I'm going to San Francisco

Hello!

Well today is my last full day in Denver. I have been downtown this morning to close my bank account etc, and am now at home starting to pack and clean up my apartment.

My flight leaves for San Francisco tomorrow at about 12.15. It has a stopover in Las Vegas but only for about 20 minutes so i won't be able to make it back to the casinos!

Its a bit sad leaving, i bought all these souvineers at the visitor center downtown so that i never forget this place, as if that was likely anyway. I'm really looking forward to seeing San Francisco though and the next time I post, thats where i'll be!

Important anouncement

Attention Blogreaders:

There is to be a Boomerang Beggs(tm) Barbeque on Saturday Feburary 11 and YOU are invited.

Festivities will begin around 6pm at the Beggs residence.

Hope to see you there.

New Mexico Ahoy

I woke up at about 5.30am and left El Paso while it was still dark, thanks to my all night drive the previous night making my body forget i should have been sleeping. I watched the sunrise over the delta of the Rio Grande before slipping out of Texas into the state of New Mexico. There was alot to see so I just took my time (except for a short stretch where i gassed it a biit, but you'll hear about that later) and stopped at every attraction along the way.


This is me in front of Lake Caballo in southern New Mexico. This was my first stop. The lake is very beautiful and seems kind of strange, given that its surroundings are pretty much desert. Texas and this part of New Mexico were really warm - even though this was at about 8.30am.

Sadly i was unsuccessful finding the next place i wanted to find. I stopped in a town called Socorro looking for the worlds largest array of radio telescopes. Clever blogreaders will remember that array from the 1997 movie 'Contact'. Despite following all the signs on the highway correctly, I was only able to find their lab at New Mexico Tech. After 45 minutes of trying, and driving around the backroads of the desert near Socorro, i decided to give up.

I passed through Albuquerque, and spent some time driving around Santa Fe. The houses and buildings in Santa Fe are amazing - they are without exception all in the style of the old Spanish missions. Not just the old buildings, even the new condominium buildings follow the same flat-roof and clay exterior style.

A little way north of Santa Fe, I got off the interstate to do some driving along historic Route 66. This part of the old highway made up part of route 66 prior to 1937 when it was moved closer to Albuquerque.
It has obviously been resealed, but it is still an amazing road to drive down and it was nice to get off the interstate for a while.






This is some remains of something alongside Route 66. I'm not sure exactly what it is, there is no information about it, its just sitting there rotting. It looks to me kind of like an old trading post or something.








This is some ruins in the Pecos, New Mexico National Historical Park. The park itself is actually quite cool in that not only does it have these ancient Spanish ruins, but it also encompasses histotical sites from the Sata Fe Trail and a civil war battlefield.

This is the remains of the Mission de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, built in the late 16th century.




The wide open spaces of central New Mexico. It was shortly after taking this photo that I was pulled over by a New Mexico state trooper who seemed to think I might have been speeding. I remained in the vehicle and made no sudden movements. After checking my license and registration he kindly informed me what the fine was for going the speed i was going. Then he was kind enough to share his experience with me of just last week scraping a 19 year-old off the road 'just up there' who was also speeding. For a brief moment i contemplated whether the 19 year-old had crashed or been shot for speeding. In the end he let me off with a warning, and in return for his generosity i kept my speed down until I reached the state line.

Línea en la arena

Sunrise over West Texas on the way to El Paso. The storm you can see in the picture was just clearing. I happened apon the region when it was raining - their first rain in 100 consequtive days. When it started raining I was coming down I-25 in southern New Mexico. It might not have rained for 100 days, but when it did rain, it rained hard! That smell of rain hitting dry asphalt when it hasn't rained in a while? That smell is magnified a hundred million times when it rains in the desert. The car was filled with its refreshing aroma.


This photo was taken from the car while i was driving towards downtown El Paso on the I-10 freeway. It is this close to the border. As El Paso's commuters drive to work they can look across into another world. Well actually its only another country, but look at the dwelings - its another world.



This is the border, taken from one of the two main bridges which link downtown El Paso with Juarez.







This photo marks ther first time I have ever stood in two countries at once. It appealed to my ego.

Along the border there are some fantastically provocotive political scrawlings. Most are in Spanish which i'm not terribly good at (though have improved some in the last couple of days!). If you run them through the google translator you can make sense of some of them.

By far my favortite statement, not for its message but for its clarity and harshness, i didn't even see when i was there. You can just read it in the top left of this photo. It reads 'DEATH TO AMERICA, KILL WHITEY'. It was lucky i didn't see this when i was there because it would have made me more uneasy than i already was at first - I was the only such whitey that i saw until two hours after i crossed the border.

I took this photo thinking that the enourmous writing on the hill would be another message to America. In fact loosely translated it says 'CITY OF JUAREZ, THE BIBLE IS THE TRUTH - LEELA'. I don't know if Leela is a person or what.

If you look very carefully at the foreground you should be able to make out a sign for a dentist's office. As soon as i crossed the border what immediately became obvious was that dentistry is a major part of Juarez's economy. It seems thousands of Americans find it cheaper to cross the border for dental work than pay for it or get insurance in the US. Down just one street right near the border, i must have seen 20 - 30 dentist practices. Also common are drug stores. One hawker outside one such drug store tried to lure me in: "no prescription needed, we've got what you need!"

There are some nice things in Juarez. It is a huge culture shock - just walking across the border into a different world - but once you get used to it you can find some nice places. I found a nice resturant that served up delicious Mexican fare. I ordered the most expensive meal on the menu and stayed to enjoy 3 beers. I was left with the hideous bill of $14. I was thinking of making a run for the border, but in the end i just paid the man. But i didn't go there to see nice places.... i just thought i should put this photo on here because most of the rest of my photos from south of the border will show the not so nice things.

There is an intimitant stench of sewrage around the streets; the infrastructure is crumbling.

It took me a good couple of hours to kind of get my bearings and feel comfortable - at first i didn't even take my camera out of my pocket because it just seemed wrong. This crossing is apparently more dangerous and not as tourist-ee as say Tijuana, and i didn't want to look like a tourist.

There are street vendors and huge markets and some outregeously good prices on clothes.... not the best clothes or anything, but still, the equivelent of $1 for a warm sweater is pretty good. I got me a bottle of Tequilla for $5.30.

Ok, another nice place :)

I see alot of panhandling in Denver, but somehow it seems so much more desperate here. One came up to me and walked with me a short distance while he asked if I might like to marry his sister so she could move to the US. The same guy appproached me again wondering if I might like to buy some drugs. This woman was sitting just across the street from the port of entry.

And the man in the foreground of this photo was standing underneath the international bridge, calling up to people to throw him some money down.

This is what people in Juarez see when they look across the border. What a difference from what people in El Paso see when they look across in the other direction.

It is easy to see why someone would want to cross over into the US.

And here, you see a US Border Patrol car waiting for them to try.

I saw on the news in El Paso this morning that there was a 'hit' on a lawyer in Juarez yesterday afternoon. Two people were shot as they drove past in a car. The car came to a holt with the two fatally woudned occupants just a few buildings down from the restaurant i had lunch at, a little over 15 minutes after i had crossed safely back into the United States of America.

I apologize for writing a novel, due to this post and all the uploading of pictures taking me so long, and it now being 12.35 am, the photos i took in New Mexico on the way back today will have to wait til tomorrow's post.

The road to El Dorado... I mean El Paso

I drove through the night, leaving Denver at aprox 8pm last night and arriving at El Paso, Texas at 6.30am this morning. I rented a car, which is actually quite cool - its a late model 2006 Hyandai featuring cruise control. Just what you need when you're trying desperately to stay awake on a long haul drive through the darkness - one less thing to think about. If only it steered the car too i could have had a sleep in the backseat while the car drove itself. It was a cool drive, it was very dark and there was no moon but lots of stars out. Thats how I navigated.

I saw a lot of signs for attractions i want to check out in daylight on my way back. Especially in New Mexico.

There is a town in New Mexico called 'Truth or Consequences'. I thought that was pretty halarious, but it was nothing compared with the next town i drove through: 'Elephant Butte'. Its like they tacked an 'e' on the end of it so it didn't sound as if its supposed to be a description of the town or anything.

I stopped 3 times at gas station/truck stop type things. The 24 hour places that line the interstates are pretty interesting places in the middle of the night. So many strange people lingering around.

At about 6am, i left America and entered Texas. You thought i was going to say Mexico didn't you? No. Crossing state lines, most states have like a real-estate style sign welcoming you to their state. Not Texas - it has stunning rock sculptures on either side of the road... and more or less as soon as you pass them, everything changes. Texans like Texas. They consider themselves primarily Texans, and then Americans. It is almost like another country. My guidebook explains that "If you want to make friends with Texans in a bar, try to refrain from ordering a white wine or coctail. If you can bring yourself to do it with a straight face, ask the bartender for a longneck and a whisky. Don't try to specify scotch or bourbon. Just drink the whisky - it will be bourbon. Don't talk about Dallas in Houston, or Houston in Dallas. Don't talk about the outside world. If you follow these simple tips, you will make friends for sure." As I rode into El Paso, which is actually quite strikingly ugly - at least by first impressions with power plants and such billowing smoke accross the freeways - i heard radio DJs declare it the "most beautiful city in the entire world". It actually does seem to be a really cool place, but maybe I just like being back in Texas. The Mexican border actually comes right next to downtown El Paso, making for some of the most interesting - and dangerous looking neighborhoods. I have heard that this is one of the most dangerous crossings on the border. But I am a man of danger. Yes I am.

After I found a motel I came down to the border and walked accross into Mexico. I didn't have to show my passport, but i did have to pay 35 cents. I am currently in a netcafe in Juarez. I better stop wasting valuable Mexico time and go out experience the place. I just exchanged $20 for 210 pesos, and i'm on the lookout for a cantina. I will post again with photos when I get back!

Coming home

Well i've made the decision to leave Denver, do a bit more travelling and then go back to New Zealand. I made the decision because i have no more job prospects and I'm getting all lonely and missing my friends and family. Also I lucked out and found someone to takeover the lease on my apartment.

So i have got some amazing travels planned for the next couple of weeks! I'm picking up a rental car at 5pm today and plan to get an early night so i can leave at 3 or 4am tomorrow. The plan is to head down through New Mexico, into the 'west Texas town of El Paso'. I will stay in El Paso tomorrow night and cross the border into Juarez, Mexico on a trolley bus. El Paso and Juarez make up the largest bilateral metropolis in the world, with more than two million inhabitants between them. It will be good to add another two states and a country to the state talley for my trip. 'Hello Texas, it sure is good to see you again'.

On Thursday morning i'll leave El Paso and head north through New Mexico. I will stay in Santa Fe which i hear is really historic and cool. My big plan for the area is to visit the remains of the old Route 66 highway and the ruins of the two pump gas stations that line its edges. I may be geeky, but i've always wanted to do that. As I head up i-25 I will pass the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the birthplace of the nuclear bomb. I'm told its visible from the highway so I can keep perfecting my taking photos out of moving car windows while driving technique.

Then i'll head back to Denver on Friday and stay here until Tuesday, tying up a few loose ends and hosting a farewell party for myself. From Denver I will fly to San Francisco and I intent to have at least 7 days there exploring the bay area and if the mood takes me, other parts of northern California too. I haven't booked my tickets yet, but at this stage i intend to arrive in Wellington on Feburary 9.

D'oh!

Well I didn't get that job.

Only reason i was confident about it was because they gave me good reason to be confident - only to call me this morning and tell me they had found someone better.

I'm not quite sure what i'm going to do now... i have been fishing for a while and have had no other promising bites on my line... i am considering all options, including going back to New Zealand.

In other news i would like to congratulate my good friend Mr Rhys Hendry on his big news. Mr Hendry departs for China on Feburary 7 or 8 and already has a job lined up. Best of luck to Rhys and people wanting to keep up to date with his travels will be able to do so at http://rhysinchina.blogspot.com

It's snowing!

The road to Las Vegas

Is eleven hours each way too far to drive for a night out? Not when your destination is Las Vegas, Nevada!




It was early when we (my friend Jorge and I) left Denver. This is the inside of the Eisenhower Tunnel which travels 1.7 miles through the Continental Divide about 60 miles west of Denver. It is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world.




As we headed west, the conditions and scenery were very changable. Clear blue sky one minute, snow storm the next. We survived four seperate snowstorms in Colorado and Utah. And for the first time in more than two months, as I drove through the 30 miles of I-15 that crosses Arizona, America finally rained on my parade.



Crossing the state line from Colorado into Utah. Later I would also cross the border from Utah into Arizona and finally Arizona into Nevada.




The canyonlands of Zion National Park in southwestern Utah. The scenery here was amazing, and if you're good, i'll show you some more photos of this area taken on my way back from Las Vegas a little later on.
















And then finally, I was there. Welcome to Las Vegas!







This is where I stayed. Well actually thats a lie. I was going to stay at the MGM Grand....








...But I got invited to stay in the West Wing. It sounded nicer than it was. Luckily i spend nearly no time at the motel because I went out to the Strip right away.






This is me in front of the New York, New York. Its so nice they named it twice. This is one of my favorite casinos in Las Vegas, i haven't been able to decide my favorite favorite. I had dinner at the New York New York. As well as a raft of other options which others might find more exciting, their buffet serves chocolate milk.


Harrah's Casino









The Flamingo








The Strip, which in places is sixteen lanes wide, seems to have an endless stream of near standstill traffic. This was taken on a Sunday night, and it doesn't seem to get any better by day. There are a lot of limosines, but you can never tell who is inside.






This is the Paris casino. Yes, that is the Eiffel Tower you see, right there in Vegas. I doubt if its a full size replica, but it is pretty tall and you can ride up to the observation deck.





This is the Bellagio, another of my favorites. Moments before I could get my camera out the entire lake in the foreground was being whirled up by a giant fountian show to music that was playing.







Here's me at a casino, I can't even remember what casino I went to so many! If you think bright lights and exciting sound effects are all ploys to get money from your wallet into the machine, try having waitresses bring free drinks to you while you play.




Caesar's Palace. Another favorite of mine.











Someone who knows might be able to tell me the name of this arch. I know its famous, and was probably from Rome, and like most other landmarks has been replicated in Las Vegas.





I took this photo at 11pm while I was out in the sunshine. This is truly amazing, I was inside a casino and it looked like broad daylight - the sky is a fake! I don't know how they did it so convincingly.





Leaving Las Vegas this morning. Unfortunately it was time to draw this charade to a close and begin the drive back to Denver.

There is a town not far outside Las Vegas called Mesquite. It has casinos and resorts, but is a lot quieter than Las Vegas. In the middle of the desert, God knows how much water taken from God knows where keep golf courses as green as I have ever seen them. Bastions of paradise in a barren landscape of nothingness.


Driving through the desert not far past Mesquite it isn't hard to imagine how Las Vegas could look today if Nevada hadn't been the first state to legalize gambling. Its the philosophy that drives people to build green golf courses in the middle of nowhere, the 'because we can' kind of attitude that built Las Vegas. It was a gamble that paid off. This is the desert the world came to.

Viva Las Vegas!

I'm here in Las Vegas now. Just drove down the strip and checked into my motel. It looks so cool! I have so many pictures. But you'll have to wait til i get back tomorrow.
Now, Buffet you say?

Leaving [for] Las Vegas

Its 5.24am on Sunday. I have just risen and am preparing to leave for Las Vegas.

Today I will cross four states, enter another timezone and hopefuly arrive safely at possibly one of the coolest places on earth.

I'll be back Monday night.

Just a few photos for you today. My Vegas trip has been delayed slightly, now hoping to go early tomorrow morning but it is threatening to snow in the mountians. Its Jorge's call whether he's comfortable driving in the snow cause we're taking his car... a little snow never scared me.

This is the stream that runs next to my apartment complex. The path alongside it takes me straight to the lightrail station. Whenever i post a pic like this one i think how uninteresting it must be. But then again, its just so u can see the neighborhood i live in... i don't know. Tell me if its boring.




This photo is taken from Broadway looking north towards downtown. This particular place is roughly near where I will be working when i get that job i had the interview for. (i'm really confident about it)










Also there on Broadway near my new job prospect is a stretch i like to call 'Television Row'. 3 of the local channels have their studios here. This one looked cool when i was walking past on Thursday on the way to my job interview, because their news helicopter was landing on the roof, but no such action today when i had my camera. :(

Beggs tires of working, quits job; plans long weekend in Las Vegas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chris Beggs announced late today that he had relinquished his employment contract. His resignation occurred early in the week and Mr Beggs left the building without incident shortly afterwards. His decision not to go public with his resignation for several days was put down to not wanting to alarm blog readers before deciding exactly how he would proceed.

Sources close to Beggs refused to comment in detail on the departure, with one saying simply, “Let Beggs be Beggs”, and another warning, “If you call this man a flip-flopper or a schitzo, he's gonna crack you one.”

In completely unrelated news Mr Beggs is travelling to Las Vegas for a long weekend. He is vigorously disputing speculation that his bold new plan for the future is to become a professional gambler, admitting however that he does have a "good feeling about the powerball this Saturday".

A senior spokesperson for Mr Beggs indicated that he may have found his perfect job. While details cannot be released at this time, it is understood that he attended an interview this afternoon for a job at a 'media intelligence' company, and is very confident about this prospect. Outsiders were heard to say that this job 'fit like a glove' for Mr Beggs, having studied media as well as being extremely intelligent.

ENDS

Wildfire!

Well its been unseasonably warm in Colorado this winter, today is another 68degree day with warm winds. There has been no precipitation here for 24 days now, and even that was snow - it hasn't rained since i've been here. Things are so dry there are huge wildfires usually only seen during the height of summer.

This fire started about 6.30pm last night, and when i went to bed covered only 5 acres. When i woke up at about 6.30am this morning, it had grown to 2700 acres and was all over the TV for hours. Its pretty much under control now I think, but when i opened the door this morning, i could smell the smoke and i'm miles and miles away from it.

Can't sleep

Well it's after midnight here and i can't sleep for some reason, so i thought i'd do a blog post.

Not too much to report this week, just business as usual really. I went to another party last night, which was fun. Met some more interesting people.

I went to a couple of malls, last night I went to the Southwest Plaza with Jorge before the party, I went to a petshop there and bought a puppy and a small aligator. The aligator is so cute, i can't imagine it becoming a problem in the future.

This morning i went to the Park Meadows mall, which is somewhere in south denver but the bus trip was so long i lost track of exactly where. Park Meadows is more impressive than Southwest, but neither is as big i think as the Colorado Mills mall i went to last weekend.

I tried to get my colorado drivers license this weekend, but turns out they need my birth certificate. No problem i thought, chris you stupid idiot of course they need your birth certificate.... i only spent a year of my life selling birth certificates to fools who were trying to get their drivers licenses. So i called texas to organize my birth cert, and guess what - they need a US drivers license number for me to be able to order it. So annoying.

I've been trying to learn about Colorado history, so i've been watching a bit of PBS lately. Its either quite good, or i'm quite nerdy. While i was researching on the internet i found out that Colfax Ave, the street i used to live on, is actually famous and was once called "the wickedest street in america" by playboy magazine. I feel quite cool now. I learned that Colfax ave is 27 miles long stretching from west to east. It has apparently been cleaned up a little bit since its wickedest days, but around where i used to live things are still pretty bad.

Where i'm living now is much nicer, but for a fairly accurate representation of how it really is, i suggest you watch the opening credits to southpark. Southpark itself is really just near here i drove through it last week when i had the rental car... its pretty much a microcosm for the rest of south metro denver and even though i've always hated the show, the opening credits make me laugh now that i live here.


I caught this bear trying to break into the colorado convention center. I killed it with my bear hands. Get it? my bear hands. haha.

Colorado Springs

When I woke up this morning, i felt like renting a car. As the impulsive being that I am, i rented a car.

First i did all my household chores, which would have taken all day but for the time-saving automobile. After that I hit the freeways and did a complete loop around Denver, stopping in north-west Denver at the Colorado Mills mall. This is the biggest mall i've been too yet this trip, it took me half an hour to walk in a circle around the inside of it without going into any stores. Not being much into shopping, i left after conquering its mass, but man was it impressive!

After completig my loop of the edges of the city, I headed south down I-25, coming through Castle Rock, a very beautiful town named after the 'rock' (huge mountain) in the middle of town that looks like a castle. Pretty cool.... As i got closer to the 'rock' i noticed a giant star and a flag flying on the top of it, dominating the landscape, leftover from America's phase of trying to make nature better. Looks like somebody already done-conquered it.

I kept heading south and eventually came to home of Dr Quinn Medicine Woman, Colorado Springs! I barely made it into town as had left it too late and had to turn back to Denver to get my rental car back on time. I did have time to take these photos outside of the military base in the north of town. NORAD is located at this military base, the hollowed-out mountain command center for America's nuclear arsenal built during the cold war.


Thats my rental car just over my shoulder.
















The highways were amazing going down there, huge interstates negotiating their way through some fantastic western desert-like scenery, with the focus very much on keeping things moving. The interstate speed limit was 75mph (120kph) which meant most traffic was doing about 90. Cool for a while, but at times a bit scary. Highway speeds here are out of control, local police have no juristiction on the interstate system and there are no speed cameras, so writing tickets is up to state troopers, and they seem pretty thin on the ground. Its not overly unsafe however, as the highways are built well. There were signs along the way reminding the soon to be injured or dead to 'REMOVE ACCIDENTS FROM TRAFFIC IMMEDIATELY'.

This guy had the right idea. While i made do with a mitsubishi lancer, he took his house along with him and just a small SUV towed behind for those short trips to the grocery store.






Well thats it, i have more photos but too many for one post, so i'm gonna save them for a rainy day! I'm still waiting for visitors people!