just got a gift from the my in-laws.... Mastering the Art of French Cooking and My Life in France by Julia Child........ France has been moved up on the list of places i must visit....

future places of interest/future blog posts

Phoenix
Delta
Continental Airlines
Logan International Airport
Boston Bruins
Norwegian Cruise Lines
Stanley Hotel

Las Vegas to the Gorge, George, WA

Ok. So I started this blog and I have never updated it. Now’s the time. First up on the chopping block…Seattle and beyond. And beyond I mean the small haven of George, WA…home of the Gorge http://washington-state-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/visit_the_gorge_amphitheatre and all the temporary hippies that follow around DMB. (So not an insult…I’m one of them, and PROUD of it!)

The trip started with a flight from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Parked the car in the economy lot, not a bad place to park the car and it’s cheaper than a taxi/limo from the house. (I think its $8 a day) We left out of the international terminal because we were flying Virgin America to Seattle. I gotta say, for one of the busiest airports in the US, McCarran isn’t half bad. Security didn’t take too long and the flight left on time (more than what I can say for Newark and Miami…but that’s another story)

Virgin took us to San Francisco first…no direct flights to Seattle as of yet but the price was right. $75 to Seattle and like $60 back to Vegas…not a bad price and it’s a great plane! The service rocks, they’re on-time, clean, comfy, and they have Absinthe on the plane. I suggest getting it with Sprite and a lemon wedge due to their lack of sugar cubes and an eye dropper for proper Absinthe consumption. We landed in Seattle a bit early and with baggage and rental car started out on the 2 hour drive to George.

We were lucky and had a Subaru Outback for our rental. It made the 4 days of camping a little easier seeing as though we weren’t really prepared to camp. The whole flying thing and having to pay for baggage really made us pick and choose what we brought with us. Next year…CHAIRS! (And an air mattress that the cat didn’t claw up.)

So…2 hour drive to George. We stopped at a Trader Joes and met someone who had just been to La Push the weekend before…GOD I LOVE WASHINGTON! If you’re using a GPS input George, Washington…not the Gorge…the GPS get’s all confuzzled and will make you get lost. It was a pretty easy drive. We pulled into the “campground” (I use that term loosely) after dark and were greeted by many people knowing what they were doing! (score huge!) We parked our outback amongst the campers, tents, camp compounds, etc. We set up shop in the dark and hit the hay. It was a long day of travelling. When we awoke the next morning (to the glorious music of DMB…provided by the pimped out camp compound less than 100 yards away) and found what was advertised as a “campground” to be more like a giant back yard full of 12,000 of your closest friends. I highly suggest the premier camping, the bathrooms, showers, and sanity are worth the extra cash. They also provide a shuttle to and from the venue if you don’t feel like walking the ¼ mile + to The Gorge itself. Aside from the rain and heat it was an amazing place to visit and see a show. It was absolutely stunning. Beautiful views, amazing acoustics, great people…I can’t say enough about the Gorge or the DMB shows that we were witness to. The whole thing was amazing and I can’t wait to go back…hopefully next year!

The last DMB show was Sunday and Monday morning after tossing the leaky air mattress we headed to Seattle for the day. We called ahead and were able to get into the hotel early… http://www.hotelvintagepark.com/. We had a real shower (sans shower shoes) for the first time in 4 days, dressed and headed out for a day in Seattle…..