It has been said that the Mountain West conference is “At the Peak,” and to me, nothing illustrates that more, than the fact that there are 12 teams competing in the only NCAA Division 1 conference that sponsors e-sports. Of course, since the matches are played head-to-head, Boise State has an advantage because they tint the monitors blue, and play with all blue avatars; an advantage that is confirmed in their winning of League of Legends and Overwatch, but with the Spring season being cut, next year the Mountain West has announced that they will be playing Mario Kart 8, for the Nintendo Switch. Due to the large amounts of people in the Mountain West cities suddenly having $1200 burning a hole in their pocket, every store that sells Nintendo Switch has sold out of their allotment; yes, even, Amazon. So, thus the conundrum becomes: How can these players, prospects, and ordinary people practice in order to “git gud” as the gamers would say? Well, that’s where I come in. For, you see, since I am allowed out on the streets again, finally, due to both my prison sentence being cut short, and my work being determined to be “essential,” I had the time to scope out some places. Alas, while my cough and fever are not improving as much as I had hoped since I last got back from Italy, I did manage to find some time to visit all of the Mountain West cities in order to find the easiest place to get a Switch and Mario Kart 8 location. For simplicity’s sake, I am going by the football stadium since it’s a well-defined point in most locations – San José State fans, the football stadium is that big ovoid building at the corner of E Alma Ave, and S 7th St… It’s the place where the people aren’t on Saturday’s is September. Should you get hungry during your travels, I have also managed to find a some breakfast locations in the same vicinity

Mountain

Air Force

Okay, so I lied a little; I tried to get into the university, but, unfortunately the men with guns wouldn’t actually let me get beyond the gate on S Gate Rd, and I was still a little jet-lagged having just gotten in from Frankfurt after having woken up for my 0610 flight for the Linate to Frankfurt leg (stupid weather prevented the flight from Denver to ABQ, but my loss is your gain). So, while this may not be the closest, it certainly will fit the bill. Tyler-Jay Rowland who lives at 3075 Navigation Drive, in Colorado Springs was more than willing to help out, especially since his son, Jeremiah, was grounded for a month for staying out after curfew two weekends in a row. As the falcon flies, this location is 5.2 miles away; in a car, it’s not too much further than that.

Boise State

Now, I don’t, technically, hate the way that Boise is laid out with the river running right through the center of town, but even though Maci Drew lives in the Clearwater Apartments, unit 323, which is in a straight line, only a quarter of a mile from the stadium, you will have to go the Exxtramile, to get to her apartment. Also, she would like me to point out, that times for a waitress like herself are a little rough, so please, if you’re hungry, skip Taco Bell, and eat at the Bar Gernika in downtown Boise, right next to the Central Plaza and Century Link Arena. “We have wifi” she said.

Colorado State

This is, by far, the most remarkable location; I had completely forgotten that they moved to an on-campus stadium, so I initially went to the Hughes Stadium location, and found a big pile of dirt. And not much else – well, if you exclude the trees that formed a nice line, that brought me back to my college days. Having corrected my too old Garmin in-car GPS, I found Tim Thatcher on 604 Balsam Ln; he’s a little deaf, so you might need to knock like you are ram-ing down the door. He bought the Switch after his wife of 35 years died to help him grieve and spend his retirement, “but it’s just making me too sad lately, and I’ve never been very good at vid’ya [sic] games. I still don’t know how I’m supposed to save the princess when she’s trying to beat me… That reminds me of my princess, who I lost last year. She was so kind, we met in high school, I had an onion on my belt as was the style in those days. They didn't have any white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones.” I’ll be honest, at this point I started zoning out because, again, fever. He honestly looked really sad as I was talking to him, so you might want to try to cheer him up, since he’s just a lonely guy bein’ a dude. In a straight line distance, you’re only going .3 miles, and it’s not too much further by car.

New Mexico

This is by far the closest location to the stadium. The UNM Lobo Club is a non-essential business in the state of New Mexico, and UNM and the Athletics Department realized that funding would need to be cut dramatically throughout the state, and with the sweetheart deal they got from the legislature this year, they decided to close all athletic facilities, including the Maloof building, home of both Eddie Nuñez’s office, and the Lobo Club. I suggest using the side door closest to the field level entrance of the stadium. That’ll take you to the weight room; an alarm will go off, the code is “1892” the year the football team first played (interesting tidbit: the marching band was founded in 1889, the same year as the university); from there enter the main hallway, and go to the first door on the left after you pass the restrooms. The last time I was there, they had a vending machine that dispensed free Mountain Dew; I was howl-ing with laughter after I found that. Also, if you see Señor Manta, say “Hola!” he’s been down on his luck since his family were killed in the accident, and now he wanders the street like a lone Lobo.

Utah State

It was like a bomb went off. No one was around; maybe they were busy playing Farmer, or having a bonfire out in the dirt behind the stadium, wit their brown-eyed girls, but Jeff Field’s dorm room, Aggie Village Community building 17, first floor, third window from the right (he leaves it unlocked, so don’t worry about access) has a Switch just sitting there on the bed, as though he borrowed it from someone, but never managed to return it before he left. Go on, take it, just say that it was yours and he left it, no one will check.

Wyoming

Cowboys and Cowgirls are just different, I guess; I could not find a Nintendo Switch in town for the life of me. I found many Switchblades, Light switches, and many wooden rods, so I took my horse down to Cheyenne, and found a recently laid-off Subway Sandwich Artist called Dom, who knew just where to look. He directed me to 803 West 21st St, Suite B. He told me, “yeah, the guy who runs this storefront, has a little son, about 6 years old. He keeps a Switch in his desk’s keyboard tray for when he picks his son up from school.” Because of the ordeal in Laramie, I asked him to clarify, and he did, “yeah… Nintendo switch.” He said as he looked around shiftily. If that doesn’t work you can always try Suite C, I heard they stock Switches… oh wait, not that kind.” I was going to ask him for more information, but he entered what looked like an abandoned brick building just passed the railroad tracks, “You didn’t see me,” he said. And I also didn’t hear the gunshots that went off as I walked back to my car.

Table View

School	Distance Driving (mi)	Straight Line Distance (mi)	Drive/Drone Difference	Variance (from all schools)A
Air Force	8.44	5.22	3.22	0.047
Boise State	1.00	0.282	0.718	1.069
Colorado State	0.420	0.312	0.108	1.792
New Mexico	0.206	0.191	0.015	1.920
Utah State	0.444	0.305	0.139	1.751
Wyoming	47.90	40.69	7.21	4.894

A: Variance is calculated based upon DDD’s distance from the standard deviation of DDD… Why DDD? Because, DDD is King.

West

Note: SDSU currently does not field an Esports team; I am including them because it seems likely that they will in the near future

Hawai’i

Hawai’i is interesting because the Honolulu airport has a much better open air location than the El Paso airport; there’s a water path, it’s weird man, it reminds me a lot of the Tiki Room at Disn… oh, yeah, Hawai’i, Polynesia, that makes sense. Anyway, the stadium is home to the largest swap meet’s I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, I did not find any Switches, but I did find a guy swapping Macadamia Nut cookies for a few dollars, so naturally, I bought some. It started to rain, so even though many people are Rainbow Warriors or Wahine, as the women prefer to be called, I am not. I stopped in at the ‘Aeia Public Library for a spell, and my phone was dead, so I needed a place to charge for a bit. The nice librarian, Akela (“it means graceful,” I was told. After I asked, “like the wolf-spirit in Hindi myths?”), pointed out, that, “We loan out all sorts of stuff here; pots, pans, sewing machines. Believe it or not, we even rent out video game systems. Our most popular is probably the Nintendo Switch, but we also have a couple of Xbox’s and PS4’s.” I guess I looked very shocked because Akela continued, “with the military surrounding us, we, the library system, get a lot of goods from contractors who don’t want to have a lot of their goods shipped back to the mainland.” Seeing how much it cost to ship out, I completely understood, and bid ¬¬Akela aloha, and failed the Hawai’I test by passing out at the nearest Embassy Suites, in Kapolei, if I remember correctly (I probably don’t, I was tired).

Fresno State

A nice cow brought me to Clovis. Much like what happened in Las Vegas, it was not the cool one, but instead the one in California. She (I saw udders), brought me specifically to 264 Clovis Ave, and said, “what you seek, from my master, is in there.” I’m not sure if it was my fever, jet-lag, a combination of them, or something else entirely, but then the cow vanished as though she was just a thing on the internet. A stray puppy passed by me in downtown, so that was probably the highlight of the trip.

Nevada (Reno)

Look, I’ll be honest, Reno to me always makes me feel like I’m going to be leaving the city without one or both of my kidneys. I don’t know why I expect Renoirs to chew my body like a Pack of Wolves, but there you are. Diedre Thomas of 128 Keystone Ave, fell on hard times. She poured herself a glass of vodka, neat, and said, “you can have anything you want,” she paused briefly to wink at me, “for the right price.” I specifically enquired about the Switch, “Anything,” she replied. She pulled out what appeared to be a small glass bowl that looked like an incense holder, and a baggie of chalk dust, and… Oh my god, she was going to smoke cocaine. Anyway, as she pulled out the pulled out the baggie, I hastily took my leave. I then went to the airport and went to my next stop….

Nevada – Las Vegas

Can you believe parents still bring their children, like elementary school aged children to Las Vegas. And it’s not the cool Las Vegas, in New Mexico, it’s the one in Nevada; well, I guess, technically they bring their kids to Paradise, and not Las Vegas, but c’mon man, there isn’t that much difference. Anyway, head to the Excalibur hotels because Carla, the housekeeper said that on average 3 Switches get left by guests every day. I then felt really depressed while walking around the hotel, so I left to check out the Mirage, where I normally stay on these Mountain West trips. I also learned that if there’s one thing that freaks me out more than the throngs of people walking the Strip, it’s when there’s nobody around. Once the new stadium gets completed it will be vastly easier to get to the casino than at the current location.

San Diego State

I stayed with Dominic, at his house of Friars Road. I was starting to feel sick to my stomach with the lack of green chile, so it was so enjoyable to spend time with a fellow New Mexican (and my roommate junior year). He took me on a little tour: Balboa Park’s stadium (home of the former Harbor Bowl, and the first tie in UNM Football history), the USS Midway, and Ocean Beach. I had forgotten about the assignment until I looked down at my feet and found a working Switch. When it was still there after an hour, I borrowed a small boat, realised, I need a bigger boat and headed out to the Ocean. Having claimed rights, I then put it back, so you might also find it.

San José State

Look, there are a lot of people who depart from the San Jose Airport. The kids who travel on these flights are slightly scatter-brained because of the adrenaline of taking a plane ride (and passing through the checkpoint), and leave some of their electronics, and I found a shoe! A shoe! Who only puts one shoe on and then walks-off? It was an adult shoe, so it’s not like a child/toddleparent left it, no, someone made a conscious decision to leave their shoe… Maybe it was a protest? Anyway, just tell the guy that you left your Switch at the checkpoint, if he asks you what color it was say, it had yellow grips that slide off, but the screen was bounded by black.

Table View

School	Distance Driving (mi)	Straight Line Distance (mi)	Drive/Drone Difference	Standard Deviation (all schools)A
Fresno State	4.46	3.28	1.18	0.644
Hawai’i	1.420	0.696	0.784	1.001
Nevada (Reno)	2.410	1.69	0.720	1.067
Nevada – Las Vegas (SBS)b	18.426	8.93	11.258
Nevada – Las Vegas (NVS)c	2.125	0.590	1.535	0.391
San Diego State	9.861	8.08	1.78	0.252
San José State	6.575	4.60	1.975	0.164

A: Variance is calculated based upon DDD’s distance from the standard deviation of DDD… Why DDD? Because, DDD is King.
b: Sam Boyd Stadium
c: New Vegas Stadium (Allegiant Field)

Conclusion

Even if the stores are sold out of Switches, there are always places you can go to get them, some are definitely within walking distance of your house, maybe even right next door. If you do choose to do that, there are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Milk 2. Eggs, specifically from Natural Grocers, if they still have member pricing. 3. Chicken thighs
Wait, that was my grocery list for last week.

1. Basque food is amazing.
2. The addresses are real, any businesses mention are real; the people mentioned or alluded to (with exception to the person who has an office in Clovis, CA; and Dominic in SD) are fake.
3. No, I do not know who lives at the addresses, and unless you can look it up in the phone book, I recommend that you don’t either. Please don’t bother them.
4. No, I am not sick… I have a lingering cough from allergies to junipemesquite pollen.
5. I have not visited Colorado Springs/Fort Collins/Laramie/Reno/San José/Honolulu, yet.
6. Information for the other cities comes from my memory
7. I remember when Park MGM was the Monte Carlo
8. Is Secret Pizza still at the Cosmo? I don’t remember seeing it the last time I was there, but that might have been because I was on the wrong floor.
9. Toss a coin to your witcher.
10. Normal people stop listing things at 10, but
11. This list goes up to 11.

Hi everyone, I posted a few weeks back about starting to write a series about my adventures on the road - to inspire! I just finished the first section of my first story. This part takes place from 1 sunset to the next - adventures of 1 day on the road. This is part of a longer segment about a road trip to Coachella.... I hope you enjoy: ps. any feedback greatly appreciated
It’s 4:45pm on a cold April evening in Boston, I’m counting the minutes and seconds 'till I can dart out of my office and head to the airport. I have my carry on bag and backpack with me at my desk, and my mind is far from work. My father, who happened to be in the city for meetings, is waiting outside to take me to the airport. The clock strikes 5 and I am gone before the big hand ticks again. I smoke a quick spliff on the sidewalk around the corner and then hop in my father’s car - I’m officially on vacation. He drops me off, we say our goodbyes, and I arrive at the airport with enough time to have 2 beers before my flight. As I sit in my window seat waiting for takeoff, I slowly watch the sunset over the Boston skyline, only imagining what the next couple of sun sets will look like from the west. I couldn’t imagine everything I would see before the next time the sun set. The plane took off at 8pm. I’m usually the type of person to stare out the window for the entire plane ride, so much so that I usually leave the plane with a sore neck - but for this flight I knew I should sleep so I could be energized for what lay ahead. I managed to sleep for about 2 hours on the plane. I woke up to the captain calling for the final descent into Denver. We touched down in Denver in the midst of a late spring snow storm, 10:30pm local time. Syd was already at the Terminal West pickup zone waiting for me with his bags packed. We make a couple of quick stops to prep for the road (munchies and what-not) and off we went - headed West. The clock strikes Midnight as we get on the highway - it’s now officially 4/20 in Colorado, I’m overwhelmed with joy, excitement, and weed smoke. Syd took the initiative and picked up an ounce for our trip - each gram was in its own bag which was odd at the time but came in handy later on in the trip. Just a few hours ago, I was in my cubicle - now I’m in Denver on 4/20, every adolescents dream. This was just the very beginning.
Exiting Denver heading West, I started to notice the drastic change in landscape. Denver sits at the very edge of the plains that spread across middle America from Pennsylvania to literally Denver. East of Denver is plains, farmland, and corn for 1,500 miles. Each farm and cornfield a spitting image of the previous one. West of Denver is the most beautiful, drastic, diverse scenery all the way to the Pacific Ocean. You have what seems like unlimited options to choose from once passing through the rockies - head southwest for desert, head norwest for ancient forests and god’s country, head directly west for a mix of both and everything in between. This trip we were going southwest. We zoomed into the rockies with snow getting heavier by the minute. I started to get nervous but remembered how I was here back in February with the same road conditions and the same fright. I then remembered how well Syd could handle these roads, so I chilled out. We passed by Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and Keystone ski resorts, and I started to reflect about my 2 weeks of snowboarding here only 2 months prior in February. I thought about how I would love to snowboard here again one day. Little did I know, I would be working for Keystone the following Winter (more on that later).
With Keystone in our rear view, we quickly approached Breckenridge, then Copper, then Vail, and then Beaver Creek. Coming from the East Coast it was hard to believe that all of these world class resorts were all within 45 minutes of each other. You can drive 10 minutes in any direction in Summit County, Colorado and arrive at a world class resort. Once we passed Beaver Creek the snow started to subside and you could see dirt and grass start to be evermore present. A relief from the harsh storm. I was now more relaxed and slept for an hour or 2. I woke up to see an array of lights in the near distance, a massive city- like region as far as the eyes could see. We were approaching Grand Junction, CO, a city declared in the late 1800s as a “grand” junction of the mighty Colorado River and it’s largest tributary, the Gunnison River. Grand Junction is Colorado’s wine country and the closest civilization to Grand Mesa, the world's largest flat-topped mountain which covers hundreds of miles. I was in awe as it seemed to go on forever. We passed through Grand Junction and immediately crossed over into Utah around 4AM, and I took the wheel.
One thing that strikes me about these Western states is you can actually see and feel yourself crossing into another state without there being any formal notice or signs. The way the land drastically changes is amazing. As soon as we entered Utah everything around us started getting more colorful. The brown dirt changed to red clay, the tan grass of Western Colorado quickly changed to green cactuses (or cacti?). The snowy mountains changed to rainbow-colored hills and otherworldly rock formations. I felt like I had just left planet earth and landed on Mars. “This is the coolest place ever” I said to Syd. I continued on in admiration for about an hour, then I could see the very first sign of the sun rising in my rearview mirror. What I thought was beautiful before instantly appeared way more spectacular. I was in awe, trying to soak everything there was to see. I’m lucky that I didn’t drift off the road during these gazes, but luckily the Utah highway was straight and flat, with no other cars at this hour. Each and every minute grew more beautiful as the sun rose higher and higher in my mirrors. It seemed as if the sun was chasing us from the east as we bolted west at a steady 80mph. Once the sun was about halfway up the horizon behind us everything started to brighten up from the darkness of the night. I pulled over at a rest stop to climb a hill and watch the sunrise over the utah desert. I found a boulder at the top of the hill perched over a valley, and watched the sun slowly illuminate hundreds of miles of desert. I will never forget it. Now that it was bright as day, I hopped back into the driver’s seat and continued on. Syd woke up from a snooze; I tried to describe what I had just witnessed but no words could do justice. From there on, I pulled over at every scenic viewpoint that we came across, which seemed like every 10 minutes. They each got better and better the further into Utah we ventured. Sand Bench, Ivie Creek, Devil’s Canyon, Ghost Rock, Spotted Wolf, San Rafael Reef, Black Dragon Canyon, and Crescent Junction to name a few. We probably lost an hour off of our ETA for these stops, but to me they were priceless, and I didn’t care the least. By this time it was around 8am and the temperature had now reached a comfortable 70 degrees. From here the windows would be down for the rest of the trip.
After about 8 hours of cruising I-70 from the snowy Rocky Mountains through the Utah desert, we passed through Fishlake National Forest in Salina, UT and pulled onto interstate 15 to start heading South. The desert had now transformed into an oasis with green grasses growing, wildflowers budding, trees waving in the gentle wind, and chirping birds greeting the morning. It was like entering a whole different environment yet there was still snow capped mountains in the near distance. I could smell the beautiful scent of the valley and everything it had to offer. I thought to myself how bad the streets of Boston stunk where my office was located, and how amazing this often overlooked section of the country had been so far. Syd was well rested at this point so we pulled over, took our shoes off to walk around the soft warm grass, had a quick beer while soaking in the morning, and hopped back on the road - Syd driving now. We only drove for about 10 minutes until we saw Our next stop was Zion National Park.
We approached Zion National Park from the north, so we were able to get in without paying the national park dues. As we approached Zion, I was convinced that I had already seen the beauty of Utah, and that Zion National Park was going to look like the beautiful valley that we were in during our approach. I was wrong. We traversed the winding road that leads into the northwestern park of the park and then she revealed herself. The sheer beauty of this valley is almost indescribable, and only the finest poets could barely do justice. All of a sudden we were hundreds of feet above this majestic garden of eden. Both Syd and I had to pick our jaws up from the car floor, and still remained speechless after that. We pulled the car over and sat there in awe and tried to absorb all the beauty that was in front of us. It reminded me of the old childs movie “The Land Before Time”. I imagined pterodactyls soaring above the cliffs, gazing over all sorts of other dinosaurs that roamed the valley floor. There were emerald rivers below me and massive cliff walls surrounding me with trees and plants growing everywhere. Every color on the spectrum could be seen in this little speck nature. I pictured the natives who used to call this place home and how it must have felt to discover this desert oasis. I felt one with nature here. Syd and I must have spent an hour sitting here and admiring this beauty. We had to get going so I took one last gaze, and went back in the car. I told myself I would come back here to really explore the place. I sure did, but that adventure comes in a later story.
We left Zion and had Las Vegas in our sights. Zion is only about 2 hours away from Las Vegas, so we planned on that being our next stop/point of interest. Right around this time, about 10AM, we realized that we had left Denver about 10 hours ago and needed some food. We decided we would wait until Vegas, but then all of a sudden a mirage appeared in the desert. “That is a mirage, right Syd?”. “It must be”. I got overwhelmed with excitement as my mouth started watering, the mirage got closer. “That mirage looks pretty real” “But it can’t be...we’re in Utah”. Yup, it was real. I rubbed my eyes to be sure. We pulled up to the Washington, UT exit signs and there was a billboard that read “In-N-Out 1 mile”. I hadn’t been that happy in a while. We checked what time they opened: 10:30 AM, we checked our clock: 10:20 AM. It was a miracle. We smoked a joint and walked in as they were taking down the “closed” sign.
Now here is where I had another “holy shit it’s a small world” moment. Throughout my life I had always had these weird coincidences where I see someone I know while on vacation or somewhere hundreds/thousands of miles away. From seeing a college friend at a resort in Puerto Rico, to sitting next to my hometown buddy on a plane from the DR, to sitting across the table from a classmate in the Bahamas. As I was munching my burger, in the middle of Southerwestern Utah, two people from my highschool walked in. An older couple that was I think 3 years above me. Now we didn’t know each other well enough, so we didn’t speak but we all looked at each other with the “WTF?” eyes, and continued to pretend not to know each other, even though we both knew our stories started in a small coastal town in MA. “What a small world” I thought as I finished my burger (animal style, of course).
We hopped back in the car and in a flash we were in Las Vegas. I was very excited to finally see Las Vegas. I was reminiscing of all the crazy stories ive heard and movies ive seen, portraying this to be the place of no rules where everyone leaves with a crazy story that they can’t tell their mother (I do have a crazy vegas story, but thats from a different road trip). Well, not at 1:00pm I guess. We drove up and down the strip feeling like movie stars with our arms and feet hanging out the window, trying to show off my fake Y-3 shoes (SMH). Vegas is a whole nother world during the day, and there is not much to be excited about. We parked the car at Caesars Palace and roamed around the casino, only to find desperate slot-goers at this hour. It was kind of depressing. After an hour of roaming the strip and fantasizing in the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores, we decided it was time to leave Vegas. The next time I was in Vegas turned out to be a lot more...fear and loathing-ish, we’ll get to that later.
After Vegas we were ready to get to California. We decided we would only stop for gas from this point on, and set our sites on San Diego. The goal was to race there fast enough to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean before heading to Coachella the following day. My cousin lived in San Diego at the time and welcomed us to stay the night at his house before the festival. We drove and drove racing the sun which was starting to gain on us. We crossed into California and kept driving until we hit San Bernardino and came to a complete stop. There was traffic for as far as the eyes could see. “Are you kidding me? LA traffic all the way out here” while it might not have specifically been LA traffic, there was certainly bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to LA. “wow, people aren’t joking about LA traffic” we laughed. Luckily after only a couple miles we pulled off the exit to head south to San Diego and were back cruising along.
In what seemed like a close race against time, we pulled into Pacific Beach, San Diego right as the sun was reaching the point where it really starts to turn the color of the sky to a pinkish-peach color. It was so beautiful. We paced onto the boardwalk and got a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the surfers trying to catch their last waves before darkness. We stayed and watched in awe until there was no sun left to watch. As we were exiting the boardwalk we were overwhelmed with delicious smells of local vendors preparing food for the night crowd. It felt as if we entered a food truck convention, and thousands of people now fluttered in to get a taste of the local cuisine. We walked around aimlessly smelling and tasting all they had to offer. I had a couple beef and pork tacos and a churro; Syd had a freshly caught fish taco. From there we soaked everything in, breathed a sigh of relief for we had made it and reflected on what an incredible day we just had. From there we went to my cousins loft and relaxed with him, only to begin a new adventure tomorrow.

Hi everyone, I posted a few weeks back about starting to write a series about my adventures on the road - to inspire! I just finished the first section of my first story. This part takes place from 1 sunset to the next - adventures of 1 day on the road. This is part of a longer segment about a road trip to Coachella.... I hope you enjoy:
ps. any feedback greatly appreciated
edit: I misspelled the title :/
It’s 4:45pm on a cold April evening in Boston, I’m counting the minutes and seconds 'till I can dart out of my office and head to the airport. I have my carry on bag and backpack with me at my desk, and my mind is far from work. My father, who happened to be in the city for meetings, is waiting outside to take me to the airport. The clock strikes 5 and I am gone before the big hand ticks again. I smoke a quick spliff on the sidewalk around the corner and then hop in my father’s car - I’m officially on vacation. He drops me off, we say our goodbyes, and I arrive at the airport with enough time to have 2 beers before my flight. As I sit in my window seat waiting for takeoff, I slowly watch the sunset over the Boston skyline, only imagining what the next couple of sun sets will look like from the west. I couldn’t imagine everything I would see before the next time the sun set. The plane took off at 8pm. I’m usually the type of person to stare out the window for the entire plane ride, so much so that I usually leave the plane with a sore neck - but for this flight I knew I should sleep so I could be energized for what lay ahead. I managed to sleep for about 2 hours on the plane. I woke up to the captain calling for the final descent into Denver. We touched down in Denver in the midst of a late spring snow storm, 10:30pm local time. Syd was already at the Terminal West pickup zone waiting for me with his bags packed. We make a couple of quick stops to prep for the road (munchies and what-not) and off we went - headed West. The clock strikes Midnight as we get on the highway - it’s now officially 4/20 in Colorado, I’m overwhelmed with joy, excitement, and weed smoke. Syd took the initiative and picked up an ounce for our trip - each gram was in its own bag which was odd at the time but came in handy later on in the trip. Just a few hours ago, I was in my cubicle - now I’m in Denver on 4/20, every adolescents dream. This was just the very beginning.
​
Exiting Denver heading West, I started to notice the drastic change in landscape. Denver sits at the very edge of the plains that spread across middle America from Pennsylvania to literally Denver. East of Denver is plains, farmland, and corn for 1,500 miles. Each farm and cornfield a spitting image of the previous one. West of Denver is the most beautiful, drastic, diverse scenery all the way to the Pacific Ocean. You have what seems like unlimited options to choose from once passing through the rockies - head southwest for desert, head northwest for ancient forests and god’s country, head directly west for a mix of both and everything in between. This trip we were going southwest. We zoomed into the rockies with snow getting heavier by the minute. I started to get nervous but remembered how I was here back in February with the same road conditions and the same fright. I then remembered how well Syd could handle these roads, so I chilled out. We passed by Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, and Keystone ski resorts, and I started to reflect about my 2 weeks of snowboarding here only 2 months prior in February. I thought about how I would love to snowboard here again one day. Little did I know, I would be working for Keystone the following Winter (more on that later).
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With Keystone in our rear view, we quickly approached Breckenridge, then Copper, then Vail, and then Beaver Creek. Coming from the East Coast it was hard to believe that all of these world class resorts were all within 45 minutes of each other. You can drive 10 minutes in any direction in Summit County, Colorado and arrive at a world class resort. Once we passed Beaver Creek the snow started to subside and you could see dirt and grass start to be evermore present. A relief from the harsh storm. I was now more relaxed and slept for an hour or 2. I woke up to see an array of lights in the near distance, a massive city- like region as far as the eyes could see. We were approaching Grand Junction, CO, a city declared in the late 1800s as a “grand” junction of the mighty Colorado River and it’s largest tributary, the Gunnison River. Grand Junction is Colorado’s wine country and the closest civilization to Grand Mesa, the world's largest flat-topped mountain which covers hundreds of miles. I was in awe as it seemed to go on forever. We passed through Grand Junction and immediately crossed over into Utah around 4AM, and I took the wheel.
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One thing that strikes me about these Western states is you can actually see and feel yourself crossing into another state without there being any formal notice or signs. The way the land drastically changes is amazing. As soon as we entered Utah everything around us started getting more colorful. The brown dirt changed to red clay, the tan grass of Western Colorado quickly changed to green cactuses (or cacti?). The snowy mountains changed to rainbow-colored hills and otherworldly rock formations. I felt like I had just left planet earth and landed on Mars. “This is the coolest place ever” I said to Syd. I continued on in admiration for about an hour, then I could see the very first sign of the sun rising in my rearview mirror. What I thought was beautiful before instantly appeared way more spectacular. I was in awe, trying to soak everything there was to see. I’m lucky that I didn’t drift off the road during these gazes, but luckily the Utah highway was straight and flat, with no other cars at this hour. Each and every minute grew more beautiful as the sun rose higher and higher in my mirrors. It seemed as if the sun was chasing us from the east as we bolted west at a steady 80mph. Once the sun was about halfway up the horizon behind us everything started to brighten up from the darkness of the night. I pulled over at a rest stop to climb a hill and watch the sunrise over the utah desert. I found a boulder at the top of the hill perched over a valley, and watched the sun slowly illuminate hundreds of miles of desert. I will never forget it. Now that it was bright as day, I hopped back into the driver’s seat and continued on. Syd woke up from a snooze; I tried to describe what I had just witnessed but no words could do justice. From there on, I pulled over at every scenic viewpoint that we came across, which seemed like every 10 minutes. They each got better and better the further into Utah we ventured. Sand Bench, Ivie Creek, Devil’s Canyon, Ghost Rock, Spotted Wolf, San Rafael Reef, Black Dragon Canyon, and Crescent Junction to name a few. We probably lost an hour off of our ETA for these stops, but to me they were priceless, and I didn’t care the least. By this time it was around 8am and the temperature had now reached a comfortable 70 degrees. From here the windows would be down for the rest of the trip.
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After about 8 hours of cruising I-70 from the snowy Rocky Mountains through the Utah desert, we passed through Fishlake National Forest in Salina, UT and pulled onto interstate 15 to start heading South. The desert had now transformed into an oasis with green grasses growing, wildflowers budding, trees waving in the gentle wind, and chirping birds greeting the morning. It was like entering a whole different environment yet there was still snow capped mountains in the near distance. I could smell the beautiful scent of the valley and everything it had to offer. I thought to myself how bad the streets of Boston stunk where my office was located, and how amazing this often overlooked section of the country had been so far. Syd was well rested at this point so we pulled over, took our shoes off to walk around the soft warm grass, had a quick beer while soaking in the morning, and hopped back on the road - Syd driving now. We only drove for about 10 minutes until we saw Our next stop was Zion National Park.
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We approached Zion National Park from the north, so we were able to get in without paying the national park dues. As we approached Zion, I was convinced that I had already seen the beauty of Utah, and that Zion National Park was going to look like the beautiful valley that we were in during our approach. I was wrong. We traversed the winding road that leads into the northwestern park of the park and then she revealed herself. The sheer beauty of this valley is almost indescribable, and only the finest poets could barely do justice. All of a sudden we were hundreds of feet above this majestic garden of eden. Both Syd and I had to pick our jaws up from the car floor, and still remained speechless after that. We pulled the car over and sat there in awe and tried to absorb all the beauty that was in front of us. It reminded me of the old childs movie “The Land Before Time”. I imagined pterodactyls soaring above the cliffs, gazing over all sorts of other dinosaurs that roamed the valley floor. There were emerald rivers below me and massive cliff walls surrounding me with trees and plants growing everywhere. Every color on the spectrum could be seen in this little speck nature. I pictured the natives who used to call this place home and how it must have felt to discover this desert oasis. I felt one with nature here. Syd and I must have spent an hour sitting here and admiring this beauty. We had to get going so I took one last gaze, and went back in the car. I told myself I would come back here to really explore the place. I sure did, but that adventure comes in a later story.
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We left Zion and had Las Vegas in our sights. Zion is only about 2 hours away from Las Vegas, so we planned on that being our next stop/point of interest. Right around this time, about 10AM, we realized that we had left Denver about 10 hours ago and needed some food. We decided we would wait until Vegas, but then all of a sudden a mirage appeared in the desert. “That *is* a mirage, right Syd?”. “It must be”. I got overwhelmed with excitement as my mouth started watering, the mirage got closer. “That mirage looks pretty real” “But it can’t be...we’re in Utah”. Yup, it was real. I rubbed my eyes to be sure. We pulled up to the Washington, UT exit signs and there was a billboard that read “In-N-Out 1 mile”. I hadn’t been that happy in a while. We checked what time they opened: 10:30 AM, we checked our clock: 10:20 AM. It was a miracle. We smoked a joint and walked in as they were taking down the “closed” sign.
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Now here is where I had another “holy shit it’s a small world” moment. Throughout my life I had always had these weird coincidences where I see someone I know while on vacation or somewhere hundreds/thousands of miles away. From seeing a college friend at a resort in Puerto Rico, to sitting next to my hometown buddy on a plane from the DR, to sitting across the table from a classmate in the Bahamas. As I was munching my burger, in the middle of Southerwestern Utah, two people from my highschool walked in. An older couple that was I think 3 years above me. Now we didn’t know each other well enough, so we didn’t speak but we all looked at each other with the “WTF?” eyes, and continued to pretend not to know each other, even though we both knew our stories started in a small coastal town in MA. “What a small world” I thought as I finished my burger (animal style, of course).
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We hopped back in the car and in a flash we were in Las Vegas. I was very excited to finally see Las Vegas. I was reminiscing of all the crazy stories ive heard and movies ive seen, portraying this to be the place of no rules where everyone leaves with a crazy story that they can’t tell their mother (I do have a crazy vegas story, but thats from a different road trip). Well, not at 1:00pm I guess. We drove up and down the strip feeling like movie stars with our arms and feet hanging out the window, trying to show off my fake Y-3 shoes (SMH). Vegas is a whole nother world during the day, and there is not much to be excited about. We parked the car at Caesars Palace and roamed around the casino, only to find desperate slot-goers at this hour. It was kind of depressing. After an hour of roaming the strip and fantasizing in the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores, we decided it was time to leave Vegas. The next time I was in Vegas turned out to be a lot more...fear and loathing-ish, we’ll get to that later.
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After Vegas we were ready to get to California. We decided we would only stop for gas from this point on, and set our sites on San Diego. The goal was to race there fast enough to watch the sunset over the Pacific Ocean before heading to Coachella the following day. My cousin lived in San Diego at the time and welcomed us to stay the night at his house before the festival. We drove and drove racing the sun which was starting to gain on us. We crossed into California and kept driving until we hit San Bernardino and came to a complete stop. There was traffic for as far as the eyes could see. “Are you kidding me? LA traffic all the way out here” while it might not have specifically been LA traffic, there was certainly bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to LA. “wow, people aren’t joking about LA traffic” we laughed. Luckily after only a couple miles we pulled off the exit to head south to San Diego and were back cruising along.
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In what seemed like a close race against time, we pulled into Pacific Beach, San Diego right as the sun was reaching the point where it really starts to turn the color of the sky to a pinkish-peach color. It was so beautiful. We paced onto the boardwalk and got a perfect spot to watch the sun set over the surfers trying to catch their last waves before darkness. We stayed and watched in awe until there was no sun left to watch. As we were exiting the boardwalk we were overwhelmed with delicious smells of local vendors preparing food for the night crowd. It felt as if we entered a food truck convention, and thousands of people now fluttered in to get a taste of the local cuisine. We walked around aimlessly smelling and tasting all they had to offer. I had a couple beef and pork tacos and a churro; Syd had a freshly caught fish taco. From there we soaked everything in, breathed a sigh of relief for we had made it and reflected on what an incredible day we just had. From there we went to my cousins loft and relaxed with him, only to begin a new adventure tomorrow.