Day 3

Up and at 'em for another day of battlefields and cemeteries. I am realizing by this point how little I actually know. The guilt of perhaps leaving my students unserved for so many years is only to get worse as the tour continues.

Our first stop today was to talk about the 2nd Battle of Ypres--perhaps most famously known to Canadians for the Germans' use of gas here.

We are learning that some of the things that have been traditionally held to be true by Canadians aren't necessarily so.

The 2nd Battle of Ypres would be the first battle in the Great War where Canadians saw action. It's frightening to stand there and look over the countryside and imagine a green cloud of death coming towards you. People blame the French for running. They didn't run. They had been gassed. They were looking for help. It would take some of them 72 hours to die--drowned in their own mucus. This would have been an awful place to be.

I kept hearing things and seeing things about this "Ypres Salient". I finally figured out what it meant--basically a bulge in a line into the other side's territory. Why they couldn't call it a bulge, I don't know--but Salient it is.

Shortly after our time in the farmer's field talking about Ypres, we went to a little tiny place called Saint Juliaan (or St. Julien). It was just a little corner but here was a monument to the Canadians and their efforts at the Second Battle of Ypres. There were a number of things that heppened here to warrant acknowledgement. The monument here is known as the "Brooding Soldier". I actually quite like it. Apparently there was quite a decision-making process in the Canadian government about where monuments were to be located and what they would look like. The brooding soldier may have been intended for more than one site but for some reason, only one was ever put up. There was also considerable discussion about this being the location for the memorial that is now at Vimy. Based on what happened here and near here, it is certainly a valid location for significant remembrances.

Later on we went to Essex Farm--the location of Colonel John McCrae's field hospital. It was on the far side of a river/canal which gave it some degree of protection but not from guns. There were guns behind it that fired over top of it onto the battlefield. You can still see the bunkers where the medical staff did their work. Originally there were just earthen dugouts. After some time, they were reinforced with concrete and became like small rooms. But, I cannot imagine trying to put a bandaid on someone in there, let alone perform major surgery and keep people alive. It's astonishing that anyone survived at all. This is where he wrote "In Flanders' Fields". It's still the only poem to which I know all the words. Is that pathetic or not? There is also a cemetery here with casualties from the field hospital.

After this , we were off to Mount Sorrel--one of those places that Canadians should know about but it has been overshadowed by more "significant" locations. One of the things that we were asked to do was to examine why some places are more recognized than others. Mount Sorrel is marked with the standard Canadian cube monument--which is what is at most of the Canadian sites near Ypres.

We then went to one of our first cemeteries--La Laiterie Military Cemetery. It was really quite small in comparison to what we would see later. But, you begin to see where the "between the crosses, row on row..." comes from.

We didn't have any more official business out in the field this day so we headed back to Ypres. We did have some responsibilities at Menin Gate this evening. We had to go out, get something to eat and get dressed for the ceremony. I think I stopped in a chocolate shop to get some treats for the wonderful humanitarians who were looking after Pixi and Henry for me.

People got all changed and dressed appropriately and we headed over to for the Menin Gate Ceremony. This is one of the gates of Ypres that has been established as one of two memorials for soldiers who perished in the war but for whom no remains have been found. Soldiers from British and Commonwealth armies are included here. The monument is here because most of the soldiers who fought around Ieper would leave the safety of the town through this gate to use the Menin road to get to the front. Thousands of them would never return. There are almost 55 000 names on the Menin Gate and another 30 000 British are inscribed at Tyne Cot. There are also separate locations for New Zealanders and Newfoundlanders.

Anyhow, I have digressed. Every night at 8:00 p.m. every day in every kind of weather, the last post is played in a ceremony for the fallen. Groups can come and lay wreaths there if they give some advance notice so every day someone or some group is providing a clear indication of remembrance. Mike, Paul, Lane, Nathan and Tammy were to lay the wreath for our group. There were a few ahead of us. At the ceremony we saw, a young boy played the bagpipes and the buglers played the traditional taps. Everything near the gate stops for the ceremony. No traffic, no people can get through until it's over. Every day at 8:00 p.m. almost 90 years after the war, the town and the visitors remember. And express their gratitude or whatever it is you have to say to the guys on the walls.

I had Paul and Tammy's cameras so I was across the way and did some picture taking. I don't think they were of any great quality. It was really stressful using other people's cameras--I shoulda just stuck with mine.

After that, we looked around the monument for a while. Tammy had a book of boys from Summerland BC and a number of them were on the monument. We took some time there and did some name rubbings for Tammy to take home.

Nathan had a story about a couple of the names that were on the wall. A father and a son. I can't remember all of the details--I'll have to get him to send out the story. It left us all in tears. We took out photos and gathered our thoughts and then headed away from the gate.

There was time for a drink and a snack before we had to head to bed. The next day we were off again and we had to pack up all our stuff to move to our next stop.

I really liked Ieper. It was a nice town. Fantastic town square--great architecture--they had rebuilt it almost exactly as it had been before the war. I could go back there again.

We were on to Arras. And another phase of the war.

Battlefields Tour--Day 2

Day 1 was plenty long enough and we were up early to leave Paris at 7:30. The guys did a good job of picking hotels with high quality breakfasts--this meant that we could stock up for lunch.

French hotels have an interesting variety of yogourt flavours--my roommate was quite thrilled. Pink grapefruit for example. I wasn't sure the citrus should meet the dairy but it was really quite good. I was excited that they had cherry. My favourite cherry yogourt here has been discontinued :( But, I digress. You cannot have too much pain au chocolate--even at breakfast. Unfortunately, they don't travel well. But, we stocked up and loaded up and headed out of Paris.

The traffic wasn't too bad and our destination was about 3 hours away. It was a really nice drive up in the northeastern part of France and into Belgium. I did try to take some pictures through the window--bad idea. There were 5 of us in the van + Ben stuck in the little seat in the back. He bailed on us at the first rest stop though and went into another car where he proceeded to torment Lane for the next 2 weeks. We had 2 vans and a station wagon so we were a convoy of three.

Aside from a pee break/coffee break at a gas station along the highway, we drove straight through. Tim Hortons should look at France for expansion. There was no fresh coffee at the rest stop. There was just a row of machines that distributed coffee, tea and hot chocolate. There were those tall bar tables in the open space near the machine so you saw all these travellers leaning against the tables drinking these teeny tiny cups of coffee--a Timmy's large would knock the socks off of these folk. I don't think coffee and driving has permeated French culture yet. They don't have lids. And, there is a serious lack of cupholders in the average Renault Espace.

Late in the morning we pulled in to Ieper in Belgium. We stopped at a little bar/cafe thing just inside one of the gates in the old medieval wall. We had a chance to go to the bathroom and get something to drink before we did our first stand. A stand is where we stop and get a sense of the land around us and learn about the events that are relevent to our location.

I have to tell you about the bathrooms in Belgium and northern France. They are not quite like anything I have ever seen before. You go through the bar and follow the signs. They point you right through the bar and then out into the back yard. There, there are a couple of urinals and if we are really lucky, a toilet with a door on it. The sink is often outside too. There isn't really much separation for the sexes while you are going about your business. A little strange. I live in residence, I can pee at the same time as guys. But I would imagine that some more conservative members of North American society might have some difficulties.

Be that as it may. We went up on top of the wall--there is an old medieval wall that at one time surrounded Ieper. Parts of it made it through the war. We listened to Lee up on the wall. He talked about the reasons that the war started and why Canada chose to go and why the history of the First World War has been written the way that it has.

At this point, I found out that the little notebook that I had brought was in no way going to be enough. I don't listen and remember very well so I have to write everthing down. I needed to track down another, larger notebook. And a pen that worked. I hauled pens across the ocean that didn't work. Dumbass.

There was a little war cemetery there. We were to find out that there are little war cemeteries everywhere.

We were going to go to a little restaurant that seemed geared for Canadians but it was Sunday and it was closed. I think we went back into Ieper to have lunch that day. I can't quite remember.

We went to our next stand--in the middle of some poor farmer's field. We spent a lot of time in people's fields. I think the Belgian farmers are just used to weird Canadians disembarking and poking around. Ben is a shrapnel savant. He likes nothing more than seeing a freshly plowed Belgian field. Lee and Blake had been saying that Ben was brilliant at finding shrapnel. I figured that after 90 years, you would have to be pretty good at finding it. After all, how much could be left? Ben found shrapnel left right and centre. All he did was walk up and down the furrows of the field and low and behold, it was sitting right there, waiting to be picked up. He found a fuse cap and a bunch of other pieces. He also found a grenade. I think it was all he could do not to touch it--you never know if it's going to explode or not. I took a wander too and surprisingly, I found some shrapnel too. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it's still surfacing. When we had the farm, we were constantly harvesting rocks that hadn't been there the year before. But shrapnel after 90 years--I still can't believe it.

Towards the end of the afternoon, we ended up back in Ieper again. We went to the Flanders Fields Museum. It was really interesting--a lot of great information and exhibits on the First World War--not just Ypres and its battles. I took tons of pictures--we didn't have time and I needed to be able to come back later and look at the information. The museum is in the old Cloth Hall in the main square of town. It's the only place I really did any shopping. How sad is that??

Our hotel was just off the main square so we could walk back to our rooms. We went to the main square for dinner. There were tons of places to choose from and there were chocolate shops and bars as well. We went to a place that had enough room for a lot of people and had beer and something to eat. Kreik. They had Kreik. Cherry flavoured beer-pop. I think I could move to Belgium. An awesome town square and Kreik. Some people went over to the Menin Gate and watched the ceremony there. More on that tomorrow.

It was a very full day.

Battlefields Tour--Day 1. Paris

Well, it's kind of day 1. Actually, I am home now. Things were so busy every day that I never had a chance to put pen to paper, so to speak.


It was a mad rush to get ready to go. May and June at school is at least hell and we finished on June 30. We had my Grandma's birthday on July 1 (even though she is no longer with us) and so I had the 2nd to get ready. The flight left on Saturday evening. I had packed everything I needed except an umbrella--an error I would discover several days later.


I hate flying. They don't make seats long enough for people like me. Even though I took my pillow and blankie, I only got about an hour's sleep. I could feel my feet and ankles swelling. I hate that.


So, an uneventful flight later, we landed in Paris. As we were going through the customs line, a guy walked up to me and asked if I was on the Battlefield tour. That was Paul. He had found Tammy--I thought she might be one of us as she was reading a book called "D-Day". A bit of a tip-off I thought. So we banded together. We were at Terminal 3 at Charles De Gaulle Airport. That means it's the Bataan death march to get to the train to take you to Terminal 2 where you can get cabs or the RER to take you into Paris. We were also on the lookout for Blake & Ben, Murray and Lane--all of whom were arriving around the same time that we were. We did find Blake and Ben but none of the others. I was rather looking forward to taking the train into Paris and making my way to the hotel. However, the others wanted to take a cab and bowing to peer pressure and not wanting to annoy my new acquaintances, I went with them. We found a cab, piled all our stuff in and off we went. At one point, we were doing 160 km/h on the highway. I've never driven that fast in a car I don't think. He first of all took us to the wrong hotel. Good think I noticed and said something because I had no idea where we were by this point. Eventually, we made it to our hotel in Montmartre. I think we paid too much for the taxi but we were there. We were too early to check in so we left our stuff in a locked room and set off to see a few things in Paris. I had been there before and knew how to use the Metro so I was designated tour guide. Turns out our hotel was around the corner from the Moulin Rouge so we took some pictures of that as we went to the Metro station.


We bought a day pass so we could get on and off a few times. It was only about 6 Euros so that was worth it.


Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe. We popped up from underground and surprise, there it was. Took some pictures and went back downstairs to go across the road so we could get directly to it. I had not been that close before. Took some more pictures. There were tons of people there surprise, surprise. We didn't have time to dawdle. Next we were off the the Eiffel Tower. I have been there before too. Paul and Tammy wanted to climb the stairs up. No way I was going to do that--didn't want to wreck my knees completely before we even got going. So I waited at the bottom.


They wanted to go to Notre Dame and I wanted to go back to the hotel so I gave them the directions to get there, and they went that way and I headed back to the hotel to check in. It was nice to get into the room. Really nice place too. Mercure in Montmartre.


That first night, we had a group dinner--there was an English group with about 16 all together and a French group with I am guessing about 10-12. We walked again past the Moulin Rouge and up a small sidestreet to a restaurant that was opening just for us. The owner came and opened--brought us wine an appetizers and we had them on the sidewalk outside while we were meeting everyone.


The called us in when dinner was ready. We were served something that looked pretty weird and all of us ended up with different glasses of it--turned out it was beets in something that tasted like chip dip--it was really good despite my reservations upon first glance--beets are not my favourite. Then we had roasted chicken and quinoa which was also quite good. They brought in a woman to sing some traditional French songs about the neighbourhood and the area. It was interesting but I think some of it was lost on us English people. The lady was a little weird--maybe just French. Dessert was a lovely apricot/almond tart. Some people left early and missed it. Ha ha.


It really was time for bed by then. We walked home. I ended up walking home with Murray. Good thing too. What I hadn't realized was that in order to get to our hotel, we had to walk through Pigalle. All I have to say is that I am really glad that we didn't let the kids go to Pigalle when we were on our school trip a couple of years ago. It seems to live up to its reputation. Sex shops galore. I can't post some of the pictures since this might be read by someone who maintains polite company. All I can say is euw. I think Murray was a bit relieved to have me nearby on the walk home as the bouncers trying to entice men into the strip clubs kind of left him alone.


So, to the hotel and to bed it was. Morning was to come early the next day. We had to be packed and loaded and out by 7:30 in the morning. Off to Belgium!!

Always read your flight itinerary very carefully. A word to the wise.

Friday July 9, 2010

OK, it's the last day. A little anti-climactic after yesterday. We had no specific plans. Thought maybe we'd go back to Red Rocks to see if we could get rid of the rest of the burro carrots. Or maybe that I would play one game of blackjack for one of my friends. Maybe wander through the casinos again.

What I did decide to do was to go down to the pool in the morning before it got too hot. So, I packed up my book and my other stuff and went downstairs. Pool wasn't open yet. Grrr. There was a McDonalds in the hotel so I went and had a coffee and and Egg McMuffin and read the paper to kill some time. Didn't want to go back upstairs because Joel was still sleeping.

Joel had gone out into the hotel last night after we got home to see what was going on out there. Apparently, in Las Vegas, people get all dressed up and go out. To nightclubs. Or, to gamble. Strange. Who knew??? Certainly not I as I had been out all day. There was a nightclub in our hotel. LAX. Sounds fancy. I don't get nightclubs. I don't get this VIP business. I thought you had to be important to be a VIP, but it seems like you can call ahead and get on a VIP list and then all of a sudden, you are an important person? And what exactly is bottle service, anyway. Oh, the things I don't understand about the 21st Century. I was perfectly content providing my own bottle service in the olden days by walking up to the bar and getting my own beer. But, apparently, time marches on and things change. But I digress....

When it was 9:00 I went back to the pool. People were going in from the other side but no one had come to open the fence keeping us (me and a bunch of other idiots going swimming first thing in the morning) out. So we began to hop the fence and look for our perfect spot. Mine involved shade. Got my stuff and my chair and then I saw Joel coming across from the other side. I was surprised to see him but he thought he could handle the pool for a little while before it got too hot. Hopped into the pool. It was still really warm. Didn't have much opportunity to cool off overnight I suppose. Did you know that there is a VIP section for the pool too?? I still don't get it. You pay money to have a slightly higher quality chair so you can face it away from the rest of us peons and don't have to look at us while you suntan?? You can still hear us. We are right behind you....!!!

We went into one of the hot tubs and some guy came in there too a few minutes later. Do we look like people to whom you would like to tell your life's story and tell us things that we don't really think that we should know about you?? I guess so. This guy was here with his father and he was talking about being out the night before and having gone to see Carrot Top I think--why, I don't know. Carrot Top is not funny. And his dad just wanted to go to see the naked chicks at another show and then the guy got hit on by hookers and it just went on and on. I suggested that there were 8 bail bondsmen on Main St. if he ever needed them. He just kept talking about stuff.

I splurged on a couple of poolside beers in aluminium bottles. Mostly because I wanted to have a beer from an aluminium bottle. And they were really expensive. People bought bottles of beer in buckets from the bar. I can't imagine how much that cost. And, I wanted to have a beer in the morning just because I could.

It got pretty hot after a while and we had to be out of our room by 11 so we went upstairs to get organized.

I went out and took some pictures of pretend Egypt stuff. You think if I hang the pictures up in the classroom the kids would know they weren't really from Egypt? Fake hieroglyphics--they can't read them anyway.

Packed everything up and put our stuff in the car for the afternoon. The car didn't have to be back until the evening so it was easy that way. We decided that we would go and check out some of the other casinos that we hadn't seen yet. We went to the back of Paris Las Vegas and parked there. We went through Paris again, went outside and into The Venetian, wandered through all the shops and stuff and watched the gondolas. I thought there would be a big place out in the back where the gondolas would be--I mean, it looks pretty exotic in all the photos you see. But, there they were, right on the main street. You never see any of the main street in any of the pictures... Anyway, each ride was $16 per person or you could have a gondola ride for 2 for $64.00. I think I'll wait until I get to the real Venice.

We wandered through shops and shops and more shops and the occasional casino. We stopped and watched the Bellagio show a few times. Looked for a place to sit and relax for a while. That's harder to find than you might think. We did end up in Caesar's Palace again for a little while and found a little coffee shop where we could sit and read the paper for a while.

All in all it was a pretty boring day.

Our flight left at 11 something p.m. I kept telling Joel. So we took the car back in the evening--sometime around 8:00. Taking the car back was very easy. You just drive in and find the proper car dealer and there you go. At that point, I checked the paperwork to find the flight information. Oopsie, flight was leaving at 9:50. I was sure I had clicked the 11:00 flight. Oh well. Joel was not a happy camper. So we had to take the shuttle to the airport and then we had to get on a train and get to the right terminal. And then we had to go through security. While they were doing that, we heard the last call for boarding our flight--but it was still way early. I couldn't figure that out. So we ran to catch our flight. Fortunately Joel is a much better runner than I am--but I was carrying more stuff. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. But we caught the plane. Joel still wasn't thrilled. We did not speak about it.

The plane ride home was BRUTAL. I was trapped in the middle seat between Joel at the window and some guy who slept most of the way. All I did was fidget. My feet swelled up and I just needed to move. The sleeping guy got up once so I could walk around for a little while but it wasn't enough. Didn't sleep a bit and I think I kept Joel from sleeping too. While I was out of my seat the short person in front of me shoved her seat back so I had nowhere to put my knees. I hate flying. Not the flying but the squish factor. But, we went to Newark in order to get to Buffalo--I don't get that either but I'm not in charge of the airline industry. If I was, things would be different!!!

So, back to Buffalo by Saturday morning. We got home and I thought I would have a nap and then get up to watch the World Cup game. I didn't want to sleep too long because I figured I wouldn't sleep at all at night. So, I set my alarm, moved to the couch, turned on the game and made it through the first 10 minutes. Then conk, I was out again. Missed the whole game. Oh well.

All in all, it was a good trip. I liked the outside of the city stuff much better than the inside of the city stuff. I think I am more inclined to driving trips. That way, I can stop and start when I want to and I can stretch out if I need to. And, you can stop and smell the roses along the way.

I guess that's about it for now. I'll keep you posted on any further adventures, I know you can't wait!!

Before I go into the desert, I always like to do a snake survey

This should be Thursday, July 8 2010.

Yes, it's late too. But all my days are in order.

This would prove to be the best day of the week. Joel had really wanted to see Zion National Park in Utah, so that's where we were going.

Up we were at the crack o' dawn. More likely 6:00 or so but it was early. As we came out of the hotel room, we could hear the casino humming. THIS should be called "the city that never sleeps". I wasn't sure whether these were early risin' gamblers like Uncle Don or if they were leftovers from the previous night. I am sure the casino doesn't care as long as the money is being spent.

We headed out to the highway--stopping at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on the way. Nice lighting for my pictures!! And, even better, no people. Have I mentioned that I don't like people in my pictures?

Off we went, northeast towards Utah. There was a lot of nothing for a long way. It was going to be about a 3 hour drive which was fine. I like looking at stuff. Even if it's sand and cactuses (cacti sounds stupid). Every once in a while there would be signs for casinos and stuff. We got to I guess it was Mesquite--just before the border of Nevada and Arizona. Time for some gas. Joel was paying with a credit card and the pumps never let him actually pay at the pump. He had to go inside and then they wanted him to show ID. Needless to say, this kind of thing annoys Joel just a little bit...

Into Arizona we went. I didn't know I was going to hit 3 different states this trip!! :) I also didn't know we were in the Mohave Desert. I have to do more research before I go anywhere next time!!

As we went along the road, we could see these huge cliffs ahead of us. The road disappeared and it looked like it ended. As we got nearer, the road had just gone into the Virgin River Gorge through a cut in the rock. This was amazing to drive through. Cliffs soaring up beside and in front of us and we crossed the Virgin River several times. I took a bunch of pictures from the car but they don't do it justice. I was looking stuff up, go figure, and discovered that this is the most expensive rural highway built in America--$49 000 000 per mile (in 2007 dollars). After we went through the canyon, we came to St. George's in Utah. Time to turn off and head towards Zion National Park. The road we took was much smaller than the highway--kind of like Hwy 6. We went through a couple of little towns and clearly they were geared for the Zion Park tourist. People were selling a lot of rocks. There were motels and places to eat and get climbing gear and stuff like that.

We got to the main gate of the park and had to pay to get in. It cost us $25 for the vehicle to get in but that entitled us to 7 days in the park. Since we only stayed for one...I thought we were getting ripped off. But it was worth it. We stopped at the Visitors' Centre. We needed maps and such. I love a good map. I wanted to see if there was any place to swim. I mentioned it was hot, right? And, I needed the snake report. A couple of places to swim and no major snake outbreaks. Phew. I am not really really afraid of snakes. Not keen on the poison ones. That's the main issue. Snakes are fine if I see them before they see me and I can just let them go about their snake business. I don't ever want to surprise one that feels that he needs to defend himself by launching some kind of toxic venom into my leg. You know that this would happen to me, don't you?

What I hadn't realized was that you couldn't drive through all of the park. It wasn't like Red Rocks where there was a driving loop. I thought that would suck but it didn't. We as far as we were allowed to drive and got changed and ready for our hike in the canyon. Zion has a bus service that runs up and down the canyon all day about 5 minutes apart. You can get on and off at whatever stops you want. So, that's what we did. We got off at each stop and hiked in or up or wherever to see what there was to see. One place we got off, you climbed up a short way for a view of these three mountains. Apparently, once upon a time in the 1860s, a bunch of Mormons found there way to what is now Zion. And they decided that they were going to name everything--the hills or mountains or whatever and some of the cliffs. So, there are things like the Great White Throne. Doesn't look like a throne to me. And the sound of it makes me think of something that I don't think was the original intention. They have the Temple of Sinawava. Don't even know what that is supposed to be!!! Anyway, the mountains we were looking at were called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob or the Three Patriarchs. They also have Angels Landing and the West Temple. These Mormon names have stuck since then.

So we got off the bus at various places and went to the end of the paths to see what there was to see. At a couple of places there were hanging gardens--water dripped down the walls or over a ledge enough so that plants would grow right out of the rock. There were golden columbine just sticking out of the rock. Other plants too. And, occasionally there would be little trees clinging to the rock. There were a couple of pools--pretty shallow at this point and there was a swarm of tadpoles in one of them! I took a picture. I like tadpoles.

At one point we came across these two bikers. They were probably in their 50s but they looked like they had lived hard so could have been 35--who knows? They had ridden all the way from Key West. I can't remember where they were going or how they ended up at Zion but they added a degree of colour to the families that were there. They were pretty cool guys. Said they had really good ice cream at the lodge partway along the trail. One of them was a little more suited to hiking than the other. Could have been the cigarette hanging out of the guy's mouth--I don't know. But they were pretty amazed by the scenery and were taking pictures like everyone else was.

At the end of the road that the but took, there was one last path. There were postings about flash floods. A little nerve-wracking but it hadn't rained and it was sunny so I wasn't too worried. It was a mile up and a mile back and it was pretty flat, thank God. You know how I am about the flat land. So, we took it. It followed directly beside the river and went up to what was called the Narrows where the path ended. I went to the very very end of the path and smacked the tree so I could say I did the whole thing!!! There were lots of people in the water, wading, cooling their feet, swimming, whatever. I would have loved to have stuck my feet in there but since I had another mile to walk back, I couldn't risk it. You know how it is once you take the socks off and try to put them back on exactly the same way again?? I couldn't risk blisters on top of the other problems I was having with my feet. Besides, to get through, I was fully dosed on anti-inflammatories and extra-strength Tylenol. But, boy was it worth it. The view was amazing. We talked to a kid and his dad who asked me to take their picture. They had rented water shoes and hiking poles and had hiked another two hours up through the water in the canyon--apparently it gets to be about 20 feet wide at some parts. That would be an amazing trip to do. I'll have to go into training for that. Maybe one of these days... We hung out up there for a little while for a rest.

Then it was the return trip. We saw the Zion Snail. The only place in the world it lives is here. Besides, the snail is the size of a pencil nib and it's probably been migrating for centuries and has only gotten across the first mountain. We tried to showed these little old ladies who were wondering why we were staring at a wall of algae. Snails. That's all. Just little wee ones. I think they thought we were weird. Once we got back to the bus, we went to the Lodge that's partway along the route. They sell snacks and meals and you can stay there and they had a gift shop. We had ice cream--even Joel did!! I should have gotten that piece of sandstone from the gift shop while I was thinking about it. Argh. I always do that. It was really pretty.

After that, it was back to the stop where the car was and then it was time to head home. I had done a pretty good job staying hydrated. I get mild cases of heat exhaustion if I'm not careful. So I had consumed a lot of water but we hadn't eaten much. The park did a good job of having water available so people could fill up there water bottles at almost every spot along the way. I was pretty tired--didn't even want to stop to take pictures on the way out. Eventually we found some Gatorade and felt better on the ride home. Our car had one of those really cool outside thermometers and we watched the temperature climb higher and higher as we worked our way back through the desert. I got a picture of the temp at 112 degrees. At one point it flipped to 113 but flipped back to 112 before I could get a shot of it. Oh well. Regardless, it was darn hot.

This was the best day we had. I think I went to lie in the pool when we got home. I wasn't in much of a condition to do too much more. Heat really tires me out. But it was an amazing trip. I would go back again one day and hike all the way up the river. That would be really cool. It would also be amazing in the fall when leaves are changing colour. So, if anyone is looking for somewhere to go that's a little different--give Zion a thought. There are a number of National Parks out there. I would like to go and see more of them!!!

These places are further apart than you might think...

Wednesday July 7, 2010--yes, I am late in getting this up!

This was to be the day in Las Vegas to look at the hotels and see what there is to see. Since we were at the bottom of the strip, we could just work our way up from one to another. These are some seriously BIG buildings.

We went into New York New York. I liked that casino. It was interesting. We were hungry and went to find someplace to eat. We ended up in the Irish pub inside NY NY. It was pretty packed since there was a World Cup game. Lots of Spanish fans. There was almost nowhere to sit but we did find a little alcove with a decent view of a TV screen. Yay!! I was worried about missing the games. So, we had something to eat. There was a painting of D'Arcy McGee in our little alcove. I was a little puzzled since I didn't think he had remained on the best of terms with the American Irish. But, not my pub. They can put up pictures of whoever they want! So, we watched the first half of the game and then set out again.

We went into MGM. Did you know that there is a big lion enclosure in there? They bring in lions every day. There is a ranch that they live on outside of the city. They get washed and blown dry every day. Spoiled lions. It's like a big lion spa there. The day we were there, they had 3 cubs in the enclosure. They were running around and playing with each other and their toys. They had really big feet. I wish glass was easier to take pictures through--it makes it hard to get a good shot when everything is distorted or reflected. But, the lions were fun to watch. I don't think Joel enjoyed waiting for me.

We went to the M&Ms store. I can't believe that there are 3 floors dedicated to M&Ms. Do people really like them that much? There was a LOT of crap in there. I refrained from purchasing anything.

We also went into the Coke store. I didn't know that the Coke bottle on the front of the store is made of recycled Coke bottles. Bet you didn't know that either.

We went up the tacky side of the street--lots of people. Very hot. Lots of people. We went into some of the hotels. It is interesting to see what they--the powers that run the casinos--want you to do. Everything is about getting you to spend money. They don't care how. There are no straight paths so that you have to go past as many machines and tables as possible. I thought that there would be more places to sit and have a coffee and watch what was going on. Not too many. They want you to sit but only at a machine or in a restaurant. All the paths are windy to take you past stores. They put the less expensive eateries in places where you have to search them out.

You can smoke in the casinos. I guess that makes sense. They would lose a lot of business if people were constantly going out for a smoke. Some casinos do a better job with their air than others. Some smelled like smoke but most of them smelled like covered up smoke. The Flamingo was brutal. It smelled really bad. But, the Bellagio did the best job. It was still covered up smoke but it smelled the least bad.

We stopped and watched the fountains at the Bellagio. did I tell you about those already?? I can't remember what I have said and what I haven't! Those things are amazing. I didn't realize that they played a different song each time. I imagine at some point there are reruns but we didn't see any. I love the big huge fountains--really loud when they shoot those things off. Very cool. Go see them if you get a chance.

It was pretty hot. I think I have mentioned that before, right?? We went back to the hotel. I got to use the pool again. Why do they make hotel pools only 4 feet deep? I imagine it's for safety and stuff but it isn't any good for people who actually want to get wet. The pool was really warm. I guess that goes with the territory but I'm not accustomed to warm water swimming.

One thing I really wanted to do while I was in Las Vegas was go to Fremont Street. They have covered the whole of two blocks overhead with LED lights and then broadcast a show on it several times at night. This year, it's a 70s theme. They did a whole thing to American Pie. VERY COOL!!! The lights of the whole street go down--all the shops and casinos dim--and then everyone on the street stops where they are and looks up. Eventually your neck gets tired but it's OK. I had a strange thought that it would be an ideal spot for pick-pockets. Everyone is focussed on something happening above so it might be easy pickin's for someone with bad intentions.

I really liked Fremont Street. The whole street is closed off and there are artists and booths selling things and the casinos are open into the street and it's cool. Glitter Gultch, the Golden Nugget--what you think of when you think about old Vegas. I think I kind of remember this street from when we were here when we were kids. It would have been something in its heyday! Mind you, now, it's only a couple of blocks and it gets a little dodgy outside of the area.

Joel doesn't really like traffic much (imagine that) so we had to take back routes. We went down Main St. to get to Fremont St. I don't know if this means anything, but I counted EIGHT bail bondsmen on Main St. alone. Why? I don't know. Maybe people need to post bail in Las Vegas. Why was I counting? I don't know.

There is also the side to Las Vegas that tries to save your soul. God seems to be a prominent feature on billboards. My personal favourite says, "What happens in Vegas...God knows!! Be not deceived, God is not mocked." I took a picture from the car at night. It's a wee bit blurry.

Joel wanted to see the Bellagio fountains at night. we never really got a chance to see that. Or the pirate show or the volcano thingy either. I guess it'll have to wait for another time.

So, that's about all we did on this day. We had to get up really early the next day so it was off to bed early for us!

But, it’s a dry heat!!!

This should say Tuesday July 6, 2010!!

Full day today. Lots to do.

Our first stop was breakfast. McDonalds will do in a pinch. It’s cheap. Egg McMuffin and yogourt parfait won’t kill you. Got a medium coffee—Jeez, if I’d gotten the large I’d be awake until a week next Tuesday.

Our first stop today was Hoover Dam. It’s about ½ hour away. We stopped at the Lake Mead Information Center, learned some things about the lake—like there is a B-29 at the bottom of the lake from some time in the 40s. I’d look up the exact date, but I don’t have the internet therefore there is no Google.

The traffic was bad as we got closer to the Dam and we were thinking there were going to be billions and billions of people there. But no, it was the security stop. And top security it was too! A couple of 18 year old girls were checking the cars to determine if they were safe or not. She looked at us and told us to continue. I felt much safer. But, if you were a camper—they pulled you over and checked everything out. But this explained the traffic jam we had been in for a while. That's OK, there was lots to look at all around us.

They are building a huge bridge bypass just downstream. That'll change the travel pattern for a lot of people and probably make it a lot easier for people who are just travelling through. They say it will open later this year.

Got to the parking centre at Hoover Dam. They want a lot of money for things there—it was like $7.00 to park. And there were next to no other options. We went into the Visitors’ Centre but they wanted money there too. I think you could go on the tour inside and stuff too. But we didn’t need to do that. We took pictures and walked all the way across and back. It is quite a feat of engineering. It’s huge!! Hard to believe it was built in only 4 years. By mostly manual labour too.

Lake Mead is on the blocked off side of the dam. It’s now a huge lake. Apparently it’s the 16th largest man-made lake in the world and the largest one in the western hemisphere. And it takes up 1.5 million acres—twice the size of Rhode Island. The amount of water that can be held in Lake Mead would cover the entire state of Pennsylvania a foot deep. The water seemed to be quite low—I don’t know if that’s normal for this time of year or not but it makes me wonder what Las Vegas is going to do when they run out of water.

The Hoover Dam itself is really quite impressive. The pictures really don’t give an accurate sense of how big it really is. We didn’t do the whole inside of the Dam tour but got a good sense of size from walking across the top. Vehicles can drive across the dam—except tractor-trailers or those things carrying dangerous chemicals. Apparently blowing it up would be bad. The dam itself is 726 feet high and weighs 6 600 000 tons. Who measures this??? It is 1244 ft long and at the top is 45 feet wide—wide enough for 2 lanes of traffic and 2 sidewalks. They say there is enough concrete in Hoover Dam to build a 2 lane highway from Seattle to Miami. Again, who measures this stuff?? Anyway, it’s big. You can see the water coming out of the turbines at the bottom so they are working. It powers Arizona, Nevada, and Los Angeles.

Partway across the dam is the border between Nevada and Arizona. There is a marker there so that you can hop back and forth and say, “I’m in Nevada, now I’m in Arizona, now I’m in Nevada, now I’m in Arizona.” There are only so many times you can do that before you annoy your travelling companion, trust me.

So—over the bridge and back was enough. It was pretty hot so we headed back to town. We stopped at another scenic viewpoint over Lake Mead and could see a big marina and there is a major path that people can walk or ride that takes you from the Lake Mead Visitors Centre to the Dam I think. It even goes through an old railway tunnel.
We got back to Las Vegas and looked around there for a while. Big hotels, air conditioning. We saw a few things. But we would look at the hotels mostly tomorrow.

I wanted to go to Red Rocks which is out the other side of Las Vegas. So, off we went again. Needed to get something to eat too. Joel likes to find the fastest ways places so we ended up in Summerlin, which seems to be a nice area of Las Vegas near the Red Rocks Casino. There were signs for the Olive Garden and that’s what we decided would be nice. But, could we find it??? No. Eventually we got there—tucked into a corner of a power centre. But, it was air conditioned, there was lots of water and food. Remember—it’s a dry heat and you have to drink tons of water. I had spaghetti and meatballs—my Olive Garden favourite. Joel yelled at me for having something at a restaurant that I could have at home. I can’t have this at home. #1. I can’t make it like the Olive Garden does. #2. There aren’t any Olive Gardens in Canada any more.

The waitress we had there was awesome. She was originally from Detroit so she understood our difficulty with the heat—but she prefers the Vegas heat to the humidity we have here. I can see that. So, she kept filling our glasses with water. She asked what we were doing and we told her that we were on our way to Red Rocks. She said that she had been out there a number of times and that there were wild burros that lived out there and in the evening came close to the road. There was a grocery store just down the road and we could get carrots there to feed the burros. I imagine that it’s not what people want you to do—feed the wildlife that is—but I couldn’t resist. The waitress sent us on our way with large cups of ice and water. She also told Joel of some other parks that he might like to see and wished us well. She was great!

So, needless to say, we stopped and bought burro carrots. Out of the city, into the desert we went. We got to the gate of Red Rocks. You have to pay to get in which is fine and there is a 13 mile driving route with lots of stops along the way. You can get out and take pictures or have a picnic or go on hikes at the different places. Along we went. Stopped here and there. The rocks really are red. We stopped at one place where there was a couple who was sitting on a bench, with a bottle of wine just watching the sunset and the scenery. It was their anniversary. They had lived in New York State and Pennsylvania before moving to Las Vegas and couldn’t imagine going back there. They were very nice to chat to. There were a couple of buttheads who were going at about the same speed we were so we got to see them from one stop to another. But, you can’t have everything.

Apparently there had been a fire through the park in 2006 and a lot of the cactuses (cacti??) had been burned. This fire was about 1500 acres of damage. They haven’t really grown back much but the park people are working on regeneration. The desert heals but it heals slowly. Cool to see though. I would like to go back there and do some hiking and get off the beaten path a bit.

The park closes at 8:00 so we didn’t have too much time to much about. When we finished the 13 mile loop, we decided to go right instead of left. And then we came across the Bonnie Springs Ranch. It looked interesting so we went in. There is a ranch and a motel and a petting zoo. As we pulled into the motel parking area, we found a use for the burro carrots. Piggy burro kept sticking her head into the window looking for snacks. And when she found out that I kept the carrots in the car, she wouldn’t leave. And then she followed me around. She was pretty cute though. There were 2 other burros around but they were quite timid and missed out on the treats. The manager of the motel fed a whole pile of wild cats too. The managers were very nice to talk to. It would be a cool place to stay one day.

So, it was a long day—back to the hotel. We took the route we took to get there since it was dark. Didn’t see any more burros on the way back though. By the time we got back it was all dark. Time to go to bed. Apparently people in Las Vegas were just getting up and hitting the clubs. Yes, I know, I know—I am an animal. But, our hotel room kept the noise out so we got a good night’s sleep and even slept in the next morning!!

A good day. Lots to see and do. I think I like driving holidays better than flying ones. You can stop and get out whenever you want.

Talk to you tomorrow!!