Vacation Crunch Time

After a few small and even separate trips, Helaine and I leave later this week for the West. We’ll be flying balloons in Albuquerque, driving to Kayenta, Arizona to see Monument Valley, Page, Arizona for Antelope Canyon, and Springdale, Utah for Zion National Park. We finish with some play time in Las Vegas.

That’s a hell of a trip.

Balloon Fiesta

We are not known for packing light to begin with. This is a major undertaking with a few different climates to prepare for.

Helaine is very organized – much more than I’ll ever be. She is now at the ‘worried about anything that might be forgotten’ stage. That will be with her until our first unpacking, in Albuquerque.

Life is much easier for me. My only real responsibility is to round up anything that gets plugged in. That is a larger list with each successive trip. We now bring an outlet strip on vacation!

Some nights we’ll be charging two cell phones and a Bluetooth earpiece, a laptop and camera batteries. That’s five plugs right there.

The main lens on my camera has been acting up, so I’ve rented a replacement from Ziplens in Maine Who even knew you could do that? It’s a very nice Canon lens with image stabilization.

I’ve traded emails with Lee who owns the business. It’s nice to help a small businessman just getting started and his product is really scratching an itch with me.

The camera is very important. We’ll be going to one of the most photogenic events on Earth – Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta. From there everything up to Vegas is naturally beautiful, or awe inspiring, or both.

And Vegas… please. At one point, Kodak might have paid for it to be built.

Of course I’ve got 21st Century concerns. Will there be Internet access? Actually, yes – even at our hotel in tiny Kayenta, AZ

Will there be cell service? Not so much. It’s nearly impossible to know where there will or won’t be access. The maps are awful. It’s almost as if the cell companies want it that way. And user submitted information about cells is old and often subjective.

We’re renting a car for the drive. I’m hoping it’s got satellite radio. Kayenta, for instance, is over 80 miles from the nearest radio station.

The rental company gave me a definite maybe! Many full size cars (a rental car exaggeration) have satellite… not all.

This trip promises to be the kind you remember for a lifetime. What will we see? Will the weather cooperate for our balloon ride? Will this much time together be enough for Helaine to pull out a gun and shoot me?

Anything’s possible. One more day to tie up loose ends and then I’ll be writing you from the road.