Photos from Trip to The Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, and Miscellaneous Photos (June 24, 2021)

(Click on any of the thumbnails below to view the full-sized photo.)

Before the trip, my countdown calendar had very few squares left ...

... and I stocked up on cat supplies (and many thanks to my neighbors Michael and Rose for looking after the cats in my absence) ...

Before the trip, I also tried to talk one of the kids into going to a restaurant in Phoenix where they serve rattlesnake and also sell these cool T-shirts ... no interest ...

Photos from the flights to Las Vegas (we went DTW -> PHX -> LAS) ...

Photos from our first hotel in Henderson, Nevada ...

Photos from what I believe was a travel center on the way to The Grand Canyon.  My only observation is that I'm not sure a travel center in Michigan would have similar merchandise ...

Videos:

• A video sent via Whatspp to my neighbors to indicate trip progress (63,529,617 bytes).

Photos and videos from The Grand Canyon ...

Videos:

• Video showing the typical tourist climb outside the fences to get an impressive photo (515,879,295 bytes).

Photos and videos from Meteor Crater ...

Videos:

• Video of the last several miles of driving to Meteor Crater (957,916,883 bytes).
• Short panoramic scan of Meteor Crater (49,018,421 bytes).
• Outgoing walk on the guided rim tour (101,065,526 bytes).
• First explanatory talk by our tour guide (552,668,493 bytes).
• Second explanatory talk by our tour guide (683,433,610 bytes).
• Video of me touching the approximately 1,500-lb. meteor fragment (10,857,666 bytes).

Photos and videos from Los Angeles ... Somewhere in our travels, we did manage to find an In-N-Out Burger restaurant for James.  I believe this was on the way from Meteor Crater to Los Angeles ...

Photos from our hotel in Inglewood, California ...

Photos from Santa Monica beach ...

A cute billboard for the Lucifer series, about which I've heard good things ...

Unfortunately, I did not get to ride in this van ...

From the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the only three stars that matter, in order of decreasing importance ...

Photos from Madame Tussauds in Hollywood ...

Photos of the hilly area near the iconic Hollywood sign.  (We had wanted to hike to the sign, but there were too many confounds and unknowns to do it safely.)

Photos from The Griffith Observatory ...

Videos:

• Video of us crossing the border from Nevada into California (67,123,147 bytes).
• View from just outside our 3rd-floor hotel room in Inglewood, California (119,642,683 bytes).
• Janet, Trista, James, and Treyton having fun at the Santa Monica beach (494,926,782 bytes).
• Belly-buster rides on The Santa Monica Pier (40,395,279 bytes).
• Another belly-buster ride on The Santa Monica Pier (55,856,847 bytes).
• Trista, James, and Treyton going on a ride on The Santa Monica Pier (664,709,755 bytes).
• Video showing my incredulousness at the similarity of the real Griffith Observatory to the similar observatory in Grand Theft Auto V (644,407,474 bytes).
• Panoramic view from a spot at The Griffith Observatory (24,629,654 bytes).

Photos and videos from Las Vegas ...

In Las Vegas, the kids rode a zipline called Slotzilla.

I'm not sure in Las Vegas where this photo was taken ...

Riding the bus around Las Vegas ...

I don't actually remember where these photos were taken.  I think it was Las Vegas, but it may have been Los Angeles as well ...

Videos:

• Video as I initially mistook Primm, Nevada for Las Vegas Nevada (512,104,836 bytes).
• Video of part of the drive approaching Las Vegas (112,717,537 bytes).
• Video approaching and pulling into our hotel in Las Vegas (886,247,849 bytes).
• Video of Slotzilla and my walk to where I believed Trista, James, and Treyton would arrive (910,453,060 bytes).
• Video of some Slotzilla riders (but not Trista/James/Treyton—I waited at the wrong spot) (48,409,001 bytes).
• Video of James picking up a package at an Amazon locker (255,484,086 bytes).
• Video 1/2 from The High Roller ferris wheel (894,572,910 bytes).
• Video 2/2 from The High Roller ferris wheel (540,533,297 bytes).

Photos and videos from the trip from Las Vegas to Detroit ...

Videos:

• Video of a brief alarm at the Las Vegas airport and the slot machines behind us as we waited (17,988,353 bytes).

Some cat photos and videos ...

Sometimes when I come home one or more of the cats is waiting for me (or, possibly watching other things when I happen to arrive) ...

My relationship with my cats involves me occasionally showing up at a pet supply place to ponder the question of what they might like ...

Cat videos:

• Rory being fascinated by Messi the Puma videos (497,816,981 bytes).
• Rory enjoying cat treats (219,967,971 bytes).
• Rory play-biting (119,486,907 bytes).

Some miscellaneous photos ... this is a picture of my mom (Marilyn Ashley) as a child found by my cousin, Andrea Todd.  (Marilyn is the child on the left.)

One day out for a walk I noticed the Little Monsters tree service—I thought it was a cool name ...

From time to time when I walk around the neighborhood I notice advertisements for companies that may be able to help me out in the future ...

My immediate section of the family tree ...

Photos from Cabelas in Dundee, Michigan ...

James and Sandy in Hastings cared for some orphaned baby squirrels until they could survive on their own.  This is one of thier kids helping out ...

A cute sign in the bathroom at the Marshall, Michigan airport ...

At one of the warehouse clubs, they had a gaming keyboard with non-Cherry mechanical switches.  I was tempted to try one out ...

Gun Control means using both hands ... good to know ...

I've just been passed by a girl ... ok ...

I do have some grass growing with my dandelions ...

My mom's grave ...

A picnic table in the neighborhood that I really like ... I may build one like it ...

I got one of the kids a slide rule to demonstrate something practical that comes out of log(ab) = log(a) + log(b) ... and also that people got by before computers ...

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