Utah Trip

"Camping is nature's way of promoting the motel business."
-Dave Barry

Saturday, July 28

After an uneventful flight, we landed in Vegas a few minutes early at 3:00 PM. [Doug: Uneventful…if you call going to the bathroom at 35,000 feet right after some snot-nosed kid who p’ed all over the toilet seat, then I’d hate to see your definition of “eventful”.] They have a new car rental center a few miles from the airport which means if you’re renting a car you have to wait in line to get a shuttle bus to the center, wait in line at the main rental counter when you arrive, and wait in line again to get your car in the rental garage. Not fun. After going through all that, we got to our mid-size car to find it had 50 thousand miles on it, had manual windows and locks, and was just an all-around crap car. Note to self: do not rent from Enterprise again.

We finally arrived at the Signature at MGM Grand to find they don’t offer self-park so you are stuck with valet. Annoying since we knew we’d have to take the car out again to pick up Travis in an hour or so. The hotel is nice, seems upscale enough that it might not be too noisy at night (more about that later). [D: The Signature is one of the new non-hotel hotels that are springing up all over Vegas these days. This one is run by MGM, and it has a kitchenette, is completely non-smoking, but doesn’t have a casino in the joint. A 5 minute walk to the MGM casino is all it takes to go gambling. Definitely trying to go upscale, so we stuck out like a Red Sox fan in the Bronx.]

Travis called about 5:00 so we drove over to the airport to pick him up. He decided to crash on our pull-out couch for the night. [D: And also mentioned that his traveling companion for the week was crapping out on him, so he was stuck with us for the entire trip.] We thought the easiest place for dinner would be something we could walk to from the hotel so we hiked over to the Rainforest Café in the MGM Grand. We got in line to check in and after a few minutes with no movement, we bailed and decided to try the café in the casino which wasn’t as busy. [D: And they served breakfast all day…you can’t go wrong with a place like that.] After dinner, Doug went off to play craps and Travis and I returned to the room. Travis went right to sleep as he had been partying it up at a wedding the previous night.

Doug returned to the room about two hours later and threw a wad of money at me. [D: Here’s the thing: I like to gamble, but I try not to talk about it. There’s 2 reasons for this: 1) If I win, then I sound like I’m just boasting, and since most people lose, it also sounds like I’m trying to rub in other people’s losses; 2) If I lose, I’d rather not share that with people, and no one wants to hear hard-luck stories of gloom and doom.] He just paid for the entire trip with two hours of craps. Nice. [D: Okay, this sounds like a LOT, but remember we flew to Vegas on 2 free tickets, we’re planning on backpacking and camping for several nights, and we got good deals on hotels in Vegas. So really, it’s not THAT much.] He also put down a bet that the Hokies will win the National Championship that will pay out $2,200 if it happens. Fingers crossed. [D: Now THAT win would pay for another trip, easily.]

I think Travis was pretty much passed out and slept all night but I got at most a couple hours of sleep. Turns out the hotel isn’t built as sound proof as you might think. Our neighbors across the hall (must have been about 6 or 8 of them in one room, classy) were out and about until 4:00 AM yelling in the hall and slamming doors. At this point I was really looking forward to our backpacking trip to get a little peace, quiet, and solitude. [D: I’ve been told that’s Vegas on the weekend…if you want some peace and quiet in a casino, go to Biloxi.]

Sunday, July 29

We were all wide awake by 5:30 AM so we just decided to get up, get breakfast, and get on the road. We returned to the café in the casino and had a really good meal. We decided we were probably the only ones in there who had been to bed the night before, everyone else looked like they were just finishing up their Saturday. [D: Including this one huge group that looked like they had just come from a prize fight, and one guy had a date who was CLEARLY on the clock, if you know what I mean.]

After checking out, Doug realized the crap car didn’t have cruise control so he called Enterprise to see if we could upgrade. [D: My knees are bad enough, and knowing there was a lot of climbing up and down trails they had in front of them, I didn’t want to worry about keeping the pedal pressed to 75 while driving through the desert.] They said no problem so it was back to the airport to trade cars. It took a few minutes to get a new car but we were finally on our way. Or not. When trying to exit the parking garage there was a place to scan a bar code to open the gate. We found no bar code on our receipt. Meanwhile the cars are stacking up behind us. I finally ran back to the office to get it straightened out.

Me: “We don’t seem to have a bar code on our receipt and can’t exit the garage.”
Enterprise Guy (looking at me like I’m a complete idiot): “Did you rent from Enterprise?”
Me: “Yes.”
Enterprise Guy (still not believing me): “Let me see your receipt. Oh, you don’t have a barcode. Let me give you one.”

No apology or anything, just acted like it was totally my fault they forgot to put a bar code on the receipt. We also noticed two rentals driving away from the lot with no license plates. Such a well-run company! [D: Enterprise, you royally suck.]

We were finally on our way to Bryce Canyon at 8:15 AM. After a couple hours we stopped at a rest area and Doug got roped into helping an old guy who was driving a U-Haul and towing a car. One of the straps had come off the car’s wheel and he couldn’t get it back on. Doug, being a typical New Englander, assumed this was some kind of scam! But the guy really just needed help and was very appreciative. [D: It’s not that I’m a “typical New Englander”, I just don’t trust anybody. If a stranger comes up to me, AT A REST STOP NO LESS, and asks for help, I assume they either a) have an accomplice so they can steal my money (remember, I just won a good chunk the night before), or b) they have some ideas on how to kill 10 minutes (and let’s just leave it at that). I was hoping Travis would be backing me up the entire time, but him and Sage were no where to be found. Thankfully he really did just have a problem with his tire strap (no double-entendre intended), and we were able to fix it in about 5 minutes.]

After a quick grocery stop, we arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park around 1:30 PM (Mountain Time). Our first stop was the visitor’s center to pick up our backcountry permit for the next day. We had originally hoped to do a loop hike on the Under the Rim trail by leaving our car at the end of the trail, and hoped to find a ride to the trailhead. After talking to the ranger, we decided that would be too difficult so we agreed to a slightly longer out-and-back hike along the same trail.

Next we headed for the Sunset Campground so Travis could pick out his site for the night. He got a nice, private spot. By now it had started pouring rain. We then went over to the Bryce Lodge to check into our Western Cabin not far from the rim of the canyon. Last time at Bryce we had stayed inside the lodge but this time we opted for a cabin. After settling in, we noticed the rain had stopped so we drove to the trailhead of Fairyland Canyon, one of my favorite places on earth. We hiked in to the canyon for a couple miles. In my opinion, this area is the best kept secret in Bryce. It’s more beautiful than the more popular main amphitheater and it’s always uncrowded. [D: I couldn’t agree more.]

After our hike, Travis returned to his camp site for the night and we decided to grab a quick bite at the Cowboy Buffet at Ruby’s Inn right outside the park. We had eaten here on our last trip as well and it’s nothing special but one of the only choices for food in the area. [D: This is true. You can pay 5 times as much at the Bryce Lodge, or go to Ruby’s, or head 15 miles down the road to Tropic Pizza. Not much else.] On our way back to the cabin, we saw a family of mule deer with two small fawns, very unusual. [D: I was surprised the fawns were still so young in late July, but maybe at this elevation they’re born later than back here on the east coast.]

After dark we took the 30 second walk to the rim of the canyon to look at stars. [D: 30 seconds…that really was one of the great reasons to stay in a cabin on the rim.] Bryce has some of the clearest and cleanest air in the country and the stargazing is usually amazing. It was too cloudy to see anything though so we retired to the cabin to prepare for our backpacking trek the next day and to get some sleep.

By the way, my favorite thing about Bryce Canyon is the smell. It’s a strong smell of pine and juniper and a little sagebrush, love it.

Monday, July 30

We were up early. Doug went to the rim to see the sunrise, a very popular activity at Bryce. [D: I missed it by about 5 minutes, but still got some good pictures.] We had told Travis we’d pick him up at his camp site at 7:30 AM. We pulled up right on time. We hear from his tent: “You’re kidding me.” Apparently Travis’s cell phone had not adjusted for the time change and Travis was still on Vegas time, an hour behind. But he got right up and started breaking camp, so it wasn’t too much of a delay.

We made it to the Whiteman Connecting trailhead by 8:15. At the trailhead was a bear warning sign, stating “there is no guarantee of your safety”. We have been following the story of “Stompy” the bear since we had been planning our trip to Bryce. It is highly unusual for a bear to be found in southern or central Utah. In fact, the ranger at the visitor’s center told us he had been working there for 20 years and has never heard of one. This bear has been spotted several times during the summer and they think he is about a two-year-old male. We nicknamed the bear “Stompy” when we found out one of the sightings of him was in a backcountry camp site when he stepped on a tent. [D: And it was only a young black bear anyway, so there wasn’t much to be concerned about.]

The first mile of hiking was all downhill to where we connected with the Under the Rim trail. There were some really nice overlooks in the first part of the trail and it was relatively flat so that made us happy. Lots of deer and turkey tracks on the trail. The turkey tracks were huge; we think it might have been Hokie Bird. We saw a huge buck in the woods too, really large for a mule deer.

We were doing ok for the first half of the 7.5 mile hike. Then came the second half of endless PUDS (pointless up and downs). To add to the fun, some dark clouds started moving in which made us nervous. We didn’t want to be caught at some of the higher elevations if a storm rolled in as Bryce is a hot spot for lightning strikes. Luckily, it never did storm. We were really hurting by about 1:30 PM when we finally arrived at our camp site at Yellow Creek. [D: “Hurting” is rather an understatement when it came to me. I was in BAD shape. Sage thinks I had heat exhaustion. Well, I was hot, and I was exhausted, so I can’t disagree with her there. But I think it was a combination of the heat and altitude that did me in. Any small climb I could barely move about 20 yards before having to stop, take about 20 breaths, and lean over on my walking stick trying to take the weight off my shoulders. It might have also been the 45 pound pack on my back. Or the extra 30 pounds I was carrying around my gut. Either way, I got to the backcountry campsite, threw my pack down, and didn’t think there was ANY way I could hike back out 7.5 miles (or worse, up 1,600 feet).] Travis was doing fine though; he’s got a lot more stamina. We had to lay around for a few hours before we had enough energy to even put up the tent. I was wondering how the heck we were going to be able to hike out the next day! At this point Doug hatched a plan that we would continue the loop and do the originally planned hike. We could look for a ride back to the car once we reached the parking lot at the end. Travis wasn’t convinced we’d find a ride and volunteered to hike back out the way we came and get the car. We happily agreed. I think he just didn’t want to be stuck hiking with us lame ducks for another day! [D: My plan wasn’t that bad…I figured I only needed to find one person who would agree to drive one other person (probably me) only 7 miles down the road to our car. Having said that, if we couldn’t find that one person, we really would have been SOL. So Travis, a million thanks for agreeing to go back to the car and letting us go the easy (and short) way out of the canyon.]

We ate a dinner of gorp and fruit, hung the bear bag, and were all in our sleeping bags by 6:00 PM. We didn’t sleep for a while; it just felt good to be lying down. Around 8:30 we thought we heard a noise and looked out to see someone sitting in the camp site. [D: This is the way it actually happened. Sage and I both heard a sound. Sage said, “What was that?” I said, “It’s just the wind blowing the rainfly against the tent”. Five minutes later I thought I heard something else. That’s when I looked out and saw the guy sitting in our camp site.] Doug stuck his head out of the tent to say hello and see if the guy would be spending the night. The camp site holds six people although hardly anyone backpacks in Bryce so we didn’t expect to see anyone else. The guy said he didn’t think so, he was just waiting for his friend to arrive. He asked where the next camp site was, and we told him it was about a mile up the trail so he thought they would stay there. He also said they had hiked from Rainbow Point that day which is about 17 miles away! We were sore after just 7 miles. This guy was clearly insane. When his friend arrived, they continued on into the quickly falling nightfall. [D: When we started the hike, I asked Sage how many people she thought we’d see in the two days we were backpacking. She guessed zero. I guessed two. Travis guessed four. Those two who came into our camp that night? That was it for the entire 36 hours. So sweet.]

It was nice and quiet all night, no visits from Stompy or any other wildlife. However, I never can get comfortable enough in a tent to sleep so I just sort of dozed and hoped morning would arrive soon. [D: I have a hard time sleeping in a tent myself, but that night I slept great. I did wake up a couple of times, once I thought Sage had her headlamp on because it was so bright in the tent. Turned out it was just the full (or almost full) moon, shining right in. That clear air made it almost as bright as daylight with that moon. But the clouds rolled in again after midnight and made the moon and stars disappear into a gloomy film.]

Tuesday, July 31

We woke up right before sunrise and started to pack up camp. We wanted to hike out before the heat of the day made it as uncomfortable as the previous day. Travis took off around 6:30 heading one way for the car and we hit the trail going the opposite direction a little while later. [D: Travis had to do the same 7.5 miles we did the day before, while we had a relatively easy 5.5 miles…though they were almost entirely straight up.]

The hike out was more comfortable than the hike in as our packs were lighter (less water), it was a much cooler day, and it was about two miles less hiking. The territory we hiked through was perfect mountain lion habitat, with plenty of rocky overhangs. I kept scanning the area above me to make sure I wasn’t about to be pounced on. Apparently Doug was thinking the same thing because I suddenly heard him yell and saw a jackrabbit bound across the trail in front of him. He thought for sure it was a lion! [D: Okay, okay, stop laughing. Just remember that I was a) really tired, and b) in a complete daze. So as I was just slugging up the trail, mountain lions were pretty much the only thing on my mind. Then all I saw was SOMETHING jump into the trail…it wasn’t a yell, just a small shout. And it gave Sage something to laugh about, so that was good.]

We reached Bryce Point at the end of the trail around 10:15. The sight of all the tourist buses with their exhaust fumes, and the yahoo tourists with their cameras around their necks really irritated me. I’m glad the backcountry is as solitary as it is, but I can’t believe people who drive from overlook to overlook and take a few pictures think they are experiencing enough. It’s only a few minutes walk to get down into the canyon among the hoodoos, plus it’s good exercise. Come on, people! [D: Before we had even taken off our packs, these two older gentlemen saw us and started talking to us. “How far have you come from?”, one asked. “Almost six miles today, but 13 altogether”, I said. “And how much does that backpack weigh?” “Almost 50 pounds”, I said, as I realized I could actually start to brag a bit. Both men seemed rather impressed, and I have to say, that was probably the most satisfying part of the journey for me.]

Travis pulled up about 15 minutes later. Pretty good timing. Although the fact that he hiked out the 7.5 mile up and down hike in 3.5 hours while it took us over 5 hours the previous day proves that he is in much better shape than us! [D: Well, duh.]

After stopping for quick sandwiches on the way out of town, we drove to the cabin we had rented for two nights in Duck Creek Village, about halfway between Bryce and Zion and not far from Cedar Breaks National Monument. The cabin had a bedroom downstairs for Travis and a big loft upstairs for us. It also had a satellite TV and even some DVDs. We swung by the so-called market down the road to pick up provisions for the next few days. We had spaghetti for dinner and watched The Illusionist before turning in. [D: Market…we couldn’t find produce, wine, or fresh bread. Not sure how people live there.]

Wednesday, August 1

Doug’s birthday. [D: It was? I thought it was Jerry Garcia’s birthday.] We slept in and had a lazy morning. We arrived at Cedar Breaks around 10:00 AM. First we checked out the main overlook. Similar to Bryce but somehow not as impressive. It’s deeper, but not as many of the defined hoodoos that make Bryce so interesting. [D: Having said that, it WAS pretty interesting. Anywhere else in the country, and Cedar Breaks would be considered one of the grandest attractions in the land. In Southern Utah though? Not even in the top 5.] We did a short hike to another vantage point, and another to an alpine pond. Cedar Breaks is located at 10,000 feet which makes it ideal for wildflowers at this time of year. The temperature was refreshingly cool also. The sign at the trailhead of the alpine lake trail warns it’s a mountain lion frequenting area. Well, they weren’t “lion” because right at the nearby overlook were some prints in the mud!

After checking out Cedar Breaks, we drove to nearby Cedar City to find some lunch and get some birthday cake for later. We drove around looking for a good place to eat and couldn’t find much besides fast food. Finally we spotted a pub in a hotel. It turned out to be a good choice as we all really liked the food. [D: The Bard’s Food and Drink Establishment, adjacent to the Crystal Inn. “If you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle head, you would eat chickens i' th' shell.”]

During lunch we discussed our plans for Zion National Park. The original plan was to backpack the West Rim Trail. We already had reservations for a camp site for the following night as this is a pretty popular trail. However, recent wildfires in the park have forced the closure of several trails including this one. Since that was really the only trail we were interested in backpacking, we decided we’d just rather stay in a motel and do some day hikes. Luckily, the hotel where we had lunch had free internet in the lobby so after lunch we looked for a place to stay. We decided to share a room in the Zion Lodge motel right inside the park. Surprisingly there were rooms available so we booked it.

After a stop at the grocery store to pick up a cake [D: And a new book for me, as I just finished the one I had come on vacation with. I bought “Lisey’s Story”, by Stephen King. I’ll let you know how it is.], we were on our way back to the cabin. It’s quite a few thousand feet in elevation change from Cedar City to Duck Creek Village and when we got closer to the cabin, we noticed some snow or sleet on the ground! On August 1! [D: Sage isn’t joking…there really was some sort of frozen precipitation on the ground. Amazing.] We were actually on this same stretch of road during our road trip last summer and one of the coolest sights is the lava flows in the area. They are huge mounds of black, square rocks just piled up next to the road. Utah always amazes.

Also on the way back, the tire pressure warning light came on in the car. According to the manual, one of the tires was under-inflated. Since we didn’t have a tire gauge, we guessed which tire looked flatter and put some air in it at the local gas station. It seemed to work as the warning light went off. Another reason to hate Enterprise.

For Doug’s birthday dinner we had BBQ chicken and chocolate cake. Then we watched 50 First Dates to top off the evening. [D: I gave it a B-. If it didn’t have Drew Barrymore in it, easily a D+.]

Thursday, August 2

We had another leisurely morning at the cabin and left for Zion around 10:30 AM. The tire pressure light came on again so this time we put air in all the tires and hoped that would do the trick. We eventually bought a tire gauge but all the tires came up over-inflated so we just crossed our fingers and hoped we’d eventually make it back to Vegas with no problems.

We arrived at Zion National Park around noon and stopped to hike the Canyon Overlook Trail before heading into the canyon. Great views to be had at the end of the trail but the drop-offs were so intense that I felt like throwing up whenever someone would go near. I’m usually not afraid of heights but Zion gets me every time. [D: It was only about 1,000 feet straight down, I don’t know what you were so worried about.]

When we arrived at the lodge we were able to check into our room right away. It was nicer than I had imagined for a National Park motel, the best part was the balcony with cliff views. Travis took a nap while we explored a little bit.

Around 3:00 we decided to do the short hike to Emerald Pools. As this is a very popular day hike, we had hoped some of the crowds would have died down. We were wrong! All kinds of idiots were clogging up the trail. These were the type of people who are really clueless and have no trail etiquette. Most of them just like to stand in the middle of the trail for no reason and act like they are the only ones on the planet while others try to go around and a big back-up happens. Doug even had to yell at one family to share the trail and they still didn’t get it I don’t think. [D: So here’s what happened. This father decided that he wanted a picture of his family in the MIDDLE OF THE TRAIL. I hate this, but I stopped and waited for the picture to be taken. Now that it’s taken, you would think the group would make way for all the folks, in both directions, who have been standing and waiting for your “perfect” vacation portrait. But no, they dawdled around, the kids were just hanging out in the middle of the trail, and the father was doing NOTHING to try to help folks get by. So as I squeezed by the group on my way, I simply said, “Thanks for sharing the trail”. The father didn’t seem to like that too much, as he shouted after me, “Have a nice day!” I was more than pleasant as I shouted back, “You too!” I hate tourons.] We did not enjoy the hike at all and could not wait to get a shower and some dinner.

The check-in lady at the lodge recommended Oscar’s in Springdale for dinner so we went with it. Good thing we did because we really liked it. Springdale is one of my favorite National Park towns, it’s got a lot of funky restaurants and shops. It also doesn’t feel too touristy. [D: I can’t believe Sage didn’t mention the Elk and Bison! Right in the middle of downtown Springdale some people have an elk and bison farm. While I’m sure they raise them for meat, it was still cool to see them all lined up, right next to Main Street, hanging out with the Zion canyons in the background. Also, I give Oscars 2 big thumbs up.]

Friday, August 3

We got up early, grabbed some muffins in the lobby, and were waiting for the bus by 7:00 AM. We wanted to avoid the trail yahoos from yesterday by beating the rush. We had to get a bus to the trailhead as Zion is one of the few parks that requires visitors to leave their cars at the visitor center or lodge and ride buses. I think it’s a fantastic idea and wish more parks would do the same. W planned to hike to Hidden Canyon and Travis planned to do a longer hike to Observation Point, both from the same trailhead at Weeping Rock. [D: The hike to Observation Point was 8 miles round trip, while Hidden Canyon was only 3.5.] It didn’t take long before Travis was way above us on the switchbacks at the start of the trail. Unlike at the higher elevation of Bryce, we weren’t sucking wind as much at Zion. Soon enough, the trail to Hidden Canyon branched off. There were a lot of steep drop-offs along the way but with chains attached to the rock for added security which I like. Finally we reached the wide slot canyon and were able to hike into it for about half a mile. The early start was well worth it as we had the canyon to ourselves the entire time. [D: I liked Hidden Canyon a lot, especially as we could hike for another 1/2 mile or so past where the trail ends. It’s basically just hiking up the wash, with some scrambling up and over some rocks along the way. But plenty quiet, very cool, and very mysterious.]

When we came back down, we figured we had some time to kill as Travis’s hike was about eight miles round trip. When the bus driver had dropped us off, he said Echo Canyon was his favorite part of the trail so we hiked up to it. It was well worth it. [D: I concur. This also added another 2-3 miles to our hike, so I don’t want people to think we didn’t do ANYTHING this day.]

On the way back down, I heard someone running up behind me and turned around to see Travis running down the trail. He often runs downs trails as it’s better on your knees and because he’s insane. We couldn’t believe how quickly he had climbed up and down the trail. He reports the views from the top were even better than from the famous Angel’s Landing which we had climbed two years earlier. [D: We’ll have to take that trail all the way to Observation Point some day, but not after we were already hot, tired, and exhausted. Maybe a nice October or May hike would be best.]

After taking the bus to the end of the canyon and checking out the muddy Virgin River briefly, we returned to our car at the lodge and got on the road back to Vegas.

We had reservations at the Golden Nugget in downtown Vegas and arrived around 2:00. Travis decided he wanted to find a cheaper place to stay so he went off and said he’d call us later. He ended up at Main Street Station just a couple blocks away. Sounds like he got a comparable room for about half the price we paid. Spur of the moment apparently pays off. For dinner we went to the Italian place at the Golden Nugget. After dinner we played a little roulette and I won $80. So after about 15 minutes I quit while I was ahead and hit the hay. Doug played in a poker tournament but didn’t win. [D: Again, I don’t like to bore people with my gambling stories; but I will say that Binions Casino, right across Fremont Street from the Nugget, has a great poker room. It’s famous as it was the home to the World Series of Poker for over 30 years, until Binions Horseshoe sold the rights to Harrah’s, and they moved it to the Rio two years ago. But they still have their wall of champions, and it’s just a real nice, non-assuming place to play.]

Saturday, August 4

Travis called us at 7:30 AM to tell us he had some leftover fruit salad. He had been waking up at 4:00 every morning, guess he never adjusted to west coast time. We had originally planned a hike outside the city for today but we were all hiked out. So we met up later for a matinee of The Bourne Ultimatum. Travis said he is becoming his mother because he just can’t sit through a movie anymore and thought it dragged. I loved it, one chase scene after another, it never lets up. [D: Great movie, but not as good as the 2nd one. But if all you’re after is action-action-action, this one is for you.] After the movie, we drove over to Mandalay Bay to have an early dinner at House of Blues. I’ve never had a bad meal at a HOB. After returning to our hotel, we said our good-byes to Travis as he had an early flight out the next day. I played another few minutes of roulette where I broke even. Doug played in another poker tournament and actually came in 6th and got his buy-in back so that was something. [D: Actually I came in 7th. The tournament was only supposed to pay the top 6, but after the 8th person busted out (there were about 50 entries to begin with), we all decided to take some money from the top 3 finisher’s prizes and pay the 7th person back their entry, so that they didn’t play for nothing. And that ended up being me. The tournament started at 8:00 PM, and I busted out in 7th at 2:30 AM. I’m guessing the final two finished around 4:00 AM. Considering we had to get up by 7:00 AM to make our flight, probably not a bad thing I finished when I did. Also, Gavin Smith showed up while we were playing and started playing in $25 sit-and-go tournaments. This is a guy who has made over $3 million on the poker tournament circuit and he’s playing for $25. Funny stuff.]

Sunday, August 5

The Vegas airport was kind of a zoo but we landed on time in Raleigh and got home by 7:30 PM.

Epilogue

We always have fun when we go to Utah but I think that might be our last visit for a while. [D: Maybe you…I’ll play poker for 16 hours in a stretch any time.] We’ve done Bryce twice and Zion three times and I think we’re looking for another exciting US vacation spot for next time. We’d really like to go back to Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone Parks sometime. We’ve still never seen the Grand Canyon. We’d very much like to check out the national parks of California and Washington. Or maybe we should look into David Johnson’s favorite trip to New Mexico. Let’s hear from you, where should we go on our next US vacation?