My Adventures Living Daily Life & Traveling the World

It’s a shame that we only had one hour here to look around. Damn tour groups! The weather was really nice for taking a walk, so my mom and I took a stroll down Main Street, occasionally peeking into a shop or two. We hadn’t had dinner, and we found Oyster Bay amidst the millions of steakhouses, and that was our pick.

Oyster Bay turned out to be a bar as well as a restaurant, which was just fine with me. I ordered some crab cakes, and they were simply amazing. They were way better than what I’d expect from a little restaurant in a tiny Midwestern town. At the bar sat some bikers who looked like they were having a lot of fun, so I joined them. They all looked to be at least 35 years old, but they acted more immature and wild than me, if that’s possible. I loved the topic at hand – poker, and shared some of my insights with them. My mom didn’t like them, and got mad at me for talking to them. I even turned them down when they offered me a drink, so go figure.

My only gripe was that we had to leave soon afterwards and I didn’t get a chance to gamble. I kept eyeing the poker tables as I pass each cute little casino. Vegas may be grand, but this place had its own endearing charm.

Today was much more fun than yesterday, except for being sick on the five hour long bus ride with the sun in my face all day, of course.

The walk on the Presidential Trail was extremely relaxing and comforting. I really needed the time alone to think and jot down sceneries in case I was going to use them for a novel or short story in the future. The Trail was a great setting for an intimate or mysterious scene, or perhaps both. It was shorter than I expected, however, so I took another walk around seeing that I had ample time left over before we were to depart again.

For our last destination, we arrived at a small town named Deadwood. Now this place was really worth my time. With a population of 1,000, it seemed way livelier than it should be. The streets were filled with bikers and pedestrians, revving engines, music and laughter. Each side of the road had many hotels, saloons, shops, and even casinos, all Western style. I felt like I was in a Texan Las Vegas, if that makes any sense.

I was really enjoying reading about each of the four presidents on the signs along the trail, when a very cute voice interrupted me. It was an adorable little girl, maybe six years old or so. Our conversation went something like this:

Her: Ma’am, have you met Mr. George Washington?
Me: [chuckle] No, sweetie, I haven’t.
Her: Are you going up there to meet him now?
Me: No, I’m just going to take a photo with him. He’s very… busy. [or very dead!]
Her: Oh, ok.
At this point I see no adults around and start to worry.
Me: Where’s your mommy?
Her: She’s back there with my brother.
She pointed to the way I came from, and I see a youngish woman with a baby rushing over.
Woman: Ashley (I think), I told you not to run too far ahead. Come on.

The woman then turns towards me and smiles. I fake a smile back, thinking that if the little girl was my kid, I would never leave her alone like that. It would be so easy to get lost on that trail. The kid pretty much made my day though. I love her innocence.

Our first destination today was the Crazy Horse Memorial. A sculptor and his family have worked on this sculpture of Crazy Horse, a famous Indian warrior, for over 100 years now. It is still only 15% completed.

Understandably, since it is projected to be something like 500 meters tall. The monument, even unfinished, looked quite grand from the observatory deck, and the breeze made it all better. I took so many photos that my phone battery went from 5 bars to 1 bar. It doesn’t matter much since I got no signal all day. T-Mobile can really suck my ass.

Next, we headed to Mount Rushmore, a tourist location I’ve actually heard of so far! Like the Crazy Horse monument, Mount Rushmore was pretty damn impressive. There was a little trail, called the Presidential Trail, in front of the monument. I love taking walks, but my mom didn’t want to because she’d have to walk up and down too many flights of stairs, so I went alone.

This morning, I was rudely awakened by the automated telephone system in the hotel. I didn’t get much sleep the night before, but since I had a five hour bus ride ahead of me, I figured it wasn’t a major deal.

As soon as I got up I was welcomed by a terrible nose bleed. It stopped soon enough, but I realized there were other noticeable things wrong with me. I was feeling dizzy, my throat ached, it was difficult to speak, and once every few minutes it was even hard for me to breathe normally. What the heck was wrong with me?

It didn’t matter, though. Being with a tour group meant I have to go with them or get left behind. I asked the tour guide for assistance. He quickly and easily diagnosed me. I wasn’t used to the high altitude. Having lived in areas at or only slightly above sea level all my life, it was hard for my body to adjust to the “tallest” state in the U.S. Denver was one mile above sea level. I also don’t drink nearly enough water, apparently.

After drinking a whole bottle of water, I felt better already, even if it was entirely psychological. I was still having trouble breathing, and my ears popped like crazy. I felt a lot better after sleeping for a few hours and chugging water bottle after water bottle. I paid for it by having to run to the bathroom literally at every stop.

The tour guide himself was nice, but could not speak English coherently. He explained stuff no one really cares about, such as the history of Denver, our destinations, etc. Well, I guess our destinations were important. For the day, we were going to the state capitol, Coors beer brewery, and Red Rock Amphitheater.

I’m sad to say that none of these places are worth writing about in detail. The state capitol was just an office building whose exterior looked more old-fashioned than most, and whose interior was filled with photos of already dead but important government people. The beer brewery was an even bigger waste of time, since their guided tour wasn’t available on Wednesdays. All we got to see was the gift shop, basically.

This morning I woke up at 6 A.M. As usual I was tired and reluctant to get up, but my mom forced me to since we are going on that 7 day trip. When we got to the airport and attempted to check in at United Airlines, we were told by the self check in machine to go to Continental. After a bit of going back and forth, a nice ticket counter lady finally put us through. I guess this is proof that machines won’t conquer the world any time soon.

I arrived at Denver, Colorado after a reasonably smooth flight. Trying to fall asleep in an uncomfortable aircraft seat is always a challenge. When we arrived, we had trouble locating the tour guide among what seemed to be at least a hundred people waiting at the gate, for events ranging from conventions to leisure travel. We called several numbers given to us by the agency and were finally able to get in contact with our tour guide, George.

Our tour group consists of roughly 50 people. I have never traveled in a group as large as this, and I had no idea what kind of shenanigans I was going to have to put up with. I found out soon enough. Traveling with 50 people means there are 50 chances for somebody to be late, somebody to wait on. And piling 50 people into a bus isn’t an easy or timely task. About an hour and a half after I arrived in Denver, we finally departed on the bus.