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Published: August 9th 2007
Eating Right and Sleeping at the Canyon
One thing to always consider when taking long road trips that cover large chunks of land (3,000+ miles) in a short amount of time (one week or less) is fuel -not just for the car, but for the body. No matter how hard one tries to eat “healthy”, you end up hitting a energy wall that only one thing can get you over. The stuff legends are made of, road food. I'm talking greasy gas station burritos, cheese dogs, chips, sugar laden candy bars, caffeine saturated soda pop, and anything that will give you a quick up to wire your senses and the gut rot to prevent you from sleeping. I definitely hit this wall somewhere near the Grand Canyon (Perhaps Andy did as well, but I'm not sure as he seems to be immune to caffeine). A restless sleep one can only get from sleeping in a car left us both tired and a little cranky arising with the sun over the flat, barren desert. We pulled into the Grand Canyon early and decided to park the car and take the buses around the south rim of the canyon. The beginning of the
Wise Old Matt
Contemplates the Yellowstone Valley and the Sulfur Springs.day was pretty nice as Andy and I had just woken up and were fairly excited to see the Goliath Hole in the ground. From the top of the rim of the canyon it's pleasant to look over, but I feel to really feel the grandness of the canyon one must hike down into it and after only a couple of hours Andy and I had hit the energy wall and continually and consistently would pass out in a light slumber on the buses. So we finished our sightseeing and our napping at the end of the day and started the drive back north to Las Vegas to pick up my brothers who were flying in tomorrow the 15th of Match. A final note on the Grand Canyon, is that I never quite noticed the shadow play that was going on a thousand feet below me, until I looked back at the pictures I took and realized that the pictures seem to have captured some splendor of the canyon that was lost on me.
A Series of Fortunate and Unfortunate Events
Unfortunately we never met up with the two other Math Graduate Students at the Canyon, they had left a
couple of days earlier and were on their way back to Bozeman. Fortunately, we stopped by a gas station and I loaded up on caffeinated beverages and started the haul up to Las Vegas, which (also fortunately) was only four hours away so we could pick up my brothers as they flew in that evening. Fortunately my cousin JR had booked us two rooms in a hotel for the night. Unfortunately we didn't need both as we didn't meet up with my other friends and my brothers were unfortunately caught in a blizzard that had hit New York and left them stranded for the night. Fortunately I could cancel one of the rooms and my cousin (in his infinite coolness) Josh picked up my brothers and rescued them that evening. The full evenings rest in a bed had done Andy and I well and we were fully charged and ready to grab my brothers from the airport.
The Reunion
Andy and I had no trouble waiting for my brothers at the airport and when they arrived there was much rejoicing. This was their first time west of the mighty Mississippi river and I wanted to make it a memorable one.
I AM THE YUCCA TREE.
Right before this picture was taken a lizard ran across my arm. Little side note here is that Yucca trees are extremely sharp! What better way to make something memorable than a shotgun tour of Vegas, a meal at In and Out Burger (Arguably the fast food burgers in existence and definitely the freshest), and a twelve hour drive through the desert and into the mountains back to Bozeman in a Ford focus. What I am about to tell you it a closely guarded secret on memory making, so please pay very close attention. Five guys, two of them fairly large, stuck in a Ford focus with all their luggage is truly the secret ingredient for potent memories my friends. Woo, luckily there was plenty of beautiful scenery for my brothers to take in as we left Vegas into the desert and through the mountain passes. We switched off drivers and had made this whole spring break car trip without any problems. That is until as I drove through Idaho and into Montana towards West Yellowstone (surrounded by snow banks five feet high) the car started to become unresponsive. I pulled over and Matt was “Johny on the Spot” and him and I went out to look under the hood to see what was going on. I am super thankful that Zak and
I ended up buying a HUGE package of Kroger Bottled Water in Vegas for like two dollars because it came in very handy when Matt and I noticed that the radiator was low on coolant. Pouring in a couple of bottles of the Kroger Water, we were on our way again and made it through the gallatin valley pass without any animal incidents and all in one piece.
Zaks birthday and St. Patties day in Butte.
We pulled next to my house around five in the morning, just barely beating the sun up on my St. Patties day, my brothers birthday. Exhausted from the twelve hour drive we grabbed a couple hours of sleep and got up to go to Butte, Montana for the rest of the day. Now almost everyone has heard of Butte, Montana, but on St. Patties day the city transforms into one of the largest street parties and perhaps the largest amount of alcohol consumed in a single region I've ever seen in my life. No better way to celebrate Zak's birthday. So around one in the afternoon we car pool with some good friends of mine from the math department and make our exodus to
Butte, America (as it is sometimes lovingly referred to). With some road sodas already down the hatch we pulled into Butte and looked for a parking place and started walking down the roads to where the festivities where carefully hiding out open containers, worried that we would get in trouble with local law enforcement officers if seen with an open beer in our hands. BOY WERE WE WRONG. As we turned the corner to where the St. Patties Day festivities where happening, the first thing I noticed was the large pile of empties littering the sides of the street and than I noticed the man running around with the half a pony keg on his back filling up peoples cups, and the drunk St. Patty walking around blessing people. The block party was in full swing at two in the afternoon (and had started up at nine in the morning after the parade)! It is rumored that all the bars in Butte make their money for the year on this single day and I would not be surprised. The couple of bars we entered were more like conveyor belts of people to get them in and up to the bar,
hand them their drink and usher them back out onto the streets. Strangely you would think that Butte would close down the roads for St. Patties day with this many people, but it is not necessary as the sheer volume of people makes travel through the main thoroughfare of Butte impossible and the cops just stand around making sure no one gets to out of control. There was one point a middle aged mexican man came up to Zak and poured his heart out to him about how he used to be a good boxer and how Zak reminded him of someone he boxed with and than he started crying and Zak, Don and I reassured him it was going to be all OK. Don got some good complements on his Harmonica playing, and Matthew was offered a job at one of the mines doing Mechanics if he wanted! Overall it was a good day. We left around nine that night when things started getting crazy. People were dropping full bottles of beer and breaking them on the ground. People were stumbling and getting drunk to an unfunny level (I'm talking about people crying in alleys unfunny). The following day,
Don Takes a Drink from Mammoth Hot Springs
Immortality is bestowed upon those who drink the waters (well that's what I told him at least -he died shortly after this picture was taken). we cleaned up my house and had a picnic for a bunch of the math department and my friends in Bozeman so my brothers could meet the people I hang out with on a regular basis, it was a great time and we ended that evening with a soak in the Norris Hot Springs where they had a damn good blue grass band and Don and I got up and did some dancing much to the entertainment of everyone around. It was a good send off (if it wasn't I hope the futuristic SUV we rented for them to drive back to Vegas was) and I hope I left those fellows with some good memories and a reason to come out and visit me on their next vacation!
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