Hello from Las Vegas

We had a very nice week while in Hurricane, UT.  I told Dick I could come back here and spend a few weeks just to 'relax' as it is the bedroom community outside of St. George.  Within the last year they built a WalMart just outside of town and a Walgreens in town, and with St. George only about 16 miles away they have everything they need, plus they're only about 30 miles from Zion Nat'l Park so what more could you ask for.

We went to Zion on Monday and as with many things, time has changed the way you go through the park. We were last here in 1986 and drove all the way through the park, however, due to traffic congestion from April 1 through October 30, you must ride the free shuttle bus from Canyon Junction (about half way through the park and referred to as Zion Canyon Scenic Drive) to the end which is the landmark Temple of Sinawava.  You can still drive a private vehicle from the Visitors Center as far as Canyon Junction, also called Zion-Mount Carmel Highway (US 89) which takes you through the famous 1.1 mile man-made tunnel.  The brochures say that one full shuttle replaces 28 cars and over 50,000 vehicle miles per day plus the CO2 emissions savings of over 12 tons per day.  We decided to board the shuttle at the Visitor Center and ride it all the way through getting off and on wherever we wished, taking pictures and short hikes here and there.   It was a most pleasurable day because Dick could also enjoy the scenery without the worry of driving.

Abraham, Issac & Jacob, sandstone monoliths named after the ancient old testament patriarchs

View along the Grotto Trail in Zion

Weeping Rock was another fun stop and a easy hike to see the rock formation with 'dripping springs' as they call it.

Dick making his way up to Weeping Rock 

At the Big Bend stop we talked to a young gal who had binoculars and was watching her boyfriend and another friend rock climbing across the way.  Our cameras couldn't zoom in that well but if you enlarge the picture below and find the two white dots, approximately in the middle of the picture, that was the two guys.  She said they'd 'easily' make it to the top by evening (this was about noon) and she'd join them there, via an easier hiking route, where they'd camp out for the night and climb another cliff in the morning.  Not something on my bucket list that's for sure!

Two rock climbers (hope you can see them)

As I said, we had a very nice day in the park, saw some wild turkeys, a waterfall or two, and some beautiful scenery but we decided not to come back and hike that part of Zion the next day.   I did want to drive through the tunnel that everyone has heard about, and knowing that our rig is too big to go through without a special permit ($15 fee) and an escort, we did drive through with the car after we got off the shuttle.  The tunnel was completed in 1930 and was built as a direct link from Zion to Bryce and the Grand Canyon in AZ.

A beautiful view as we were waiting to go through the tunnel

Just before we went in the tunnel

Tuesday we visited Kolob Canyon Nat'l Park which is a national park within a national park because it's still a part of Zion but more conveniently located right off I-15.  This is one of only a few national parks that can be experienced from the convenience of your own car if you wish because it's one road in and one road out that consists of 12 miles round trip.  The lady at the visitor center said they receive about 10% of the visitors that Zion does per year but it was a beautiful drive, with pull-off points for pictures, (the morning was gloomy so lots of low clouds) and at the end is Timber Creek Trail which was an easy mile hike to see some incredible views or fingers of the Canyons.

Early morning roadside view en route to Kolob Canyon 

I loved the zig zag crack in this rock in Kolob Canyon

A view of the 'fingers' from the top of Timber Creek Trail in Kolob Canyon 

Bryce Nat'l Park was a two-hour drive from Hurricane, and a higher elevation, and after listening to the weather reports for the rest of the week, we decided to wait and do Bryce on our next trip to southern UT where we would stay closer to the park.    Wednesday turned out to be a nice morning but by afternoon the rain had moved in and it was downright cold and rainy the rest of the day and night so we were glad to stay inside.

Thursday was more rain and a high of the low 50's (pretty chilly for us AZ wimps).  We had a problem with our tire pressure management system and when Dick talked to the guy last week about what was wrong, he offered to send out a new sensor but since we didn't know where we'd be in St. George, he offered to just send it gen'l delivery.  Turns out there are now several post offices in St. George so we spent a couple of hours on Thursday going from one to the other trying to find the right post office.  Of course, the last one we went to was the right one and trying to figure out addresses in St. George was a challenge in itself.  

Friday we woke up to a clear morning but it was 'brisk' at 44 degrees.  This was traveling day to Las Vegas, a total of about 135 miles.  Before we could pull the slides in and get ready to close up, Dick had to scrape ice off of the slide toppers and I scraped a thin layer of ice off the car windshield.  Time to get out of here.......hopefully Las Vegas is warmer although they predicted snow on the top of Mt. Charleston outside Sin City.

Mountain tops as we were leaving Hurricane Friday morning

It was an easy traveling day and we settled into a Thousand Trails Park in LasVegas by early afternoon.  We have pretty close neighbors here but it appears we have good people on both sides of us and Murphy has a nice fenced doggie park so we're happy here until Tuesday.

Saturday we had lunch at Boulder Station, just down the road from our RV park and, of course, ate too much at the buffet.  This was a combo lunch/dinner because we had early show tickets for The Jersey Boys, a belated birthday gift for me, and something that has been on my bucket list.

It is now about 10 p.m. and we are home from the Jersey Boys show that we enjoyed very much.  It was at one of the PalazzoTheatre's in the Venetian Hotel.  Wow......that is quite a hotel complete with Gondola rides and a singing gondolier on the canal within the hotel, many many Grand Canal shops, and very expensive ice cream - almost $13 for our two scoops of Haagen-Daz.  Anyway the show was awesome......we had great seats........brought back memories of the 60's music as this was the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, all from different walks of life in Jersey and how they got their careers started.

Outside the Palazzo Theatre at the Venetian Hotel

I will say there doesn't appear to be much of an economical slowdown in LasVegas.......... people, cars, limos, taxis, lights are everywhere.

Here's a thought for the week that I saw on a bumper sticker --
                                Kindness is Contagious.....catch it!