We left on Wednesday, September 13th, 2023. We flew direct into Las Vegas, getting there early in the morning. After picking up our rental, we drove to Excalibur, where we were staying. We walked in to check it out, and see if there was any chance of getting into our room early. Of course there was no chance…..
We walked up the strip looking at the resorts & taking some pictures. I’ve been to Vegas three times previously, but it was Autumn’s first. She didn’t realize we were walking as far as we did, in the morning heat, and I don’t think she was all that impressed. Vegas isn’t for everyone! To further complicate matters, MGM had been hacked, so it was a mess. Half of the slots were shut down, and they were checking people in by hand instead of on the app like they usually do these days. I walked back to the desk to ask if we could get in early, and when told no, I asked if we could go lay by the pool while we waited. She didn’t know! 🤷🏻♂️ Instead of trying, we took a nap in the car until checkin time. We walked in at 3:00, and there was a line wrapped through the casino! We had do stand in that line for almost two hours. I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t check me in when I was there at 1:00 so I could be in my room at 3:00 instead of how they did it? I guess they aren’t as smart as me!
We got up early the next morning & drove to Hoover Dam before going to Hurricane Utah.
This is the one day that we didn’t really have anything planned. We ended up going to Sand Hollow State Park for a little bit, but wasn’t able to get to the jumping rocks, so we just went back to the room & had an early night.
Friday morning, we were up at 5:00am! I woke up with one of the worst colds I’ve had, which is the worst possible time to have it! My ears felt like I went swimming & they filled with water! We’re about to hike national parks, I’m in probably the worst shape of my life, we’re between 6000-9000 feet, and my lungs are half filled with crap so they can only get half filled with oxygen!
We drove to Zion National Park and picked up our hiking equipment for The Narrows at 7. Because we were so early, parking wasn’t an issue. (We learned coming back out though how much of an issue parking can be!)
We rode the shuttle to the last stop of the Zion Scenic Drive, Temple of Sinawava. This is where the hike to The Narrows begins. We had on our waterproof hiking boots, our socks that keep your feet from blistering, and our walking sticks. After a short sidewalk hike, you get to the Virgin River. Then you get wet!
The next day, Saturday, we woke early again. This time, it was a couple hour drive south to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon! I watched the sun come up over the desert to the east. We regularly saw signs showing the current elevation. I came over a hill to a straight stretch where there was a meadow with steam coming off of it. The thermometer on the dash of the car said 33°! I had no idea it was that cold outside. It was over 70° when we got in the car in Hurricane. We did get to see some wildlife on this day. There were deer, a black squirrel with a white tail, some chipmunks, birds that seemed to climb higher & higher without flapping their wings at all. We went to the visitors center, then hiked around part of the rim. We weee going to hike down a little bit, but once again, there was nowhere to park. We didn’t really get to see as much of the Grand Canyon as I would’ve liked. Maybe one day, I can ride a mule down there!
Sunday morning, it was Bryce Canyon National Park. I thought this was the prettiest of the five parks we visited. (3 National & 2 State) We were lucky to get a spot to park at Bryce Point. We hiked down a bit & took pictures of some HooDoo’s. Still battling that cold, I was hesitant to hike all the way down because I knew I’d have to hike all the way back up, so we only went about half way down.
After we got around the rim a little, I saw that we were pretty close to being at the bottom when we turned around, and I wished I would’ve went just a little bit further! Oh well, next time!! There were prairie dogs, squirrels, and chipmunks.
On the way back to Hurricane from Bryce, we went through Colorado City, again. If you aren’t familiar, this is the town where Warren Jeffs ran the FLDS church. He was arrested for arranging marriages with underage girls, but Netflix did a documentary about these polygamist people called “Keep Sweet, Pray & Obey”. We picked food up here on the way back from the Grand Canyon. I saw quite a few girls in their prairie dresses & their hair in buns. There was no doubt that church is still very active here. This day, we rode by his 40 room mansion, which is now something like a halfway house. The Pray & Obey is still on the chimney. I told Autumn that if she doesn’t “keep sweet”, I’m going to drop her off to be wife number 79!
After we finished hiking, we ate, and then were off to Pink Coral State Park. We had booked a “Sunset Ride” that included ATV rentals that we drove through the sand dunes, a hike down through a slot canyon, more riding, then a stop at the tallest dune. It was well over 50 feet tall. They had snowboards & sleds so you could either stand or sit on your butt and ride down the dune! The problem for me…..you had to walk up a 50 foot sand dune that was soft, ankle deep sand at 8000 feet elevation, with that dreaded cold I’ve ,mentioned so many times. I did it one time, and then when I weighed the climb up vs the ride down, I chose to not ride a second time. If I was breathing a little better, I most definitely would’ve taken another ride, but not this day.
(This won’t let me attach videos, so they’ll be on the post when I post it)
On the drive back to our room, I stopped on a road that was as dark as I could find. My previous Milky Way pictures were a both a pleasant surprise that I got them at all, but also a disappointment mbecause the street lights were interfering, and I wanted to get pics without that interference.
On the last day, we had to check out by 11, Utah time. Our plane didn’t leave Vegas until 11:30pm Vegas time, an hour behind. We drove back to Zion to drive through the tunnels on the scenic drive that wasn’t closed to cars for the summer.
Then we ate and went to a soda shop in St George UT, then back to Las Vegas. We went back to Excalibur and walked over to Luxor. We were hoping to maybe play Craps or slots, but the MGM hack wasn’t over yet, so a lot of the slots were still shut down. We killed as much time as we could, then went to the airport to end the trip.
I really enjoy it out west. I’ll NEVER complain about lying on the beach for a week in Mexico, DR, a cruise ship, or even Florida. However, the trips where we have a car and MY itinerary are my favorite trips! Hawaii, Costa Rica, both Utah trips, and Vermont/NH/Boston. I REALLY hope to go to Yellowstone and/or Glacier next hear, or sometime soon. Each of the last 5 years, we’ve taken three trips each year. One in the late Spring, one in the middle of Summer, and one at the end of summer or start of fall. Now, it’s the ‘dead time’ for our travels. Or at least that is how it has been previously. I’m not sure wheee is next, or when, but I’m ready to figure that out soon!
