WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2007

Craig's Big Adventure

I have little excuse for the lack of updates to my blog this year other than laziness, but it has been somewhat hectic with web site work and my preparation for one hell of a vacation to California and an amazing cross-country road trip. Nope, no one stole my prized tricked-out bicycle... And unfortunately I wasn't there to finalize a Rather Irregular development deal. A close friend was moving back to Alabama and she flew me out to the west coast where we spent two weeks touristing and another week driving from Long Beach to 'Bama via Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Cali was amazingly cool and I quickly learned you only need to learn one phrase: "It's all good."

Instead of sending emails to my friends describing my left-coast odyssey, I'll post my travel log and photos here for easy viewing. (Really I want to show off my incredible journey since I'm pretty amazed I had the opportunity for this trip of a lifetime!- Thank you Constance, I love you!) We took a lot more photos and videos that I hope to have posted online soon.

 

Part I - Left Coast Flight & Hollywood TV Debut

09/25/07 - I flew into LAX with a layover in Salt Lake City, Utah where I almost missed my connecting flight because I learned they had changed my plane's gate only after walking all the way across the massive airport. (Thank you to the inventor of the moving walkway which is good for running too!) This was my first time flying commercial and unfortunately the shorter flight was much nicer than the first one which was in an older, smaller jet without the built in entertainment screens. This is the first time I've wished I owned an iPod and had a legitimate reason to use one. I really enjoyed take off and landing - no fear of flying here, although landing in LAX made me nervous because of the close proximity of buildings on approach to the runway.

09/26/07 - Constance showed me around Long Beach and I saw the Pacific for the first time. We also dropped by Jesse James' shop West Coast Choppers which was cool even though Jesse wasn't there as we had hoped. We mostly chilled because I had just come down with a head cold a few days before flying out to LA. Long Beach is a very cool city and the people are all very friendly. It has a distinctive laid back vibe, but I guess most all of California subscribes to that philosophy.

09/27/07 - One of the first things I wanted to see was Hollywood Boulevard so we hopped the Metro and rode to Hollywood and Vine where even the subway stations have movie decorations. There's no better way to get a feel for the local inhabitants of a new city than to take public transportation bye the way.

Hollywood Blvd. is pretty amazing but your first instinct is to only look down so you don't miss any of the stars on the Walk of Fame. Some of my favorites were Jim Henson, Alfred Hitchcock, Johnny Cash, Rod Serling, The Doors, and Gene Roddenberry.

We walked up and down the main part of the boulevard and saw the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre where all the stars have left their signatures and prints. I especially liked the one from Darth Vader which I assume is David Prowse even though he only signed his character name. Tons of tourists were there (sorry for the shadow) and enterprising folks dress up like various movie characters to pose for pictures for "tips". We saw about five different Johnny Depp pirates. I'm guessing it's the easiest costume to put together for the financially challenged street lookalike. Hollywood was everything I imagined (including the many sex and head shops) although, like most places I've tried to picture, it seemed smaller than I expected. There is a huge open-air mall where the dude in the Oakley store repaired my sunglasses free of charge. The views of the boulevard and all of Hollywood including the famous sign are excellent from the upper levels of this shopping complex. Look for the giant Indian elephant statues.

09/30/07 - Took my first swim in the Pacific Ocean. The water was cold so we were the only ones in the water that day on Long Beach. This wasn't the cleanest beach I've been to, and the sand isn't as nice as in on the Gulf of Mexico, but it was a nice relaxing day in the ever-present California sun.

10/02/07 - We went back to Hollywood Boulevard to view a taping of one of my favorite shows Jimmy Kimmel Live at The El Capitan Theatre. While waiting for show time we went through the Hollywood Wax Museum which was strange and a bit disappointing because of the exhibits they chose and the poor likenesses of some of the statues (yes, this > is suppose to be Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura) but at least it was air-conditioned! As for Jimmy Kimmel, it was neat to see how a TV show was put together and be a part of the audience. Jimmy is always funny and Sandra Oh was one of the guests. I'm not a fan but, after seeing her off-camera expressions while Kimmel made fun of the male model cast-off from Dancing With the Stars, she seems to be pretty cool.

It was at the Jimmy Kimmel Live show that Constance and Craig had their network television debut! We didn't plan to make any effort to get on TV, so as we went outside for the musical guest's performance we stood in the very back near a metal barrier. A few minutes later two crew members set up a platform right next to us and it was explained that Jimmy Kimmel would introduce Mark Ronson from this platform. As they set up I realized that we were in perfect position to get in the shot, and just as Jimmy holds up a record album you can see us both just to his right. In the video below we are at the very beginning and you can see Constance very clearly below the album as he raises it up (much to her dismay). We're both wearing black and I am just to her right. For some reason I clapped way too enthusiastically for Mark Ronson who I had never heard of before. I guess I got caught up in the moment.

 

Part II - Up the Coast & LA Sightseeing

10/03/07 - With less than a week left in California it was time to see the sights so we started this Wednesday at the impressive Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and then took a scenic drive up the coast. We drove through Redondo Beach and stopped briefly at Manhattan Beach eventually winding up at the famous Venice Beach where I took this photo from the pier and shot some video of the surfers catching waves. We walked from the pier to the famous beach walk where there are many small shops and plenty of interesting characters selling their wares and performing for the tourists. Even the rollerblading guitar-playing Harry Perry was there! We were going to drive on up to Santa Monica but the sun was setting and it had already been a long day (plus the walk wore us out) so we headed back to Long Beach for Thai food.

10/04/07 - First we drove up Mulholland Drive to get good views of LA and ended up going through the area where it seemed movie stars would live. Constance swears she saw Christina Ricci getting out of her car but I didn't get a good look at her and, even though I was shooting video at the time, we have no concrete proof of the alleged celebrity sighting (which would have been quite a coincidence since Ricci is the famous person Constance is always told she looks like). We also drove through Beverly Hills (without hearing that annoying Weezer song on the radio) which is probably the only place in all of California that isn't mellow. A word to Beverly Hills drivers: Just because you have a lot of money and drive a fancy car doesn't mean you own the roads!

At this point I'd like to acknowledge the extreme usefulness of the Tom Tom GPS unit Constance bought. Without it we were not only able to avoid the infamous LA traffic, but it was also a tremendous help finding all of our destinations in California as well as during our cross-country drive. With the help of Constance's friend on the phone, it also guided us to our next destination, the La Brea Tar Pits which also seemed smaller than I had pictured it. We didn't go into the museum, but it was neat to see this ancient (and still stinky) geological feature right in the middle of a big city. If not for the museum building in the background you'd think you went back in time looking at the realistic Mastodon statues.

Our next stop was the Sunset Strip where I had to see the famous Whiskey a Go Go where greats like The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, the Ramones, Guns N' Roses, Soundgarden, and Nirvana have performed. The club is tiny and some dude yelled at me to stop video taping even though it was only of a band setting up. I was going to get a t-shirt from there but didn't see any available and the vibe was horrible. We also parked right in front of the Viper Room which was sad since it made me think of River Phoenix's untimely death at that location. That night we met Constance's aforementioned friend in Pasadena and had a great Mexican meal.

 

Part III - Universal Studios & On The Road to Vegas

10/05/07 - We spent the day at the Universal Studios theme park and started out walking around the very nice Universal City Walk where there are all kinds of very cool stores each of which has an impressive display inside and out. I really liked the giant guitar outside the Hard Rock Cafe but our favorite stores were The Wound & Wound Toy Co. which has tons of classic toys you just can't find anywhere else and Things From Another World which sells all kinds of comic book and movie collectibles, plus the store has a huge spaceship crashed into the outside (see photo below). Once we were inside the theme park it was cool to see the Blues Brothers' car and we took the studio tour which has all the classic features such as Jaws, the Psycho house, and Earthquake and a few new ones like The Mummy and a set from Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Later we also enjoyed the Jurassic Park and Mummy rides along with Shrek 4D and the Universal's House of Horrors which has an awesome Frankenstein's lab. Overall Universal was worth spending a day at but I really wish the Simpsons attraction had been open but it was still under construction while we were there.

UPDATE: YouTube video from my Universal Studios visit.

10/06/07 - After packing in all the tourist activities over the past few days, we were ready to take it easy and Constance had scheduled a farewell lunch with some of her friends. We met in Pasadena for what turned out to be a three hour lunch because of the good company and mostly because of the long wait and poor service at a Japanese BBQ called Gyu-Kaku where you cook your own food on a grill at the table. It turned out to be pretty good food but it was somewhat sad since Constance had to say goodbye to her good friends before moving back to Alabama.

10/07/07 - This day was allocated for packing Constance's entire apartment for the movers who were scheduled to come first thing the next morning.

10/08/07 - We had planned on going to Disneyland after the movers had loaded all of Constance's belongings, but we were just too exhausted to do all of that walking. Of all the time she lived out there Constance never made it to Disneyland, but I promised her we'll make it back some day, or at least to Disney World in Florida.

10/09/07 - Before leaving Long Beach we made one last stop at West Coast Choppers where I bought a wicked hoodie and we ate at Jesse James' Cisco Burger which is right next to his shop.

It was time to get on the road so we packed Constance's tiny car full of everything she hadn't sent with the movers along with her two cats and got on the road. Our cross-country journey had begun and our first destination was 280 miles to Las Vegas, Nevada where they tried to hook me on gambling as soon as we got there. We went to a Subway to eat which happened to be in a small casino and just for kicks I put a quarter into the first slot machine I saw. My very first Vegas gamble won a whole six bucks! Needless to say the rest of my experience wasn't as lucky but between us we only gambled away about fifty dollars during our stay.

10/10/07 - Our second day in Las Vegas was jam packed with touristy fun. Thanks to the Tom Tom GPS we found out there was a Star Trek attraction at the Hilton so that was our first stop. (yes, we're both huge geeks!) We got there before it opened so we took on the Monorail to the MGM Grand and walked down the famous Las Vegas Strip. Then we rode the Monorail back to the Hilton and took in everything Star Trek: The Experience had to offer. We ate at Quark's Bar & Restaurant, bought way too much at the shops and then visited the exhibit which has all kinds of Star Trek memorabilia on display. The two rides were pretty cool and I'll never forget the transporter effect we experienced at the Klingon Encounter.

After geeking out as much as possible we headed over to the Stratosphere to get the best views of the city. They have rides on the top of the tower but that was too extreme (and too expensive) for us, besides the extra-windy day made just standing on the observation deck thrill enough. I got some great photos and video of Las Vegas as we chilled out with a cup of coffee from Starbucks and watched the sun set.

After that we walked down Fremont Street where we did a little gambling at Binion's and the Golden Nugget and we ate a surprisingly good steak dinner at the Paradise's buffet. That night we wanted to see the classic burlesque show at the Forty Deuce, but the snooty guy at the door said they wouldn't let me in because I was wearing shorts. My sandals were apparently ok, but no shorts? What a stupid policy since the club is in a casino in sweltering Nevada! Even though it's very expensive and you can practically smell the desperation, I liked Las Vegas. Oh, and what happens there stays there unless you blog about it. ;)

 

Part IV - The Grand Canyon & Standin' On The Corner

10/11/07 - We left Las Vegas and our route happened to take us over the Hoover Dam. I'm glad we got to see it briefly even though we didn't stop since our destination that day was an even greater spectacle. 200 or so miles later we were in Williams, Arizona where we drove for a bit on Route 66 to get to our motel on that famous highway. After unloading the car and getting the cats settled in the room we headed north to the south rim of the magnificent Grand Canyon. This was my first time seeing it in person, and I have to tell ya - none of the pictures or videos do it justice. I was truly in a awe, and we had a very peaceful feeling as we watched the sun set over this wonderful view. We took a lot of great photos and videos. Here are four photos that I've resized for widescreen desktop wallpaper. GrandCanyon1.jpg GrandCanyon2.jpg GrandCanyon3.jpg GrandCanyon4.jpg

10/12/07 - This morning we had a great (free) breakfast at a local Greek restaurant in Williams, and then kept on heading east. I was really looking forward to seeing Meteor Crater along the way, but was disappointed at how the area has been developed. We really couldn't take the tour since we had cats in the car in the middle of the sweltering desert, so I thought the crater would be visible from the road. It seems they've built everything there so you have to pay before you can even see the hole in the ground. So we skipped it and headed into Winslow, Arizona where they have a tourist industry based on The Eagles song "Take It Easy". After getting photos at the obligatory tourist stop, I perused the local shops where I found a nifty Route 66 Zippo lighter.

We wanted to see some sights to the south so we deviated off our eastern course to our next stop for the night which was in Las Cruces, New Mexico where we stayed near New Mexico State University. This made for our longest driving day of the entire trip with over 486 miles traveled. Along the way we saw plenty of picturesque landscapes on the less-frequented roads and ate some fine roadside BBQ. One thing I learned on this leg of the trip is that if you stop on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere in the desert to walk cats on leashes, people tend to stare a bit.

 

Part V - White Sands, Roswell, and Home

10/13/07 - We departed Las Cruces and headed northeast to our next destination Roswell, New Mexico. Along our route was White Sands National Monument where we spent several hours walking the cats, one of which (Ezri) actually loved the dunes despite the extreme heat and the fact that she is an indoor cat who rarely ventures outdoors. Heck, it's a huge sandbox, so I was surprised both cats didn't love it. My strongest impression of the area was that I found the desolation to be quite cool and strangely comforting.

We didn't have far to get to Roswell and our route would take us through Alamagordo and the Mescalero Indian Reservation. It was then that Constance's trusty Chevy Metro first gave us a bit of trouble during the trip. It seemed like the car was accelerating oddly but at least we were still moving and after we finally got to our motel in Roswell we confirmed at the local Autozone it was a sensor problem. They didn't have the part, so we decided that as long as it was running we wouldn't let a little car trouble stop us from exploring the famous city we had crash-landed into.

The sun was setting, but there were still a few of the alien-themed shops open in downtown Roswell. I found a hip "Abducted in Roswell" shirt, but Constance couldn't find anyone selling the shirt she wanted with "Probed in Roswell" on it. The Cover-Up Cafe looked to be closed permanently, so I wonder if there's not as much tourism anymore for this neat little Americana town. They just had the 60th anniversary of the supposed UFO landing near there and if you're ever in the area it's definitely worth the trip just to see how such an unusual event can make a small town in the middle of nowhere a tourist destination.

 

10/14/07 - Before leaving Roswell this morning we checked out the UFO Museum and Research Center which had a decent assortment of exhibits, models, and documents covering all aspects of the UFO and alien phenomenon. The research center was especially impressive for the many books on the subject as well as the artwork on display. Ya gotta love the light posts around the downtown area, but once outside that area it seems the rest of the town hasn't embraced the theme.

If you want to find the actual alien crash site from 1947 there's several around that part of New Mexico that claim to be the original, but we didn't bother since there's obviously nothing to see. Don't get me wrong, I believe it's possible that aliens have visited our planet and the subject fascinates me but until there's scientific proof I have to remain a skeptic. In other words "I want to believe".

After visiting another souvenir shop or two we had a quick lunch and were back on the road. At this point we were going to push as far east as possible since we had been on the road for so long and especially with the car having difficulties. Strangely enough we ran into the first bit of weather on the whole trip in Weatherford, Texas which is just outside of Fort Worth/Dallas. A large rain system was moving in ahead of us so we stopped for the night at yet another Motel 6.

10/15/07 - We departed Weatherford in the rain and 250 or so miles later arrived at our next destination in Shreveport/Bossier City, Louisiana. I had visited this city before for the Independence Bowl and knew there was nothing much to do other than gamble at the local 'riverboat' casinos, but we had had our fill of that in Vegas so we found a good mexican restaurant called El Chico where we had a nice meal and then called it a night. Being on the road for a week is tiring in case you didn't know.

10/16/07 - The rain had finally moved on so we decided to make it to Alabama this day but the car started acting up again in Jackson, Mississippi. After lunch there we went ahead and continued on although we had to take it pretty slow the rest of the way home. After a stop at the rest area just inside Alabama (which is very nice by the way) the car was doing better and the last 400 miles or so felt like nothing after the long distance we had traveled. I was relieved we had made it without a major breakdown or even a flat tire but at the same time I was sad that such a fun trip had to come to an end.

Since I had never been much of anywhere until this, it truly was a trip of a lifetime that I will never forget. It has definitely inspired me to do more traveling in the future and there's plenty more to see in this great country of ours. I hope this blog will inspire you to grab a friend and take a trip of your own.