Great read!!!

I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of your rain.

Now, where can we see the photos?

DAY 7: WILL THIS RAIN EVER STOP??

This morning we were determined to see something, anything, in Bryce (besides fog). We bundled up, packed our things into the car and ventured into the park one more time.

It was still sprinkling but not as foggy so we could finally see some hoodoos! I thought we should try to do the rim walk between sunset and sunrise point. Mostly because it was short (1 mile)in case we had to make a run for the car in a downpour.

We started down the trail. The rain had almost stopped. We hadn't gone far when we got the the trail head for the Queen's Garden trail down into the canyon. The allure of the hoodoos was too much to resist so down we went. It had all but stopped raining now.

We walked down for a good 20+ minutes. B got a couple of nice pictures (our only pictures of Bryce except for the one of us standing by the entrance sign in coats and hats and boots).

Ut oh, a sprinkle. Should we turn around? yes! This turned out to be a smart move. Within minutes it was POURING! We ran for it. Unfortunately, since we had ventured down into the canyon, we now had to run UP. whew, what a workout! The air was cold and burned my lungs.

Back at the car with the heater blasting to dry out our soaked jeans, we decided to call Bryce a wash and head for Zion where we hoped for better weather. On the way out we stopped for coffee at the Sinclair(gas)station and noticed the temperature on their clock: 38 F. It was almost 10 am by now. We are lucky it didn't snow in the night.

When we entered Zion we asked the Ranger what the weather for the rest of the day was. "Rain." she practically snarled. Whoa! Maybe she was tired of being asked that by every person who came in this morning, but it is part of her job to answer all of the silly questions us tourists come up with. We were hoping for a little more info- wind? lightning? torrential rain or just this light stuff that's happening now?- since we had a reservation to camp.

Before coming, I had looked up pictures of every place we would visit except for Zion. Not on purpose, that is just how it worked out. So I had no idea what to expect as we approached. The road into the park (I think it was route 9..) wound its way through lots of red cliffs. The views were terrific even in the rain. The tunnel was amazing! I thought it would never end. We stopped at one of the "windows" in the tunnel to take a picture. You are not supposed to, but there were no headlights behind us and the view was too good to resist.

Zion does not have the "neat" factor of the arches or the hoodoos, but I think it is the most beautiful of all the parks we visited on this trip.

We made our way to the visitor center which was packed with people asking about the weather. All of the rangers there were extra cheerful (as were those at Bryce) while people inundated them with weather questions.

We decided to take our chances camping since the rain seemed to be letting up and we really needed to dry out our tent. If it kept raining well, the tent couldn't get any WETTER. We hadn't wanted to risk making a huge mess at our cheap motel and there was no way we were laying that baby out at the Signature.

We checked into the campground (Watchman) where the sign said full although it clearly was not. A lot of people must have reserved and chickened out due to the rain. Wusses.

B wanted to wait to set up the tent in case it poured while we were gone. If we had to switch to plan B (cheap motel) he didn't want to have to pack up the soaked tent in the rain. Smart man.

The campground is very close to the visitor center where you board the shuttle to ride up the canyon, so we walked over. No cars are allowed on this road so you have to ride the shuttles which come often (every 5 minutes or so and all of the stops have covered waiting areas).

Luckily, I had scoped out my map at the campsite because I left it in the car. oops. I remembered that the lower emerald pool was on the list of easy (aka RamonaRamona will not plummet to her death in this wet and slippery weather) trails so that is where we headed. B wanted to do all of the pools. There are 3. I told him I would try but if it got treacherous I was turning back. I used up all of my courage at the Devil's Garden.

We walked a short distance until the trail forked. The sign said all 3 pools in both directions so we went left. We hiked up and up. There was a drop off to our right, but I was able to stay far enough away from it. I assumed we would come to the lower pool first and if this was what they called "easy, flat and wheelchair accessible", they are nuts. Before long we came to the first pool. Oops, it was the middle pool, not the lower one. I guess B was going to eke out at least 2/3 pools from me.

I thought the middle pool was kind of a let down. Some water flowing down a cliff, over a flat rock and then off the other cliff. It's been raining for 2 days, of course there is water pouring off the cliff. We took the requisite dorky pictures- we were wearing our sun hats as rain hats- and continued on.

Since climbing to the middle pool wasn't scary at all and the weather seemed to be holding, I decided to give the upper one a try. It wasn't bad either and much cooler than the middle pool. A very high (but small) waterfall cascading off a cliff into the emerald pool with a splash. The whole area was in a little nook in the rock full of sand and trees.

It started to sprinkle a bit up here. Of course, once we reach the farthest away part of the hike! Luckily, the sprinkles stopped quickly and we stayed dry. The sun even came out a little. B wished we had set up the tent after all. This was good tent drying weather.

Back down we went until we finally reached the lower pool. It had a much bigger waterfall falling into a much bigger pool. You had to walk behind the waterfall on the trail and it was MUDDY. They have chains along the trail so you won't slip. After the lower pool, the trail was paved. This is the part that the map was referring to as handicap accessible.

Back on the bus and back to the campground. I was starving! We didn't really eat lunch, just grabbed a handful of trail mix before we left the campground. I didn't think we would be lucky enough to hike that much with the rain and my chicken-ness. Should have packed a snack.

We set up our tent as fast as we could and headed for Oscar's in Springdale. B found Oscar's on google maps. It had great reviews and bragged about their big ass burgers. "If you leave hungry, don't blame Oscar" is their motto. I was surprised when we got there to find that Oscar's is a mexican restaurant that also serves burgers. B hearts mexican food so now he was even more excited to eat at Oscar's.

We started with the homemade guacamole which was good. It came with salsa which also looked homemade. Both were spicy. I didn't eat much (B gladly performed clean up duty) because I wanted to save room for my big ass mushroom burger and sweet potato fries. The mushroom burger was served with mushrooms, onions, garlic, lettuce, tomato, mustard and mayo. I, of course, got no mayo.

The waiter did not write our order down. I hate that. When he brought our food, it appeared he had made a mistake or misheard me. He must have thought I ordered the mustard burger with extra mustard and mustard filling. Holy crap the thing was covered in mustard. At least there was no mayo!

The first couple bites tasted like nothing but (Gulden's) mustard. Ick. The fries were good, but not enough for a meal as hungry as I was. It was time for burger surgery.

I scraped the mustard off both buns, losing all of my lettuce in the process (the lettuce was so coated I wondered if they had made a lettuce/mustard slaw to put on the burger). A small sacrifice. Next I scraped the mustard off the bottom of the burger and off the top of the mushrooms. Thank goodness they were glued to the cheese. If I lost the mushrooms (my favorite) what would be the point? I reconstructed the surviving burger pieces and tried again. Yum! I could still taste mustard but could also taste all these strange new flavors- beef! cheese! bread! Much better. I would eat there again but would just say no to mustard.

B got a pork burrito and was in heaven. It was huge and had tons of sour cream on top. The tortilla was very chewy and probably homemade. It came with some o so tasty black beans and rice.

Somehow we managed to finish our big ass meals. I think the check (they say ticket in Utah) was around $50. I thought it was a little pricey for a burger and a burrito and guac. We drank water.

We waddled out to the car where our thoughts promptly turned to ice cream. I forget the name of the place we went but it was attached to a souvenier/gift shop and on the same side of the road as Oscar's, back towards the park.

The ice cream was homemade and so was the softserve. I will devour any ice cream but softserve is my one true love (don't tell B ;-) ). Medium twist for me and a scoop of huckleberry and a scoop of cookies and cream for B. My ice cream was normal size, but B's was HUGE. At least a pint of ice cream. Maybe more. I had to help the poor boy finish. $5.

Back at the campground our tent was drying nicely. We played cards until it got dark and then snuggled up in the tent. I bet we were ZZZZZZ by 9.

Note: there are no showers at either Zion campground. I read about RV parks in Springdale with pay showers available to all. We didn't spot the RV park when we were out and about. It had been cold enough that we weren't that sweaty so it wasn't a top priority like it would have been at Arches.

Oops! I forgot about another hike we did at Zion before the Emerald Pools. More of a walk actually, the (appropriately named) Riverside Walk from the Temple of Sinewava. This was a nice stroll along the Virgin River past the end of the line for the shuttles. The river was gushing with all the rain but it was still hard to imagine that such a dinky river could create this whole canyon.

There are signs everywhere about squirrels biting people because they are fed and not afraid, but we still saw lots of people feeding the squirrels and taking pictures of them begging. I thought it was creepy to see squirrels acting like dogs. B and I had a bet going about how long before we saw somebody get bit. We both lost. Darn!

And a correction to an earlier post: The certified marriage license from Clark County is only $15, not $30. $30 was the price for the certified abstract (whatever that is?) AND certified license.

DAY 8: IT MUST BE MY LUCKY DAY

It must have been our lucky night- not a drop of rain, no thunder, no lightning, no gale force winds. Our tent was reasonably dry by morning. We packed up our things and parked at the visitor center so we wouldn't have to worry about getting back to the campground by checkout time (I think it was 11).

We walked up the Parus trail which starts at the visitor center. It is an easy and scenic 1.5 mile trail up the canyon.

At the top of the trail we hopped on the shuttle and rode to the grotto where we walked the grotto trail. It is only 0.5 miles long and not super interesting. B was excited to see some turkey tracks. Too bad for B, no hunting in the national parks.

The grotto is where the angel's landing trail starts. B was bummed that the rain had made such a challenging hike too slippery and dangerous. All I can say is thank goodness for the rain! There is no way I was doing another death defying hike.

Back on the shuttle for a few more scenic stops.

We got off the shuttle at the top of the Parus trail and walked back down the way we had come. We stopped at the Museum on the way back. It did have some interesting exhibits/artifacts, but as a dorky engineer, I was hoping for a little more (detailed) info on how they built the long tunnel. All they said was it had been blasted out with dynamite. duh.

We walked back to the car and were soon on our way back to Vegas. We had timed our departure for an oh so important lunch stop: Chuck a rama!

We used to live in Idaho and Chuck a rama had been our favorite restaurant. There are none on the East coast and we miss them terribly. B had the foresight to see if we would be passing by any on this trip. There is one just off of I-15. St George Utah here we come!

It really was our lucky day because we were passing by the Chuck a rama on Thursday. Taco day. Our favorite. We took a picture of ourselves in the parking lot with the sign in the background. A lady on her way out clearly thought we were nuts. She might have been right ;-)

Inside, this C-A-R was even better than our Idaho one. I base this on the fact that they had tastier looking desserts and TWO softserve machines. I say tastier looking because, sadly, in my old age, I did not have room to try them. 5 years ago I would have done a number on that dessert table, but now I had to settle for some soft serve and be done. sigh.

Back in the car my post C-A-R taco coma put me right to sleep and soon we were back in Vegas. We were staying at the Signature again. We were in the 1st tower this time (had been in 2nd tower previously). We were told at our last visit to ask for the highest available floor since the clerk was unable to assign us a room for our second visit until we actually checked in.

The highest available room was on the 22nd floor. B was hoping for penthouse again but I just wanted to get in and shower. Up in our room, we poked around like always. Something seemed wrong. What is that on the counter? Soap. Out of the box. Looks brand new. Odd. And a key card? B commented that there was no iron. Half used shampoo in the shower. oh no. I ran to the bed and threw back the covers. Hairs on the sheets AHHHHH. This room was not cleaned for us.

On the phone, the front desk said we would have to move to a room on the 17th floor or she could send housekeeping back up. I was really looking forward to that shower (2 days of hiking and no campground shower had caught up with me) so I asked for us to be moved. Poor B and his view.

While we waited for the bellboy to bring us our new key, I worked myself up into quite a mood. I know mistakes happen but why should we have to move down for their mistake. They should have moved us up, even if they had to upgrade us.

The bellboy came and was very nice. My temper ebbed. The room had been marked as a stayover on housekeeping's list but was really a checkout.

We had made sure to have enough dollar bills to tip the valet and the first bellboy but did not anticipate a 2nd bellboy trip. We had only $1 (and some $20s, but no way was I forking those over) which I felt cheap giving him since he had been so great.

This room was not as nice as our penthouse room the week before. The linens were not as nice. It looked just a little more worn. I am not sure if that had to do with the floor number or the tower number. At this point I did not really care. It was clean and that was enough.

We headed out onto the strip where it was sunny (finally!) but not too hot. We wandered up to the venetian where B mentioned that he would like to see blue man group. In we went to see if tickets were still available. It was around 5:30 and they did have tickets for the 7 pm show that night. Not only that, they had some of the cheap ($75 each with all the taxes and such) seats left!

We took the seats in the front row by the right wall. The seating chart said obstructed view but when we asked the ticket seller he said we would be able to see everything but some of the band which is not part of the show. sold.

We wandered around the venetian since we had an hour to kill before the doors opened. I was starting to get hungry so I was looking for a snack. All we saw were sit down restaurants. We consulted a map and found our way to a convenince store type place. All of their sandwiches had mayo oozing out of them. barf.

I settled for a banana. At the checkout I saw water behind the counter and realized how thirsty I was so I got one. Without seeing the price. He rang me up- $4.86. what! The banana was $1 how much did that water cost. A quick peek at the receipt- $3.50 plus tax. holy crap! I would not be forgetting to bring a water bottle with me again.

We got back to the theater where they were just about to open the doors. I had seen BMG before on a class trip so I knew what to expect. B did not. I told him before it started that there's no story, they just do a bunch of weird stuff. But it's cool. He liked it. He seemed a little confused after but smiling. Weird, but cool.

Note: Our seats were great. I could actually see the band most of the time. I think our seats were as good as those in the poncho zone and we didn't have to worry about being bombarded with jello.

After the show we went to planet hollywood where we bought tickets for Wayne Brady the next night. Then we wandered our way back to the MGM where we played a few dollars in slots and then back through the tunnel to the Signature.

DAY 9: IMPROVISING

We didn't have anything planned for today until Wayne Brady at 8 pm. B wanted pictures of us at the Las Vegas sign so we decided to try to find that first. I was pretty sure it was at the South end of the strip even though we hadn't noticed it on our way from the airport. We walked so far I thought I must have remembered incorrectly, but finally, we could see the crowd in the distance.

There were 2 people there who had LV visitor's bureau (or something like that) shirts and they were taking everyone's picture. I am not sure if they actually work for LV or if they are hoping for tips. It did not occur to us to tip them until after we left. We didn't see anyone else tip them while we were there.

We wanted to eat at the Burger Bar at Mandalay bay so we decided to go in and scoope things out on our way back from the sign. We finally found it after much wandering. It is in the tunnel between M bay and Luxor. The menu looked good so we decided to return later.

Next we decided to go to Freemont street. After a week with lots of hiking our feet were tired so we gave the deuce a try. I saw the sign at the stop said to buy tickets before boarding so we did but it looked like you could buy them (at least for a single ride) on the bus. We bought the 24 hour pass for $7 figuring if we rode it 3 times we would save money. ($3 per 1 time ride).

The deuce was very slow. It stops at almost every hotel along the strip. By the time we realized that we should have transferred to the gold (express) line, we only had a few stops left and decided to just stay put.

We were sitting on the top level (B's request) and it was nice to relax and people watch out the window.

The deuce stops at the pawn shop that is on the tv show. A lot of people got off here. I did not realize it is such a destination! It also stops a couple of blocks from the marriage license office. 2 couples got off and the driver announced that they should go 2 blocks to the left and good luck!

It took over an hour to get to Freemont street. I needed food. Now. We looked at our options, the best of which was an Irish Pub. We sat on the porch and ate some very tasty sandwiches. Grilled chicken pesto with parmesan crust bread for me. Reuben for B and a basket of fries. Everything was excellent. I thought about getting a beer but in this heat it didn't really appeal. We each drank 2 huge glasses of ice water. I think it was aroudn $30 with tax and tip.

Now that I was no longer starving (i.e. no longer crabby as heck) it was time to find the old fashioned slots where the coins actually come out when you win. We found them but didn't win enough to make more than 1 or 2 coins come out. No huge bucket of nickels for us :-(

I tried my hand at black jack. I had to wait quite awhile for a seat at the $2 table. I accidentally sat at a $10 table at first. The sign out front said $2 black jack so I thought they were all $2 black jack. They were not. There was only one $2 table. So pay attention to those little signs by the dealer.

The dealer at the $2 table was great. She was genuinely disappointed when she won. One time I told her to hit me and she said "really" with a raised eyebrow. I stayed instead and ended up winning. Apparently, even if you have a low hand like a 12 or 13, you should stay when the dealer has a low card showing because they have to hit until 17 and are more likely to go over with a low card showng.

At one point I was up by $8 and then the dealers switched. The next lady was mean. She took a perverse delight in scooping up everyone's money (it's not like she gets to keep it, that I could see being happy about). Soon I was down by $10 and decided I had enough. I got to play for over an hour for $10 so I consider it cheap entertainment.

One thing I thought was neat was the dealer actually shouts "changing 100" when somebody gets $100 in chips. Just like in the movies. Does anyone know why they do that?? Not being a gambler, I was surprised at the number of people who changed $100 during the hour I sat at the table. At least 5. Maybe 6. That is out of 10 or less people who passed through the table.

I offered B my seat when I got up but he was not interested so we cashed the little money I had left and kept wandering. Eventually we were ready to head back to the strip. B wanted to walk. I thought sure why not.

I will tell you why not. It is frickin' HOT. After a mile or so I was hot and thirsty. And then, a beautiful green and orange apparition appeared. Seven. Eleven.

My "do you want to go in there and see if they have those slurpee things?" was met with unfettered enthusiasm by B. Slurpee procurement complete, I asked to use the bathroom. The bathroom was in the back room behind a locked door. I was given a key attached to a ridiculously large piece of broom handle. Noboby is stealing that baby.

My red slurpee was great. B's blue razz was contaminated with coconut. Still good but not as good and not blue razzy. Apparently, Slurpees are carbonated. I did not know that until my tongue started tingling. Immediate slurpee devotees, we began to lament the fact that there are none near where we live.

We kept walking and slurping. We got the biggest size and I could not finish mine. We stopped and watched someone jump off the stratosphere. Why anyone would pay (I assume) large amounts of money to do this I will never understand. I almost lost my slurpee just watching.

We popped in and out of hotels that interested us just to look around. We watched the fountains at the Bellagio about 47 times. It was really more like 2 but we had already watched them the day before. B found them fascinating.

We made it to planet hollywood (Wayne Brady) around 7. We bought a $5 bottle of water and found a couch near the chi theater to relax on. When the doors opened (7:30) we got in line. We were informed that no glass would be allowed in. They had plastic cups for you to transfer your beverages to. Also, you had to show them that you had removed the batteries from you camera as you went in. This will make sure no pictures are taken since it is a long and complicated process to put them back in.

The previous 2 things were annoying but the third announcement pissed me off. Bags will be searched. You're kidding right? nope. They should tell you this stuff when you buy the tickets. I would have taken my bag back to my hotel and left it there. I do not like people rummaging through my things.

The announcement people left after letting nobody in the theater. Some people came around with paper and pencils and asked that everyone make up a name of a song. We waited until about 8:30 and then they let us in without searching my bag. They did make us pour our water from the plastic bottle into one of their cups. That was an expensive bottle and I intended to refill it. Bastards.

Wayne Brady was great! I had never watched his improv show but liked him on Don't forget the lyrics. He did a lot of skits and there was only one (backwards/forwards) that I thought was dumb. The rest were hilarious! He ended the show with a medly of songs chosen from those submitted when we were in line. Funions give me wind (as Creed). These boobies are real (as Tina Turner). No more nudie cards (as Prince). His lyrics were funny and his impressions were spot on. There were several others but I don't remember them all.

We had planned to get dinner at Burger Bar after the show but after those giant slurpees neither of us was very hungry. We decided to go the next day for lunch. We wandered our way back to the Signature, stopping in a few more casinos to check them out on the way. B popped into another 7-11 for another slurpee. Maybe it is a good thing we don't have them near our house ;-) He got rootbeer. The best flavor of the 3 we tried by far. Not so sicky sweet as the others.

DAY 10: THE HONEYMOON'S OVER

We checked out of the hotel around 9, leaving our things with the bellman. We had done everything on our Vegas list (which wasn't very long) so we thought we would just wander and see what there was to see.

We went to the zoo at the mirage ($15/person) and saw some dolphins and lions and tigers and a cheetah. There were 2 baby white tiger cubs and they were cute wrestling with each other. The big cats were pretty but mostly just snoozed in the shade, just like any cat.

We wandered our way down to the burger bar, popping into any place that interested us. When we got to the burger bar around 1 pm there was a 25 minute wait. We got there just in time, soon the hostess was telling people 45 minutes.

The menu is in sections. First, you pick your patty. Then the bun. Next any toppings or sauces. Finally, the fries/rings. I liked that everything is so customizable, but by having everything listed seperately, the price can add up FAST.

I got a normal beef hamburger with lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles and onion rings. B go some spicy burger (one of the chef's creations, instead of picking from all the lists) with skinny fries. Everything was very good but very greasy. We drank iced tea which was homemade and good.

We were too full for milkshakes, but even if I was hungry I doubt I would have ordered one. They were $7-$10 each. Our check was almost $50 with tax and tip. With milkshakes it would have been $70-$75. That is (to me) way too much money for burgers, fries and milkshakes even if they are very good.

We waddled out of the burger bar and wandered through the luxor and excaliber. We made our way out onto the strip where B declared it break time. His feet were killing him. I was happy for the opportunity to rest as my lunch was not agreeing with me (too greasy). We sat on a retaining wall in the shade of one of the skywalk escalators and people watched.

Eventually we got up and commenced wandering again. I said it was too bad we were checked out of our hotel because this would be a good time to lounge by the pool. B said we should have lounged yesterday and done the vegas sign and freemont street today. Hindsight.

We wandered around killing time and eventually ended up back at the mirage. Right by the entrance to the zoo there is a place called Blizz. We both knew in our hearts when we saw it earlier that morning that we would end up back there.

It is a frozen yogurt buffet. First you get your yogurt. There are at least 10 flavors. Standard ones plus things like cheesecake, pistachio, dulce de leche, red velvet. Then there are toppings, candies, sauces, fruits. It is $0.55/ ounce so we tried to take it easy loading up our dishes. The place is designed (of course) so that you will make giant concoctions. The bowls come in 2 sizes: huge and huger. The yogurt comes out FAST. Be prepared. There are so many choices for toppings it is hard to choose just a few.

We ended up spending $15 on our monstrosities. Yes, we ate almost 2 pounds of sundaes. Worth every calorie. They must use full fat yogurt because it tasted like ice cream. So good. I was actually glad it was expensive or I might have gone back for seconds ;-)

A couple more hours of wandering in and out of casinos. I think we went in almost all of them. They are neat but we were casinoed out. We wished we had spent an extra day at arches (we didn't even make it to canyonlands or dead horse state park) and one less day in vegas. We are not vegas people and agreed that we were glad to have been here but wouldn't come back except as a jumping off point for our real destination.

We were back at the signature by 8. There was a mix up at the bell desk (it was crowded). They watched us sit there for 15+ minutes because they thought we were waiting for a taxi instead of the valet. No harm done, we had plenty of time. B got the idea to stop at the vegas sign again for some night pictures so we did. It was much more crowded this time and the pictures didn't come out so great because it is dark and the sign is so bright. The camera had a hard time focusing.

It was easy to get back to the rental car facility. Even without my map we would have made it. There are a lot of street signs. If I had it to do over again I would have dropped the car off on Thursday when we got back to vegas and saved some money. B wanted to keep it the whole time just in case, but we really didn't need it.

The alamo guy told us we were all set and there was no paperwork. We walked a few steps away and he hollered "don't you want your receipt?" Isn't that paperwork? jeesh!

The receipt showed a cost of $440. That is more in the range of what I though the price would be (when we picked up the car, the guy quoted us $363). We had been charged for an extra day since we dropped it off after noon (that was our plan all along and what we had booked for) plus around $40 in taxes.

It was a quick ride to the airport on the shuttle. The driver was a comedian, telling jokes all the way. It got him a lot of tips when he dropped us off. Smart man.

We were at our gate just after 9. Our flight was at 11. I decided to go out into the airport foraging for food. Most places were closed at this hour. (yes, I was hungry again even though I ate that giant ice cream. We walked a lot!). I got a big bottle of water at the hudson news but none of their snacks appealed although a huge bag of cheezits did try to convince me to buy it.

I walked around and my choices were: starbucks sandwiches or california pizza kitchen. Since the sandwiches might contain the dreaded mayo, I decided to try CPK. I like their frozen pizzas from the grocery store. I ordered the loaded to go. I think it was $14. As I waited, I watched waiters deliver food to the tables. Oh cute, I didn't see mini pizzas on the menu. Then my order came out. I didn't see mini pizzas on the menu because all of the pizzas are that size. 6 or 7" max. ok. We are not starving, so it should be enough.

I go back to B who is sitting in his socks relieved to be out of his shoes. We bust open the pizza and, sadly, though it is half as big and twice as expensive, our CPK pizza is not as good as their grocery store ones. Notice that I do not say it is not as good as their frozen ones. That is because I am sure this too is a frozen pizza, just not as high quality as the ones in the grocery store. Totally lame. I would not eat there again.

On our flight there is a family with a 2 year old and a crying baby. The parents seem to think it is a good idea to encourage the 2 year old to yell and let the baby cry it out. awesome. Thank goodness I packed earplugs. We put them in and sleep all the way to Chicago where I see on the monitor at our gate that it is currently 35 degrees in Albany. Maybe we should go back to vegas!

The rest of our trip was uneventful. We arrived on time and so did our luggage. Our kitten was very happy to see us even though she was spoiled by her babysitter while we were gone.

If anyone has any questions I am happy to answer. I will try to get some pictures up since they were requested.

Thanks everyone for reading this and for all the nice comments. You are very generous with your compliments. If I knew how to make a blushing face I would.

Great finish to your report!! Glad you had all those great experiences and can plan your next trip with a visit to Canyonlands.

Thanks

Wow quite the report!!!

Albany??? Well, welcome home!

We live in Scotia.

It sounds like a great honeymoon...you even camped out!

Now that you're "over" Vegas, you can spend ALL of your
next trip exploring the canyon country. Besides being
sensory overload Vegas is a shock after the remote regions
of Utah...and SO expensive too.

Thanks for the report...great fun to read.

Thanks for all the great details; I had fun reading your report!

Yes, more time around Moab and less in Vegas.

Now you know.

What a great trip. Next time the weather will be better.

I was in Escalante, Bryce & Zion with my daughter in mid-Sept for 3 days and we had great weather.

And now your photos.

Great Report! I love the National Parks; Zion has always been my favorite. Zion is so beautiful with the red cliffs and the emerald green Virgin river.

I remember one hike (can't recall the name) with lots of switchbacks and narrow cliff walks, sometimes chain links to help you and sometimes not. Often just enough room for two feet. The trails were scary, especially when they were sandy and slippery. There were moments when I thought I'd never get back to the trail head. However, it was absolutely beautiful and we have some wonderful pictures somewhere!

Congrats on your marriage. Wishing you many happy years together.

RamonaRamona,
Congratulations to you both! What a great trip report. Very entertaining. Thanks for taking the time - it was so enjoyable. I'm surprised that it rained so much. All of our trips there have been in early to mid Sept, and we've had to adjust our itinerary several times because of rain. But not everyday washout-type rain! I hope that you'll both go again so you can fly into LV and head straight for Zion to start your trip. We, too, fly out of Albany and always use Southwest Air since they fly nonstop to and from Vegas. Then we don't have to worry about losing our luggage or layovers.
Looking forward to some pictures. Thanks again and congrats!

drum roll, please...
the pictures are finally up. I hope everyone likes them.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55513214@N08/

Good photos!!!

Thanks for sharing.

Was that sun I saw at Goblin Valley and some blue sky at Arches NP?

It wasn't a total washout then.

Neat view of your trip, thanks for posting them.

Enjoyed the pictures. Thanks. AZ is so beautiful.