Thursday April 23: The End

What a fantastic adventure this has all been. And as awesome a time as we've both had, I think we're very happy to finally be home again, to sleep in our own beds tonight. There's something very cathartic about coming home. I'm also very pleased at the time we've made these past couple days. We'd allotted ourselves 4 full days to get home from Vegas, and we've done it in 2.5. These extra couple days are very nice; a time to reintegrate ourselves back into our "real lives" before getting back to work. I suspect that if we had just gotten home the night before I had to return to work I'd end up with a serious case of the bends. We need this depressurization time.

All in all, the last couple of days have seen some heroic driving. From Las Vegas, NV to Fort Morgan, CO totaled 827 miles the first day. Then from there to Chicago was another epic 932 mile hike. So, today, we were kind of let off easy. From Chicago to our home in Cambridge, ON was a mere 456 miles--a leisurely stroll.

Knowing this, we let ourselves sleep in, rolling out of bed at around 10am. We enjoyed a free hot breakfast of eggs, sausage, hash browns for Chris and pancakes for me, and then we hopped in the car for the last time this journey.

There isn't a whole lot to tell about this final whole leg of the trip. Ohio was breathtakingly beautiful. We missed the Rocky Mountains by driving it at night, though there was a feeling of immensity as we drove up, and up, and up, only to plunge all the way back down again. The area in Colorado where we started the next day was very flat, reminding me of Oklahoma, and I found that all the little towns in the area had an unpleasant, peculiar odor.

Nebraska was boring, and though Iowa looked much the same I didn't find it as monotonous. Iowa just gives off good vibes to me; it's a very pleasant atmosphere. I think it would be a very nice place to live. We missed all of Illinois for the same reason we missed the Rocky's--night driving. We did, however, pay homage to the state by listening to Sufjan Steven's album about it as we passed through.

And finally Michigan. I really don't like Michigan. Terrible roads. It felt so good to leave downtown Detroit behind as we took the Tunnel into Ontario. The first thing I did after crossing into Windsor was to make Chris pull over for some Tim Horton's. Oh Tim, how I've missed you! We also paused to take a photo of our licence plate. Bugs from across the Continent and back (from 16 different States) are festooned upon it. It's a work of art.

And so, dear readers, we come to the end of this little blog. I've got to say, having you all along for the ride has made the trip so much more memorable for us. Knowing that we were going to have to write about our experiences made us take in so much more throughout the day, and every morning we'd rush to the computer to read comments on the previous night's post. So much fun.

And I hope that, perhaps, you've gotten to know each other a little better as well, throughout this experiment. Both by meeting the people we met along the way through our eyes, as well as seeing each other's reactions to our posts. I hope that my friends and family members who might not have understood my seemingly unreasonable attraction to a video game can now understand why. It's these amazing people (and we met just some of the awesome folks we play with every day) that keep both Chris and I coming back, day after day.

So many great people met. So many new experiences. So many breathtaking vistas taken in. So many preconceptions about America shattered. Such a great vacation!

Thank you so much to everyone who made this trip possible. Thanks to all the fine folks we've met who have just overwhelmed us with their hospitality and generosity. Celer, Mudslinger, Cali, Nem, Chance, Aly, Ram, Eaden, Eldrik, Dream and Kage: You guys rock! Thanks to Chris' brother Adam, who lent us his laptop and made this blog possible. And thanks to you, dear reader, who's made writing this blog so enjoyable an experience.

Over the next few days, as Chris and I adjust back into normality, I'll be finishing up the photo galleries and posting the links on the side bar of this blog. We included but a fraction of the pictures taken in our posts, so feel free to stop back in to see the full album.

Adieu!

~Pete/Lazz

Tuesday April 21: Homeward Bound

Good evening everybody. Due to the nature of this third and final leg of our trip, finding time with an internet connection has been a little less reliable. Beginning yesterday, we started our return trip home. Yesterday was an intense day of driving and stunning scenery. As we left Vegas and traveled through Nevada, touched Arizona again, and moved into Utah, we both had the same though... now this is a desert. Neither one of us had a proper impression of what form the desert would take. I guess we assumed that it would be like we see in the movies, films like The Mummy; yah know, miles of sand and... sand. We expected to see it in Texas and New Mexico, but were surprised at the amount of plant life = no desert. Nevada, northern Arizona, and Utah, now that is barren. It was beautiful. Miles and miles and miles of rock, dirt, and mountain, but almost no life. Pillars of stone rising out of the wilderness to make any traveler just stop in stunned silence at the beautiful death that surrounded us. I couldn’t help develop a deeper respect for those ancient people who used to travel the land on horse, or even foot. I shudder at the thought of doing it without A/C.

We didn’t leave Vegas until 11am, and we lost an hour due to crossing a time zone, so darkness started to fall much sooner than we expected. We were just entering the state of Colorado as the sun disappeared over the horizon at our backs. Nuts. We really needed to get farther than the border of Utah/Colorado before we stopped for the night; so on we pushed. As soon as the light had vanished from the sky we began to get this claustrophobic feeling. The road was getting a bit more whinedy, and despite a beautifully clear sky where every star is visible, the world began to close in. Soon the road started to slope up some serious elevations (highest we saw was about 10,500 feet) and we had reached the Rocky Mountains. I am rather disappointed that we did this leg of the trip where we were unable to appreciated what I am absolutely sure was some spectacular scenery, but at the same time, driving it at night had its own share of excitement.

With all the twist and turns in the roads, the sharp inclines and sudden drops, it was an exciting stretch of road to drive. In the darkness, you could never see beyond the next turn, and sometimes not even that far. Driving it at night also meant we had the road almost to ourselves, with the exception of the frequent semi, we were able to just fly along a road that I would imagine would be incredibly painful in traffic. We passed by half a dozen small ski towns, each one looking like a beautiful place to come for a winter holiday. In the glow of the towns, I could just make out the ski slopes that rose up behind the villages. It seemed like you could go from the top of the ski mountain right into your resort hot tub without ever taking off your skis. The whole area was designed in preparation to receive a lot of snow. We even passed raised barricades, like the one you sometimes see at a train crossing, only this time, they were set up to completely block the highway. At first, we looked down our nose at these... what kind of wimps live down here, then after spending a bit more time on the roads agreed that it didn’t take much imagination to see how quickly these roads cold become treacherous. It was sad, but eventually we were on the last downward slope of the Rockies and the city of Denver was spread out before us. The plan was to get through the city and find some place to sleep on the other side. We had done a good job at avoiding most major city traffic, and didn’t want to be crossing the city in the middle of the morning rush hour. Once we transversed the city, it was time to find somewhere to lay our heads for a few hours. We pulled off into the first small town we found called Keenesburg and the only hotel we located had a nice big sign saying “No Vacancy”, so we moved on. The next town, Roggen... well, Roggen didn’t exist. We pulled off on the exit the highway signs said, but there was no town although, there was a welcome sign. Sigh... it was starting to get late; it was 1:30am. Once we were back on the highway, we noticed the next town was called Wiggins. Pete and I looked at each other and grinned. Surely a place with a name like that would have a bed available for a couple of weary Canadians. Unfortunately, we were disappointed once more, and we were becoming discouraged. Finally, the next town, Fort Morgan had a Super 8 right beside the highway, and yes, the door was unlocked, and yes they had a room. Within seconds of entering the room we were climbing into bed, it was going to be a very short night.

Stupid alarm clock. Five hours after getting into bed, the buzzer was going and it was time to get up and get gone. After a small meal from the continental breakfast table, we were back in the car and on the road again. We were in the hotel for almost exactly 7 hours. On one hand, it seems like a very short stay for paying full price for a room, but at the same time.... it was really nice to sleep on a bed for a few hours.

Yesterday we travelled just shy of 1400km. I am not sure what that is in miles, but considering we didn’t leave our Vegas hotel until 11 and we lost an hour by crossing a time zone, I was very pleased at the distance covered. This morning, we left our Colorado hotel at 9am, two hours earlier than we left Vegas. We also don’t think we have any massive mountain ranges that we need to cross. With these in mind, we hope to be able to get even further tonight. In fact, there is a nagging idea in the back of my head that says we might be able to make the journey from Vegas to Cambridge in only 3 very full days. If we push the way we did yesterday, we may be able to get to Chicago or beyond tonight. If we can do that, I think the next night, we could sleep in our own beds. We are half way through day 2 of the trip home. I am unsure if our stamina can achieve this, but so far, we are doing fine. Fingers crossed.

Monday April 20: Viva Las Vegas!

It was an eventful day. I know that everyone is used to us posting at night, and I’m sure we’ve ruined many peoples morning routine by not posting this in our usual pattern. I’m afraid it was out of our hands, however, which I’ll get into shortly, but we do apologize for not sticking to our normal posting schedule.

The day began really well, with us packed, breakfasted, and checked out by 9am. We had an uneventful but beautiful trip retracing our steps out of LA. Our retracing stopped when we hit Barstow, CA as we continued on I-15 North toward Vegas. It’s lovely country, getting more and more desert-like the further North we travelled. There’s a lot more life in the Mojave Desert than either Chris or I gave credit for. When I picture a desert in my head, I see the Sahara, with endless dunes of sand with perhaps the odd stereotypical cactus poking up. Well, in the Mojave, it’s more like a sandy garden. Endless fields of little plants, shrubs, flowers, with each plant separated by a foot or so of stony sand. Not what we were expecting.

We stopped for lunch at about the halfway point of our trip, enjoying our first Jack In The Box experience. We both ordered the Hearty Breakfast Bowl with a Mango Smoothie on the side. It was very tasty, and the frozen drink really hit the spot in the desert heat.

Before we knew it we’d hit Nevada and were zeroing in on our destination. Nevada brought the desert even more into focus for us. It’s very, very flat but with various mountain ranges poking up. By the time we’d hit the first town (very touristy looking, as I suspect most southern Nevada towns are) we could see the next town in the distance. Vegas itself was hidden from us behind a hilly range, but as we broke through the entire city was laid out before us.

We found the strip without incident, mainly due to the fact that you can see any buildings of note from the Interstate. We even found our particular hotel easily enough. Figuring out how to check in was another matter entirely, and frustration started to set in, for me in particular. I had in my head this idea that Vegas would cater to newcomers, making everything as accessible and welcoming as possible. This is not the case, in fact I found the opposite to be true. We didn’t feel like paying for Valet parking when there was a Self Park option, but there was really no easy way to do this. We ended up sneaking into a no parking zone, me staying with the car while Chris ran in to get our room keys. Then, we made our way to the parking garage and then needed to carry all of our stuff a long distance, through the casino, to Tower I where our room was located.

After mistakenly trying to take the wrong set of elevators, we finally arrived at our room only to be disappointed more when we realized they don’t have wireless internet. (Hence our lack of post last night). They had a hard wire internet access that cost an extra 15 bucks a day. We declined. But seriously, we’ve toured the country, staying in all sorts of hotels, and we’ve always had free wireless. I find it ridiculous that the only time we’ve had to do without is when we’re paying more than twice what we’re used to paying for the night. Things we’re used to having that the Excalibur made us do without: free wireless, fridge, microwave, free breakfast, accessible parking, and a decent television channel selection (Excalibur had perhaps 10). I was not impressed with it as a hotel. In fact, the whole concept of “hotel” seemed incidental to them. Chris believes the rooms are sparse and unenjoyable in order to force you to spend more time in the Casino, which I guess makes sense. It’s just a dirty trick.

/rant off

The rest of our Vegas experience, however was very positive from that point on. We dropped our bags and went exploring. We passed through New York, New York, a very interesting Casino, designed like the New York City sky line, but with a roller coaster touring it’s way around the property. Then, we crossed over to MGM Grand and then down to street level. From here, we made our way up the strip, just taking in all the sights.

One of the things I really wanted to do was to check out the wax museum. I’ve never been to one before, and the Vegas one has a good reputation. By the time we reached the Venetian (where the wax museum is) we were quite parched, and went looking for a cold drink. Chris had a Smirnoff Ice and I accidentally ordered a non-alcoholic beer. Oh well, it still hit the spot. And with our dry throats soothed, we made our way to the museum. It was really cool; it’s amazing how life like they are able to make these various celebrities. Each statue is made exactly life sized, following over 200 measurements they take from the real person. We had a grand old time posing with each of them, sometimes expressing shock at how short they are. Take Arnold Shwartziniger for instance. He always looms so large in the movies, but he’s really not that tall of a man.

My camera’s battery went dead in the last room of the museum, so it was back to the hotel to charge it. The Vegas Strip has a mono-rail mass transportation system that we took back to MGM Grand. A mono rail is an interesting way to see a city, and I wonder why there are not more of them out there. They seem like an ideal solution to a lot of space issues in large cities.

While the camera was charging we grabbed a bite to eat in one of the Excalibur’s cheaper restaurants, and then we hit the road again. Eaden and Eldrik had told us about the amazing fountain shows the Bellagio puts on outside it’s front doors, and as dusk was falling, this was our destination. We decided to walk on the opposite side of the street, this time, but it turned out to be much less interesting as there was a lot of construction on that side and most of the walk was through scaffolding.

The fountain show was breathtaking, however, and well worth the walk. Eaden and Eldrik had told us to watch for the ducks, and sure enough, there they were, placidly paddling around between shows. Even though the entire pond erupts every fifteen minutes, they still seem surprised when it happens. I guess, ponds like this are scarce in the desert, huh? We sat through two shows (at night it seems as if they do a song every fifteen minutes or so), explored Caesar’s Palace a little and then made our way back. On the way, we stopped for a drink in the Planet Hollywood Casino. Both Chris and I were a little overwhelmed by the place, and we didn’t stay long. It seems more like a dance club than a casino in atmosphere, complete with thumping music and burlesque dancers on poles and girls in lingerie dealing cards at the tables. Really, not our style.

In fact, the blatant sexuality of the entire strip was really uncomfortable for me. As you walk along, there are dozens and dozens of people handing out little cards with naked women on them; prostitute trading cards. Thankfully, Eaden and Eldrik had forewarned us of this little quirk, and I was vigilant in avoiding eye contact. Another thing I noticed: you know how at bus stops they sometimes have little dispensers with free catalogues for things like apartment rentals, real estate, used cars, etc? Well, in Vegas, they have them with catalogues for prostitutes. Just so surreal. Last night, after Chris had crashed for the night and I was sick of trying to connect to the weak wireless signals our computer could see, I went for a before-bed smoking stroll and was propositioned. Right outside the hotel! Really made me uncomfortable, and I’m not sure now what I mumbled as I rushed back inside. It’s just another world. But I digress.

Finally arriving back at the hotel, it was time to gamble! My favourite table game has always been Let It Ride Poker, a game I am very familiar with from hours spent at the Casino in Hull, Quebec. The basic premise of the game, you put three bets on the table (table minimum in this case was $5 a bet) and receive three cards while the dealer has two face down on the table. You look at your cards, and if you don’t like them, you can pull back one of your bets. The dealer flips over one of his cards, and you have the option to pull back another bet. The dealer flips over his second card and then pays out according to what hand you have combining your three cards and the dealer’s two. The lowest winning hand is a pair of 10’s or better. The payout is: pair = 1 x your bet, two pair = 2 x your bet, three of a kind = 3 x your bet, etc. It’s a fun, unintimidating game because you’re playing against the house, not against your fellow players, so there’s a lot of friendly bantering amongst the players, and people actually get excited for you if you win.

Why the involved explanation? Well, this Let It Ride featured some bonus additions that I didn’t understand. Besides the three normal bets, there was a 3 card bonus bet and a $1 five card bonus bet. The 3 card bonus pays out a ratio based on what you get in the three cards the dealer gives you. (pair = 1x your bet, straight = 3 x your bet, flush = 6 x your bet, etc.). The five card bonus is simply a flat dollar amount you get paid if you make certain hands. Now, I’m terrified of making dumb mistakes with games I’m unfamiliar with as gamblers are usually pretty unforgiving to newcomers (read: noobs), so instead of going with my gut and playing a game I enjoy, Chris and I headed for the slots. Having seen Eaden kick some serious butt on the 1 cent slots when we visited with them in Arizona, we decided to try the same. We each put in twenty bucks and while Chris played for a long time on that twenty, I busted almost immediately. I should have known better. Slots have always had it out for me. After Chris finally busted, I convinced him to accompany me back to the tables.

After watching the game for a while to figure out what this whole “bonus bet” thing was all about, I sat in. I converted $60 into chips with the intention of quitting if I drop to 40. Luckily, I played for quite a while on just that $20. I was never up by more than 15 dollars, but as often happens with Let It Ride I hit enough “no brainers” (a pair of 10’s or better in the three cards dealt to you so you can let all three bets ride for a guaranteed payout and perhaps hit a 3 of a kind, Full House, etc,.) to keep myself going for a good 40 minutes. It was a LOT of fun. Chris was tempted to sit in as well, but it was late and he said he was content just to watch.

Alas, it WAS getting really late. We used up our free drink vouchers we’d received on check in and then headed to bed. Chris fell asleep immediately, I tried to get internet and then had my run in with the “escort girl”. All in all, it was a very full day, full of new experiences. I think it was a good way to cap off our trip. From this point forward we’re just going to be pushing as hard as possible to get home. Really, though, I’m about ready for our adventures to end. Chris had told me that you reach a point on vacation where you just know it’s time to go home, and I’m about there.

Sunday April 19: The day of pain

Ouchy.

Pete and I fell asleep in pain last night, and sure enough, woke up in agony. Pete said that it had to happen at some point, I disagree that it had to happen, but either way, it happened. We are burnt. Yesterday was a great day... wandering around the boulevard and sleeping on the beach. Today though, not so much fun.

As we woke up, there was this burning desire not to move. Unfortunately, the cleaning ladies forced us from our stationary positions, and we were forced to abandon the safety of our room and retreat to the breakfast lounge. It wasn't so bad actually. Getting dressed was a bit of a chore, but some lose fitting clothes combined with the standard wincing in pain as I put on socks, and we were ready to face the day. The day, though was also ready for us. As we peered out the window of our air conditioned room Pete commented, "I don't want to go out there, the sun scares me." I couldn't disagree. We had traveled a great distance to be here, and now the thing we were most excited to see has become our mortal enemy.

So, we hid.

We spent most of the day relaxing in doors, lathering ourselves in aloe vera and hoping the pain would go away. Eventually, we realized that we had some advil tucked away in a bag, and the day got a bit better. We even left the safety of the hotel, braved the scorching sunlight, and drove next door to get the oil changed on my car. While waiting for Pepboys to do their thing, we again went out into the treacherous outdoors and crossed the street to the kill a bit of time at the mall. Turns out that unless you like lingerie or fragrances, it was not a very good mall. So, once more we left the safety of those four wall, and braved the midday heat as we wandered over to Tony Romas in order to rehydrate ourselves (very important when you are sunburnt). You will notice that there are no pictures on this post. The reason for that is nothing really happened that was noteworthy. The only possible exception was the sandwich I ordered. Very tasty. There is no picture of that because, well, we didn't have the camera with us.

After picking up the car, we returned home, and have spent the remainder of the day in our air conditioned room, complaining about the quality of american television and debating whether or not there was anything worth posting for today. Eventually we decided that we have not missed a day, and today would be no exception. So here I am, trying to make interesting a day where the most exciting part was trying to put on clothes. I know, sad. But rest assured, tomorrow will be much more exciting. Tomorrow, we leave and go to Vegas! Who knows what kind of trouble a couple of Canadians can find themselves in Sin City. For all you of weaker heart, don't worry about tomorrow. If anything unsavory should happen, we will activate the "Over 18" warning that is built into this blog program.

Until tomorrow... Good night.

PS. Pete has read this post and feels that it might be too dramatic. The title, words like "agony", these may not be completely true and one hundred percent accurate but please cut me, the author, a bit of slack. Trying to make this day seem interesting has been a test of my writing abilities.

Saturday April 18: Venice Beach

Things I learned today:

*Boardwalks don't need to be made of boards... at least in California
*I am really bad at saying "No!" to beggars/buskers/people who want my monies
*At night, there is a shocking lack of bugs buzzing around outdoor lights in LA. It's actually one of the hardest things for me to adjust to.
*Driving/Navigating in LA traffic makes both Chris and I cranky
*Kage gave us a LOT of sugar. :)
*Okkervil River is the perfect sunbathing companion
*Sunscreen gives a false sense of security
*Aloe Vera gel only goes so far when your entire body is sun burnt

Our Day:

As per usual, we rushed downstairs to try and catch the continental breakfast and then realized it's the weekend and they don't lock the doors until 10am. Ah well, it's good to get up early when on vacation, right? Unfortunately, getting up early doesn't usually translate to us getting our day started at any sort of reasonable time, so it was some time after noon when we finally headed out the door and on our way to a beach, any beach.

The little guide brochure I have labels Venice Beach as "the best beach for people watching". Intrigued, we pointed the Civic in that direction and stepped on the gas. After a little bit of sketchy navigating on my part, we arrived, located a parking space after the LA appropriate amount of time searching, and set forth for adventure.

Venice boasts a "boardwalk", a concept that conjured images in my mind of a plank walkway, supported over the sand, leading in all sorts of interesting and scenic directions. This couldn't be further from the truth. Instead, we discovered a long strip of concrete, surrounded by tourist shops, outrageously priced eateries, and buskers of all shape and size. From Hip Hop artists trying to get us to listen to their home burnt discs, to an old guy on roller skates sporting a turban and a Hendrix-esque electric guitar. All very interesting, all vying for attention, all wanting our pocket change. After the first rapper nearly assaulted me getting his headphones on my head, I was very careful about whom I made eye contact with.

After walking to the end of the "boardwalk" and back, we were both feeling a bit peckish. Luckily, we still had two delicious Great Steak sandwiches which Kage had treated us to yesterday, so we grabbed them and a couple waters out of the cooler and settled down on the beach. After enjoying our meal, we liberally applied some sun screen and laid down to bask in the beautiful California sun. It was absolute bliss.

After a while of contented sighs, short naps, and much mimicking of rotisserie chickens, Chris decided it was time for a walk. We slowly strolled up the beach, our feet in the rising tide, just... basking. You know what I mean? We stopped to chat with a fisherman who was casting into the ocean. He told us about this certain kind of fish he was going for that comes right up to the shore in search of sand crabs. He also told us about the six foot tiger sharks that like to come up to shore too. Yikes. Despite all that, Chris decided a trip to California wouldn't be complete without a dip in the Pacific Ocean. A short dip, it turned out. I declined. I came for the beach, not for throwing myself into freezing, shark infested waters. He seemed to enjoy himself, though.

We settled down for some more sun bathing, and this time we both did fall asleep for some time. I'm sure you all know where I'm going with this. Yup. We woke up beet red and sore. That seductive sun had done a serious number on us. It was time to head back to the hotel.

And that's pretty much it, folks. A perfect day. Tomorrow might find us hanging out with Kage again, depending on if he can get the day off. If he can, we're hoping we can rope Dream into joining us as well. It's our last full day in California, and we want to make the most of it.

Friday April 17: Kage, take two

Today began as every other day, Peter and I rushing downstairs in our pajamas to get some breakfast before they closed at 9. What made this day different was that after we returned to our room we found our cell phone indicating we had missed a call. After an epic battle occurred between us and the phone, which ended with us confirming the call came from Kage. With joy in our hearts, we returned the call and our greatest hope was confirmed, he had the day off; and was coming over.

We loitered around the hotel until he arrived, and then went out for lunch. Yesterday, we went to the Farmers Market where we had lunch from a place called the Korean BBQ. Turns out, that isn't anywhere close to what a Korean BBQ was. A Korean BBQ is where they just bring you piles and piles (all you can eat) of meat, and you BBQ it yourself at your own table. Each table had it's own BBQ in which we just load up with meat, and consume it as we figure it was done. The meat was a variety of beef, pork, squid, and we ordered an extra plate of uncooked extremely nicely marinated ribs. It was great fun, and oh so filling. We were stuffed for hours afterwords. As a matter of fact, it has been like 7 hours, and I am still full.

After lunch we wandered over to a local Trader Joes, a store that Pete simply adores. We picked up some snacks and treats. There was such a variety of things in that store, from freeze dried mango to farm fresh eggs. Anyone able to check one out, and has never been, I suggest you go take a look. If you can come out empty handed, I will give you a big ole thumbs up.

Unsure of the traffic, and Kages commitment to get back home before it was too late, we decided to return to the hotel. Turns out, traffic was good, and we made great time. Kage decided we had a bit of time before he had to leave, so we wandered over to Tony Romas to grab a drink before he left. It was nice to just sit there and chat. Kage is a great person to have a conversation with. I encourage all SSGrs to try to convince him to spend more time on Vent. He is a clever funny guy. I personally feel that the rest of the guild have missed out because he is so quiet while online.

Soon it was time for him to leave, but as we returned to the hotel, he insisted we stop by "Great Steak". He says he has been reading our blog, and just had to try one of the sandwiches. Because he too was full, he didn't eat it right away, so I was unable to see that look of bliss blow across his face, but I trust it happened anyway. Pete and I had one of these sandwiches last night, as he posted yesterday. Yet, despite my promise a few days ago, and then actually taking the picture last night, Pete decided not to show it on his blog. He said that in the picture, it looks gross, but I think it looks beautiful. All steaky, and cheesy and yummy.... mmmmmm. Yah. So I am posting the picture he refused to share with you. Doesn't it look good?

Oh, one more thing. As we have traveled we wanted to bring something Canadian to each of the people we met. We decided on Canadian chocolate and fudge (thinking of Aly). Kage, he returned the favor 10 fold. Before he left, he opened his trunk and presented us with a box of sugar unlike anything we had ever seen. Here is some of the stuff he offered to us. We figure we could use this box and reduce our time on the return trip from five days down to two. Sleep will become completely unnecessary.

Thursday April 16: Beverly Hills and Santa Monica

Today was a leisurely day. We started off with breakfast followed by some lounging by the pool trying to decide what to do with ourselves now that we've done everything we'd planned. Eventually, we settled on checking out the Farmer's Market that we'd spotted in a brochure. It was an uneventful drive up to West Hollywood where the market is located, mostly due to some ace navigating by yours truly.

At first I was very disappointed in the Market. Not a fruit or vegetable to be seen, just a walking boulevard lined by designer shops. It seems, however, that we'd accidental wandered into The Grove, and after some mindless wandering we found what we had come looking for. Chris laughs at me often about my preconceptions which inevitably result in disappointment. I had pictured in my mind something akin to the St. Jacobs farmers market, or the market in Stitsville (Ottawa). And though there was a grocery store, and many, many restaurants, there were no individual vendors plying their hand crafted goods. Still, it was a good time, with lots to take in, culminating in a delicious lunch purchased from a Korean BBQ. The highlight of it all was dessert--a chocolate dipped frozen banana with nuts. (I was tempted to ask for a double dipped, double stick, but I wasn't sure if the old guy behind the counter watches Arrested Development).

Next, we decided to go check out the famous Santa Monica beach. We hopped onto Wilshire Bvd and took a scenic drive through downtown Beverly Hills on the way. It was interesting to pass through all of these famous areas that we hear about all the time. Once again, we were struck at how out of place our little Civic looked. Lexus, Range Rover, Mercedes, BMW, Infinity, they all seem to be par for course in LA. We even passed a Maserati dealership! Until this trip, I'd never even seen a Maserati, and now I've seen a whole parking lot full.

After some time, and many traffic lights, we arrived in Santa Monica. I motioned to Chris to park along the side of the street, and as we got out a kindly Police officer (POPO, Adam?) advised us we only had to put enough quarters into the meter for two hours (after six it's free). The beach was deceptively far away from our car, however. To get to it, we had to climb down a bluff that we hadn't seen from the road, cross a freeway that had been equally hidden from our view, before arriving at the vast stretch of sand and surf we'd been aiming for. I'm absolutely in love with the infinate variations in beach house archetecture. Each one, is unique in this world. As well, we discovered a lot of activity on the pier. It seems the Santa Monicans have erected an entire mini amusement park on their pier, and it was fun to just walk around, enjoying the buskers and watching people ride the attractions.

Unfortunately, it was a chilly day, made more so by a gusting wind from the ocean. Didn't make for good beach laying, sun soaking adventures, which we had planned for. So, after sitting for a spell on a park bench, watching the waves roll in, we headed back to the car and made for the freeway. Then, we discovered Traffic for the first time since entering America. We've been incredibly lucky, so far, but that luck ran out with a bang as we inched along for almost two hours back to the hotel. Not to worry, though, Chris and I are troopers. Our little radio adaptor for the Ipod doesn't work in LA (because pretty much every radio frequency has something already on it) but we discovered a station we both quite like and so, passed a merry time through rush hour. At least, I hope that was rush hour.

Before returning to the hotel, we stopped back in at Great Steak to enjoy another Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. Honestly, it's the best sub I've ever had. They told us that it's a chain with locations outside of California, so you can be certain we'll both be keeping our eyes open when we travel home again.

Now, we're turning in early. I think we're finally succumbing to exhaustion after our crazy running from state to state. Meeting some of our good friends from ShinSenGumi (our guild) was the best experience of my life, but I'm pretty sure that both Chris and I are ready for a few days of doing a whole lot of nothing. Some time to rest up before Vegas and the return trip.

We hope the weather warms up a bit, so we can really get to work on our tans. Besides that, my only plan is to stop in at a Trader Joe's, as I'm sure they've got one around here. Where will we be tomorrow? We'll see where fancy takes us. Malibu? Venice? Manhattan? Can't wait to find out.