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Andersen Silva's Journal

21st October, 2006. 1:58 am. Casino Royale

Robert, Rosmary, and I each got a compact wireless mouse from Per-Sé; with the pens, they made nice parting gifts indeed. Then I got a Medisoft data corruption issue from Michael through the E-mail; thanks, Mike. At least the Wi-Fi allowed me to download the data and start working on it while I was supposed to be paying attention to Crystal Report stuff. Heh-heh...

Lunch was pretty bad. Rosmary and I quickly decided to ditch it and eat at the hotel restaurant instead. After the technical and sales tracks were done, she and I headed over to the shops for a while, where she bought a pair of sneakers for tomorrow's Grand Canyon adventure. I encouraged her to buy these Converse lookalikes, because they were actually pretty cool. We wandered around the Halloween store, too, in hopes of getting something with which to prank and annoy people at Casino Night, but we didn't find anything that really jumped out at us. Well, OK, there were things that really jumped out at us - it was a Halloween store - but nothing that would really do the job we had in mind.

Casino Night itself was fun. Everyone was handed a $1000 chip upon entering, and there were blackjack and craps tables. I don't generally enjoy gambling, but blackjack is fun, and after watching for a while, I joined Robert at a table. During one hand, I found myself with cards totaling 17, and I requested another card. Both Robert and the dealer tried to dissuade me, especially with what the dealer was showing, but I was adamant. "Hit me!" Blackjack.  ;)  Rosmary eventually tried her hand at it, too, and at the end of the night, Microwize won two James Bond movie posters for our efforts. Rafael, one of the most vocal and identifiable VARs at these events, was given a wig in preparation for his role in next year's cheesy corporate video. Peter and Michael from Coast Electronics didn't win anything, but as they'd opted to join us in exploring the Canyon, they followed us to Flagstaff tonight, where it's a lot chillier! Robert's already passed out, and since we have to get up in less than three hours to leave for the airport, I'm passin' out, too.

Current mood: cheerful.

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21st October, 2006. 11:39 pm.

Wow. We left the hotel at 4:45 AM and headed for Grand Canyon Airport. Boarding a little de Havilland plane outfitted with special viewing windows, we flew out over the Canyon, taking in some spectacular vistas, before landing at the South Rim. Along the way, there was a pre-recorded tour guide over our headphones; I surreptitiously changed Rosmary's from English to Japanese, and it took several seconds before she realized something was wrong. Robert was dozing when I switched his, too, so he took a bit longer to catch on. Heh-heh-heh.

Landing at the South Rim, we were treated to pre-packaged continental breakfasts ("If we're flying Grand Canyon Airlines, why are we getting Continental breakfasts?"), then we were shuttled off to Upper Antelope Canyon, a simply beautiful slot canyon in Navajo territory. It was fascinating to listen to how the weather constantly changes the canyon, and sobering to imagine it quickly getting flooded by what would be an insignificant rain back home.

Soon enough, we found ourselves on a bus on the way to the Glen Canyon Dam. There was a security checkpoint before we entered the tunnel, at which all our bags and things needed to be left; Robert, Rosmary, and Peter all stuffed stuff into my backpack, so it'd be easier to get it all back afterwards. Arriving at the dock, we donned hardhats and retrieved our belongings, then made our way down to the boats. Rosmary and I nabbed two choice spots at the front of one, while Robert, Peter, and Michael had to go further in. Our pretty blonde tour guide and boat operator introduced herself as Brandy, or maybe it was Brandi or even Brandie; never got a chance to ask her, though I did later chat with her a bit about how long she'd been doing the tours and where she was originally from. We went around the boat announcing where we were visiting from, and Peter just had to declare that he and Mike were from "Joisey," so when it was my turn to state my origin and I said "New Jersey," Brandy insisted that I say it with the accent. D'oh.

It was cold down there (according to our guide, that part of the river averages 45 degrees year-round), but when we broke into some sunlight, it was rather comfortable. We gazed in wide wonder at the rock formations and the desert varnish, and the occasional birds of prey, while Brandy gave us insightful descriptions and stories throughout. We 'pulled over' onto a small beach for a stretch and pit stop, and got to see some petroglyphs a bit up the trail. Very cool... Heading back down the river, we took in some more awe-inspiring sights before making another stop for lunch, which consisted of sandwiches; the tour guides provided the makings, we just had to actually make them ourselves. Rosmary and I hiked a bit after eating and got a nice view for our efforts, while Robert opted to lay in the sun with his iPod.

Back on the boat, we continued our leisurely pace down the Colorado, finally arriving at Lee's Ferry, the official start of the Grand Canyon and the end of the fun part of the tour. We got back on the bus and started back on the long journey to the Grand Canyon Airport. Rosmary and I both dozed a bit, but were awakened by our lunatic bus driver when traffic came to a dead halt, apparently as the result of an accident. There's but one way in and out of those parts, and when there's a bad accident, nothing moves. Turned out there was a really bad accident, most likely involving a fatality, and we sat there for about an hour before traffic started flowing again. We stopped off at the Cameron Trading Post for some leg-stretching, vittles-chomping, and tourist-trapping, then continued onward. I snoozed some more. 'Twas a long bus ride, but we had a decent dinner (great steaks, and the deep-fried rattlesnake Michael and I shared wasn't half bad) at Yippy-Ki-Yay (or however they spelled it) before embarking on the drive back to Flagstaff. Everyone's exhausted, but glad we went!

Current mood: drained.

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