On Tour in the USA - Page 15

diminished · 08-08-2009, 12:06 AM

Question here for the Lady Cellarites.

Persistence needs a dress,as we'll be attending a wedding within 24 hours of returning home. As we're not very well up on which American chain-stores stock decent dresses,do any of the lady dwellers have any suggestions?

jinx · 08-08-2009, 12:17 AM

J Crew?

Clodfobble · 08-08-2009, 10:13 AM

On short notice like that, I'd say your best bet is to go to a mall. There you will find several chain stores all together in one place, so she'll have a few more choices.

diminished · 08-12-2009, 11:55 PM

Well,Las Vegas has come and gone.

We were very much less than impressed with the place, cutting our 2-3 day planned stay to less than 24 hours.

When people ask me about visiting places, I often give them the advice to 'look up', so that they dont see the mundane stuff at street level, and that they'll usually spot some interesting or at least some historic architecture.

I'd say that 'looking up' in Vegas is almost a must, if you want to retain any kind of sense of awe about the place.

For at street level it has to be one of the dirtiest,greasiest and sleaziest places I've ever been.

Firstly, we made a bad choice of motel.Not from the point of view that the staff were awful (moderately), the place was under reconstruction (and the noisy carpenters started work around 5.30am) or that the breakfast was poor (coffee only.And I scalded my hand on the machine).It was more that it was a block off from the strip.

A block in Vegas seems a lot further than a block anywhere else.Particularly when Persistence decided that we must sally forth to the strip at 1pm, when the temperature had only reached 105.

Once we'd dodged the hoboes, the pan-handlers, the traffic and then yet more hoboes, we were more or less continually assaulted by Latin men and women offering me the sexual favours of their sisters/cousins.Who, strangely, according to the cards they were giving out by the handful, all seemed to be white and blonde.

A tip, however, for these purveyors of the flesh trade.Dont offer me a hooker double-act for $100, when you're also offering me solo ladies of ill repute for $35 each.

The MGM Grand seemed like a fair refuge from the pimps, and indeed we spent a pleasant hour wandering the malls, and feeding the slots.We lost money, of course, but not a lot, and it seemed worth it for the air conditioning and the mere moderate levels of overcrowding and jostling.

That was more or less the last pleasant hour we spent in Vegas.Its probably an OK town if you're going to spend your entire vacation within one of the many splendid casino resorts, but its hell on earth out on the strip.I took a few snaps, then gritted my teeth for the next 4 hours of endless sweaty trudging hell.

The horror of the experience was compounded by going dress shopping.Indeed, we (I) finally did find a dress for Persistence, but only after we'd been through 70+ shops.

Of course, she denied it had been that many, until I pointed out that she'd visited around 50 in the 'Miracle Mile' shopping arcade, most of which had not merited a second glance from her.And the dress we (I) finally selected (to put a stop to the endless charade/parade), she had already walked past 3 times without giving it a look.

"Could you stand it if we look for some shoes now?"
Answers on a postcard, please.They would likely be more polite than my reply.

Griff · 08-13-2009, 05:29 AM

You've just reinforced my instinctive Vegas avoidance. Thanks for that. Go see something attractive now.

diminished · 08-13-2009, 08:16 PM

Instructions received and understood.

After a very wet day wandering the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, we've just booked up a helicopter trip for the morning.

Persistence is bouncing around the room like a bouncy thing, as she's been wanting to do this since we first talked about this vacation.Now we just need the weather gods to be ungrumpy.

ZenGum · 08-13-2009, 08:25 PM

Reminds me of some language lessons we had to do in Japan - booking overseas tours. I did them so many times I got bored as hell and got mischievous.

Where I was supposed to say "I'm interested in your Grand Canyon Helicopter tour", if the student was an sexy woman (as they often were) I would insert a little pause: "I'm interested in your Grand Canyon .... helicopter tour."

Not enough that anyone could notice, but enough to amuse myself.

As you were.

monster · 08-14-2009, 10:50 PM

Shoulda listened to us -we told you four hours tops for Vegas!

. Sorry it was so awful. Hope the Heli tour was fantastic

diminished · 08-15-2009, 01:16 AM

Yeah, I even had to give up going to the 'Pinball Hall of Fame', our need to escape Vegas was so bad.That, and a big chunk of one of my teeth dropped out....can't decide if it was from cultural outrage or fear and loathing.

The display of fountains outside of the Bellagio was pleasantly noteworthy.That accounted for about 5 nice minutes, in addition to the hour spent in the MGM Grand.

The Heli ride over the Grand Canyon was very much worth it. Flying over really does add a lot to the place, which was already looking pretty damned fantastic in today's lightly cloudy weather.

Persistence surprisingly suffered from a digestion malfunction, and had to make use of the in-flight little paper bag, which amused the 4 Italians we were flying with, no end.Even with that happening,she was still grinning ear-to-ear at the end of the flight (even with a few flecks of lunch left upon her chin).

We took the 50-minute tour which came out $388 for the 2 of us, but then found an online coupon which reduced that to $350.Also, at the end of the flight, you get the option of buying a photograph of you and your significant other/partner/spouse/fellow jihadist which is snapped in front of your sky-chariot seconds before the ground crew loads you into your seat...that's another $20, which I got Persistence to fork out for, she was in that good a mood.

I was frantically hammering away with the camera for most of the flight, I think I accumulated about 200 shots before we were done.I did stop to look at some of the scenery, but found myself getting a bit teary-eyed because it was just that damned beautiful, so went back to hastily lining up more shots, which I'll post some of once I sort through my backlog.

The pilot, sadly, remained silent throughout the entire experience, and I had to keep half an eye on him for evidence of a forthcoming psychotic episode. Instead, we had some music piped through our headphones interspersed with a fairly bland commentary in English, then repeated in Italian for our fellow passengers.

Also, I must ask...is anyone aware of why Arizona appears to have been invaded by many many French?'Twas most amusing watching all the miscommunication betwixt them and the staff of a McDonalds earlier tonight.

Ugh, I'm in danger of breaking into Shakespearean...it must be time for bed.

Undertoad · 08-15-2009, 06:33 AM

Vincent: Yeah baby, you'd dig it the most. But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?
Jules: What?
Vincent: It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that we got here, but it's just – it's just there it's a little different.
Jules: Example?
Vincent: All right. Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like in no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald's. Know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Vincent: Naw, man, they got the metric system, they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: What do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a "Royale with Cheese".
Jules: "Royale with Cheese".
Vincent: That's right.
Jules: What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it "Le Big Mac".
Jules: [in mock French accent] "Le Big Mac." [laughs] What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I don't know, I didn't go in a Burger King.

jinx · 08-15-2009, 10:35 AM

ZenGum · 08-15-2009, 09:16 PM

I was gonna ... but then..

Undertoad beat me to it.

Then Jinx beat me to the next one.

Ahh, I luv youse all.

diminished · 08-16-2009, 05:53 PM

Finally sorted through 900+ images.I really should learn that the longer I leave it, the more of a pain in the ass it is to do.

We're holed up in Cedar City,UT today.It seems to be one of those free weekends at the National Parks, as we found out yesterday when we visited Zion, so we're waiting until tomorrow to visit Bryce Canyon.

In the meantime,have some sceneries.

Check out my highly trained attack squirrel moving into position to mug Persistence.

Hawthorne NV finally finds a sensible and happy use for bombs.

The Museum of Kinetic Sculpture, at Ferndale CA.Every year, the residents of Ferndale hold a mad 3 day human-powered multi-terrain sculpture race.The best of the surviving vehicles/sculptures make it into the Museum.

We spotted a Marmot basking in the sun at Lassen Volcanic NP.We took a quick vote and decided we like Marmots.

Finally, a pic of Las Vegas, which Cellarites have my permission to use on relatives, to save themselves the horror of having to visit there themselves.

monster · 08-16-2009, 06:16 PM

excellent. And I'm not buying the squirrel excuse for that pic.....

smoothmoniker · 08-17-2009, 12:33 AM

When do you hit LA? Need any suggestions for things to occupy your time on the left coast?

08-08-2009, 12:06 AM	#211
diminished Why Aye,Man! Join Date: May 2009 Location: At the moment,'Merika Posts: 101	Question here for the Lady Cellarites. Persistence needs a dress,as we'll be attending a wedding within 24 hours of returning home. As we're not very well up on which American chain-stores stock decent dresses,do any of the lady dwellers have any suggestions? __________________ They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things.They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning ...They overdo everything - they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else. Aristotle circa 350 BC

08-08-2009, 12:17 AM	#212
jinx Come on, cat. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: general vicinity of Philadelphia area Posts: 7,013	J Crew? __________________ Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good.

08-08-2009, 10:13 AM	#213
Clodfobble UNDER CONDITIONAL MITIGATION Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 20,012	On short notice like that, I'd say your best bet is to go to a mall. There you will find several chain stores all together in one place, so she'll have a few more choices. __________________ My book My other book My spirit animal

08-12-2009, 11:55 PM	#214
diminished Why Aye,Man! Join Date: May 2009 Location: At the moment,'Merika Posts: 101	Well,Las Vegas has come and gone. We were very much less than impressed with the place, cutting our 2-3 day planned stay to less than 24 hours. When people ask me about visiting places, I often give them the advice to 'look up', so that they dont see the mundane stuff at street level, and that they'll usually spot some interesting or at least some historic architecture. I'd say that 'looking up' in Vegas is almost a must, if you want to retain any kind of sense of awe about the place. For at street level it has to be one of the dirtiest,greasiest and sleaziest places I've ever been. Firstly, we made a bad choice of motel.Not from the point of view that the staff were awful (moderately), the place was under reconstruction (and the noisy carpenters started work around 5.30am) or that the breakfast was poor (coffee only.And I scalded my hand on the machine).It was more that it was a block off from the strip. A block in Vegas seems a lot further than a block anywhere else.Particularly when Persistence decided that we must sally forth to the strip at 1pm, when the temperature had only reached 105. Once we'd dodged the hoboes, the pan-handlers, the traffic and then yet more hoboes, we were more or less continually assaulted by Latin men and women offering me the sexual favours of their sisters/cousins.Who, strangely, according to the cards they were giving out by the handful, all seemed to be white and blonde. A tip, however, for these purveyors of the flesh trade.Dont offer me a hooker double-act for $100, when you're also offering me solo ladies of ill repute for $35 each. The MGM Grand seemed like a fair refuge from the pimps, and indeed we spent a pleasant hour wandering the malls, and feeding the slots.We lost money, of course, but not a lot, and it seemed worth it for the air conditioning and the mere moderate levels of overcrowding and jostling. That was more or less the last pleasant hour we spent in Vegas.Its probably an OK town if you're going to spend your entire vacation within one of the many splendid casino resorts, but its hell on earth out on the strip.I took a few snaps, then gritted my teeth for the next 4 hours of endless sweaty trudging hell. The horror of the experience was compounded by going dress shopping.Indeed, we (I) finally did find a dress for Persistence, but only after we'd been through 70+ shops. Of course, she denied it had been that many, until I pointed out that she'd visited around 50 in the 'Miracle Mile' shopping arcade, most of which had not merited a second glance from her.And the dress we (I) finally selected (to put a stop to the endless charade/parade), she had already walked past 3 times without giving it a look. "Could you stand it if we look for some shoes now?" Answers on a postcard, please.They would likely be more polite than my reply. __________________ They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things.They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning ...They overdo everything - they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else. Aristotle circa 350 BC

08-13-2009, 05:29 AM	#215
Griff still says videotape Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 26,813	You've just reinforced my instinctive Vegas avoidance. Thanks for that. Go see something attractive now. __________________ If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis D. Brandeis

08-13-2009, 08:16 PM	#216
diminished Why Aye,Man! Join Date: May 2009 Location: At the moment,'Merika Posts: 101	Instructions received and understood. After a very wet day wandering the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, we've just booked up a helicopter trip for the morning. Persistence is bouncing around the room like a bouncy thing, as she's been wanting to do this since we first talked about this vacation.Now we just need the weather gods to be ungrumpy. __________________ They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things.They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning ...They overdo everything - they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else. Aristotle circa 350 BC

08-13-2009, 08:25 PM	#217
ZenGum Doctor Wtf Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Badelaide, Baustralia Posts: 12,861	Reminds me of some language lessons we had to do in Japan - booking overseas tours. I did them so many times I got bored as hell and got mischievous. Where I was supposed to say "I'm interested in your Grand Canyon Helicopter tour", if the student was an sexy woman (as they often were) I would insert a little pause: "I'm interested in your Grand Canyon .... helicopter tour." Not enough that anyone could notice, but enough to amuse myself. As you were. __________________ Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008. Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.

08-14-2009, 10:50 PM	#218
monster I hear them call the tide Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Perpetual Chaos Posts: 30,852	Shoulda listened to us -we told you four hours tops for Vegas! . Sorry it was so awful. Hope the Heli tour was fantastic __________________ The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart

08-15-2009, 01:16 AM	#219
diminished Why Aye,Man! Join Date: May 2009 Location: At the moment,'Merika Posts: 101	Yeah, I even had to give up going to the 'Pinball Hall of Fame', our need to escape Vegas was so bad.That, and a big chunk of one of my teeth dropped out....can't decide if it was from cultural outrage or fear and loathing. The display of fountains outside of the Bellagio was pleasantly noteworthy.That accounted for about 5 nice minutes, in addition to the hour spent in the MGM Grand. The Heli ride over the Grand Canyon was very much worth it. Flying over really does add a lot to the place, which was already looking pretty damned fantastic in today's lightly cloudy weather. Persistence surprisingly suffered from a digestion malfunction, and had to make use of the in-flight little paper bag, which amused the 4 Italians we were flying with, no end.Even with that happening,she was still grinning ear-to-ear at the end of the flight (even with a few flecks of lunch left upon her chin). We took the 50-minute tour which came out $388 for the 2 of us, but then found an online coupon which reduced that to $350.Also, at the end of the flight, you get the option of buying a photograph of you and your significant other/partner/spouse/fellow jihadist which is snapped in front of your sky-chariot seconds before the ground crew loads you into your seat...that's another $20, which I got Persistence to fork out for, she was in that good a mood. I was frantically hammering away with the camera for most of the flight, I think I accumulated about 200 shots before we were done.I did stop to look at some of the scenery, but found myself getting a bit teary-eyed because it was just that damned beautiful, so went back to hastily lining up more shots, which I'll post some of once I sort through my backlog. The pilot, sadly, remained silent throughout the entire experience, and I had to keep half an eye on him for evidence of a forthcoming psychotic episode. Instead, we had some music piped through our headphones interspersed with a fairly bland commentary in English, then repeated in Italian for our fellow passengers. Also, I must ask...is anyone aware of why Arizona appears to have been invaded by many many French?'Twas most amusing watching all the miscommunication betwixt them and the staff of a McDonalds earlier tonight. Ugh, I'm in danger of breaking into Shakespearean...it must be time for bed. __________________ They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things.They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning ...They overdo everything - they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else. Aristotle circa 350 BC

08-15-2009, 06:33 AM	#220
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Vincent: Yeah baby, you'd dig it the most. But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is? Jules: What? Vincent: It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that we got here, but it's just – it's just there it's a little different. Jules: Example? Vincent: All right. Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like in no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald's. Know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris? Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese? Vincent: Naw, man, they got the metric system, they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is. Jules: What do they call it? Vincent: They call it a "Royale with Cheese". Jules: "Royale with Cheese". Vincent: That's right. Jules: What do they call a Big Mac? Vincent: A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it "Le Big Mac". Jules: [in mock French accent] "Le Big Mac." [laughs] What do they call a Whopper? Vincent: I don't know, I didn't go in a Burger King.

08-15-2009, 10:35 AM	#221
jinx Come on, cat. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: general vicinity of Philadelphia area Posts: 7,013	__________________ Crying won't help you, praying won't do you no good.

08-15-2009, 09:16 PM	#222
ZenGum Doctor Wtf Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Badelaide, Baustralia Posts: 12,861	I was gonna ... but then.. Undertoad beat me to it. Then Jinx beat me to the next one. Ahh, I luv youse all. __________________ Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008. Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.

08-16-2009, 05:53 PM	#223
diminished Why Aye,Man! Join Date: May 2009 Location: At the moment,'Merika Posts: 101	Finally sorted through 900+ images.I really should learn that the longer I leave it, the more of a pain in the ass it is to do. We're holed up in Cedar City,UT today.It seems to be one of those free weekends at the National Parks, as we found out yesterday when we visited Zion, so we're waiting until tomorrow to visit Bryce Canyon. In the meantime,have some sceneries. Check out my highly trained attack squirrel moving into position to mug Persistence. Hawthorne NV finally finds a sensible and happy use for bombs. The Museum of Kinetic Sculpture, at Ferndale CA.Every year, the residents of Ferndale hold a mad 3 day human-powered multi-terrain sculpture race.The best of the surviving vehicles/sculptures make it into the Museum. We spotted a Marmot basking in the sun at Lassen Volcanic NP.We took a quick vote and decided we like Marmots. Finally, a pic of Las Vegas, which Cellarites have my permission to use on relatives, to save themselves the horror of having to visit there themselves. __________________ They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things.They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning ...They overdo everything - they love too much, hate too much, and the same with everything else. Aristotle circa 350 BC

08-16-2009, 06:16 PM	#224
monster I hear them call the tide Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Perpetual Chaos Posts: 30,852	excellent. And I'm not buying the squirrel excuse for that pic..... __________________ The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart

08-17-2009, 12:33 AM	#225
smoothmoniker to live and die in LA Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 2,090	When do you hit LA? Need any suggestions for things to occupy your time on the left coast? __________________ to live and die in LA

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