Oh the weather outside is frightful...

The snow is in Denver and so are we. We arrived in the Mile High City almost 5 hours late and we're looking at leaving even later.

However, our spirits are high and we are getting a second crack at the last supper as we are now sitting at the Red Rocks Bar & BBQ. Allan is finally having his first Margarita despite the fact that we have moved decisively away from the Mexican border.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Mooooooo!

Frontier Airlines manages to keep the cattle happy with sattelite TV at every seat.

I'll go willingly to the slaughterhouse as long as I can watch cartoons.

The waiting game...

Well, our flight has been delayed at least 2 hours due to snow in Denver. To Mark's delight, he is now leaving before us on his return for Phoenix.

The circle is now complete

We began in Vegas and we ended up at a casino to have breakfast on the way to the airport. Sadly, they were no longer serving, but Dan did get a slots pull.

You can take the Dan out of the Vegas, but you can't take the Vegas out of the Dan.

The Last Supper

It's been a great 6 days. We've been to 8 states and 2 countries with almost no tripmate on tripmate violence.

We have just finished enjoying our last dinner of the road trip at the Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery and are headed back to the palatial Travelodge to settle up expenses, cheer against the Yankees and get some shut eye.

Though this won't be the last post of this trip, we are definitely down to it and I can't help but feel a little misty eyed.

(sniff)

Scott Whalley is more important than us

For those of you that don't read comments, Scott was kind enough to share a picture of him and his lovely wife at the church we visited today.

Unsupported Staircase

http://www.lorettochapel.com

Lunch in Santa Fe

We left the wedding reception at about 8:30 last night after a lovely Texas BBQ dinner.

We arrived in Santa Fe at 1:30 this morning for a great night's stay at the Travelodge. On a five star scale, the Travelodge comes in at a solid ½ star. Prett sweet.

We slept in this morning and wandered into historic downtown Santa Fe for a (quasi) authentic New Mexican lunch.

We are off next to get some Starbucks and to visit an old church.

Keeping it real old escuela

Mariachis kicking it at the reception.

Congratulations!

Just Married!

Nelly & Amado Live!

Enjoy this final image of an unmarried Nelly and Amado.

The beginning...

Arriving at the church was no small affair. MSN had two major errors in its directions.

It tried to send us the wrong way down a one way and then claimed that the freeway exit would let us off on a street about 5 blocks from where it actually did. Ahh, technology.

Ultimately, Mark started looking at Map Point on his laptop, I tried to reroute us on my phone, while Dan and Allan fought over a paper map.

As you can see from the picture, we made it. What you can't see are Mark and Allan fighting about whether guests should walk on the white stair runner.

Blogging from no man's land

We have just returned from a ten minute visit to Juarez, Mexico and are now awaiting our re-entry strip search.

Wish us luck!

Holiday Inn El Paso

Is that service or what?

The Thing

Now it's an official road trip. Somewhere in the God forsaken void between Phoenix (also God forsaken) and our destination of El Paso (haven't been there yet, but probably also God forsaken) lies "The Thing?".

Teasing us with 20 billboards over 20 miles, "The Thing?" promised untold wonders alongside a Dairy Queen and gas station.

Unfortunately, our demanding schedule prevented us from discovering its hidden pleasures. We're planning another road trip next month to add that baby to our accomplishments.

Ooh baby baby it's a wired world

Or perhaps I should say "wireless world".

While riding through the desolation of the Arizona desert, I received a text message from Susan letting me know she was considering not buying the Amazing Amanda doll for Julia's birthday because it's $100. I texted back that she should buy it if she thought it was good.

Next, Susan called me and said she couldn't tell. I said I would look up reviews on my phone's web browser. After checking out a couple of sites, I determined it was worth the money.

I called Susan back (still in the car, in the middle of nowhere) and she bought it. Wow!

By the way, this blog entry is coming from the same phone in the same nowhere and the picture of Amazing Amanda was found using this phone's browser.

Search for intelligent life in So Cal

This morning started off in the comfortable womb of our Anaheim Holiday Inn room. Unfortunately, this reconnection with our mothers was rudely interrupted at 6 am by the red-headed stepchild of alarm clocks. Even with our combined professional technical know how, it took about 3 minutes to shut the damn thing off. I blame Program Management. In any event, it turns out that even the most obstinate alarm clock stops blaring when you throw it in the pool.

After packing up our car, we began our jouney to Texas. Allan, fearing a dearth of intelligent life (read "Starbucks") in the Lone Star state, had us searching high and low for a location to satisfy his java jones.

Through a combination of internet sleuthing and finely honed Starbucks environment recognition skills, we finally located one in Riverside, CA. Properly sated, Allan shed his gruff morning exterior and even bought Dan and me cookies.

We are now headed uninterrupted to Phoenix to pick up former co-worker Mark Otterlee (you may remember him).

Evil hot glowing orange thing

I don't know what's going on, but there is some super bright ball in the sky down here and it makes everything really hot!

I asked some locals what it is and they said it's called the "Sun". It really scares us. It's almost 100 degrees outide.

I miss our Seattle sky of comforting grey pillows.

Send help.

By the skin of our teeth...

Upon the opening of Disneyland this morning, we rushed to the joy that is Splash Mountain for a refreshing dip in the briar patch.

Needless to say, the ride exceeded our expectations with the newly re-designed log cars resulting in an even wetter experience than before (Susan making a mental note not to ride Splash Mountain ever again.).

And the story might have ended there, but it does not. When we arrived back to the loading area, we discovered that the ride had been shut down shortly after we had embarked. What happened? A death? A decapitation?

All we know is that we were lucky to have escaped with our lives. Check your local news for updates.

(alternate title for this post: Blogging the Log)

Natural Wonder

Behold the natural wonder that is Disney's Grizzly Peak. When the old parking lot of Disneyland was transformed into Disney's California Adventure, this fascinating natural wonder was discovered. Amazing.

Self Portrait

Look carefully and you can see our rental car in the truck hub.

Leaving Las Vegas

(sniff)

The missing posts...

[Parental warning: The following blog entry has been rated Blog-MA for descriptions of hooker trading cards]

The conspiracy theorists among us will wonder with Watergate-like interest why nothing was blogged after about 5PM yesterday.

"Were there entries that were erased?"

"What happened last night in Vegas?"

Indeed, Vegas is the home to many earthly delights and we did partake and how we did enjoy.

For those unfamiliar with the Vegas milieu, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an undocumented worker snapping "women of comfort" trading cards to attract attention and then pressing them into your palm should you make accidental eye contact.

Among the highlights:

Candy is available to come to your room for $69. And you're thinking that's a spectacular deal. But think again. Terri is available for $49. To be honest though, she's a little pricey. Skylar is only $39. It turns out, that $39 is the consensus value rate among these ladies of the night and we thought we had found the low bidder. Then along came a trading card for Gia advertising a $38 rate. Now I don't know what my price tipping point would be for making a decision on evening companionship. However, I am pretty sure it's not $1. But is it $5? If you are willing to do a three lady deal with one service, it's only $99-that's $33 each and a $5 savings off the likes of Gia.

So what is my tipping point? Sadly, this economic question will have to remain unresolved as the earthly delights we pursued were the wonders of the Vegas buffet and the elusive $1 blackjack table.

Around 6:30 PM, we found ourselves at the Cravings buffet in the Mirage hotel. It was an orgy of meats, fish, and yes Praks, vegetables. We indulged ourselves until we could indulge no more. And then we went to the dessert bar.

(Dear reader, were this a fantasy story, I would be about to regale you with the gastronomic excesses of sugary delights. Unfortunately, this is not fantasy.)

The dessert bar was essentialy a Denny's in which they bring you jello on a hot plate.

TRAVLER'S TIP: Do not go to the Mirage buffet for dessert.

After our over-consumption and a brief trip to the vomitorium at Caesar's Palace, we wended our way endlessly north along the Vegas strip searching for a blackjack table that met our cheap bastard expectations.

After approximately 1 mile of "as the crow flies" walking on the strip and 10 miles of "as the drunken gambler stumbles" through the various casinos, we found our Shangri-la in Slots of Fun. A casino so low that it was an ante-casino of the now lowly Circus Circus. In this dank hole of humanity which featured a Subway as its epicurean focus, we met the $1 table-and it was full. It turns out that this low-roller heaven was just too much of an attraction for many and we never got a seat. However, we found that we were quite able to lose our money at a nearby $3 blackjack table, resulting in a bliss that has to be experienced to be appreciated.

Off to Disneyland...

Let the games begin...

Shhhhh. Photography in the casino is prohibited, but those damn cellphone cameras are confusing.

Here's Dan on his way to fleecing the casino of $6. We're sure to get some comps with this high-roller action.

Jennifer, you should have joined us...

We managed to fit in a trip to Paris. I think you would of liked it.

Now, we are in Baghdad enjoying a Cheeseburger in Paradise at Alladin's Oasis.

Later, we are going to Venice, Monaco, and NY. This trip is quite an adventure.

It's not staying in Vegas

We've arrived safely in Sin City.

Unfortunately for Dan and Allan, what happens in Vegas will not be staying in Vegas (see picture).

We're currently luxuriating by the pool here at the Flamingo and we appear to be the youngest people in a 300 yard radius.

I'd say "Don't worry girls.", but in this environment we're looking pretty hot. A grandmother just goosed Dan.

Sitting on the Tarmac

We're waiting here in Boise waiting to take off for Vegas.

We recently found out that we're too loud for the guy behind us and he has offered us drinks to be quieter. We declined.

Ugh!

We're at the airport and it's 5:00 am. Ugh!

We are enjoying the new food and shopping area here at Sea-tac.