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Woke up in South Dakota this morning, and I’m pretty sure that it’s Tuesday, which is a good thing. That whole “I’m not really working this week” thing kind of throws you off, I suppose.

In any case, we’re going to be leaving Rapid City, South Dakota shortly, and will be heading through Wyoming, plan on stopping at some General Custer-related things, seeing Devil’s Tower (I’ll let you know if Richard Dreyfuss is seen in the area, or if any mashed potato-related incidents happen), and getting into Montana later today. We’ve gotten a ton of suggestions of things to stop at here in South Dakota throughout the Black Hills and such (Thanks Emily, Brett, Bob, and I could go on!), and are kind of taking a good pace from here on in as our goal is to hit Seattle sometime on Thursday afternoon.

In the meantime, we’ve got a few hundred photos of our trip up on Flickr so far, with a stack to come later on today, including some crazy shots at Mount Rushmore. Missing all of our friends and fam in NYC, and a huge shout to my MTV fam – definitely missing you guys on a daily basis! More to come as we cross further into the West.

We’re one week into our time here in Whistler / Vancouver, and having a great trip.

We rode Whistler Blackcomb’s Peak 2 Peak gondola, which takes you from one mountain to another (no, really), with 1.88 miles of unsupported span between towers. Video is coming. It’s awesome. The photos from the top of the mountains can be seen in this photoset on Flickr.

Needless to say, for someone who’s not usually a big fan of heights, I didn’t have a ton to complain about, scarily enough. Here’s some more details on what the trip is like.

We also had some fun with the wildlife, including this little guy on the left who isn’t exactly wildlife, but also didn’t seem to care that I’d just eaten a smoked pork sandwich from the farm he lives on. Lara’s been chased out of the barnyard by chickens, and we saw baby bears from a ski lift. And their mom, too. Vancouver didn’t disappoint when it came to animals, either. We saw some great birds all about, including ducks new and old on the water, blue herons in a tree making a racket, and this excellent bird whose name escapes me but had excellent color on its wings.

Our second night in town, we had dinner in the Fairmont’s Wine Room, which aside from the awesome prix fixe menu that was offered while we were there, was topped off with vanilla-flavored cotton candy. Stupendously awesome.

We also got to meet the powers that be behind @WhistlerBlckcmb and @FairmontWhistlr, got to hang with them a bit around town, and go to Fairmont’s version of the ever-popular happy hour, Fairmont Friday.

Between the pitchers of Kokanee Gold at the Garibaldi Lift Company that we hoisted while watching the excellent moves in the bike park and ridiculous views in the area, it’s certainly going to be tough to go home later this week.

More photos and video soon!

ABC News ran a report on Clear, with a few people who apparently weren’t so happy about how the system works. Unfortunately, airport security is a disaster, and if those of us who travel ridiculously often want to spend an extra $100 a year to go to the head of the line and, at least theoretically, be less of a “risk” to go through security at that pace, I’m not sure why that’s so ridiculous. For one thing, you STILL go through the same metal detector, take off your belt, shoes, and other metal objects, and have to show a picture ID.

Check it out here:

When the report says that for some, “time is money,” I couldn’t agree more. If this were $5,000 a year I could see people saying it was outlandish, but it’s $100. As someone who took 50 flights last year, I’m going to say that for the few times that I was able to use Clear at U.S. airports, it was so worth it it’s not even funny. Just like the President’s Club for Continental (or your reasonable equivalent) pays itself off in spades the first time you sit in the airport for a six-hour delay, this thing does exactly the same thing. Additionally, me “cutting” the line doesn’t slow you down at all – I’d say everyone I’ve ever seen on the Clear line goes through security in a breeze, and ALWAYS is prepared by the time they get to the front of the line. An analyst talking about how this was “less secure” is ridiculous, IMHO, as I’m given the same level of screening, along with my bags, that every other person is – I just get to go through the line quicker. At the end of the day, it’s NO DIFFERENT from “elite” lines that airlines, at just about every single airport, offer to their own frequent flyers – just with a different volume of people waiting.

Blame Josh if you want to. He started it, at least where I’m coming from.

For those of you who are into that sort of thing, Merry Christmas. I’m out in the Midwest chillin’, so if you’re interested, you can see some photos here. More to come.

Cheers!

Figured some of you who hadn’t caught it yet might have appreciated the flooding of boiling water into the hallway at SFO in Terminal 1.

Photos here.

Okay, well I already passed the screening by the TSA, and should be expecting my CLEAR card within the next week or two. I’m very psyched to be able to use it, but The Girlfriend thinks that I’m going to use it when we travel and leave her behind at the security gate. I’m not *that* mean, am I?

Okay, so I finished up the setup of my CLEAR account at Newark airport. Took about ten minutes, did all kinds of fun fingerprints and retinal scans. Best part was that they ask what airlines you fly, and after I said that I typically am on Continental, they offered me a note card where you could share your thoughts on getting CLEAR set up at the terminals at EWR where pretty much all of the Continental flights go out of. Now I just have to wait 2-4 weeks for my in depth background check and I’m good to go.

If you haven’t already, and you live in a city where CLEAR is working, then go sign up.

Yep, so I finally signed up for CLEAR. No, not that clear, the one that makes it easier for you to go through security lines at select airports across the U.S.

Took care of the online portion to get the ball rolling, and I’m going to try and hit up the in-person part of it later this week when I’m at Newark Airport. Now, if only most of the flights I took were going out of the terminals/airports that had the service, rather than just a few of them.

Thanks, Josh!