The weather in Vegas was worse than Phoenix. I think temperatures went well past 44 degrees on all of the days I was there. The dry heat really does take the wind out of your sails and the desert breeze doesn’t provide much relief during the afternoon. I think a hobo’s booze burp would be more refreshing than that blasted desert breeze. The endless asphalt and lack of shade forces you to leapfrog between hotels and casino. Of course once you enter a casino it’s impossible to get out. I spent most of the second day down by the pool working on my George Hamilton tan. The pool at the Excalibur isn’t very deep so you tend to spend most of your time walking around on your knees. Rich brought up the idea of trying to ... read more

We made the trek down to the Royal Gorge (near Cañon City) for a half-day of whitewater rafting. While I have done the odd bit of rowing, canoeing and kayaking, the thought of going down some rapids was a tad daunting. While listening to the safety talks, I kept telling myself “Don’t forget this bit. Commit to memory you idiot, commit to memory”. Unfortunately for me it all went in one ear and out the other. All I could remember were the cheesy jokes. After meeting our guide and running through some specific commands, we launched and made our way down the river. It all went well until we hit a rapid by the name of “Sunshine Falls”. Immediately after going through, all I heard was a girlish scream (no it wasn’t me). One of the ... read more

We drove down to Buena Vista - we’ll Jon did since I basically sat in the back and did nothing. The town of Buena Vista is located in central Colorado roughly midway between Salida and Leadville . The area between Buena Vista and Salida is often referred to as the "Banana Belt", due to its relatively mild winters - I’m thankful that it’s not referred to as the “Banana Hammock Belt”. The town lies at the base of the 14,000+ peaks of the Collegiate Peaks of the Sawatch Range. In summer, Buena Vista is a popular location for outdoor activities - whitewater rafting, fly fishing, mountain climbing etc. The town itself is pretty small. On the way up to our camping spot near Cottonwood Lake, it isn’t hard to take notice of the surrounding properties. I ... read more

Starting from the Financial District, I caught a streetcar (tram) up to the Castro district. Known simply as "The Castro", the area was originally an Irish working class neighbourhood that has been transformed over the past 35 years into a large gay and lesbian community. The area is obviously filled with many stores that cater towards the GLBT community ... not that there's anything wrong with that. At times it can be quite funny to see another tourist's reaction to the contents of a store's window display - "Mommy, mommy! Why are the mannequins hugging?” If you are the sort of person that is easily offended, then I suggest that you walk through with blinkers on. From The Castro I made my way over to the Haight-Ashbury district. Commonly called "The Haight" (pronounced like "hate"), the ... read more

This isn't going to be an interesting post. Worse still, the post doesn't feature a photo of me trying take a bite out of something larger than my head *sigh* so sad. Just updating the travel journal to say that I arrived in San Francisco this afternoon after flying in from Perth (via Singapore and South Korea). All flights were crammed full of hyperactive kids, a number of them Twilight fans *ugh*. The Perth to Singapore trek was the toughest out of the lot. Stuck between a bodybuilder that wasn't familiar with proper armrest protocol and another fella who thought that wearing headphones with speakers pointing outwards results in better sound quality. Yeah, I heard you listening to Michael Bolton at 3 in the morning. Spent most of this afternoon trying to stay awake. Did some ... read more