Category: English

Today I woke up early so I could go jogging before it became too hot. When I got out (around 7:30am) it was pretty cold. The skies were cloudy but the sun was already visible in the horizon. I started running too fast – without the treadmill I couldn’t know what my pace was. I realized after a few minutes that I won’t be able to maintain that pace and eventually ended up running about 8 km from Pier 39 to the Giants stadium and back, stopping only once to tie my shoelaces. Intentionally I didn’t measure time or heart rate because when resuming workouts after a break it’s important not to overdo it. Here’s the route:

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After a shower and breakfast I decided to do the bicycle ride on the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a perfect day for a bicycle ride – not too hot and not too cold. Crossing the bridge you basically have two options: the shorter one is to cross and not long after take a ferry back and the longer option is to ride some more and then take the ferry (going back is not really a good option, although it’s possible.) I decided to take the longer route (a total of about 26 km), having time and all, because it includes more things to see. Naturally I lost my way while going to see one of the attractions but the GPS helped and then I joined an Australian woman for the rest of the time and she found the right way easily. I recommend the shorter trip to anyone coming here, but I’m not sure going the long trip is worth it. Also, if you’re not used to bike riding, your butt may hurt. Mine sure did and I hope Future Schreibers are OK. But it was fun and I feel that after this morning’s workout and the bicycle ride I can exempt myself from tomorrow’s morning workout and go jogging again the day after. Here’s a rough estimate of the bicycle route:

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Tomorrow it’s probably going to rain, so I don’t really know what I’m going to do (I don’t like rain.) I considered going to Six Flags (an amusement park) or Disneyland but I don’t feel like driving 5 to 6 hours each direction. I like San Francisco and I think there are many things to do here even if they are not as thrilling as riding the biggest roller coasters or meeting Mickey Mouse.

It’s only 8pm and I’m already very tired. I guess more exhausted than tired. I think I’m going to spend the rest of the evening in my hotel room. If I’ll decide otherwise I’ll post it on tomorrow’s update.

I can’t believe it… The sun was shining. And it was hot. When I got to San Francisco the sun was actually heating stuff here, not just melting snow. For the first time since I left Israel I was walking around in a short sleeve T-shirt. And I was sweating. It was wonderful. So I can’t be completely objective when I say that San Francisco is beautiful. It may be the joy of this weather that affects my judgment.

I entered San Francisco around noon through the Oakland Bay Bridge, which is a shame because I was hoping to drive through the Golden Gate bridge. I might rent a bicycle and do that though. I got to the Columbus Motor Inn, a hotel so positively reviewed on TripAdvisor I just had to take it. The hotel is located in the Fisherman’s Wharf area, surrounded by many places to eat and hang out in, close to the San Francisco piers. And it’s great – the room is clean, big and nice, I have a big flat screen TV (not that I plan to use it much, but going to sleep it’s nice to have a quality TV screen to watch) and my own wireless router in the room (so I can go wired or wireless.) There’s also an air conditioner that lets you set the temperature (unlike those where it’s either too hot or too cold) and a safe so I can put stuff there that I would normally carry around with me. Just need to remember to take them out when I leave :)

After settling in I got out to the street to wander aimlessly. I headed directly to the piers. A lot of people walk up and down the piers and a lot of joggers exercise there as well. I really need to resume some kind of workouts. I’m going to be here over a week so I’m considering starting tomorrow with a 10 km jog (the piers route is almost 5 km one way, so it’s perfect for me.) I never really tried running outside so this will be an interesting experience. That is, if I manage to get out of this lazy mode that I’m in. I’ve been moderately active the past two weeks, walking around in cities and parks, but it’s not the same as an actual workout.

While walking the piers I noticed the boat trips to Alcatraz and got myself an evening tour on Monday. It’s supposed to be good. I walked the entire piers route and going back to the hotel I returned through what turned out to be the San Francisco Chinatown. I “made plans” for Sushi and after napping for a while (I didn’t sleep well last night) executed them successfully. It appears that the nightlife here is also very vibrant, but today I’m going to just relax.

I need to find things to do here. I checked the weather for the next few days and while it’s going to be relatively warm it may rain on Sunday and Monday. I’m thinking about going to some big attractions like Six Flags (open only Saturday and Sunday), Disneyland (open all week but in LA) and Sea World (open all week but in San Diego.) i don’t know if I’ll feel like driving again. Right now I’m happy just walking around San Francisco.

Another driving day. I underestimated the drive to Yosemite National Park – it seems close, but the actual route needs to bypass some lakes and mountains and so it was a pretty long drive (around 600 km.) The drive itself was OK, except that I was pulled over for speeding by a sheriff police car (or whatever they are called.) The officer was very courteous and only asked me to stay under the speed limit. So from that point on I had to drive a little slower, which was a little depressing, especially on nearly empty freeways.

When I finally got to Yosemite I ran into signs saying that I have to have chains for my wheels in order to continue into the park. I called the information line only to find out that there is only one road going into the park that doesn’t require chains, but chains may be needed inside the park anyway. Not in the mood for bravery, I decided against visiting Yosemite. I also didn’t feel like dragging myself through snowy mountains again, no matter how beautiful. Maybe I’ve had enough nature for this part of the trip. Additionally, a “maintenance required” light turned on in the car sometime during the day. National (the car rental company) said I shouldn’t worry but get it into a service center when I can. So I didn’t want to get stuck with the car in the park either.

So now I had to get off this mountain that I climbed with my car. Why are all the national parks on mountains anyway? I call to create a new park called Entirely Flat, On Sea Level And True To Its Name National Park. That’ll be nice. It was really dark already. You know it’s really dark when you can see the glare of the center (high mounted) stop light of your car in the rear view mirror. And the road down the mountain was curvy but I decided to go all the way down because I didn’t want to get stuck in a snow storm or something tomorrow.

And so I ended up in Merced, California, in a motel. Tomorrow – San Francisco. I still need to decide on a hotel or motel. I already have a few options I got from friends. I’ll do my “research” now and go to sleep.

I don’t gamble, I don’t do shopping and I got tired of hotel-hopping. It’s safe to say I’ve had enough of Las Vegas. Today I did the roller coaster on top of the New York New York hotel. It looks like a small roller coaster but has all the elements of a good ride. For the first time I ate at The Cheesecake Factory. I usually don’t eat in chains but they have a really big menu with many good options. I took the Salmon today, which was very good. Then I kind of hung around, saw the Bellagio Fountains again and people lose a lot of money on tables with 100$ minimum.

For tonight’s show I went to see Mystere by Cirque du Soleil, a breathtaking acrobatics show. A must see if you get to Las Vegas (it’s only shown here.) I wanted to go to a comedy club but I’m tired and I have to prepare for tomorrow. I decided to make a day-and-a-half stop on the way to San Francisco in Yosemite National Park. I’ll get there tomorrow, spend the night close by and hike it the next day.

Today it rained most of the day in Las Vegas. Not heavy rain, but still. I started the day by going to Gameworks, for which I had a one hour play-as-much-as-you-can pass (that I got for half price at 10$), and satisfied all my arcade needs for the next 20 years. I shot all the enemies I could and still had 25 minutes to play pinball.

After lunch I had a few hours until the night’s show so I went to the hotel’s casino to watch people play. At first I watched a really busy roulette table. Roulette is nice to watch because on a busy table the gamblers fill it with chips every round and then when the roulette stops most of those chips go to the casino – the dealer just pushes the chips into a hole in the table, where a machine sorts them out. It’s just nice to watch. At one of the table this girl cashed out and lost a 100$ chip under the table. I found it and gave it to her and in return she gave me a 5$ chip. I’ll keep it as a souvenir.

The most interesting game, though, is craps (dice) because it’s the most complicated, has the biggest table and requires 3 dealers and a “manager” (I don’t know the official name of the position) to handle the table. I noticed a sign inviting people to get craps lessons and I thought it would be a nice thing to do tomorrow morning. At the Rio, where tonight’s show was, I watched the craps table when a guy standing by told me I can’t learn the game by watching it. It turns out he was a dealer for forty some years and is now teaching people to play craps. He said the lessons offered by hotels teach you to play in a way that works against you. He has a website, AggressiveCraps.com, where you can buy his book and learn how to play. So he taught me how to play the game and explained the rules and chances to me. Then security came and escorted him out, which was very weird.

Then I saw Penn And Teller‘s show (again got a good seat at row 8) – a magic show where they show you the basics of magic and then use them to astonish you just when you think you understand what’s going on. I had a lot of fun watching their show. On the way back this guy started walking alongside me and offered me cocaine with a try-before-you-buy option. Now that’s America for you… I’ve been offered cocaine in almost every country I’ve been to, but I’ve never had the option to try before I buy. I politely refused.

I didn’t want to take all the Las Vegas pictures everyone else takes because there are many of those. That’s why there are a few pictures:

(this post was published a day late because I was dead tired)

Last night I spent most of my time at Starbucks because that’s where I found a power outlet that I can use to charge my gadgets. I didn’t plan to, but fell asleep on the table at Starbucks. Then, in the morning, I booked a room in the New York New York (NYNY) hotel. I got a very nice room at the 40th (out of 45) level. It’s a lot nicer compared to the motel rooms I stayed in so far. I got the room and immediately went to sleep.

Having a hotel room relieved me from carrying my daypack with me all the time. I roamed the strip comfortably and without worrying about all my stuff that’s in my bag. And for the first time since I started my trip I walked around without wearing my thermal underpants. Much more comfortable.

After yesterday’s craziness, Las Vegas looks much saner today – you can actually walk down the strip without constantly running into other pedestrians and saying sorry all the time. Turns out I was overwhelmed for a reason – my first impression of Las Vegas was based on one of the busiest days of the year.

I got tickets to David Copperfield and Blue Man Group. David Copperfield does his magic casually and with little drama. After all he gives two shows every day so maybe you can’t be super dramatic two times a day every day. He does “street” magic along with big illusions. I was laughing in disbelief like a child a for entire minutes after two of the them. That’s what I call a good show. Oh, and he also uses (a poorly edited version of) “Smack My Bitch Up” by The Prodigy for one of his illusions – a nice little surprise by itself.

Blue Man Group I don’t even want to try and describe. Anything I say about that show will be a partial and misleading description. I mean, I can tell you what happens during the show but it wouldn’t make any sense. It is simply pure fun to watch (and participate in… the audience is a big part of the show.)

Tomorrow I have no special plans. Probably go to another show or two and more hotel hopping to see the very extravagant designs.

I’m sitting at McDonald’s on the strip in Las Vegas, using their paid Internet service at 1am. And I have no place to sleep tonight. But we’ll get to that.

I started the day early at Zion National Park. The park is huge and again I went to the visitor center to ask for tips. The ranger there suggested three different short trails (instead of one long one) so that I can enjoy a variety of the things the park has to offer.

I did the first two, but as I was walking them I could feel that, even though I was going through truly breathtaking trails, my enthusiasm was lost. I think after yesterday I got tired of walking in snow (and partially in mud) even if this time it was just a few centimeters of it. Or maybe I didn’t want to see nature anymore after it tried to kill me :) I also had Las Vegas on my mind. I already knew that I’m going to skip the Grand Canyon (something I may regret, but still) so I kind of wanted to get to an urban view.

By 11am I was out of Zion Park, only 2.5 hours after going in. I stopped at a small town called Hurricane on the way and had lunch there at a local cafe. I prefer those small places over the big chains. While I got a small salmon bagel, it was very good.

I drove first to Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam is huge. I mean you have to see it to believe it is man-made. It is simply beyond grasp and an engineering marvel. I was just interested in seeing it, not learning about it. Was it worth the one hour detour on the way to Las Vegas and the 15$ parking+visitor center admission for about 15 minutes of looking at the dam? Meh. Maybe I would have been better off taking a 29$ helicopter ride.

On the way to Las Vegas I stopped for gas and to buy something to drink. I saw a man sitting at a slot machine in the store gambling. I thought this was wrong but I let it go. It was also strange to see so many people, cars, commotion. I’ve been in national parks over the past few days. Today at Zion I felt uncomfortable when I ran into more than 5 people on a trail.

Armed with a list of seven (!) hotels prioritized by a friend I drove to Vegas. The first one was Paris Hotel. I arrived at 4:30pm. The 1 km drive on the strip took 20 minutes. I finally got to the hotel and walked inside. It was overwhelming. They created (presumably) French streets inside the hotel, with blue sky and clouds painted on the ceiling and street lights (because after all we’re not outside.) And there are tons of people. Tons. I became anxious and followed the signs to the registration desks only to find out that the hotel is completely full. And now my GPS again came into play. This thing has all the phone numbers of all the hotels. So I started calling (using my local, prepaid phone – another smart buy) all the hotels on my list by order. All were sold out.

I decided to go wardriving so I could use the Internet to find vacant hotels. I found free Internet access and used it from the car. I tried Expedia and it was pretty clear – there isn’t a room under 400$ in Las Vegas. I then realized something must be wrong and started calling motels. All fully booked for the night. And then it hit me – I should win the prize for the stupidest trip decision of the year (and I needn’t remind you that yesterday I walked a trail a ranger told me I shouldn’t.) Want to know what that decision is? Here you go:

The stupidest trip decision of the year is going to Las Vegas without having a reservation. On a Saturday. That is also Valentine’s day.

Oh yes… that’s what I did. For a while I was in denial. Calling more hotels and motels. It was either 400$ or more for one night on the strip or 80 km away from the strip. I won’t pay 400$ for a night, so basically I’m now homeless in Las Vegas for one night. I decided not to worry about a bed for the night and try make the best of my time. My car is parked in the Paris Hotel parking and I’m sitting in McDonald’s because a friend of mine told me Internet access would be free (it’s not.) At least I know where I can charge my gadgets later – at the “business center” in the Mirage Hotel that gives you Internet at 1$ per minute. Yeah, like I’m going to use that. But electricity is free. Also in Starbucks, which is closer. Bu tI can’t find a place with both reasonable priced Internet access and wall sockets.

After a while my initial culture shock subsided and I started walking around. I first went to the casino at the Paris Hotel. The people playing the slot machines looked like zombies to me, sitting there with expressionless faces, pushing the same buttons again and again and feeding the machines more money. And I always thought I’d enjoy that the most (later I spent an entire 4 Dollars on these machines.) And the gambling people – I like watching them… seeing the expressions as they win or lose – some don’t hide their feelings and others are so cool about losing their money. I don’t think I’m going to gamble – it just doesn’t excite me to throw my money away when the odds are so against me. I would rather spend my money on a Pinball machine at Gameworks, where the kids go to play in Las Vegas. Maybe it’s a kind of “I have my life in perspective now that I went through an I-think-I’m-going-to-die type experience”) And suddenly drunk-guy-in-otherwise-inappropriate-clothes smiles at me. I smile back. It’s all very weird.

I decided to try and find a show. At 9:05pm I got a ticket to a Jay Leno show that started at 10pm. Again, the power of one proves very strong. On the way to the show I saw the beautiful Bellagio Fountains (also: YouTube videos of the fountains) – truly a pretty sight. Prior to Leno’s show we saw The Alleycats, a Doo-Wop quartet that are very good (doing 50s and 60s songs) and funny. Jay Leno was funny – it’s like watching the monologue of The Tonight Show, only for an hour and a half. And there was an exciting part when he took on stage this guy from the Air Force and his girlfriend and the guy proposed. I guess that happens a lot in Las Vegas but it only happens once a year on Valentine’s.

I took way too many pictures today at Zion. For every picture that you see here I threw away three. Still, there may be a lot that look very similar. I still included them because I couldn’t decide between them. Also the panoramas (that are composed of more than one picture) are a bitch to create and manage. Today there are many of those.

Today I had a bad experience. Since I’m OK now, I guess I can call it a good experience. But let’s start from the beginning.

I got up at the motel I was staying in. It wasn’t such a good motel, although it was supposed to be better than the ones I stayed in so far. Anyway, the deal included breakfast but turned out to be a load of stuff that I don’t eat (I’m really trying to watch my weight here.) I just got half a cup of orange juice and went on my way to Bryce Canyon National Park. I arrived after a short, 200 km, drive. To continue reading you’re going to need to use this picture:

Learning from my experience with Canyonlands Park I went straight to the visitor center for advice. I requested a 3 to 4 hour hike and the ranger there told me that I can do the rim walk from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point then continue to Queens Garden and then do the Navajo Loop. He also said that this wouldn’t take as long as I requested and that normally he would recommend Peekaboo Loop, which is an additional 5 km, but because snow covers the trail it would be hard to follow (he also mentioned 2 women that tried it 2 days ago and had a rough time.) Here’s lesson number 1: when a ranger tells you something like that he basically means “you’re going to lose the trail and die.” I didn’t pick up on that so I told him I might try Peekaboo Loop and if I see that I can’t find my way I’ll just head back the same way I came in. He said “OK” or something similar which, in ranger jargon, means “crap, we’re going to have to get that guy out. I’ll call home and tell the wife I’m going to be late.”

So I went on the trail, which was amazing (see pictures below.) Since it snowed, I couldn’t see the trail but it was easy to follow the footsteps of the people that walked it before (this is basically what everyone does.) Then I got to the point where I needed to decide whether I’m heading up to the starting point or trying Peekaboo Loop. I felt like I wanted more, so I went on the Peekaboo Loop trail. At that point the sun was shining and I was sweating lightly under my coat and gloves. It felt nice and warm.

Walking in the snow isn’t easy. At many points the snow was knee deep and at some my entire leg was submerged in it. When you’re going downhill it’s not that bad but when you go uphill that’s an entirely different story. Considering that the elevation was about 2.5 km, I was struggling for oxygen and my heart was pounding like I was doing a tough aerobic workout at times.

There were tracks that showed me the way on Peekaboo Loop. After a while you kind of pick up how the trail goes even if there are no footsteps. So in some points where I lost the track I was able to find it a little after. The trails in Bryce Canyon go between rocks and loop around them so you can’t see the trail far ahead. But then, after walking quite a long way (I’m guessing around 3 km), I lost the trail completely. I thought I was going the right way because, just like before, I found some tracks to follow. I noticed they weren’t human tracks and they looked like horse tracks (I could see the hooves markings in the snow at some points.) I followed them for a while and then they split into 5 different tracks to 5 different directions. I tried to go in the direction that seemed reasonable but it led me to a place where I couldn’t walk anymore.

I was exhausted. I felt that by now I should have arrived at the beginning of the loop and started my way back up. I even decided to give up my male pride and was willing to ask for directions. I’m just kidding – there was no one there to ask. The parking lot had one other car when I arrived at the beginning of the trail and no one else tried Peekaboo Loop. I knew I was going to pay a heavy price going back the same way I came in but I had no choice – I had no idea where I was. But then… I couldn’t find my own track going back because of the other tracks in the snow. Here’s lesson number 2: when you try to track back your footsteps remember that you’re creating more footsteps tracks that may confuse you later (as they did me.)

And that’s when I panicked.

I honestly thought this was it. There was no one around and I couldn’t see a way back up – the rocks block the view so even if the trail to go back out is right in front of you, you can’t really know that. Also – that same warm sweat from earlier started freezing my body. Lesson number 3: the sun will only warm you while you’re in sight. When you go down the canyon and the rocks block the sun it’s going to get cold, especially if you’re standing in one place trying to decide what to do. I considered my options and initially came up with two: calling for help and shouting for help. I tried calling 911 but there was no signal, not even for emergency calls. Before I started shouting I had another idea – I’ll use my GPS device to tell me what my coordinates are and then see how far I am from the visitor center, which was saved on the device. At least this way I can get a general direction. So there’s lesson number 4: if you have a GPS device, you should save the locations which you know are on the trail (like the beginning of the trail and maybe places where there is a sign or a bench.)

But then I found my own tracks. Already exhausted, both physically and mentally, I started my way back. By the time I got to the car I was stumbling on almost every step. I was cold, out of breath (I had to go all the way back up the canyon, a few hundred meters above where I was) and hungry. Lesson number 5: take food, snacks, anything. Not just water (which I had), even for a short hike.

I drove to the first store I could find (right outside the park), ate 6 granola bars and drank disgusting Starbucks Mocha, trying to get carbs into my bloodstream. I started feeling better and drove to Zion National Park, not before I changed to a clean, dry and non-freezing pair of socks. I got to the best motel I’ve stayed in so far – Canyon Ranch Motel. The managers, Karen and Mark, are extremely nice – I told them that I started feeling sick so they gave me all kinds of natural medicine and I feel much better now. Also, the room I got is the best I’ve had on this trip (I was in 4 other motels on the way.) They wouldn’t accept payment for their help. I think I should send them something when I’m back in Israel.

Zion National park is huge. I’ll just do one easy hike (don’t worry, I’ve learned quite a bit from today’s experience). I found out that the north rim of The Grand Canyon is closed and the roads to the south rim are snowpacked and icy in places (I’ll make sure tomorrow with the Zion park rangers) so this means I might try to go all the way to Las Vegas tomorrow. I’m not happy about it because I didn’t plan my stay in Las Vegas yet. We’ll see.

Other small lessons I’ve learned today:

• When you take off your gloves don’t make another step until you put them back on – you might trip on that next step and to stabilize yourself put your hand in snow, which isn’t a nice thing
• When you put your gloves on the snow – put them with the open part facing downhill. Otherwise snow may get into your gloves and you’ll have an unpleasant surprise putting the gloves back on.
• If you’re going a long way down, remember that you’re going to have to go all that way back up.

And finally,here are today’s pictures:

My camera sucks. It adds a kind of a rainbow to all photos. I’m going to replace it when I get to Hong Kong, but for now I’ll have to live with it.

Anyway, today I was supposed to drive from Denver to Richfield today. The drive was going fine and I was well on my way to arriving around 3pm. I-70 West in Colorado has amazing views. Imagine a road curving around snowy mountains with a river flowing on the side of the road, lakes and tunnels going through the mountains. The best scenic road I went through so far on my trip.

Then I got closer to Utah. The view changed into desert-like plains with rocky mountains erected on both sides of the road. I kept taking pictures and then I saw a sign that directed me to Canyonlands National Park. For the first time in my trip I took a detour and went into the park. It was quite a long detour but was worth it as you can see in the pictures. Canyonlands Park is exactly what the name suggests – a bunch of amazing canyons, each one with its own unique appearance. I went on a short walk on the rim (edge) of one of the canyons. It took me a while to realize that I was having trouble breathing because I was at around 2 km elevation.

I decided to get back as the sky became darker. It was a good decision to go back because on the way to Utah I had to drive through a snow storm. Not a nice experience, but I just followed other cars and arrived safely to Richfield Utah. I estimate today’s total trip at around 900 km with the detour to the park.

Tomorrow: Bryce Canyon National Park. It looks like it’s going to be nice tomorrow – as high as 1 degree Celsius.