Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

(See Part One here)

When I ended my last blog entry, Steve and I were driving out of Grand Canyon National Park and on our way to Bryce Canyon Park in southern Utah.

We had two options on our drive to Bryce Canyon. One road would take us on a southern route, passing through Jacob Lake and skirting Kaibab National Forest, while the other road would take us on a northern route, through Page and the Glen Canyon Dam area. We opted to take the northern route, so we could stop and visit Glen Canyon Dam. The terrain looked much more interesting on Google Earth, which was another reason we chose this direction.  The trip was nearly 300 miles and took us about 7 hours to drive, with stops to take photos and sightsee. Here’s a map of the route we drove:

Just outside Grand Canyon NP, in the Cameron area, roadside stands pop up where you can purchase Navajo jewelry, pottery, and other wares. In 2002, when we last visited Grand Canyon, Steve and I stopped at one of these stands with a beautiful view of a canyon from a scenic overlook. In order to get to the scenic overlook, you had to ‘run the gauntlet’ - a path that went between two rows of stands, laden with many beautiful things.  As we walked through, Native American artists and crafters enticed us to stop and look. Now, as in 2002, they didn’t have to put too much effort into luring us in; Steve and I love Native American pottery and jewelry, and we already knew we were going to be taking a piece (or two) home with us.

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It is so good to be home! My bed felt so good, and the furkids are so happy we’re home. We had a fabulous time on vacation, but it’s always good to get home.

I took a lot of photos and if I included them in one entry, it would take forever. I’m going to break down our trip into several parts:

Part One: Arrival in Vegas and our time at Grand Canyon
Part Two: Bryce Canyon
Part Three: Zion National Park
Part Four: Valley of Fire State Park and Back to Vegas

This first part is very photo heavy.

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LAS VEGAS

As I wrote in my previous entry, Steve and I arrived in Vegas around dinner time, checked into the Luxor Hotel, and took off walking down the strip in search of a place to eat. There are plenty of places to eat, but we weren’t in the mood for anything fancy or formal (or expensive), and wanted to be in a high-energy sports bar type atmosphere to recharge our batteries.  As we passed the Hard Rock Cafe, Steve told me that he had never eaten at one before. I’ve had meals at various Hard Rocks on the east coast, and I knew it would fit the bill for a burger and a beer - which was what we were craving.

For those who are not familiar, the Hard Rock Cafe is known for it’s impressive display of music memorabilia. The Las Vegas location had clothing from the Beatles, Brittney Spears, the Osmond Brothers, etc., and musical instruments from various bands and performers.  The restaurant/cafe was on level two, and level three - a nightclub that wasn’t being used at the time we were there - was also full of memorabilia.

Steve and I settled in for a couple of beers and burgers, while enjoying the ongoing music videos playing on the many flat screen TVs strategically placed throughout the restaurant.  We seemed to time our visit right, as the music videos were from our younger years (80s and 90s) rather than the more current stuff. It was hard not to bounce around a little in our seats, or sing along with some of the lyrics.

After dinner, we continued our walk up the strip until we reached the Bellagio. By that time our feet were already aching, and we still had to make our way back to the Luxor. That seemed like a never ending walk!  We could have caught a shuttle, but we wanted to stop into some of the shops along the way. I estimate we walked 4 miles that night.

Before going to bed for the night, we took a couple of Motrin - a good idea since our feet and backs and legs were already aching! The next day, we felt like we were 100 years old, hobbling out of bed and trying to pack up for our trip to the Grand Canyon.

Here are some photos I took on our first night in Vegas:

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