Frazod
06-09-2007, 08:18 PM
Yes, I'm back. Some random observations:
Yosemite Valley is the most beautiful place I've ever seen - nothing else really even comes close. I'll post some of the pictures when I get them developed. I'm not even going to attempt to describe it because words won't do.
Lake Tahoe is also awesome. We took a boat cruise of the lake last Sunday that was really nice. Again, I'll post photos when developed (I used the old Advantax film camera rather than the digital).
Reno was interesting, but not what I expected. When I first made my reservations, I actually thought Reno was on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, and didn't realize it was about 30 miles away. Reno's basically just a little high desert town that serves as a life support system for a bunch of casinos. If I had it to do over again, I would have stayed at one of the casinos on the lake, but oh well. And Circus Circus kind of sucked. Dated rooms with tiny TVs and mediocre service. We stayed there the first two nights. Last night we stayed at the Grand Sierra Resort, which was much nicer.
The drive down to Yosemite from Reno is eventually breathtakingly scenic, but mostly just really slow. There was a gas station in some shithole of a town north of the Yosemite turnoff on US 395 that was selling gas at $4.09 a gallon - everywhere else in the state was $.80 to .$90 a gallon cheaper. Greedy bastards. It is also weird that both Nevada and California have 65 MPH speed limits, even on no-traffic roads in the middle of nowhere. Makes very little sense, IMO.
Which brings me to my next point - California drivers are the RUDEST MOTHERF#CKERS ON EARTH. They are proactively rude - it's almost like there's money in for them to drive like complete dicks. I live in the Chicago area and have driven in New York, Boston and Washington, and I've never seen anything like it. California drivers regularly fail to yield to merging traffic, cut off other drivers, do not bother to use turn signals, drive slow in the fast lane, and ignore turn-outs in mountainous areas, thus creating endless trains of cars following them. And of course, the more expensive the vehicle, the worse the behavior. And the cocksuckers aren't much better in person, either. Generally, the people I met who were nice were from out of state. Since I was in Central/Northern California, I assume that most of them are Raiders fans, which would, I guess, explain it to a certain extent. I loved Yosemite, but California as a whole rates on the same level as France as far as I'm concerned. :shake:
As a rule, I would recommend staying away from Nevada Indian reservations. Being in Nevada, the Indians don't get casinos, which seems to make them rather nasty. My best friend got a $200 ticket from some jackass reservation cop who claimed he was doing more than 20 over the speed limit, even though he was driving in the flow of traffic. Better yet, he didn't have a radar gun - but claimed he could judge my friend's speed without it (apparently this is some spirit animal power). Of course, my friend can request a court date and return to Nevada to fight the ticket, which the cop knows won't happen. This was on the way to Pyramid Lake, north of Reno. If you are traveling to Reno, I urge you NOT to go there. The area is completely undeveloped and filled with pissed off Indians. Stick with Tahoe.
Anyway, that's my story. Overall, it was a wonderfaul vacation.
So, what did I miss last week? I understand we traded somebody to Miami..... :D
Yosemite Valley is the most beautiful place I've ever seen - nothing else really even comes close. I'll post some of the pictures when I get them developed. I'm not even going to attempt to describe it because words won't do.
Lake Tahoe is also awesome. We took a boat cruise of the lake last Sunday that was really nice. Again, I'll post photos when developed (I used the old Advantax film camera rather than the digital).
Reno was interesting, but not what I expected. When I first made my reservations, I actually thought Reno was on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, and didn't realize it was about 30 miles away. Reno's basically just a little high desert town that serves as a life support system for a bunch of casinos. If I had it to do over again, I would have stayed at one of the casinos on the lake, but oh well. And Circus Circus kind of sucked. Dated rooms with tiny TVs and mediocre service. We stayed there the first two nights. Last night we stayed at the Grand Sierra Resort, which was much nicer.
The drive down to Yosemite from Reno is eventually breathtakingly scenic, but mostly just really slow. There was a gas station in some shithole of a town north of the Yosemite turnoff on US 395 that was selling gas at $4.09 a gallon - everywhere else in the state was $.80 to .$90 a gallon cheaper. Greedy bastards. It is also weird that both Nevada and California have 65 MPH speed limits, even on no-traffic roads in the middle of nowhere. Makes very little sense, IMO.
Which brings me to my next point - California drivers are the RUDEST MOTHERF#CKERS ON EARTH. They are proactively rude - it's almost like there's money in for them to drive like complete dicks. I live in the Chicago area and have driven in New York, Boston and Washington, and I've never seen anything like it. California drivers regularly fail to yield to merging traffic, cut off other drivers, do not bother to use turn signals, drive slow in the fast lane, and ignore turn-outs in mountainous areas, thus creating endless trains of cars following them. And of course, the more expensive the vehicle, the worse the behavior. And the cocksuckers aren't much better in person, either. Generally, the people I met who were nice were from out of state. Since I was in Central/Northern California, I assume that most of them are Raiders fans, which would, I guess, explain it to a certain extent. I loved Yosemite, but California as a whole rates on the same level as France as far as I'm concerned. :shake:
As a rule, I would recommend staying away from Nevada Indian reservations. Being in Nevada, the Indians don't get casinos, which seems to make them rather nasty. My best friend got a $200 ticket from some jackass reservation cop who claimed he was doing more than 20 over the speed limit, even though he was driving in the flow of traffic. Better yet, he didn't have a radar gun - but claimed he could judge my friend's speed without it (apparently this is some spirit animal power). Of course, my friend can request a court date and return to Nevada to fight the ticket, which the cop knows won't happen. This was on the way to Pyramid Lake, north of Reno. If you are traveling to Reno, I urge you NOT to go there. The area is completely undeveloped and filled with pissed off Indians. Stick with Tahoe.
Anyway, that's my story. Overall, it was a wonderfaul vacation.
So, what did I miss last week? I understand we traded somebody to Miami..... :D