L.A. TRIP page 2 of 2

The next few days were somewhat of a blur. My long time friend Alok, who I hadn't seen in several years, arrived; a few other people dropped by, and Ivka prepared for graduation by helping the Senior class T.P. the high school (Sunday night I think). Monday was a trip to Disneyland where the rides were fun, but the 5 foot diameter solid granite sphere floating freely on a cushion of water sticks in my mind as one of the most fun toys an engineer could ever see. ;) Monday night, Ivka's school had a huge all night party put together by the Senior class and their parents, with live music, a magician, a hypnotist, games, and high quality food. Even the most jaded kids, had a good time. Tuesday was graduation.

Pictured here are uncles John and Nat, and cousins Ivka, Lily and Jonathan.

	On the left Ivka and Aunt Iris.. On the right Alok and Ivka and I. All sick of cameras by now.

Following graduation was a reception with hoards of people I'd never met, and probably a few that Ivka had never met either. Plenty of food and drink and a good time was had by all.

Wednesday Alok and I hung out, Lily drove the GTI in preparation for her driver's test which she passed the next day in spite of our drive. I think she decided that she's not all that fond of manual transmissions about halfway through our little jaunt. Then I headed down to see Carol and Peter and Grandma Clara in San Diego, and spent the night there along with Anna and the boys. Thursday, the boys and I did the Disc Golf course at Balboa park, and the San Diego Science Museum. Friday we all did the beach thing, and I hit the road by 2pm, on the way back toward Colorado.

A little over 4 hours later I roll into the city of lights, and grab a room at Circus Circus. That run across the desert between L.A. and Vegas with the sun pounding in the driver window, made the choice of my next car mod quite obvious (window tinting).

I ended up taking a nap and then did dinner which was a mistake, because a lot of the shows and stuff were closed by the time I got out to do the town. I did a couple slots and a round of blackjack but I just can't get into gambling. A co-worker describes it this way. "Gambling is a tax on the mathematically challenged." I drove down the strip, saw the Luxor, drove back to Freemont street and saw the light show and so on.

It's all uphill to Denver from here.

Sunday morning, I hit the road north of Vegas, 800 miles from Denver. Not one to stick to a straight flat boring interstate highway for long, I turned off at Cedar City Utah, headed east through Dixie National Forest, past Zion Canyon, toward Bryce Canyon National Park. The 183 mile stretch of roads, (14 to 89 to 12 up to Torrey) may be the longest continuous fun road I've been on. 180 miles of twisty road and incredible views. I took this one while moving. I found that I just didn't want to stop.

I did pull off to take this shot but I had the camera set for the wrong speed film so you have to look hard for the details in there. Beautiful country, fun road. I'd consider going back to Utah just to cover the same ground again. I snapped this last one out the sunroof at about 70mph.

	From Torrey I turned east and headed over to Hanksville on 24. From Hanskville north to I-70 is one of the smoothest, straightest, flattest roads I've been on. I made some good time up here for sure. No cars, and literally miles of visibility. My tires at the time were only rated to 130, so I didn't push it too hard.
	Once I hit I-70, it was just a straight shot home, up over the Rockies and back down. All told, I made it from Vegas to Denver (800 miles) in 11 hours. And I still wasn't bored with the car yet. Next, I had a trip up north planned. On to Montana

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