Monday, August 29, 2011

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:

Bye, Vegas

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...

Dinosaur Natl Monument

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

Dinosaur Dogs

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:

Dinosaur Petroglyphs (1)

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:

Awesome Steamboat Springs Neon

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:

Resort Fees In Steamboat Springs!

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:

Happier Puppies

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:

Puppies Mount The Rockies! (2)

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...

A very dangerous 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.

1 comments:

bail bonds las vegas said...

The Plaza (or was it the Union Plaza back then?) was the first place I actually "legally" gambled and drank growing up here in Las Vegas. Even if it's a stinker, something feels good in me to see it reopening.