EagleMoon.net Journals

Journals: Week 13 (July 9-15, 2007)

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DAY 90: Saturday, July 14, 2007 (Las Vegas, NV)

Since we have been remiss in writing this past week, I'll let the pictures do most of the story-telling. The Reader's Digest version is this: We had a lazy day last Sunday when we found our way to Panguich, Utah, eating at a local restaurant called Grandma Tina's (owned and operated by Grandma Tina herself, granddaughter of the original Grandma Tina). Monday we hiked into Bryce Canyon, our last day there. Tuesday we headed out to Zion National Park, which wasn't too far from our KOA in Glendale. Unfortunately, we had to go back to the KOA in Glendale because I forgot my laptop lap table. A nice drive there and back included picking up some more firewood from a local resident and stopping for some roadside iced tea and lemonade from a little girl's stand. We camped out in Zion River Resort RV Park & Campground, just outside of the park. (Note: if anyone plans on visiting more than one National Park at a time, I highly recommend getting the annual National Parks Pass for $80. Most parks seem to have a $25 entrance fee, and that's just for the day. Our pass has paid for itself many times over again for how many times we've gone to different parks or even visited the same park for multiple days in a row. Just a suggestion.)

On Wednesday, we took a nice ranger-run shuttle tour in the park: nice because it was free, and nice because we learned a few things about the park. The temperature was significantly hotter at night in Zion than in Glendale, which often got as low as the 40s. In Zion, it was mostly 80s and 90s in the tent at night, not too comfortable, even with our portable fan. And except for one morning when we woke up to a cloud-covered sky and a brief 20-minute rain, the days were mostly cloudless and hot, hitting 116 degrees at one point. We dipped ourselves in the campground's pool a couple of times, a much-needed breath of cool. We also took a dip in the Virgin River after a 2-mile bike ride on the Pa'rus trail, a paved, easy trail - nice for a bike ride. Thursday, we took advantage of a financial gift and used it for a 3-hour horseback ride in the park. After a cool morning, it got very hot and most of the trail was dry and dusty. Even still, we enjoyed riding our horses and seeing the park from this different vantage point. At the end of our Zion Park experience, we racked up our longest streak of days camping in a row - 13 days! - not a small feat for us city folk who rarely camped before this trip!

Another quick note about these great sights we've been seeing (Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion, etc.). It's really hard to describe their immensity and wonder simply because it's hard to imagine it even when we're seeing it in person! (Does this make sense?) These mountains, cliffs, and canyons are so huge as we look at them from a distance (even on the rim), they almost look fake; they could be foam replicas made in Hollywood for all I know. Of course, they're not; they're the real deal. But it's a little like trying to comprehend outer space, or 6.6 million tons (the amount of concrete used in the Hoover Dam) or any other thing or idea that's outrageously large in scale. Of course, when we're walking in the canyon or on a cliff, it's hard to see the "canyon through the rocks." The experience becomes more real, but the vastness or grandness of the experience still eludes us (or at least me). My pictures certainly don't do any of it justice, as much as I would like them to, and though professional pictures, postcards, etc. might be beautiful, I think it's hard for even them to convey the beauty of what's actually there. What I'm trying to say is that our descriptions and pictures can't do it - you have to come see for yourself and have your own experience, whatever it may be.

Friday, we started for the not-so-long trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, where we would be enjoying three free nights at the Ramada Las Vegas Speedway - free due to our rewards points we've been racking up with our credit card since we left on this trip. It's about two miles outside of the main Vegas strip. We got into town in the afternoon and clocked the van's thermometer at a nice and cool 125 degrees!!! To my disappointment, it's quite apparent that a "dry" heat is still extremely hot as the sun beats down on your skin like you're in an oven. Too bad. We mostly relaxed in the air conditioned hotel room, which is attached to a 24-hour casino, which we've played about two dollar's worth of slots, with no major winnings to report. It's now Saturday morning and I'm sure it's up to 140 degrees outside already. We're planning on driving to the Hoover Dam today, and possibly check out the Vegas strip at night when it cools down to 130! Since we're on a budget, we don't plan on doing much here in Vegas except a little sightseeing and window-gambling (which will probably not be too lucrative, but then again, it won't be too disadvantageous either!). On Monday, we'll be off to sunny (and hopefully not as hot) California. Until then... ~J

DAY 91: Sunday, July 15, 2007 (Las Vegas, NV)

Well, we can now say that we've been to Las Vegas. What I won't feel comfortable saying is that we've actually "done" Las Vegas. Some might even say our visit to Vegas was a tad lame, though we're not complaining. Except about the heat... and the traffic... and losing money... and the heat, my God, the HEAT!!! When we got here Friday afternoon, we were thrilled to have a hotel room - using rewards points, it was free - after almost two weeks in a row in a tent, not to mention a place to rest with an air conditioner. So we enjoyed our first evening in Vegas by having a "breakfast" dinner at Denny's just down the road from our hotel, then watching a marathon of Discovery Channel shows (Deadliest Catch and Man Vs. Wild). Saturday we spent the day down at the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. These are great places to visit... in April or October - NOT necessarily mid-July (for those of you taking notes at home, possibly planning future vacations). I would describe Hoover Dam as hot, and I would describe Lake Mead as hot. Starting to get the idea? Once we got past the heat (which took a while... oh, who am I kidding, we never really did!), the dam itself was pretty cool. After a picnic dinner at the Lake Mead picnic area, we took a dip in the lake in the early evening and stayed until the sun went down (even if the temperature didn't!).

Today, we didn't do that much better in getting the true Vegas experience. Instead, we opted for the coolness of an air-conditioned movie theater (we saw the latest Harry Potter movie). We then met up with Elena's cousin Jon and his wife Katherine (forgive me if it's spelled with a "C"). They treated us to a delicious Mexican meal as we caught up on our stories of how we each met and got together. Katherine works at the Hard Rock Casino (while she completes her master's degree in education) and suggested we check it out, especially for the music memorabilia. Elena and I went there after dinner; they have many guitars and other items, such as jackets, drum sets, etc., of many past and current rock stars, like Slash, Guns & Roses, The Rolling Stones, Alice In Chains, and many others I can't remember right now. We tried our hand at the MegaBucks slot machine, of which the big jackpot was up to a cool ten mil, which might have extended our trip by at least a few years! As it happened, we did not walk away with a cool ten mil, but rather we simply walked away.

And that was our Vegas experience. Not much to write home (or here) about, but that's alright. We're heading out tomorrow for either Los Angeles or San Diego. We'll decide this tomorrow, probably once we've checked out of our hotel and are pulling away in our van. A quick check on weather.com indicates that the high in Los Angeles tomorrow will be a cool 82 degrees - now that's a temp we can get behind! Guess we'll see where we end up tomorrow. Until then... ~J

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