The Road Trip, Part II

After the big party Hunter and I attended in Sun Valley on Saturday, Hunter flew back to Vegas on Sunday from Salt Lake City to check out -- and be summarily unimpressed -- with the reopened Plaza. Check out brutal Tweet 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The Plaza is in big trouble if they don't get their act together asap.

Anyhow, I left Hunter and stopped by the Utah Capitol. I know I've been there already, but I couldn't find the picture, so I took another one. Then, on the way out of SLC, I saw this:

Yes, I was tempted to stay on I-15!

The next leg of the road trip awaited, though. I headed to Dinosaur National Monument, which straddles the northwestern Colorado-northeast Utah border and evidently is where loads of dinosaur fossils have been found. It's sorta schticky, as seen by this by the visitors center...

...but also a rather scenic 10ish-mile drive. You see vistas like this:

There is a dinosaur artifact area but it was closed when I was there. Either way, there's great camping and hiking land up there, and the rocks have gen-u-ine petroglyphs, see:

There's more from here in the Flickr slideshow at the bottom of this post. But this awesome bit of neon from Steamboat Springs, Colo., was just wonderful:

I didn't stay there because the Fairfield Inn was cheaper and I got Marriott points, but I was surprised on Monday morning to find that the resort-fee concept has spread:

It was only about $3. I guess it included Internet service, but I wasn't warned and it didn't actually work. I didn't complain, though, because for reasons I do not know, the front-desk dude gave us a massive room upgrade to a gigantic, gorgeous room.

Meanwhile, a subplot of this trip is that it's Black and Jack's first major road trip and their bodies aren't taking it all that well. They've had a rough time, but I've been coddling them a bit extra and feeding them carefully and finally, today, they're not as miserable, see:

Today, I drove through the sensational Rocky Mountains through the Rocky Mountain National Park route, aka U.S. 34, with John Denver's Greatest Hits playing on the iPod, of course. Here's the best shot:

There are loads of other awesome pictures in this Flickr slideshow, which starts in SLC, goes to Dinosaur and Steamboat Springs and then into the park.

And, yes, this shot...

...was a little dangerous to take. But then I got to Denver and picked up Amy, who flew in from Vegas to accompany me for the rest of the trip. Next stops: Topeka, St. Joseph, Mo., Jefferson City and Springfield.

Staycation At Cosmo Part I: The Pet Thing

It was Miles' birthday last week, so it seemed like just the right moment to check into the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and celebrate. And since the Cosmo is a pet-friendly resort, we decided to give it a whirl to see how exactly that works. The deal is you can bring dogs under 25 pounds and, while the policy is a maximum of two, we called and they let us bring all three. There's a $250 deposit per pet and you get $200 of it back regardless of your length of stay if nothing goes awry.

We'd never checked into a pet-friendly place before, and it was really kind of an interesting thing. When we arrived, the dogs were in their crates and were put on the luggage carts:


...although we could have walked them on their leashes in the public areas. We just weren't sure, so we played it safe. On the counter in our room was a whole spread of stuff...


...including treats, puppy pads, bowls and a small patch of astroturf for the outside terrace.

Unfortunately, our guys were a bit weirded out by the strangeness of the situation and just wouldn't make use of the pads or the turf. So instead, I walked them regularly in a fascinating outdoor pool area on the fourth floor.

It's this gigantic expanse of pools and cabanas with five tiers, many with turf on it. Here are some images:



The area was large enough to enjoy a decent walk with the dogs and it's open 24 hours a day. That, in and of itself, seems unique to me; most resorts shut down access to the pool area after a certain hour.

There were lovebirds all over this area enjoying the tremendous views at all hours...


...and even some taking swims in the middle of the night.


Traveling with pets is an interesting experience, but not one I'm keen to do again anytime soon. We were trying to relax but we felt guilty leaving the dogs crated in the room, we felt nervous when we were in the room that they might do something wrong if we didn't keep watch over them and I felt a bit freakish and pathetic walking around with three little animals when I needed to take them out.

The reaction of other visitors was mixed. Most people lit up at the sight of the dogs and several wanted to pet them; it was nice to have Aces, who likes anyone who likes her, because Black and Jack have always been defensive and noisy around strangers. In this setting and with their new little sister setting an example, they were very sweet to those who wished to pet them.

That said, we stayed on weeknights, so it seemed that many of the people at the Cosmo were conventioneers. Some found the idea of encountering animals delightful and told me all about their own pets. Others, I could tell, were in a business-like mode and found the presence of dogs a distraction from their conventioneering headspace.

I also had a particularly harrowing moment on the elevator. We were going down, the doors opened and Aces decided to saunter out just when the doors were about to close. I was able to yank her back in, but I had terrible images of the doors closing with her outside, the elevator starting to move and ... yikes.

The Cosmo staff couldn't have been more friendly and encouraging with the pets, but I do wish that they had provided us with some information as to where we were permitted to take the dogs. I've heard since that there's actually a dog-run of sorts in the back of the building near the Jockey Club connection.

So that's the pet report. More to come, but in the meantime, here's our guys and gal:

[BROWSE ALL MY PICTURES AND VIDEOS FROM THE COSMOPOLITAN OPENING AND OTHER VISITS VIA THIS FLICKR GROUP.]

Introducing Aces Smith-Friess!

Notice anyone new above?

Here, let me help you. This...


...is Aces. Here's what happened:

The doorbell rings at 8 a.m. on Dec. 23 and it's our next-door neighbor:


She explains that the day before, she was in the grocery store parking lot when some lady came up to her in the rain and said she needed to move out of town and couldn't take her dog so here, see ya later, buh-bye. Or something like that. Also, the dumper handed over another horrifying outfit -- which we will get to shortly -- as well as food, a bed and a toy. I can only imagine what was going on there that someone would need to do such a thing. Very disturbing and sad.

So my neighbor took this dog, handed to her at random, home. But her husband wasn't into having a dog and, in particular, a small one. And, I am imagining, they said to one another, "What about those gay guys next door who already have two Chihuahuas? Surely they or some of their gay and/or small-dog-loving friends would take her!"

I told the neighbor we'd consider what to do. That meant that by lunchtime I was pondering whether and how to surprise Miles for Christmas. I called the vet to ask if he could check her out, which they were happy to do that evening for free as a "new pet" visit. Here I am with the dog waiting at Desert Inn Animal Hospital:


The thing is, we already have two dogs, 7-year-old brothers named Black and Jack. Incredibly cute, but 100% mine. They are intensely territorial and possessive of me to the point that they still, nearly six years since we rescued them from the shelter, bark at Miles when he comes home. They sit like tumors on my sides when we watch TV and accept Miles as their Lord and Savior only when I am busy for long periods, out or away. It's not a fulfilling pet experience for him, but I *do* walk them, feed them and spend more than half of every waking day with them.

Yet the bias is also because of their personalities. They don't care for pretty much anyone other than me. While I fully understand that, it's sad for Miles.

The vet told me that this dog was an intact, in-heat female of about 1 year of age, about 8 pounds when not clad in ridiculous and demeaning clothing. (Jack is 11 pounds and Black is 14 pounds.) She was very healthy, although she'll need to be spayed and that could cost $250ish.

I decided we ought to give this dog a try. I would spring her on Miles on Christmas somehow and, if she didn't fit in our household for some reason, someone via this blog or Facebook or Twitter would surely welcome her. We've done it before, remember?

For an hour that night, I socialized her with Black and Jack. Then I got our neighbor to take her for a night. On Christmas Eve I took a break from making homemade butternut squash gnocchi and port-dijon filet mignons (there is a photo, but it was as delicious as it was un-photogenic) to run Aces, as I suddenly started calling her, to the home of my Little Brother's mom, Stacey.

Yes, Aces. We have Black and Jack, so the Vegas cards theme felt right, but calling her Queenie seemed just a wee bit too gay, even for us. Anyhow, here's me with Black and Jack on our final morning before life as we knew it changed:


Stacey kept Aces until Christmas afternoon when we went over for the holiday meal. I had bought a pink collar and a pop-up crate at Target, and I was going to actually wrap it and have Miles open it. We're always joking as we open gifts, "Is it a puppy?" But I accidentally brought Aces out in her crate when I thought Miles was outside. He wasn't. Surprise!


They bonded very quickly! They sat together the rest of the evening...


...and then when we got home, too.


Later, we started crate-training her since she seems to have an inkling about being housebroken but we're not sure. Here she is in her crate:


Aces has a very comfortable personality. She's like a sack of sugar, happy to be held by whomever wants her. She's conflict-averse, so when Black and Jack dominate me, she's inclined to go to the other human. That bodes well for Miles.

How are Black and Jack adjusting, you ask? As well as can be expected. They're a little confused and irritated but also intrigued. But Aces holds her own, growling when they get too near. So I think there's some assimilation going on. Here are their very first group photos:


Those and the first photo in this post tell the story, which is Aces trying to be herself while Jack is curious and concerned and Black doesn't really care at all.

For the most part, I've backed off. When Miles is out, I certainly cuddle with her and have walked her, but we're working on keeping her as "his" dog to the extent that's possible. The good news is that when he came home, she went right to him and I was suddenly uninteresting. I can't imagine that, but I'm glad for it.

Perhaps, though, Aces is mad at me because I insisted she model the other hideous outfit that her abandoner gave to my neighbor:


Check it out:


I'll never put that on her ever again, but I do understand if she's forever bitter. In fact, maybe that was part of my plan!

Black and Jack's Great Adventure

Events got in the way, but I've been meaning to post some too-cute pictures of Black and Jack on our big road trip two weekends ago to Los Angeles to see our friends David and Jeff be wed in nuptials that may now be invalid. (See David's now-tragic Newsweek essay on the event.) That's a total bummer, but it was still a fun trip and everyone loves looking at pictures of cute animals on the Internet, right?

We'd never taken our dogs anywhere in the 3-plus years since we got them from the pound. (They were named Cheech and Chong then. Miles thought Black and Jack was more Vegasy.) So this was an experiment.

We rented a little SUV to make the trip more comfy, and we set up the back seat with a big blanket for them to relax on.



At first they just wanted to be up front, but they got used to it. When we got out, they got to hop in front, as you can see with Jack here.


Don't worry -- it wasn't hot, we didn't leave them in there for more than a few minutes if it was necessary at all to leave them and they had plenty of water.


They really didn't know what to make of the hotel room...



...so when we didn't crate them for the night, they were largely upon me as usual.


All in all, it was a lot of fun. On the way home, we stopped in Baker at the tourist trap Mad Greek for their famous strawberry shakes. Well, Miles got a coffee one.


The puppies just got Milkbones. They didn't mind.