Rob and Gretchen's Most Ultra-Ridiculously-Awesome October Vacation

How This Came About: Earlier this year I had plans to do the Pumpkinman Half-Iron triathlon in Vegas on October 17^th. I thought it might be nice to have Gretchen come with me, and we could spend a few extra days in Vegas as a nice little getaway. I talked to my folks and they agreed to come out to Sacramento to watch the kids so we could enjoy a week away. My plans got a little FUBARed when my appendix decided to rupture in August, leaving me with a week in the hospital, and several weeks of taking it easy with training. It quickly became apparent that I wouldn't be ready for the triathlon, so I shifted the focus of the week. Gretchen and I were still interested in going to Vegas, but we thought it might be fun to see some of the other sights around California and Nevada. Out of these desires, the following game plan was born...

The Game Plan:

While we didn't stick exactly to the game plan, we were consistent on where we slept and most of the driving. We did do a few detours which added to the activities, and we didn't do some of the activities (I added the burlesque show to simply get a rise out of Gretchen). As Gretchen has gotten more and more into cycling, I thought it might be kind of cool to bring our bikes with us and do some bike rides at various spots along the way. It also happened that the Davis Bike Club puts on their annual Foxy's Fall Century ride which is a great century ride for first timers; Gretchen thought this one sounded like a good idea for her first century, and since my folks would be around to watch the kids, we signed up.

The Overall Strategy:

The overall strategy was to spend some quality time together, get some exercise, take a bunch of pictures (we took a total of 4 pictures when we went to France 7 years ago, and a total of 12 cell phone pictures on our trip to Puerto Vallarta 3 years ago), see some cool things on the west coast, not go broke, and suck the marrow out of life (stolen from Henry David Thoreau via Dead Poet's Society). Keeping these things in mind I lined up some cheap hotels (ranging from “wow this is pretty nice” to “Lets not take our shoes off”), got a good rate on the rental car, and borrowed Israel's camera so both Gretchen and I could take pictures without having to constantly trade the camera back and forth. The strategy was set, the game plan was in place, all we needed to do was execute.

The Travel Log

We ended up taking the following routes down to Las Vegas, and from Vegas back to Sacramento. I put red stars next to where we slept, and green stars next to where we did an activity that is detailed below. Hopefully these two links will give a greater perspective.
The map for our drive to Vegas
The map for our drive to South Lake Tahoe

Date: Friday, October 16^th, 2009

Activities: Picked up the rental car with my dad in downtown Sacramento. I had lined up an intermediate sized car, but quickly realized it would be a nightmare to try and fit both our bikes in a car with a trunk, so we upgraded and got a Kia Rondo (I have to say I was very happy with the car).

Highlights/Recap: Finding the USB adapter in the Kia Rondo which would allow me to listen to a bunch of tunes. Dinner with the family in preparation for the Foxy's Fall Century ride.

Lowlights: Finding out from Israel that Erica (Israel's wife) was sick and would not be able to do the century ride with Gretchen. The plan had been for Israel and I to ride pretty hard and Gretchen and Erica would go at a more comfortable pace for their first 100 miler.

Relevant Links: None.

Date: Saturday, October 17^th, 2009

Activities: Foxy's Fall century ride which starts in Davis, California (20 minutes from Sacramento) and travels through Napa and Sonoma (wine country for all you wine aficionados out there) before returning to Davis. Driving from Sacramento down to Mariposa “the gateway to Yosemite” (2.5 hours away) and staying in the “Super 8” motel.

Highlights/Recap: It was a bummer not having Erica join us for the ride, but I had a great time riding with Gretchen for all of Foxy's Fall. My wife looks ultra-ridiculously hot in spandex, and since I had her set the pace for me, I had the opportunity to look at her all day. We saw some beautiful orchards and vineyards, and enjoyed the rolling hills of the ride. The ride did feature “Cardiac Hill” which was supposed to be a killer hill (hence the name), but I referred to it as “Heart Murmur Hill” as I think there are tougher hills out there. It did slow many to a walk...however, it didn't slow my wife who hammered up the hill and pressed forward. This ride also featured a first for me (and likely many others)...two cycling enthusiasts (a male and a female) who were riding a tandem bike got married at the last rest stop (about 83 miles into the ride).

Lowlights: Driving close to three hours down to Mariposa after spending the day on a bike and out in the sun. Needless to say we were a bit tired, but we wanted to make sure we got to the “gateway to Yosemite” so we could spend a good chunk of the day there.

Relevant Links:

Pictures from the century - http://www.robstone.org/kaiya_public_html/part91/

The ride from my GPS on mapmyride - http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/-davis/394125584803160013

Date: Sunday, October 18^th, 2009

Activities: Short hikes and sights in Yosemite (Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite Valley, Olmsted's Point, Lake Tenaya, etc.) and driving through to Bishop, CA where we would be spending the night.

Highlights/Recap: Probably the nicest thing about our day in Yosemite was that the snowfall which had occurred earlier in the week was melting and hence there was water at all the waterfalls. Many people warned us that this late in the year there likely wouldn't be any water flowing, but all of the waterfalls we saw (Bridalveil and the Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls) were flowing quite nicely. The granite of Half Dome in the distance, as well as all the granite that simply surrounded the Yosemite valley was beautiful. We did a short hike in the valley called the Cook's Meadow Loop which allowed us to see a bunch of the sights. We drove across Yosemite on Tioga Road which had been shut down most of the week due to a snowstorm (that would've seriously screwed our plans). On the drive through we were able to stop at Olmsted's Point (beautiful vistas) as well as Lake Tenaya (gorgeous lake at over 8,000 feet of altitude) to get some pictures. We were supposed to stay at the “Thunderbird Motel” in Bishop, and Gretchen groaned when we pulled in the parking lot (I groaned a little too, but told her it was all part of the “adventure” to suck the marrow out of life), but the woman said they were near capacity and asked if we could stay at her husband's motel down the road; it was a Rodeway Inn and was far better for only $5 more.

Lowlights: Not really any, though I wasn't too thrilled about paying $20 for a 7-day pass in Yosemite. I realize they need to charge to keep the park maintained, but it felt like a $20 toll since we were only in the park for probably 8 hours. Also, once we got to Bishop I got pulled over for making an illegal left hand turn...this ended up turning into a highlight as the officer was very nice and let me go with a warning.

Relevant Links:

Pictures from Yosemite - http://www.robstone.org/kaiya_public_html/part92/

Date: Monday, October 19^th, 2009

Activities: Drive to Las Vegas via the Valley of Death (aka Death Valley) with a stop in Death Valley to do a 25 mile.

Highlights/Recap: Gretchen and I were both amazed by the sheer enormity of Death Valley; you simply feel like a lowly speck in the Valley compared to the mountains and wide open spaces. It wasn't uncommon to be able to see miles and miles down the road, and it would take 10-15 minutes to get there. Once we got to the Furnace Creek visitors center we unloaded our bikes and prepped for our first major ride “on the road”. We didn't notice it too much at first, but the wind was really starting to whip, and by the time we were riding southbound on Badwater Road, the 30+ mph headwinds made movement slow and difficult (not getting over 9mph on a 6% grade going downhill is no fun - it was also probably 97 degrees as well). We took some pictures at the trail head of the “Golden Canyon” and then pressed forward to the entrance of Artist's Drive (a one way loop that would take us through some neat rock formations known as Artist's Palette. It took us over an hour to ride the 10 miles to our turn in, and then we immediately started some climbs with significant grades. We took a few breaks to take pictures and stay hydrated, and pressed forward to the downhills. The road conditions were very good, and we only occasionally would see cars who were driving along the route. The downhills were roller coasteresque and quite fun, as large chunks of the roadway were carved out of the rock. The ride back to Furnace Creek, with the wind at our backs, went very quick (averaged about 29 mph with little effort) and was quite fun. We spent some time touring the visitors center, got some sandwiches at the general store, and then continued on our way toward Vegas. As the sun was setting we stopped at the lookout point for the Death Valley Badlands which were really quite cool. The drive into Nevada was relatively uneventful, though I must say I enjoyed seeing gas for $2.50 rather than the $3+ we've been paying in California. Check-in at the Palace Station once we finally got to Las Vegas went well...we showered (yeah, we were still looking rather nasty from our ride), got some grub at the 24 hour restaurant within the casino, posted some pictures on Facebook, and then got to bed.

Lowlights: Got nailed with the $20 entry fee again, but I suppose it is a small price to pay to enjoy America's treasures.

Relevant Links:

Pictures from Death Valley - http://www.robstone.org/kaiya_public_html/part93/

The ride from my GPS on mapmyride (you can click on the “show elevation” to get an idea of the elevation) - http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/-furnace-creek/180125601367959260

Date: Tuesday, October 20^th, 2009

Activities: Eating exorbitant amounts of food, 25 mile bike ride through the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area, heading down to the Las Vegas Strip.

Highlights/Recap: Having made our reservation on hotels.com we ended up getting 2 complimentary breakfast buffet tickets for each morning that we would be staying at the Palace Station, so we took full advantage of this. They had quite a spread for breakfast, and so I decided to “seize the day” and eat a little bit of everything, including all the different breakfast meats as well as the chocolate pie. I sufficiently stuffed myself and waited for the rejection of the food by my stomach,which fortunately never came. After we digested a bit back in our room, we got our cycling stuff together and drove out to the Red Rock Canyons just west of Las Vegas. We parked in a grocery store parking lot, got our bikes put together, and set out for our journey. The winds were definitely moving (about 20mph), but compared to the day before in Death Valley it was cake. The first 10 miles of this ride were a gradual uphill, and then the last half was virtually all downhill. We took a liberal amount of stops for pictures to try and capture all of the cool rock formations around us, but the camera really doesn't do justice to actually seeing it. I was actually very impressed with how pretty everything was...the last time I was in Vegas I just remember everything was brown and dusty; but this ride was really quite spectacular. We enjoyed the ride thoroughly and we weren't quite as wiped out as we were in the Death Valley ride. After making our way back to the car, we packed up our things and headed back to the hotel for showers and preparation to head down to the Vegas Strip. We took the hotel provided shuttle down to the strip and checked out a lot of the famous landmarks. We walked through Caesars, checked out the Bellagio Fountains, stopped in Treasure Island, and took in many of the sights and sounds. We checked out a few restaurants, but couldn't find anything that really grabbed us for dinner. We left the strip by 8:30p.m. (probably just as it was getting exciting), and decided to get the buffet back at our hotel. I picked up where I left off at breakfast with regard to portion control, totally overstepping any limits that my stomach had placed on itself. I felt pretty sick after my multiple trips through the buffet line and dessert bar, but figured that you only live once. After dinner we headed back to our room to digest and watch TV. We postponed our trip to Hoover Dam, and figured that we could do that on Wednesday as we primarily had our drive to Tahoe as the only thing on the agenda.

Lowlights: Getting charged for a full size Drumstick Ice Cream Novelty rather than the junior size...they got an extra $1.35 out of me, though I figure they didn't make much money off of me at the buffet or at the gaming tables (seeing as we never gambled).

Relevant Links:

Pictures from Red Rock Canyon - http://www.robstone.org/kaiya_public_html/part94/

The ride from my GPS on mapmyride (you can click on the “show elevation” to get an idea of the elevation) - http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/nv/-las-vegas/885125610511855426

Date: Wednesday, October 21^st, 2009

Activities: Eating a big breakfast, checking out Hoover Dam, driving to Tahoe, seeing a ghost town.

Highlights/Recap: We used the complimentary breakfast buffet tickets again, and I again seized the day, rounding the breakfast out with not a single piece of chocolate pie, but two pieces of banana cream pie. After breakfast, we packed up our belongings, checked out of the hotel, and headed to the south east side of Vegas to check out the Hoover Dam. I did a little recon online prior to heading over to the dam, and was astonished to see that Dam Tours cost $30/person and they tagged you $8 to park. Fortunately I also found out that you could park on the Arizona side for free, and simply walk around the Dam; this was more up my alley with our limited budget (it also added to the adventure in the sense that we also went to Arizona). After parking the Kia Rondo in Arizona, we made our way back across the Dam and were amazed by the engineering marvel, it really was quite enormous. Both Gretchen and I used the bathrooms that were located on top of the dam, and they were a real throwback in time (at least I can verify the Men's bathroom was). They had the old school urinals, and old school tiling; it reminded me of something out of the Capone era. After checking out the dam, we stopped and got Blizzard's at Dairy Queen (with the money we saved by not paying for parking), and bid adieu to Las Vegas en route to South Lake Tahoe by way of Rhyolite Ghost Town. Rhyolite was more of an after thought as it was 4 miles west of Beatty which was a town that we would be driving through, but we thought it might be a neat area to check out. We weren't disappointed as we got to see a house made out of glass bottles and several other decrepit ruins; the numerous signs warning about rattlesnakes did keep us in the car for the most part. After leaving Rhyolite we continued up Highway 95 and passed a few of Nevada's finest brothel's but declined to stop as the schedule didn't permit. We finally made it up to South Lake Tahoe and the Blue Lake Inn where the office was closed for the night, but fortunately they knew we were coming and left some keys out for us. We got our stuff into the room, stayed up too late watching TV, but ended up with a good night's sleep.

Lowlights: The bathrooms at the gas station in Beatty, NV...quite possibly some of the nastiest I have used; and I didn't even have to sit down.

Relevant Links:

Pictures from the Vegas Strip, Hoover Dam, and Rhyolite Ghost Town - http://www.robstone.org/kaiya_public_html/part95/

A little bit about Rhyolite from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyolite,_Nevada

Date: Thursday, October 22^nd, 2009

Activities: 72 mile ride around Lake Tahoe.

Highlights/Recap: Gretchen and I anticipated getting up relatively early to attack the 72 miler at a decent hour, but the late night TV watching stymied our efforts at an early morning. We did make it over to the continental breakfast, and in keeping with my week of healthy eating, I pounded two donuts as my sole nourishment before the ride. We departed on the ride by about 10 a.m., and for the first time in quite a while we enjoyed riding without serious winds. We quickly made our way out of South Lake Tahoe and got some nice views of the Lake. We stopped at a few different places and took pictures along the scenic west side of the lake. As we got further north we went through the small towns of Tahoe City and North Lake Tahoe. We did our lunch stop at the Subway at King's Beach where I enjoyed one of their $5 foot long sandwiches. After lunch we continued around the lake, hitting a few more climbs on our way up the Spooner Lake grade, and then down to the Highway 50 intersection. We turned onto Highway 50 and went down some decent grades where I got up to 48 mph, but also needed to be cautious as there was a bit more traffic along these roads. We stopped for a few more pictures and made our way back to the Blue Lake Inn in South Lake Tahoe. We took a few pictures, showered up, and decided to check out some of the casinos to see what food they had to offer. We stopped in at the Mont Bleu and had a decent dinner. We crashed after dinner and slept soundly through the night.

Lowlights: Being told it would be a 15 minute wait for dinner (it didn't seem too busy at all). I got the distinct impression that they simply wanted us to gamble, so they gave us a pager and told us they would page us when a table was available. After sitting around at their entryway for 5 minutes they called us and said to come on in.

Relevant Links:

Pictures from the Tahoe Bike Ride - http://www.robstone.org/kaiya_public_html/part96/

The ride from my GPS on mapmyride (you can click on the “show elevation” to get an idea of the elevation) - http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/nv/south-lake-tahoe/340125625925338328

Date: Friday, October 23^rd, 2009

Activities: Driving home.

Highlights/Recap: After getting up we hit the continental breakfast where I pounded 3 donuts. After breakfast we packed up the car and headed west toward Sacramento. The drive in and out of Tahoe through the El Dorado National Forest is a pretty one, and we did get to see some waterfalls on the hillside. It was great to see the kids, and it sounded like they had a great time with Nana and Grandpa.

Lowlights: Unpacking is a pain.

Relevant Links: None.