Current Events > Well, my month long vacation is over. Amazing time was had.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Made some mistakes, learned some lessons, but it was incredible.

Grand Canyon

• Pictures and videos don't do it justice. Standing right next to it for the first time had me speechless. It's just so huge and the scenery is incredible.
• It was really cool to see birds flying high in the sky but also below you at the same time.
• The different ecosystems at different elevations inside the canyon looked pretty cool.

Clear Sky Resort

• This is where I stayed for the Grand Canyon visit. I wanted to do something entirely outside of my comfort zone and it was a really cool experience.
• The place is in a county that has a light pollution ordinance. It's one of the best places in the country for stargazing.

Las Vegas

• I ate at Hell's Kitchen the first night, which was amazing. I had the lobster risotto, smoked pork belly, beef wellington, and sticky toffee pudding. The lobster risotto and pork belly were really good. The beef wellington and sticky toffee pudding were two of the most delicious dishes I've ever had in my life. I was savoring every bite. So good.
• I saw Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson: One the second night. This was really awesome. I had seen a Cirque du Soleil show years ago when one of my old jobs sent me to Vegas for a company trip, but I hadn't heard of them before. I can't remember what that first show was called, but it was also incredible.

I was originally planning to continue on to California to visit Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco, but I spent $1800 on new tires in Arizona. My car started vibrating when I went above 65mph when I got to the Williams, AZ area. I think the foam they put in tires for EVs got dislodged in one of my tires.

Grand Canyon: https://imgur.com/a/pGZbx2Y
Clear Sky Resort: https://imgur.com/a/B6eK7V8
Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson One: https://imgur.com/a/0E8U2JD
Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef Aquarium: https://imgur.com/a/vZqxyAl
Hell's Kitchen: https://imgur.com/a/Ah2lLYo
Las Vegas random pictures: https://imgur.com/a/nZPY2Cq

I uploaded a bunch of the pictures to imgur... I had been trying to figure out the best way to post them here.

great pictures

I'm glad you had a good time.

CableZL posted...

I was originally planning to continue on to California to visit Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Francisco, but I spent $1800 on new tires in Arizona. My car started vibrating when I went above 65mph when I got to the Williams, AZ area.

I did a cross country trip NY to San Diego and back and the only place I ran into car trouble was Flagstaff AZ, I got a flat tire.

probably some Arizonian plot to keep people there for longer

Imgur is no longer available in the UK.

But it sounds like a great experience.

Sounds awesome! That resort sounds delightful as I live in a major city and I would love to see the night sky with hardly any light.

Wow looks like a great time!

The Grand Canyon is definitely on my trip next year!

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]



Lesson 1: Don't take a road trip on old tires.

• My car had about 42,000 miles on it when I started the trip. Originally, I had all Michelin EV tires, but a flat tire here and a flat tire there caused me to just get whatever the Tesla mobile technician had in his van. So I think I had 2 Michelin tires, one Goodyear, and one Firestone or something like that when I started the trip. I got all Michelin tires again when I went to Discount Tire in Flagstaff, AZ.

Lesson 2: Don't book the Clear Sky Resort at the last minute and don't book it through Capital One.

• One of the cool things about the Clear Sky Resort is they have themed rooms.
• When I booked through Capital One, it only had an option for a "Family sized room." I thought this was just a plain dome with room for up to 5 people or something. I figured it was all they had left, so I booked it. This was on a Saturday night, and I was going to be there on Monday afternoon.
• When I got there to check in, the guy was like "... ... ... I see you booked... The Pink Pony Room."

And then they drove me over to the dome and it's this, LOL:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1415f09a.jpg

Expedia actually gives different options for the themed rooms when you book, so I should have booked through Expedia instead.

This is what I booked on the Capital One App:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f6360d18.jpg

This is what Expedia shows:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7e755616.jpg

Lesson 3: Break up the travel into two or three days.

• I drove from San Antonio, TX to the Grand Canyon in one sitting, about 19 - 20 hours. Huge mistake.
• I also drove from Las Vegas, NV to San Antonio, TX in one sitting, about 24 hours. Huge mistake.
• The 20 hour trip wasn't as bad. I napped for about an hour at the Williams, AZ charging station and I felt somewhat OK arriving at the Clear Sky Resort.
• The 24 hour trip... I was struggling for the last 4 hours of the trip. I napped for an hour at the second to last stop, but that still wasn't enough, of course.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


To beware Greeks bearing gifts.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/1415f09a.jpg

Did you tell them yes thats me. Pink Pony room.?

Or did you make an excuse?

divot1338 posted...

Did you tell them yes thats me. Pink Pony room.?

Or did you make an excuse?

I just told them I had booked it a couple days prior and that was the only option left on the app. I didn't know at the time that Expedia may have given more options, but I didn't think an excuse needed to be given, really. It's just a bed to sleep on.

First day back to work went OK. I don't have any work for tonight, but I'm gonna be helping out with my major project tomorrow night.

Glad you got a well deserved holiday :)