MikeSandy.net

October 2008 News Archive

Las Vegas and Zion National Park Trip

A few weeks earlier, Sheldon had invited me to join him and his friends from Los Angeles on a trip to Las Vegas. When the weekend came, I busted out of work early on Friday and had an enjoyable drive through Utah, Arizona and Nevada to Las Vegas.

There's few things more exciting than arriving in Las Vegas after a long drive through the dark desert. The lights, the people, the energy and the excitement seem to energize and rejuvenate me.

I waited to meet up with Sheldon in the Luxor's casino, which was brimming with excitement because its nightclub was throwing a birthday party for Kim Kardashian. Whatever.

After I met up with Sheldon and his girlfriend, we went up to the suite, cracked open a couple Guinesses and caught up on things for a while. Shortly thereafter, the rest of his friends showed up at the suite. We hung out in the room, drank several rounds of Irish Car Bombs and went down to the casino for a short time before crashing.

On Saturday, we walked down to the Planet Hollywood Casino to get lunch at the Earl of Sandwich. After lunch we walked around the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood and then went back to the Luxor to hang out at the pool for a (short) time before it closed for the day.

Later at night, a few of us met up with Mindy's cousin, Jen, at New York-New York's Nine Fine Irishmen Bar for some drinks. I drank 2 or 3 Long Island Iced Teas, which definitely hit the spot.

Later, we all walked to Hooters for a late night meal.

On Sunday, we all just got up and got ready to leave. I had planned to stop at Zion National Park on my way back from Vegas to attempt to hike Angel's Landing. By the time I arrived, however, it was too late to make a full attempt, so I settled for the hiking up the first parts of the trail to get some views of Zion Canyon.

Zion National Park in the fall is absolutely beautiful. The few trees that are there had good fall color, and the place is so very quiet because of the bus system (cars are prohibited in Zions Canyon for most of the year, so you park your car at the visitor center and ride one of the propane-powered buses into the canyon). I got some excellent sunset pictures after I hiked to the top of the first switchbacked section of the trail. On the hike down I ran across a tarantula spider making its own way down the trail, which was kind of cool.

The hike was very refreshing and it helped make the rest of the drive back to Salt Lake a little less tedious than it should have been.

This trip was excellent. It was nice to catch up with Sheldon, and his friends were very welcoming and a lot of fun. And to cap it off with a hike in Zion National Park made it even more memorable.

Trip to Belgium

I'm back from my first trip to Belgium to visit Mindy. Quite simply, I had a great time. Here I will just post some impressions of the places we visited.

Europe is definitely different from the US, and almost certainly the complete opposite of Utah.

Brussels is a fairly low-key city, but it is still quite bustling. It sort of reminds me of Boston, especially the mix of modern and historic architecture, and in the way it's lower-key than, say, Paris, but still as relevant (much like Boston compared to New York City).

I was surprised at how little English was spoken in Brussels. Even the people who could speak it when we asked, could do so barely enough to communicate.

Europe is clearly more oriented toward train and public transportation. There are less cars, but I wouldn't want to drive in Europe after seeing how crazy they all seem to drive there.

Overall, I found Europe to be dirtier than the US and way more relaxed with rules, but almost annoyingly so because sometimes it feels like there's no order.

I can't believe that in Europe they charge people to use restrooms. Since they don't charge much, I can't imagine that it's particularly profitable either--especially the restrooms with people attending to them. The concept seems so strange and so wrong to me, and I don't think it helps the cleanliness of their cities (or lack thereof).

And then there's Paris. Paris is the dirtiest city I've ever seen. The concept of placing trash in a trash barrel is seemingly foreign to Parisians. The city is partly at fault because all they provide are cheap, flimsy trash bags rather than large, sturdy trash barrels. The bathroom issue (see the trip report) seems to not help matters, because people just use the city streets as a toilet.

I wasn't overly impressed with Paris. Obviously it was very cool to see some of its famous landmarks, and Paris seems like a fun place if you're up for some nightlife, but I'm not sure I need to go back.

Having been outside the US even for just a few days, it's clear that we are much more strict and restrictive around everything associated with airline travel, and customs, immigration and border patrol. No one even checked our passports when we arrived in France from Belgium. Of course, that is probably because both countries are part of the European Union, but I still didn't anticipate that they would be that lax. The airport security in Brussels reminded me of airport security in the US before the attacks on September 11, 2001.

With all that said, I definitely enjoyed visiting a different place and seeing how some of the other half of the world lives. Check out my trip report for more details.

Belgium, So Far

I traveled to Belgium yesterday/today to visit Mindy, who is going to graduate school in Brussels. I'll be here 4 days.

The 7+ hour flight from Chicago wasn't too bad. The plane was a 767, so it was big. The seat next to me was open after the guy who was supposed to sit next to me moved to another seat.

The flight came with multiple drink services, a dinner service and a breakfast service. Dinner was a microwaved dish of BBQ beef with mashed potatoes, which was tolerable.

I slept on the plane for probably a total of 3 hours. I arrived at about 7:45 a.m. Brussels time. Mindy met me at the airport and we rode a bus and a tram, and then we walked a little ways back to her place.

After a quick bowl of Kellogg's Frosties, I went with her to her morning class, but I just sat in the computer lab and surfed the Web. After her class, however, we rode the bus to central Brussels to check out a few sites.

First, we checked out Grand Place, which is a grand place of medieval architecture. Then we walked to Mannekin-Pis, a semi-famous statue of a boy pissing. People clothe the little bastard in all sorts of apparel, but today he was as naked as the day he was born, unfortunately. Then we ate a Belgian waffle and a combo meal from Quick Burger--Belgium's answer to McDonalds.

Finally, after checking out some rail fares to Paris at the central train station, we walked past the Royal Palace--Belgium's answer to Buckingham Palace. The palace was guarded by two able-bodied guards who might catch someone trying to run onto the grounds, but I'm not sure.

It has been interesting being in Europe. The place always smells like some combination of bad cologne, diesel exhaust and/or cigarette smoke. The architecture is very interesting. However, it has been hard getting used to the fact that I can't really communicate with anyone. Everyone speaks French, and only a handful of people have been able to speak English. Parle vous anglais?

Mount Olympus Hike

It rained all day yesterday, so when I woke up late in the morning today, I was pleased to see that it was clear. Although I hadn't planned on hiking today, I quickly decided to attempt Mount Olympus again.

Despite the much cooler temperatures, the sun was still very hot today because--like last weekend--I didn't start hiking until around 2:00 PM.

After I crossed the small stream in Tolcat Canyon, I headed up the steep switchbacks of what I believe is called Blister Hill. At the top of that section, the trail changes considerably. The trail becomes more wooded, and it takes on an almost Adirondack feel.

I was surprised to discover that the spot at which I turned around last week was nowhere near the saddle! In fact, that spot was only a little more than halfway to the saddle.

After quite an uphill slog that seemed endless, I was glad to finally reach the saddle because it afforded sweeping views of the peaks to the south and the east. After taking a few pictures, I followed a path to the bottom of the steep 600-vertical-foot scramble to the summit.

This guy I had talked to on the trail who was hiking at about the same pace as me eventually caught up to me as I was making my way up amongst the cliffs. It was nice to have a little company on this challenging section, and I think he enjoyed the company as well.

Most of the scrambling was very easy. It was steep, but it wasn't exposed. One section, however, posed quite a challenge. This particular section required a body length or two of dedicated climbing on a slick rock with few good handholds. A fall or a slip wouldn't have killed anyone, but it wouldn't have been fun at all.

(more coming soon)