Grand Canyon

If you know us you know that we enjoy taking trips, probably far often, but hey we enjoy every moment of it. And so we decided recently to make a trek we have never made before, but one we definitely need to. So we went to AVIS and picked up a Ford Fusion; we got the color black and wow did it have power. I know I keep repeating this every blog but we never have trouble with these car rental companies. We have a tradition to rent a car every trip, and only once or twice has the car we wanted not been on the lot, and all that means is we choose a different car. We made the proper reservations and we were in and out in 15 minutes, with our car loaded and set to go a half hour later we were headed to Arizona.

We drove through the night, making our way across several states, now if you have read any of my past blogs you know that my wife has a very expensive camera and enjoys stopping at locations that catch her eye along the way. Suffice to say it took us countless extra hours to get out of Florida on this stop and go pace. However that was of no concern, we intended to make reservations with the hotel hours before we arrived, so we were in no particular hurry. We stayed at a few Holiday Inns along the way, and it took us about four days to get to Arizona, we drove two of the nights and slept two of the nights. Upon arrival they had our room ready for service, and we placed our things in the room and then went out for dinner. We found a small restaurant in the area that had the best lobster I have ever tasted, that is to say that neither of us can remember the name of the place, fortunately for us we know where its located if we ever return.

The next day we went to the Grand Canyon, and purchased a tour that would start around noon. Before that time we decided to take more pictures, and ventured to the edge in designated areas. We took an abundance of pictures and ate our mornings breakfast on the edge with a few other families. All in all it passed the time till the tour started, and the guide walked us around several areas that we had missed. He began by explaining the several theories that people had as to why the Grand Canyon was hollowed out, and then informed us that we would get a chance to go down into the gorge. We learned a few interesting facts about the canyon, such as the fact that is nearly 6000 feet deep in most areas and was carved by the Colorado River.

We got a chance to walk down a narrow path to a shallow area in the gulch. We didn’t go to the bottom as was said but we went deep enough in that we felt like we were being consumed by the massive red walls around us. Using the cameras zoom we could see hikers down in the valley below us, and we longer for the chance to do it ourselves. So we talked to the tour guide and he gave us information on how we could make reservations for a hike back at the cabin where we had gotten tickets for the tour. However after the tour ended it was too late to make a trip into the canyon, so we got tickets for an early departure in the morning.

The next morning we made our way down at a very early time in the morning. The guides were waiting for us and we made our way down the side of the cliffs with another family and the guide. It was easy getting down, the guide knew all the slopes that weren’t to steep and almost two hours later we were at the bottom… after one or two trips from those around us. The whole thing was simple no one got hurt and enjoyed the few hours down at the bottom… that is until the sun came up. You are basically sitting in a pan once that happens, and by noon the guide informed us we were heading back, no one complained. The amount of time it took to get back up the mountain was a much longer time than going down. We stopped often for water brakes and rested repeatedly. Once we got to the top we were all exhausted, and awaiting the cool air-conditioning of our car. We went back to the hotel and laid in bed for several hours, our back and knees aching.

The next morning we got in the car and made our way around the canyon, stopping at the high points and taking pictures, once we believed we had enough we made our way back home around 3pm. Overall the trip was amazing, but we’ll never do it again, at least that is we wont hike to the bottom. We have more pictures than we can count and a fond memory of that amazing view, something we will never forget.

North Carolina 08'

I dont think we could have had a more perfect trip to the Mountains in North Carolina. Snowboarding has always been a passion of mine. I usually take multiple trips a year. Michigan, Montreal, and North Carolina. My favorite of all these trips, is North Carolina. We usually take a group of about 20 to 25 college students to the montains in Appalachian North Carolina. The thing i like about this place, is that its very private. Its a full-fledged ski Resort, but its very secluded and it isnt over-crowded. This is exciting for someone who enjoys the sport for what it is, and doesn't want to worry about dodging kids and people new to the sport. This year in particular, i was incredibly excited because we were going before christmas, and not after. This means even LESS people would be on the slopes.

We rented 4 different 15 Passenger vans from Hertz, and met at a church at 4am. We need to be at the resort by 6pm, and its a 10 hour drive without stops. That being said, we pulled in at 6:10pm and they let us check in without penalty. We got unpacked and went to a local barbecue place that was right on the mountain. It had a beautiful overlooking view of the valley below, complete with snow and sunlight. Perfect. The food was also incredible. There is nothing like home-cooked North Carolina Barbecue. This "Whatever-the-cook-makes" style restaurant was a nice change of pace from the main-stream dining style of Central Florida. It was the highlight of the day. We went to bed and started on the slopes the next morning.

Now, the funny thing about Appalachian Ski Resort, is that if it is too warm to snow, they make their own. And the first day, they made plenty. Three feet exactly. Now, if you have ever been in three feet of snow, you would know it doesnt allow alot of snowboarding leverage. We had to wait for the rollers to pack it down before we were able to snow board. Unfortunately, this took awhile. Two Hours. We had to sit on the balcony overlooking the slopes. Kind of a tease. But we were able to get on the slopes as soon as the Rollers were done, and get a good 3 or 4 hours of boarding done before we called it a night. We went down the mountain and into town to get food and gear from the local Wal-Mart located at the base of the mountain. We decided to do the cooking at the resort instead of eating out all the time. This saved money and provided more time to be on the slopes for the group. Dinner that night consisted of Lasagna and salad. Perfect Dinner for the day.

The second day was perfect. With tempertures in the low 50's, it wasnt to cold and it wasnt too hot. I was able to snowboard in a T-Shirt. Absolutely perfect. We had one of the kids in our group get a concussion, which kind of put a damper on the mood because we had to rush her to the Emergency Room at the bottom of the mountain. Luckily, she was fine, and was back at the cabin by nightfall. She wasn't able to ski the rest of the trip, but she was alright. Luckily, the Cabins were nice enough to make her stay enjoyable anyway.

The Third and final day was rough for me especially. After spending the first two days snowboarding incredibly, my trip ended on a bad note when i went down a Black Diamond slope at the wrong time. A small kid was learning to ski with the trainer and swerved off from her group and in front of me. This was fine, i was gonna go around her. But when she tried to stop and tumbled in front of me, i had no choice but to jump her. Unfortunately, i landed on a path of ice and did a little tumble myself. I dislocated my shoulder and pulled two muscles in my back and stomach. Wasnt my plan on ending my week. But it was alright. At least it was at the end of the trip, and not at the beginning.

The bus ride home was uncomfortable because my shoulder had to be elevated higher than my collar bone. Luckily i had my laptop and a bunch of movies to keep me occupied. It was a productive trip. Although, the hospital trips werent the pride of the excursion, they brought the group closer than they were due to spending hours in a cramped hospital room together. We got home in less time than it took us to get there. We returned the cars, said our good byes, and when on our ways. It was a productive experience, and i look forward to next years trip.

Smart Cars Available for 35 Cents per Minute

One of the newest more popular cars is being used in a new type of business. The smart car is now becoming rentable by the minute! In Texas if you are looking for a car but are not necessarily looking to buy one Daimler, a German car manufacturer offers the great option for you. At the moment there is a total of 200 Smart cars in the Austin area, that are available for use for over 13,000 city employees. The company noted that the vehicles will be available to the public sometime in the near future. For the small price of 35 cents per minute you can use the Smart car and get across the city. All you have to do when you’re done is leave it in a parking lot near the destination where someone else will pick it up and use it. In the 35 cent per minute rate both gas and insurance are covered both saving you time and a great deal of money as well.
Though this phenomenon is a first is the United States the Car2Go program has already been released in the city of Ulm, Germany and doing well at that. In the Car2Go program you can request a car over the phone or through the web site, the best option is that if you see one you can just use your membership card and get in and go to your location.

The executives Car2Go say that this program will be an aid in boosting the use of public transportation, in the 17 square mile area of downtown Austin, Texas. Doing this will encourage more people to use less gas while coming downtown from their suburban homes.

Overall I think this is a great idea however I’m just not accustomed to the fact that you just leave a car outside and if someone else wants to get it and drive off its perfectly fine. The only downfall I can see with this program is that if you take one to work, and an emergency pops up, are you stuck ride-less until another Smart Car is available in the case that someone else is using the car you came in with? Though this can be saving a great deal of money it will also be a little inconvenient for the every day workers who have emergencies, or need to make a trip to the bank, or run to the store, if someone else keeps using an available car.

Into The Wild

Its that time of the year again. The Annual Michigan Snowboard trip. My family looks forward to this every year. We have friends up in Michigan who live on a mountain and have built a freestyle course on their property. Perfect. We bought our plane tickets and headed on up to the lake. We all knew that hiking was going to be one of the 4 days, so we packed our boots and jackets and hats and went on our way.

The plane ride wasn't that awful except that the guy next to me had to go to the bathroom more than a race horse. That made it a little uncomfortable at times. That being said, i was glad we landed. We went on over to Alamo and rented our car which turned out to be a Dodge Caliber. Not my choice, but worked out perfectly for the kind of cargo we were toating. Snowboards fit in beautifully and left enough room for the four of us to sit comfortably. Looking back, im glad we didnt decide on the Pontiac.

The first day, we went and did our winter preparation shopping for the snowboarding trip and got all our gloves and hardware. This didnt take very long and soon we were back at their cabin putting our boards together and mounting our boots. We did this all in a fire den with a big fireplace in the middle of the room. With Hot Chocolate and Cheese and Crackers, you couldnt ask for a better winter night.

Snowboarding the next day worked out just perfectly. We were able to go for a good 4 or 5 hours before everyone got tired and decided to call it a night. We went to bed at about 9pm. Early right? Not after 5 hours of snowboarding. Everyone got an incredible nights sleep. The next day rained. Which made it freezing. Too cold to snowboard with the gear we had. So we took another trip to the snow-shop to get face guards and scarfs. This cut our board time to about 2 hours. Which was alright since everyone was already sore from the day before.

Overall, the trip was amazing. The flight back was great. I slept better on the plane than i do in my own bed. I couldnt have asked for a better trip. The time spent with family and friends was priceless, and the cold was a good Change of pace from living in Central Florida. The car rental was nice and easy, and the flights were relatively cheap. Im glad i was able to go, and i look forward to going next year.

Wyoming 09'

Ever since Las Vegas I haven’t seen much of my buddy Brock. He has been working and going to school so much he doesn’t even have time for himself. Luckily enough he got a few days off of his classes for mid-terms so we took advantage of the time and went to Wyoming. Why, Wyoming you ask? One word Fishing. We went all the way to Wyoming to enjoy the great chain of lakes that the workplace fisherman Jerry has not stopped talking about since he got back from his own trip to Wyoming. Brock has a pretty nice boat and a pretty nice truck to tow it with but since he loves his Nissan Frontier Nismo more than breathing he was not going to be the one to put the miles on his beloved vehicle. Now I drive a Mitsubishi Eclipse and if you can find someone who can tow a boat with one of those, I’d like to meet them! We decided we would need a specialty vehicle to get the job done. I pass by a nice black Hummer H3 on my way to work every day, and I didn’t let this opportunity slide. I quickly convinced Brock to rent the Hummer and so he did. Our trip to Wyoming was one to remember, before we left I stopped at my desk at the office and had to pick up my camera, while picking up my camera I noticed a cup full of change and proceeded to bring it with me towards the Hummer. Our first stop on the list was a local Wal-Mart where we used the coin star machine to cash our coins, we then went to one of my life long favorite restaurants (Taco Bell) and spent most of the money. 4 Crunch wrap supreme’s later we were on our way to Wyoming. Our itinerary was pretty intense, we stopped in 5 states for our trip and it was about a day and a half in DRIVING HOURS each way! Though Brock did most of the driving and I did most of the sleeping, I can honestly say the trip was well worth it. I’ve recently been doing this new thing where in order to save time I try not to stop for any reason other than sleep on my way to a location. It’s been helping a lot these days in saving time and making sure I’m not late to any reservations. However on the way back I make as many stops as possible and in this case we even left Wyoming a day early to catch up on the missed stops! Our first day in Wyoming was pretty boring actually we arrived late in the afternoon so there wasn’t much to do besides eat, which is what growing boys like us do best if you’re ever going to Wyoming one of the best restaurants you must stop at before leaving is the altitude restaurant, we had some of the best foods we’ve ever had in our lives and not only was it the greatest it was the most we’ve ever ate. It’s something about us Flatland Southerners and Up-North Mountain food that get along just fine! The next day we took the boat to its limits and dropped it off in the Plains Lake and fished on! In this season our buddy Jerry told us it’s the best time to fish pretty deep for Cat Fish and Bass, and boy was he right! We were catching fish like nobodies’ business. On our way home from Wyoming we stopped at every state once and Tennessee twice just because we both love everything about the state, returning back to Florida we didn’t even go home before we stopped at the office and showed everyone our pictures, Brock made it his best effort to show the pretty lady behind the counter his fish pictures in attempt to brag! In every way this trip was great! I wouldn’t have changed a thing!

Dollar-Thrifty 3rd Quarter

Dollar-Thrifty is one of the leading names in Rental Cars. Boasting in their cheaper rentals and quality service, they have done well for themselves in the Rental car Industry. Struggling through this recession, a little silver lining has shown itself to Dollar. Their sales have finally shown and increase in Year over Year sales.
"In spite of the difficult economic environment, we achieved our third quarter year over year improvements." says Chief Executive Officer and President Scott Thompson, "The difficult and painful steps we have taken over the past twelve months to maximize profit and cash-flow, combined with the improvement in residential Values, positively impacted this quarter. We expect both of these factors will continue to benefit future operating results."
We certainly hope so. With a profit this quarter of $30.1 million dollars, they have increased a solid 11.2 million dollars over last years third quarter. Stocks have gone up $0.15 compared to last years third quarter drop of $0.02. They have been able to cut costs per vehicle by $35 a month on average.
Thompson has said that this third quarter has been on track with what they had expected. And also expects revenue to increase come October - December. An even bigger increase come 2010 due to the continuing recovery of the economic state. While no one can guarantee or set in stone future improvements, Dollar-Thrifty is continuing to hold their head up. And the encouragement they have received via the Third Quarter numbers, it looks like Dollar-Thrifty will see better days.

Clearwater Trip

Taking more vacation time is extremely refreshing. So, after the North Carolina trip, we decided to make the short drive to Clear water.

I know that many people in the Orlando area don't really consider Clear water a true vacation since it is so close. However, (since it is winter) the beach is not really packed, so you get to enjoy that close time with the family without too many distractions. This time we decided to rent a mustang since it is not a long trip (and lets be real, who doesn't like that feeling that comes with driving a mustang). The type of respect you get from people when you pull up to a stop light and your engine just happens to rev up a bit.
So we decide to just go down there, we packed light since we would only be there for a couple of days. Again we returned to the same friendly associate at Enterprise, who was kind enough to give us a discount because of our previous trip to North Carolina. She kindly walked us over to this beautiful red Mustang Convertible.

The trip was amazing the kids enjoyed riding down with the top down. Since it was still day time the sun was beautiful. We got to see the sunset as a family which was amazing. After we were settled in the hotel, the wives decided to head down to the store and get some soft drinks. The next morning when we decided to go out for breakfast we discovered that the wife had forgotten to turn off the headlights when she came back from the store the night before. So, stranded and hungry with our emotions flaring up, we contacted Enterprise and they actually had a technician out to work on our car within 30mins. I was very pleased with Enterprise. They helped turn those emotions around for me and my family. What could have been a long dreadful day, turned out to be pretty exciting. The technician was very friendly and he had us on our way in no time.

After breakfast, we drove around town checking out the scenery. It was beautiful, the kids again enjoyed the convertible since it was pretty warm during the day, and when it got to be night time, we simply put to top back. After finding an amazing restaurant and feasting on some amazing seafood combinations, we had decided to call it a night. We headed back for our last night at the hotel.

Checkout time had arrived; but none of us were ready to go just yet. We requested a late checkout from the hotel and ended up staying in the room pretty late in the morning. Once we were all packed and ready to rumble, the kids decided they wanted to cruise around town again since, they had enjoyed riding with the top down the previous days. We again cruised around town and had a blast. Once heading home, the entire family agreed that we should head home locally, no highways just going through all the small yet colorful towns in between Clear water and Orlando. We were able to return the car on time, and to my surprise the technician service was actually complimentary. All the perks are simply too good so pass up. Our family continues to enjoy far and close getaways and all without having to deal with the stress of security at the airports or having to put miles on our personal vehicles. Enterprise has once again helped our family get that much closer. Who knows where we'll end up next time.