Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
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30
Sep
2007
Grand Canyon West
I’m on a mini-vacation right now. In honor of that I decided to post this video from my last vacation in June.
During our trip to Vegas, we went to the Grand Canyon West which is a new attraction opened by the Hualapai Nation in an effort to get tourism dollars to help their ailing economy. It includes the glass Sky Walk hanging over the canyon. The site is still under construction but the Sky Walk is finished.
Getting to this location was crazy. We turned down some road in Arizona and had to look out for a dirt and gravel road that would lead us to the reservation. The rental car was slipping all over the place as the road was hilly and bumpy. Driving behind any other car was difficult because the dust cloud was thick and we couldn’t see where we were going.Getting back was crazy too because Hoover Dam was closed and we were 40 miles from Vegas when we were told that we had to go back 60 miles in the opposite direction to take a detour through Laughlin, Nevada. The detour was at least 160 miles total.
This was my first attempt at being in front of the camera although the Sofa Cushion vs. Car video got posted first. My favorite part of the video is driving into the sunset on the bumpy dirt road at the end.
I like this video but I don’t like certain spots in it. I was not able to fix the audio. I attempted but decided that since I no longer have that camera that it didn’t matter. Also, the video is about 16 minutes long but the audio is only crappy in certain spots.
10
Aug
2007
Bellagio Fountains
It’s been two months since our trip to Vegas and Grand Canyon West. I’m upset that I haven’t finished my Grand Canyon video. I haven’t had the time to fix the audio but I do hope to get it up soon. In the meantime, I give you the Bellagio Fountains.
Song “Impromptu for Six Pianos” by Ash Verjee from the PodShow Podsafe Music Network.
27
May
2007
Ballooning in the Shenandoah Valley
If you have read an earlier blog post, you know that this was originally planned for my birthday but was canceled due to wind. I started to get scared when I saw the wicker basket that we would be riding in. Actually I started to get scared when we had to sign the waiver releasing them from responsibility for all harm and death that could potentially occur but the basket made me more nervous. I was amazed at the process of inflating the balloon with two giant fans. When Donny, the pilot, fired up the gas burner the first time I was really scared. The flames were like six feet tall. At any rate, taking off was easy; I didn’t even really feel that we were lifting up. The flight was great we just followed the wind. Donny would adjust the altitude to get the winds blowing in the direction he wanted. We were really high for a while, then came down to touch some tree tops. All the animals (cows, dogs, turkeys, goats, rabbits) hated the balloon and we sent them scattering or caused them to make a lot of noise. We could hear them all really clearly in the air. For the landing we came in over a pond. I have photos of the reflection. We had to climb out of the basket but continue to hold on to it so it wouldn’t float away. Then we tipped the basket over with Donny still in it and helped with the deflation process. Awesome experience.
And check out the photos:
| www.flickr.com
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2
Jan
2007
New Years Eve
I went to New York for New Year’s Eve for the first time. I have seen how crowded it was from the comfort of my living room on many occasions but still wanted to go. After working in Times Square for 2 months almost a year ago, I decided that I didn’t want to be there for New Year’s Eve. Times Square has entirely too many people on a normal day. But because I could watch it from the comfort of my company’s office, I thought I’d give it a try anyway. I mean, even though it’s sort of corny, who can say that they have actually seen the ball drop?
Bird’s Eye View of New Years Eve in Times Square
View on YouTube
There are several background voices. The concert and countdown sounds were being streamed over the internet with about a 15 second delay from what we were seeing out the window.
