Just as a reminder, this is the third of 3 recaps of a trip that myself, my mom and my cousin Steve took last Saturday – we trekked down south to the Royal Gorge for some touristy type fun.  Part 1 can be seen here and [...]]]> Well, it’s time to wrap this Royal Gorge Trip up!

Just as a reminder, this is the third of 3 recaps of a trip that myself, my mom and my cousin Steve took last Saturday – we trekked down south to the Royal Gorge for some touristy type fun.  Part 1 can be seen here and part 2 can be seen here.  Enjoy!

SO, when I last left off, we had just watched old Doc kill Slim in the streets of the Mountain Main Camp.  Then we went on a quick little mule driven wagon ride up to a genuine (fake) Indian camp with a real (fake) TeePee!

So really, there’s only a couple of things left on our little adventure!  First: Critters!

Royal Gorge has both a petting zoo and a non-petting zoo.  Let’s take a look at the former, then we’ll take a look at the latter.

Goats!

And Llamas!

And.. uh… well… Huh.  What the heck is this thing, anyway?

Huh.  A little steer?  I honestly don’t know, and I didn’t think to ask anybody.  Oh well, moving on…

They also had some bigger critters.  You couldn’t go in and pet these.

OH WOW!  Listen, dude, I know you’re all busy and stuff what with all the lady elk running around and that neat rock you’re lying on and all – but I was wondering, could you just, ya know, for me?  Turn slightly so I could get a better shot of your, er, well – rack?

YES!  That’s it!  That is exactly the shot I wanted!!  Thank you!  I’ll leave you to… Whatever it was you were doing…  Thanks again…

Huh.  What does this next sign say?

AMERICAN BISON?!  (Didn’t I have to fight him in Street Fighter?  Oh, wait.. no…)

Yeah.  Well.  Aren’t you guys just a load of excitement-  What the heck?!  Look – over there!  Is that…?  I think it is!

WHITE BUFFALO!

In case you didn’t already know it:

“White Buffalo are considered to be sacred signs in several Native American religions, and thus have great spiritual importance in those cultures and are visited for prayer and other religious ceremonies.”

Native Americans have stories and myths built up concerning the White Buffalo.  I tracked a couple of sites down for you if you’re interested.  The White Buffalo Woman and Native American Myths.

Now, I have a story of my own to tell.  Me being me, I get forgetful about certain things from time to time and sometimes, I mix things up in my head and say it wrong.  Example: In Colorado, we have Big Horn Sheep.  A favorite pastime for many travelers to the mountains is to look for these Sheep amongst the crags and rocks of the mountains.  We also have Elk, and people like to see them as well.

Me?  I combined them and have been looking for Big Horn Elk ever since…

Silly, I know – But whenever I go to the mountains, I immediately start looking for ‘Big Horn Elk’.  Like a dork.

Anyway, lookit what I found:

Let me tell ya, these fellers is shy.  I managed to snap this one as we were passing by in a tram headed for the bridge (the plan was to cross the bridge in the tram.  A plan that was FOILED!).

We were in the tram, but there were some elderly folks looking for a ride, so my cousin and I jumped down to make room for them and then my mom did the same so we ended up walking back across that damned bridge!  Sigh.  Still bugs me that it bugged me, if you know what I mean?

Anyway, back on the other side, there really was only enough time for one more thing: the Incline Railroad.  Tired and a bit stressed over the bridge, I opted out.  I’d had enough of heights so I sent Steve and mom on with cameras in hand and here is what they captured while I drank a coke with a serviceman (he had a beer) recently returned from Afghanistan.

Well, that’s pretty much it for this trip!

Loads of fun were had by all.  I highly recommend the place should you come to Colorado.  Heck, if you come to Colorado, call me – we’ll do my three favorite places: Estes Park, Garden of the Gods/Pikes Peak and now, Royal Gorge.

I leave you with this pic of the three of us at the start of the day:

~P

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Okay.  SO.  Where were we?  Oh, yeah – I’d just made it across that damned bridge!  How dare it [...]]]> Just as a reminder, this is a recap of a trip that myself, my mom and my cousin Steve took on Saturday – we trekked down south to the Royal Gorge for some touristy type fun.

Okay.  SO.  Where were we?  Oh, yeah – I’d just made it across that damned bridge!  How dare it be all swaying in the wind making me uneasy! *shakes fist menacingly*

Now that we’re on the other side, though – is there anything left to do?  Turns out the answer to that question is: YES!

First up, some hiking.

“…1/2 mile with steep grades… adequate footwear recommended…”  PFFFT!  how steep could it be?

Huh.  That… uh..  Huh.  Still!  It can’t be that way all the way up, can it?!

…s’just… *huff*… *puff*… see… *huff* I’ma… *puff* …writer… *huff-puff* …I work on… *huff*… *puff*…computers! …give me… *huff* a…*puff* second…

Hey!  Who wants to NOT climb all the way up this damned hill?  We can probably see everything from this spot right here, right?  Let’s see:

Dude!  Steve!  What the hell, man?!  You’re in my shot!  Move please?

Ahhh…  That’s better.  There’s the whole danged bridge!  Looks kinda small from up here.  Now, who wants to go back down the way we came and forget we ever tried to climb this damned hill in the first place?  Just remember to remind me not to mention any of it in the blog post.

Oh.  Crap.

Ah, well.  We headed back down the hill (little realizing just how close we were to the top where there’s a TRAM THAT WILL TAKE YOU BACK DOWN THE HILL), and went into the little theater where we saw a quick movie on the history of the place. The only excitement was in trying to take self portraits:

Steve didn’t bring a camera, so he had to settle for an ‘oh shit’ candid shot:

Following that, we had lunch at this place:

The website talked about hickory smoked BBQ.  Being that my mom’s side of the family is from the south, this appealed greatly.  We were bummed to learn that that half of the place was closed.  The other half was selling burgers and hot dogs, but said they had BBQ sandwiches.  Mom tried one.  She wasn’t happy.  Not in the least.  You should never serve something you’re calling BBQ to someone who knows BBQ and hope to survive.  It just isn’t a good plan.

Following up lunch, we headed to the ‘Mountain Man Camp’; a ‘true representation of an old west town’. There, we saw a gun fight. Doc wanted to gift the town to his new bride, a woman he grabbed off the street.

In order to do that, though, he needed for Slim and The Kid to leave town.

He gave em a choice: head on or fight it out.  The Kid chose to try and shoot the star on Doc’s hat.  He missed and kilt poor old Calamity.

This upset the deputy, who shot back.

Killing The Kid…

Well now, Slim, he didn’t like that.  Nope.  Not one bit.  He drew on the deputy.

…and kilt him dead.

Old Doc, he didn’t like that at all, but he was still willing to give Slim a chance.  He put his hat on his wife to be (after grabbing him a ‘back up’ from the street – just in case), and said if Slim could shoot the star without putting a hole in his favorite hat, well, he’d let him be.  Slim took a shot.

…and took the hat clean off her head!  But, sadly, he missed the star and put a hole in Doc’s favorite hat, which upset him to no end!  He was willing to lose his soon to be wife (cuz he had a back-up), but shooting a man’s hat?!  That could not be excused!

…and that was the end of Slim and The Kid.

Now, while all of THAT was going on, a damned cow stole my drink!

I was standing next to a pen with three bulls in it (I suppose they were bulls and not cows. Sigh.).

Yes, they have saddles on them and yes, the cowboys actually rode them around town – which was odd to see.  Anyway, somehow, the smallest (and most sneaky / clever) of them, managed to grab my cup and dragged it into the pen when my attention was on the gun fight.  I’d set it down so I could take pictures.  When I turned around, it was gone.  Then I noticed it in the pen – you can see it in this photo:

SNEAKY!  Like a bull ninja!

After extricating the cup from the pen so the bulls wouldn’t eat it (no, I didn’t do it – they had cowboys for that kind of stuff), we moseyed (yes – I said ‘moseyed’) on out of town and over to the livery stable where they had horses!

Alas, to actually ride the horses was a bit too expensive for me on this particular weekend, so I did not partake.  But the mule driven wagon ride was free!

The wagon ride takes you up on this hill where you see a genuine tee-pee and Indian camp.  Sans any genuine Indians.  Must’ve been off hunting.

Okay, once again I am calling it a night!  Too many photos!  Too many stories!  I’ll have to do another post tomorrow with the remaining stuff from this side of the bridge (like the animals – oh, the animals!) and then the Incline Railroad.

So, all of that tomorrow on part 3!

~P

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I have an alarm on my iPhone that’s set for daily – I forgot that doesn’t include Saturday – it’s just Monday through Friday, so it never actually went off this day.

D’oh.

I had people calling me early though, so I was able to [...]]]> Day four started just about the same as Day Three – I overslept.

I have an alarm on my iPhone that’s set for daily – I forgot that doesn’t include Saturday – it’s just Monday through Friday, so it never actually went off this day.

D’oh.

I had people calling me early though, so I was able to get up and get going, just not quickly.

I wanted food – people were busy doing stuff, so I went by myself.  Also, I had a mission.  It was at the end of this:

I’m talking about Downtown Disney.  See, Disney now has not only Disneyland and the California Adventure theme parks, they also have their own little downtown area complete with shops and restaurants.  I needed to hit the Disney store in that area to pick up something for my mom.  I’d asked her if there was anything I could bring her from Disney and she originally said ‘no’.  Then, -after- I’d visited the park and was well into the convention, she called and said she wouldn’t mind some ear rings if it wasn’t too much trouble.

Sigh.

So, being a good son, I walked to the Disney store and got her some ear rings.  While there, I also picked up a new hat for myself, which I wore for the rest of the convention.

I forgot to mention it but on the first day of the con, I met the cast of The Guild.  They were awesome people, very kind.  I got a special piece of art that had been done for them, and they each signed it.  Well, the second day, they were having their own panel at the con – I really wanted to see that.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to – there was a line like no other line to get into the room.  So I wandered some more, hooked up with Hukari and hit some of the other panels.  Eventually, we met up with the rest of The Monkeys and did a little gaming while the concert was going on.

It was the first time I’d ever played Diablo and I have to admit, I really liked it.  It was Diablo 3, the new game on the horizon in that franchise.  We played through twice – you got fifteen minutes and could be networked with 4 other players – it was really, really fun.

Here’s some photos from the day:

After dinner and a particularly fantastic rant on star wars by Brian (in the photo above, he’s in the back left, no hair), there was more hanging out and partying into the wee hours of the night, then everyone started to trickle out.  I was tired, sore and ready for bed, so I headed back to my hotel room and crashed for the night.

Blizzcon was over.

I was trying to figure out what it was all about, this Blizzcon thing.  I made a joke: “I figured out what Blizzcon is all about.  You spend close to $1,000 to take a trip to stand in line for 5 and 1/2 hours so you can buy a $20 shirt.”  It didn’t go over well.

But that’s not what it’s all about anyway.  I did figure it out.  It’s about people.  Good people, good friends, hanging out and talking about the stuff they all share and enjoy in common with each other.

What this meant for me was that I found myself energized for gaming again.  I was really interested in the panels for the World of Warcraft and the changes they’re making and plans for the future that they discussed.  I really enjoyed playing Diablo 3 and thought about picking up the first two (which I did when I got back – can’t play the first one though, it wants OS 9 and I don’t have that).  To top it off, I was itching to rp in WoW again, something I haven’t been interested in for about a year now.

The Drunken Monkey Brewery is filled with fantastic people.  All guilds should take a page out of their book.  When it comes to people getting along and surving for the long haul, they know what they’re doing.

The next day, I got up and flew back to Denver.

~P

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Wow.  What an event – it was Huge.  And so many people!

I started my day later than I planned due to the night before.  I was to meet Hukari as I had his pass and he couldn’t get in without me.  Only, I couldn’t find him.

Candice found me almost immediately, and together we sought out [...]]]> Blizzcon.

Wow.  What an event – it was Huge.  And so many people!

I started my day later than I planned due to the night before.  I was to meet Hukari as I had his pass and he couldn’t get in without me.  Only, I couldn’t find him.

Candice found me almost immediately, and together we sought out Hukari and gave him his pass.  Here’s a shot of the elusive Hukari:

Once inside, I was blown away by the sheer size of the place – they had two major halls setup with areas for gaming, vendors, food, stores, art, more games, statues, a giant ice throne – you name it, they had it.

I went to a couple of panels with Hukari while Candice and Brent were inline for the store with some other people.  I didn’t understand why they were inline, but later found out that there was some fear that the Blizzcon store might sell out of certain things, which has apparently happened in the past (and did happen, I found out the next day as people tried to get stuff that was gone).  After I’d wandered around by myself for a bit, and got some lunch, I jumped into that line as I had my eyes on several things that I wanted to pick up.

I ended up being in that line for 5 and 1/2 hours! O.o!

Boy, I was wishing they had the Disney Fast Pass >.>

After that, well, more accurately -during- that, they started the contests up on the main stage area.  I watched from my spot in line as the one liners, movie and music contests went down.  Then they had the costume contest, which was just amazing.  Here’s a link to the photo galleries on blizzcon.com.  I got out of line and met up with The Monkey’s again, which was heaven because it meant I could sit down again.  We watched the rest of the show, including the dance contest, which Andy took part in – female Gnome dance ftw!

Here are some photos from the day – it was dark, and my camera wasn’t doing so well, but I tried:

In the sixth photo above, you can see a blurry banner – it reads, “Retro Arcade”.  Oh.  My.  God.  Blizzard went online and purchased a bunch of old game systems and had classic games running.  Like: The Lost Vikings!!!  I remember that game!  It was so much fun!  I picked up the controller and it was like I was a kid again.  Something similar to this comic from Penny Arcade.

Blizzcon Day One was long and followed with dinner at Dennys and more party fun, then back to the hotel room for foot soakings and sleep.

Tomorrow: Blizzcon Day Two

~P

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I really didn’t want to wake up early, and yet, I did.  We had plans.  Plans of planned things.  Plans of things to do and be done.  So, I woke up, showered and shaved and headed out for the day.

First up: BREAKFAST WITH MONKEYS!

After breakfast, Disneyland!  I admit, I failed at taking [...]]]> Day Two dawned slowly…

I really didn’t want to wake up early, and yet, I did.  We had plans.  Plans of planned things.  Plans of things to do and be done.  So, I woke up, showered and shaved and headed out for the day.

First up: BREAKFAST WITH MONKEYS!

After breakfast, Disneyland!  I admit, I failed at taking photos on this vacation.  I took a few here and there, but nowhere near as many as I have in, say, Rocky Mountain National Park.  Here’s some good ones:

Candice and Brent (Xynth and Trogbob shown in the first photo), were kind enough to play tour guide for me and take me through the ‘new and improved’ Disneyland.  I say ‘new and improved’ because they’ve changed some stuff: specifically cool is the fast pass.  You can get a fast pass every so often that allows you to cut in line on certain rides.  So, if a ride has a one hour line, you can get a fast pass, come back between a certain time and cut right up to the front.  It’s pretty slick.

In no particular order, we rode: The Submarine ride, Space Mountain, the old railroad roller coaster whose name escapes me, Pirates of the Caribbean, the ‘Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Xmas’ version of the Haunted Mansion, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Star Tours & The Indiana Jones Ride.  Lunch was had in tomorrow land.  In the California Adventure, we rode one ride: Monster’s Inc.

Then I got a call from Sharra and Andy, who were in town and wanting to meet for dinner.  I made plans to meet them in a couple of hours.

We left the amusement parks and headed to the convention center, which was on our way back to our respective hotels.  We had the thought that we’d pick up our passes and goodie bags.  We were walking along when Brent decided that he was tired of the heat and opened a door to the convention center.  We followed him inside, past a security guard and up to the check in areas which were broken up alphabetically.  I lost Brent and Candice, but got my stuff.  I headed back the way we came in and ran into Shara and Andy, who were excited to see me and asked how long it took to get my stuff.

“About ten minutes,” I replied, then headed to my room for a shower.

Little did I know – we snuck in!  We totally bypassed a line that was wrapped around the OTHER side of the convention center!!

>.<  D’oh!

Anyway, after they were done with the line *cough*, Sharra and Andy met me for dinner:

Following dinner, we met up with the Monkeys once again for some partyness:

There were a few more people behind me, I didn’t get them in the photo – dangit.  People like Pazo.  Ah well.

It was very late when I left that party and made my way back to my trick hotel room door.  I was tired, I was sore, hot, miserable – my feet weren’t doing so well in those shoes, but I realized that I hadn’t even so much as peaked in my goodie bag yet.  SO, I decided to take a look.

Talk about a haul!  My god – there was a ton of stuff in that bag!  Here’s the short list: Warcraft Comic, Inflatable Bubble Hearth, Trading Card Game, Forsaken Mask, Mousepad, Figureprints Horde Necklace, Starcraft mini game & Warcraft Postcard.  There’s more, it’s just too much to list.

After I checked all of that out, I filled the tub with hot water to soak my aching feet, and eventually made it to bed and some sleep.

Tomorrow: Blizzcon.

~P

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Day one was all about traveling.

Woke up not so early – it was nice to sleep in.  I like [...]]]> Okay, now that I’ve settled in, I want to talk about my vacation.  It’s going to be in multiple parts as I think this is the only way to do it without an endless rant of paragraphs.

Day one was all about traveling.

Woke up not so early – it was nice to sleep in.  I like sleeping in.  Sleeping in is good.  Showered, shaved – all that bit, then finished up packing up my bag and headed off to get a little something to eat and then to the airport.  I was leaving my car in long term parking as there was no one to take me or pick me up when I got back – timing was just bad on that.

Oh well.

I’d already checked in the day before, so I didn’t have to worry about that – did want to check my bag though.  I admit, for a couple of years I was the power traveler.  I never checked my bags – everything was a carry on.  But with all the new security stuff, it just isn’t worth the hassle anymore, so I checked my suitcase and carried on my backpack.  Went smooth as silk and I was soon kicked back in the boarding area with good book and some tunes on my iPhone (those shoes ended up being my bane).

I flew Southwest.  You just can’t beat them for price and convenience – I mean, they fly everywhere (or so it seems) for $100 or less.  Luckily for me, I was in the first boarding group – this is ultra convenient as they are a ‘first come, first serve’ airline when it comes to seating.

Little did I know that the flight wasn’t full, so it really didn’t matter.  I ended up having the whole row to myself, which was comfy.

I snapped a few shots once they said I could:

I thought they were cool. 

Once I got to LAX, I went round and round the airport in the Super Shuttle while the driver tried to pick up more people – I have a post about that, so I won’t repeat myself here.

Here’s a picture though:

I -think- that’s the old terminal thingie and they’re restoring/renovating it or some such.  We passed it several times.

Got to the hotel around 5:45 and had fun with the trick door.  I couldn’t get it to work.  I had to go get someone to open it for me.  There was a trick to it.  I eventually learned the trick, but it was still a pain in the butt.

Once settled and, as I knew none of my friends would be arriving til much later, I ordered myself a pizza and a six-pack of Mt Dew (which covered me in the caffeine area for the rest of the week) and chilled out.  I tried to blog from my room, but the internet was unreliable at best, and my iPhone coverage was extremely disappointing (I had to stand in one spot, near the refrigerator, to get a signal – not even the balcony by the front door got service -.-).

Around 11, I heard from some friends and made plans for breakfast.  It was an hour later for me, so I made sure my alarm was set and went to sleep.

Day Two tomorrow.

~P

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So.  I know there are lots of horror stories about people getting into car accidents because they were texting or [...]]]> (this never posted when I was actually riding around in the shuttle, so I’m gonna go ahead and put it up today.  I’ll post much, much more about the Blizzcon trip this week as time permits)

So.  I know there are lots of horror stories about people getting into car accidents because they were texting or talking on their phones, but I’ve never been particularly worried about it til now.

Driving in and around LAX seems difficult enough, but when your driver is leaned over the console with his phone in hand and constantly texting someone, even I start to worry.

From what I can tell, the shuttle busses and the people selling rides on them who stand by baggage claim, stay in touch via text.

Clever, but scary for the passenger, which is me today.

Plus, round and round the airport looking for fares with me sitting in the back of the bus/van isn’t helping.  In fact, it’s made me carsick for the first time in a really long freaking time.

CAN I GET OFF THIS RIDE NOW PLEASE?!

Bleh.

~P

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I must give credit where credit I’d due: security, though tight, moved quickly. I don’t think it took 10 minutes. It’ll be interesting to compare with LAX on Sunday.

Well, that’s it for now.

~P