One Long Dam Post (Vegas, Baby, and more)

Sorry for all those of you who enjoyed Lisa's post, but she doesn't like writing much and you are all stuck with me. Like most nights, she is icing her knee and watching some weird television while I type this. Also, apologies for not posting earlier. We obviously weren't about to waste precious time in Vegas playing around on the computer, and then the next two nights we were at the Grand Canyon where a lightning storm blew out the town's internet. We're in Moab for tonight, and be forwarned - this is going to be a long post.

Friday the 13th was a long day, and we weren't quite lucky for most of it. We got out the door in Fresno a little late and made our way over to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. The drive in was nice as parts of it drove by grove after grove of Orange, Lemon and Peach trees. The way up the hill, other trees reminded us of autumn back east. Just different colors. Once inside the park, the amazing thing was the sheer number of Sequoias. We've seen them before in Muir Woods and twice in Yosemite, but there were so many more here, close together, that it really dwarfed us. The General Grant tree (America's Christmas Tree) and the General Sherman Tree (The largest living thing on Earth) were definite highlights. Also, I did enjoy ze German boy asking me if he could "make a photo of your license plate?"



Then came the problem with these National Parks. There was construction on the way down the mountain and we missed the opening by about 2 minutes. So we had to sit and wait for an hour (in the sun) before we could head down. By the time we did get down the hill, and we plugged Death Valley and Las Vegas into the GPS, the arrival time in Vegas was 2 am. Not our idea of a good time, plus the weather in Death Vally was forecasted as 121 degrees. We were forced to bypass the Valley of Death and head straight to Sin city instead. The drive there was pretty interesting as we passed by Edwards AFB and tons of Wind farms. Ok, so not that interesting.



We pulled into Vegas around 9:30 and drove down the strip. The 2 mile trip only took about a half hour or so. Got to the Hilton, checked in, headed out to the strip and, well - you know what they say. What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas. And lucky for all of you I didn't bring the camera anywhere. In all seriousness though, we took the monorail (GREAT!) saw some of the big casinos and then I played Craps for 3 hours and walked away up. Too bad I lost it all and more the the next morning. Oh, and the fountain shows at the Bellagio are awesome. Lastly, at the Hilton, Lisa was enthralled with the Star Trek themed Casino. What a geek!

It was 113 degrees as we left Vegas and headed for the Hoover Dam and then onto the Grand Canyon. We parked in the dam parking lot and headed down the dam stairs to the dam walkway. That's where we took a lot of the dam photos and Lisa went to the dam bathroom.



The Grand Canyon! What a sight. It's absolutely unreal that it exists. Even though we were standing there looking at it with our own eyes, it didn't seem real. It looked like a painting, or something from another planet. Just incredible that I can throw a rock over the edge and never hear or see it land. While the park map was the worst of the National Park system, we made good use of the park shuttle system, after a slight hiccup. We made our way out to Hermits Rest, which is as far west as the shuttle goes, though we hiked about two or three miles along the rim. It seemed we kept one step ahead of the rain until we got to the end of the line when it finally caught up to us. All in all, the weather held up and we got some great photos, including the ones I was able to stitch together (at the end of the slideshow).



After a not-so-great dinner at the Yippie-ei-ay steakhouse, and some carvel for desert, we headed to a spot east of the canyon village called Desert View for the sunset. While we didn't get the glowing canyon walls we were hoping for, we did get a neat sunset and some great stormy weather off in the distance, which added some drama to the sunset.



We woke up early this morning to get a jump start on the day, and we had a tour scheduled for 10:30 in Page, AZ. We took a few early morning pictures of the canyon and headed up the line. On the way, we were also able to make a quick stop at the Glen Canyon Dam and Bridge. We didn't go to the Dam bathroom this time. We we got a dam picture or two.



This next sight was by far one of the most interesting, most photogenic, and most breathtaking sights we've seen yet. Upper Antelope Canyon was incredible. We had a great Navaho Tour guide drive us out to the Canyon. We got lucky with a small group and seemed to be ahead of the masses, so we were able to get a lot of photos inside the canyon without people in the pictures. There's not much more I can say about it other than it was the best $28 per person we've spent on this trip. Check out the photos...



Lastly (it's been a long post huh?) we made it out to Monument Valley, which is also a Navaho Tribal Park, on the border of Arizona and Utah. Lot's of John Wayne westerns were filmed here, as well as parts of Back to the Future III. It was a rough ride for the CR-V....17 miles of unpaved dirt and rock. But well worth it. It's filled with Buttes. Big Buttes. Little Buttes. Round Buttes. I like big butte and cannot lie. Storms rolled in as we were there, which just made the place seem more alive. As we left we got some of the 'iconic' photos looking back at the monuments. It's the photo that seems to always be on the cover of an atlas or something. It's also where Forrest Gump decided to stop running. Right off the road was Goosenecks state park, where the San Jaun River took the long route.



We finally made it into Moab tonight and had a nice dinner out and found our hotel, which thankfully has some internet. Tomorrow we'll see Arches National Park before heading to Denver. It's our 3rd anniversary, so hopefully we'll find someplace nice to eat. We should be able to post again on the night of the 18th from Kansas City. Till then...

~John and Lisa