :) We then drove the sixty or so miles down to San Antonio and spent half of the day exploring the Riverwalk and the surrounding sights. It was just so hot and humid that we did not last long, and headed back to Austin before 5PM. The Riverwalk was ineresting, but a little too "touristy" for our liking. We took a neat little boat ride around the whole thing which was a good idea--so we would not have to walk the two and a half miles in the heat! We wanted to go up into the Tower of the Americas, which is the second largest observation tower in the US, behind the Stratosphere in Vegas. It was too expensive though, so we just decided to take a couple of pictures and call it a day in San Antonio!

Of course after getting back to Austin, we were super hungry. Although we did eat at County Line BBQ in Albuquerque, a trip to Austin would not be complete if we did not make a visit to the one here in Austin on the river. We had a wonderful BBQ dinner and headed back to our hotel for the night.

Today we slept in a bit then headed out to McKinney Falls State Park, which is about 13 miles southeast of Austin. We went on this small trail which lead down by a creek, and because of all of the recent rains, the waterfalls were spectacular! The park was a bit odd and the trail map hard to decipher, so we kept the hiking to a minimum and were not there for very long. We did find some shade under a rocky overhang and had our picnic lunch though! :) Since we have been going pretty much non-stop the whole trip, we rested for awhile in our hotel after returning from the hike and did not leave until later in the afternoon.

Tomorrow is the wonderful trip up to El Paso, which is definitely not one of my favorite places! I am glad it is only a stopover on the way to Scottsdale--and an eight hour drive at that! I will be sad to leave Austin, but looking forward to the next time we can get back to this unique city.

Amazing lightning!!!

2007-06-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

This is looking out across the river from underneath our little shelter under the Congress Street bridge. No bats--but an amazing show nonetheless!

Before the Austin light show!

2007-06-03T21:14:00.001-07:00

Downtown Austin as the storm started moving in

What a fun day!

2007-06-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Austin, Texas--one of my favorite places in the United States. When I lived here three years ago, I was so busy I hardly had time to really explore and see what the city had to offer. I also wanted to show James what it was like and find new places we could share together! We left Dallas and arrived here early this morning--just in time for breakfast. We had breakfast in Northwest Austin at this cool 24 hour place called Kerbey Lane Cafe. They serve breakfast all day and night, and luckily it was not too crowded when we got there. One of our planned destinations of the day was the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, which does not open until noon on Sundays. To pass some time, we headed up to Mount Bonnell, which has a panoramic view of the Colorado River and the Austin skyline. The picture above is of the bridge over the Capitol of Texas Highway--360 from Mt. Bonnell. As we were driving back down the hill, we just happened to stumble upon a small nature preserve! It was a much needed chance to wander a bit, although it was probably about 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity!

I am surprised I was able to find my way around the city so well, after being gone for three years. It also gave James the chance to relax and not have to drive or navigate for once. :)

After our nature preserve wanderings, we headed down to Southwest Austin to the wildflower center, which was so amazing and beautiful. The grounds were meticulously maintained and landscaped with plants native to the Texas hill country. Many people do not even realize that this portion of Texas actually has hills! But it is actually very lush and green. They had a little observation tower where you could go up and get a view of the surrounding countryside. It was extremely hot, but definitely worth the time and small amount of money. We even walked on a small trail that led us around gardens and oak trees.

After the wildflower center, we just drove around the area and explored a bit. We happened to come upon some model homes, and checked those out just for the fun of it! It is so amazing, what 300K can get you here! :)

Since we are staying at the Holiday Inn on Town Lake--which is actually the Colorado River--we have close access to a trail that leads downtown and through Zilker Park. We wanted to eat dinner on 6th Street, which is the historic street where there are many music clubs and restaurants. We again ventured out into the heat and humidity and walked about two miles to dinner. Our plan for the evening was to go to the Congress Street bridge and see the bats that roost there fly out to feed for the night. But those plans were interrupted by a HUGE thunderstorm! We started off on the bridge, but as soon as the lightning and thunder started, we headed underneath to seek shelter. We were trapped there for about an hour and a half, and due to the massive rain, wind, lightning, and thunder the bats never did come out! After being there for so long, we decided to make a break for it and called a cab to take us 3 miles back to our hotel. It was still an adventure, even if we did not get to see the bats! If the weather is good tomorrow night, we want to come back and see if we have better luck in our quest for the bats. :)

Comin' atcha from Austin, Texas!

2007-06-03T20:47:00.001-07:00

Here is a nice Texas sunrise--this was as we were driving from Albuquerque yesterday. There was a slight delay in posting due to the extensive journey, as well as the frustration of arriving in Dallas and being less than impressed by the hotel :) Our drive was actually very good, and we got into Dallas around 4PM yesterday. The hotel on the other hand, was pretty scary! Of course when you reserve online, sometimes it is hard to tell what a hotel is like. Specifically the neighborhood where it is located! We got off of the freeway and knew it was a bad sign when there was a "Gentlemen's club" across the street and a car without door locks parked next to us. :) The room was not that bad though, and it was a place to sleep so we decided to stick it out. I had read about a nice little neighborhood where we could get a bite to eat for dinner, so once again we hopped into the car and made our way to that area. Once we got there though, I realized it was not the kind of place we felt like exploring. On the road once again, we just happened to pick a street that I remembered reading about somehow. By this time, we were starving and tired! We parked and started walking around and I noticed a little Italian restaurant on one of the side streets. It ended up being like a small oasis within the huge city. We did not have reservations of course, but they were very gracious and took us anyway. We had the best food and service of the whole trip thus far! It was wonderful--which was a perfect ending to a very long and frustrating day.

A view to enjoy at the end of this week

2007-06-01T18:28:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of the actual tram that we took up Sandia Peak. This is looking East toward Interstate 40--what a view!

Gettin' our grub on!

2007-06-01T18:13:00.001-07:00

I could not resist titling this blog entry with the above statement :) The picture is of me holding a huge rubber "grub" in the Children's Fantasy Garden we visited today. Don't you just love the look on that kids face? They also had rubber earthworms, but I preferred the grub. I could hardly lift the thing, it was so heavy! After holding a grub, I worked up quite an appetite. We just returned from dinner at the County Line BBQ--the best BBQ ever! I kept telling James how good it was, and now he got to find out for himself. I had no idea they had a County Line here in Albuquerque--I have been to the original location in Austin and was planning on eating there when we get to Texas. So we got a head start and had a delicious meal. :)

We had a wonderful day today though! We started the morning at the Rio Grande Zoo and Biological Park. They only charge $12 for entry into the zoo, aquarium, and botanical gardens. The fee also included unlimited rides on the little train between the parks. For such a small zoo, they had many neat exhibits and animals. It was pretty hot today--90 degrees--but dry, so we were able to enjoy the day. We wandered around the zoo until around 2:30PM, then headed out to the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway. I was really excited and apprehensive about riding the world's longest tram, but I am so glad I conquered my fear of heights and went anyway. The picture above is of James at the top of the peak--10,000 feet! The temperature up there was about 30 degrees lower than at the base of the peak, but it was so refreshing after being hot all day. The views were just amazing, although it was a little hazy.

Tomorrow is going to be the longest drive of the trip, and hopefully we will not encounter too much inclement weather. Texas has been having quite severe thunderstorms and flooding over the past week, so I am hoping they will not be too bad so we can make decent time. It is about a ten hour drive from Albuquerque, so I might not be alert enough to post tomorrow. But I will try my hardest!

Finally made it to Albuquerque!

2007-05-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

Yeah! Here we are in New Mexico after our long drive from Bryce Canyon. I am taking full advantage of the wireless internet here in our hotel room. It was slightly inconvenient yesterday since the only place we could get wireless was in the "resort" lobby! I feel much more comfortable here with an actual desk and some speed! Our drive today took about 9 hours, which was not too bad since I actually surrendered and let James drive the last leg of the trip. We left Bryce around 5:30AM and arrived here in Albuquerque around 4PM. I drove for about 4 hours until we got to Flagstaff, Arizona where we took a pitstop for some coffee and James took over driving duties. The drive was pretty uneventful and boring--except for all of the corny tourist traps along the way. If we had more time, I would have wanted to stop at the automated dinosaur trading post. I am sure that would have made for a good story! Where else in the United States can you get a free piece of polished petrified wood while you encounter terrifying robotic dinosaurs? :)

Tomorrow we are going to visit a zoo, aquarium, and botanical gardens here in town. I am most excited about the aerial tramway we are going to take up to the highest peak in the area. Hopefully my fear of heights will not kick in midway up the mountain! The picture to the left is along Highway 89 as we were descending into a canyon, not far from the Grand Canyon. We decided not to go there, as I have been there before and found Bryce Canyon a lot more enjoyable and intriguing. Thankfully there will not be much driving until Saturday, when we make the longest drive of our trip--10 hours to Dallas! I am trying to convince James that he has to eat the mammoth steak at the place in Amarillo, but so far he is not too enthused about the idea. :)

Breathtaking Bryce

2007-05-30T14:38:00.001-07:00

Something silly

2007-05-30T14:36:00.001-07:00

Here is James trying to climb up the cliff to safety

Are we on Mars?

2007-05-30T14:26:00.000-07:00

James and I went on a six mile hike of Bryce Canyon today. It is absolutely unlike anything I have ever seen. The park is comprised of a canyon with all of these rock formations called "hoodoos." They are formed when erosion occurs and the stack of rocks is left behind. We took a trail down to the bottom of the canyon, then proceeded to climb back up and take a trail along the rim back to where we had originally parked. The air is so clear and the sky so blue! They are doing a controlled burn not far from the park, so that made the air a little less clear and smoky. I did not realize that we would be passing through Zion National Park yesterday on our drive to Bryce. Mapquest was somewhat misleading in that way, but the views were amazing! The only downside is that we had to pay 25 dollars just to pass through, but the pictures that we were able to take made the fee worthwhile. The picture above is along the side of the road in Zion!

When we arrived in Bryce yesterday, we checked into our hotel which is about three miles from the entrance to the park. Since we knew we were hiking today, we drove to a couple of the vista points and explored. We had a celebrity sighting too! Well, a local Bay Area celebrity anyway. We saw Doug McConnell from "Bay Area Backroads" walking out of the lodge! James managed to say hi, but he was in a hurry and walked past us. I thought it was funny that I kept saying before our trip how I wanted to see someone famous in Vegas, and it took coming to Bryce Canyon to make that happen! Yeah, he is not "Hollywood" famous, but still! :)

Tonight is our last night here in Utah--tomorrow we will be making the long trek to Albuquerque, New Mexico, which is about a 9 hour drive. We are leaving Bryce bright and early, stopping in Flagstaff for breakfast, and then making the rest of the drive along Interstate 40. Hopefully I will be awake enough to post something about our drive tomorrow!

Better late than never!

2007-05-30T14:18:00.001-07:00

We are now in Bryce Canyon after a whirlwind night in Las Vegas! It took about six and a half hours to finally get to Vegas after leaving Gilroy, and we were tired! The Hard Rock would not let us check in until 3PM, so we took that opportunity to explore the Strip. It was super hot--about 97 degrees! After exploring for awhile, we finally got to check in. It was a fairly nice room, but there was not a plasma TV! I was so looking forward to that...:) I do not think that we will stay there again--it is like a huge frat party and was not really our style. After resting for awhile, we made our way to TI to eat at Social House for dinner. The food was really good, but they charged us for everything! James ordered teriyaki chicken and wanted rice on the side, since it did not come with anything else. That added an extra 5 bucks, plus another 5 for miso soup and edamame! Our waiter was also quite scarce, which is disappointing for such an expensive place.

We made our way to the Venetian after dinner to wait for the Blue Man Group show. I would highly recommend that show to anyone--it was awesome! We thoroughly enjoyed it and were entertained the whole time.

Vegas, Baby!

2007-05-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

We are going to have dinner at Social House restaurant at Treasure Island...then make our way to the Venetian to see the Blue Man Group. It is going to be awesome! Hopefully we will not be too exhausted for the drive to Bryce Canyon on Tuesday.

Only one more day!!!

2007-05-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that in less than one day, the trip will begin. I had to get up early this morning to work, but I got off before noon. I am going to spend the rest of the day packing--then wake up bright and early tomorrow morning to drive to Vegas! I will more than likely post tomorrow afternoon after settling in to the hotel.

2007-05-23T19:14:00.000-07:00

This license plate says it all....Texas, here we come!